Why Does Radiohead Matter?

Mike Cosper writes a great post about the band Radiohead and articulates well why we should care about a band that probably seems a bit too "arty" for many. Here is his conclusion:

What’s remarkable to me about the band is its sustained presence. Consider the voices that have come and gone in the meantime—most of the grungers have broken up or retired, the new-rockers like Creed have come and gone, teeny-boppers like Britney and Christina went from overexposed children to overexposed adults, and the list goes on and on. Radiohead, somehow, remains relevant, appearing on the covers of magazines and at awards shows, perpetually adored and yet out of place. Certainly, there have been others (like Michael Jackson and Madonna) whose success has spanned generations and trends, or whose singular voice and style remained fresh (like U2). But Radiohead does this while remaining gloomy, dark, and at times antagonistic. 

I think it’s these contrasts—the human and the robotic, the individual and the milieu, the real and the fake—that make Radiohead’s message so powerful and resonant. It’s a fairly hopeless perspective, but their fans aren’t listening to them for solutions. They listen for solidarity. Someone else feels lost. Someone else feels like everything is too big, too fake, too plastic. 

As Christians and especially as church leaders, we would be wise to notice this cultural numbness, and the rage that hides underneath it. With the release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead released a music video to the song “Lotus Flower.” In it, Thom Yorke goes from semi-stoic dead-pan singing, staring into the camera lens to spastic, maddened dancing. It’s another of their brilliant contrasts—the still exterior and the explosive emotion below the surface. 

If we allow ourselves to notice what Radiohead notices, we’ll see that behind the grinning faces on Facebook, the cheery updates on Twitter, the Sunday smiles, and the happy coworkers are human souls who feel cramped by the world around them, hemmed in by technology and noise, and desperate for someone to set them free.

Read the rest.