I admit it...

[Slaky]

I really like "Creep," because I usually only know the songs that Everybody knows, but I use my love of that song to say that I like Radiohead because that seems to earn me some kind of street cred with a lot of other people who are most likely as ignorant of these bands as me.

I hate obscure, underground bands like Radiohead, too.

That's kind of my point. I've never understood what it was exactly that made Radiohead all that 'cool'. But people seem to treat them like they aren't mainstream alot of the time.

You talk to weird people.

[Oleg]

I really like "Creep," because I usually only know the songs that Everybody knows, but I use my love of that song to say that I like Radiohead because that seems to earn me some kind of street cred with a lot of other people who are most likely as ignorant of these bands as me.

I hate obscure, underground bands like Radiohead, too.

That's kind of my point. I've never understood what it was exactly that made Radiohead all that 'cool'. But people seem to treat them like they aren't mainstream alot of the time.

It's not so much that the word 'mainstream' doesn't apply to Radiohead, it's that it doesn't have much meaning.

They don't really have a record company.

They released their last album online and let people pay whatever they wanted.  I think the album came out on Jan 1 or something like that.  In Rainbows sold over 3 million albums.

This time, they released an album online again; charged 9 bucks for it; announced the launch 6 days in advance; and, in order to beat any leaks, released the album a day early.

Kind of dramatic and all that shit,and they wouldn't get away with it if they weren't popular.  Hardly mainstream though.

By the way, they're also really fucking good at making rock n roll music.

[MidgetSellingWater]

I really like "Creep," because I usually only know the songs that Everybody knows, but I use my love of that song to say that I like Radiohead because that seems to earn me some kind of street cred with a lot of other people who are most likely as ignorant of these bands as me.

I hate obscure, underground bands like Radiohead, too.

That's kind of my point. I've never understood what it was exactly that made Radiohead all that 'cool'. But people seem to treat them like they aren't mainstream alot of the time.

It's not so much that the word 'mainstream' doesn't apply to Radiohead, it's that it doesn't have much meaning.

They don't really have a record company.

They released their last album online and let people pay whatever they wanted.  I think the album came out on Jan 1 or something like that.  In Rainbows sold over 3 million albums.

This time, they released an album online again; charged 9 bucks for it; announced the launch 6 days in advance; and, in order to beat any leaks, released the album a day early.

Kind of dramatic and all that shit,and they wouldn't get away with it if they weren't popular.  Hardly mainstream though.

By the way, they're also really fucking good at making rock n roll music.

Unfortunately, it could be argued that they haven't made rock n roll music since Hail to the Thief.  Agree with your popular vs. mainstream argument.  They're kind of on a parallel plane from the rest of the popular music industry; and it's worked for them.  Probably because they tend to draw fans more open to the premise of an unconventional distribution system - to go along with an unconventional sound.

[Bort]

Is "unconventional" fancy talk for "boring?'

[Gilgamesh]

Is "unconventional" fancy talk for "boring?'

Do you need a ruling on that?

[Saul Goodman]

I really like "Creep," because I usually only know the songs that Everybody knows, but I use my love of that song to say that I like Radiohead because that seems to earn me some kind of street cred with a lot of other people who are most likely as ignorant of these bands as me.

I hate obscure, underground bands like Radiohead, too.

That's kind of my point. I've never understood what it was exactly that made Radiohead all that 'cool'. But people seem to treat them like they aren't mainstream alot of the time.

It's not so much that the word 'mainstream' doesn't apply to Radiohead, it's that it doesn't have much meaning.

They don't really have a record company.

They released their last album online and let people pay whatever they wanted.  I think the album came out on Jan 1 or something like that.  In Rainbows sold over 3 million albums.

This time, they released an album online again; charged 9 bucks for it; announced the launch 6 days in advance; and, in order to beat any leaks, released the album a day early.

Kind of dramatic and all that shit,and they wouldn't get away with it if they weren't popular.  Hardly mainstream though.

By the way, they're also really fucking good at making rock n roll music.

Unfortunately, it could be argued that they haven't made rock n roll music since Hail to the Thief.  Agree with your popular vs. mainstream argument.  They're kind of on a parallel plane from the rest of the popular music industry; and it's worked for them.  Probably because they tend to draw fans more open to the premise of an unconventional distribution system - to go along with an unconventional sound.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/radioheads_king_of_limbs_revie.html

The funny part is that they basically trained the world into this, by spending their career moving in the opposite direction from most of their peers. Most bands like this start off as something marginal, then grow into popularity. Radiohead kicked off by proving they were a good big rock band — then started pulling their many fans, some of them kicking and screaming, off into new places. They taught people how to enjoy that. They made music good enough to satisfy their left-field music-geek peers and their everyday fans at the same time. Their main emotional register — which sits somewhere between abject world-weariness and a kind of itching, wriggling-in-your-skin discomfort — has turned out to be more relatable, to more people, than anyone would have guessed. And their election as the arty rock group of consensus means we get to watch something really rare and amazing: A band that can do whatever it wants, and do it really well, and have it matter on a big scale. Maybe it's a little arbitrary that this band is Radiohead, who are far from the only musicians doing things that are high-minded or sonically inventive — but it's a very cool thing to have one act like this be "big."

[Richard Chuggar]

I really like "Creep," because I usually only know the songs that Everybody knows, but I use my love of that song to say that I like Radiohead because that seems to earn me some kind of street cred with a lot of other people who are most likely as ignorant of these bands as me.

I hate obscure, underground bands like Radiohead, too.

That's kind of my point. I've never understood what it was exactly that made Radiohead all that 'cool'. But people seem to treat them like they aren't mainstream alot of the time.

You talk to weird people.

Iowa.

[Oleg]

Is "unconventional" fancy talk for "boring?'

You ever try to explain to someone why baseball isn't boring?  After about 10 minutes you just give up and think his loss?  Sometimes, it's better to not even try.

[Slaky]

Is "unconventional" fancy talk for "boring?'

You ever try to explain to someone why baseball isn't boring?  After about 10 minutes you just give up and think his loss?  Sometimes, it's better to not even try.

Well put.

[Internet Apex]

Is "unconventional" fancy talk for "boring?'

You ever try to explain to someone why baseball isn't boring?  After about 10 minutes you just give up and think his loss?  Sometimes, it's better to not even try.

I see what you're saying. Most people don't find punk rock or hard core rap boring. If they hate it, they just can't listen to it at all. GAH Turn that shit off! Ouch! But with Radiohead, I can sit in a bar and hear two or three songs and not even realize the jukebox is playing until Oleg says, "Radiohead is best band ever to put their hands on an instrument (pause)." I'm not going to call it boring. Like people call baseball boring. I'm going to say it's like music that I don't hate but don't really have a lot of use for. Though every once in a while Radiohead surprises me and I buy or download a track. Like "Creep." That one really spoke to me.

[CT III]

This thread has become highly unconventional.

[Yeti]

I've enjoyed some of Radiohead's stuff but when I try to think of their "genre" Rock N Roll doesn't come to mind

[Slaky]

I've enjoyed some of Radiohead's stuff but when I try to think of their "genre" Rock N Roll doesn't come to mind

Which is why genre definition is almost as useless as the idea of mainstream. Categorizing music is difficult enough. Used to be you could slap rock, rap or country on a song and be done with it. Now you're gonna argue about what's crust punk vs. stoner metal vs. post-metal grindcore. It's a joke.

Rock is a broad category. Radiohead uses instruments. We'll call them rock and put this one to bed.

[Gilgamesh]

I've enjoyed some of Radiohead's stuff but when I try to think of their "genre" Rock N Roll doesn't come to mind

Which is why genre definition is almost as useless as the idea of mainstream. Categorizing music is difficult enough. Used to be you could slap rock, rap or country on a song and be done with it. Now you're gonna argue about what's crust punk vs. stoner metal vs. post-metal grindcore. It's a joke.

Rock is a broad category. Radiohead uses instruments. We'll call them rock and put this one to bed.

THE DECIDER!!!

[Yeti]

I've enjoyed some of Radiohead's stuff but when I try to think of their "genre" Rock N Roll doesn't come to mind

Which is why genre definition is almost as useless as the idea of mainstream. Categorizing music is difficult enough. Used to be you could slap rock, rap or country on a song and be done with it. Now you're gonna argue about what's crust punk vs. stoner metal vs. post-metal grindcore. It's a joke.

Rock is a broad category. Radiohead uses instruments. We'll call them rock and put this one to bed.

THE DECIDER!!!

I will abide by Slak's order