Radiohate no more?

Radiohead has been a band that I have wanted to like for a long time. An odd turn of phrase, yes, but I have listened to plenty of their stuff and save for "Creep" and "High and Dry" I just never seem to be able to get into them. I WANT to like them. I'm a connoisseur of good music and I feel like I'm not on board an important musical train when it comes to this band. Part of it always had to do with Thom Yorke's voice (Thom with an "h"?? Really??). It was so odd it distracted me from enjoying the music behind him (which is admittedly amazing!) It's the same reason I want to find the A&R that signed Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and punch him in the face.

This brings me to last evening. I decided, since it wasn't going to cost me a dime, to download the new Radiohead album, "In Rainbows." The band is "selling" their album on their website for whatever you'd like to pay -- $0, $100, or anything in between. Normally I would support such an idea by paying $5-$10 for the download. I thought in this instance, for a band I don't particularly enjoy I would download it for free (yeah, I'm "that guy"). What I found was particularly enjoyable. Yorke's voice is a bit more normalized and the music behind him is as brilliant as ever. I also found that perhaps I was listening wrong all this time. Radiohead isn't about rousing rock anthems that you sing along to, it's about ambient music that complements your surroundings. Ok, Ok, yes that sounded really trite, but it's also true. I walked all over DC this afternoon with my white ear buds firmly in place and really enjoyed the album as a kind of background for the world.

I doubt you'll find me singing along to the at times indiscernible lyrics but you'll definitely find me listening again -- and I may even go back and tackle the older albums with my new listening theory.