Label

Parlophone

Year of release

1997

Genre

Rock

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This bleakly beautiful third album from Radiohead was an experimental triumph of pre-millenial angst that emerged at the smug height of Britpop - and continues to influence bands from Muse to Arcade Fire even today

Top facts:

• Four tracks were recorded at "Canned Applause" - a converted apple shed near Didcot that doubled up as a rehearsal space. The rest was put down at St Catherine's Court - a historic mansion near Bath owned by movie star Jane Seymour that singer Thom Yorke told The Times in 1997 seemed to be haunted by "a very claustrophobic ghost".
  
  
• Yorke got the idea for the album title from a promo trip to Japan. While in a record shop, he heard a young kid shout "OK Computer!" at the top of his voice. Yorke described the phrase as "a really resigned, terrified phrase", in keeping with the album's air of end of the century powerlessness.
  
  
• The "computer voice" used on the track Fitter Happier is made by the default voice setting on MacinTalk Pro, spoken text software on an Apple Mac. Thom Yorke orginally planned to sing the lyrics (comprising of a checklist of 1990s slogans) himself, but has said that the computer voice sounded strangely more emotional.
  

Best tracks:

Karma Police
Paranoid Android
Airbag

If you like this, try:

Mercury Rev: Yerself Is Steam
Super Furry Animals: Rings Around The World
Muse: Black Holes And Revelations
Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

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