Is Radiohead prog?

Well, I think Radiohead qualifies as prog.

Let's face it, if Marillion does a live cover of "Fake Plastic Trees", I think it's safe to say they have some important fans in the prog world.

Edited by necromancing

Gaston:

Aren't Porcupine Tree a 1990s-2000s band? And what about Spock's Beard and all the other modern prog bands you seem to be overlooking?

Marillion are definitely prog - and still going strong - and much of the Fish-era material is highly political, touching on the troubles in Northern Ireland, the record industry, and social politics.

Forgotten Sons:

You're just another coffin on its way down the emerald aisle
When your children's stony glances mourn
Your death in a terrorist's smile
The bomber's arm placing fiery gifts on the supermarket shelves
Alley sings with shrapnel detonate a temporary hell

Radiohead are much less political than Marillion - and "Karma Police" has incredible lyrics, not to mention the wonderful coda;

Karma police
arrest this man,
he talks in maths,
he buzzes like a fridge,
he's like a detuned radio.

Karma police
arrest this girl,
her Hitler hairdo
is making me feel ill
and we have crashed her party.

Finally, "Paranoid Android" is over 7 minutes long - longer than, for example "Garden Party". "Supper's Ready" is in fact 5 pieces, each around the 3-4 minute-mark. 2 of those 5 pieces are repeated, and thematic material is used from the 1st to give continuity.

 

The "prog" element is the elusive part that is missing from the Beatles as not one of their albums truly deserves the tag "prog", even Sergeant Pepper.

Try this experiment: Listen to DSOTM, then a prog album of your choice (using one of the 5000+ listed here as a guide) then OK Computer, then an album by any of the bands you have mentioned. I'm confident you will then understand why many believe Radiohead are a special case. They certainly don't deserve the straight "Indie" tag, IMO.

If not, you will have had a superb chill-out session - particularly when armed with the tipple of your choice

BTW, if you can track down a copy of the video of the set they performed at Glastonbury in 1997, I almost guarantee you will be "converted". There is something magical about it - Q Magazine recently voted it the #1 live set of all time. Not sure I'd agree, but it's up there with the very best!

 

Thats an interesting question ... i dont know if i would call Radiohead prog ... because i personally think they're more of an indie band. But bearing this in mind O.K. Computer is a very experimental album (considering they're an indie band) and a good album too. I wouldn't personally classify them as Prog myself.

Another point (very subjective this time) is the fact that I would love to see my favorite bands on TV... but I can't imagine VDGG (i.e.) beside a Britney Spears clip, even in case of success. Thinking about characteristics of progressive music, surely, comes to my mind the non-commercial but artistic intentions. So, when I see Radiohead in MTV, I'm glad because their music isn't so bad like most of the "TV bands", but prog? No way!

Peter Rideout wrote:  The boundaries of "prog" are amorphous, semi-permeable, and subjective. This type of question has no real answer, but could be voted upon....

Yes, maybe we should make a poll?

EDIT: oops, there is one!

Edited by Joren

A prog fan couldn't resist the "progressive rock death" idea. So, any prog fan tries to keep alive the beloved genre, trying to hear "progressive" any kind of music a little bit  different from the FM radio hits. Radiohead is a good alternative band, or we must consider Coldplay, Anathema, Oasis, etc etc as prog bands too? 

The articles that I've read, make it seem that the band is shy about fielding the whole "prog" rock question. I have a magazine where the interviewer asked Jonny Greenwood if he was familiar with the Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, and he mentioned he was to some extent, but that the band doesn't reference classic prog music directly. However, there seems no doubt that some of the band's music is heavily influenced by Brian Eno. Also, Thom Yorke has said that Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" influenced the choatic horn part at the end of "The National Anthem".

"OK Computer" is very prog in nature - "Exit Music (For A Film)", "Paranoid Andriod", "Subterranean Homesick Alien", "Climbing Up the Walls", etc. IMO, Radiohead are VERY experimental, but they don't play "shredder" guitar or 10+ minute songs. So I don't know if that qualifies as prog in the classis sense. Though they do use Moogs and Mellotrons with creepy sound effects, which to me is prog enough. Like someone already said, "OK Computer" is the 90's "Dark Side of the Moon" in a sense.

"Cuttooth" (Kid A/Amnesiac B Side) is very Krautrock and reminds me of the 70's German band Neu! (David Bowie fans will be familair with this influence on the Berlin Trilogy (Low/Heroes/Lodger). And if you listen to "2+2+5" or "Everything In It's Right Place", it sounds prog to me. If "prog-rock" means "progressive rock music", than I think by today's standards, Radiohead should at least be considered on the boderline of "prog" and  "alternative".

Edited by necromancing

I like Radiohead. Until someone said they were prog, I never really saw them in that light. Still don't... I thought we covered this earlier, Fringe-Prog. Good Band- Fringe Prog.

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