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December 14, 2004
Move Along
Radiohead - Gagging Order
This song follows in the tradition of Radiohead B-sides that are almost uniformly better than most other bands' album output. 'Gagging Order' is like 'Polyethelene pt. 1', 'True Love Waits', and 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' (before Kid A, when it turned into an organ dirge), in that it's just Thom Yorke and a well-picked acoustic guitar. This track was actually written around the same time as the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions (when it was known as 'Move Along'), but never recorded/released until the 'Go to Sleep' single. Radiohead has always been an interesting band for the songs that they keep unreleased, most of which are floating around SLSK in different live/demo incarnations: Big Boots/Man O'War (which the band tried to record as the theme song for 'The Avengers'- probably best that they weren't successful), Big Ideas/Nude, Follow Me Around, Reckoner, etc., and all of which are well worth your time (esp. Man O'War and Big Ideas, which are probably two of the best songs that Yorke has ever written).
Radiohead were a 'gateway' band for me- when I bought OK Computer as a little 17 year old, it was a risk, aesthetically. Listening to that album and going through their back catalogue made me want to read about the band and their influences- to find more music like what they made. A quick list of bands that I sought out as a direct consequence of liking Radiohead: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Elliott Smith, Belle & Sebastian, Can, Neu!, the Fall, Blur, Autechre, Aphex Twin. It's staggering to think about just how much my tastes (in music and in literature (the band often used to namecheck authors like John Cheever, Jonathan Coe, Delmore Schwartz, Naomi Klein, and Joe Orton)) have developed due to the influence of a band. I think there are certain types of bands that encourage this sort of musical curiosity, and it always surprises me when I hear about how other people come to the realization that the music that's played on the radio isn't the totality of music available.
Anyway, that was sufficiently inarticulate. Comment away, my friends! Litigate away, Parlophone/EMI!
Posted by matt at December 14, 2004 08:00 AM