Not the best radiohead album, but still great
January 5, 2009
Radiohead's first album is not their best, but it showed that they had promise and they proved it with their follow-ups. It's a great debut and the beginning of one of the best bands of this generation.
Pablo Honey
January 2, 2009
It's extremely hard to believe that this is the same band that made In Rainbows. I first heard the album at the same time I first Amnesiac and I couldn't believe my ears. The band has changed so much over the past 15 years, definately for the better. Pablo Honey is to this day the only Radiohead album I just can't listen to. After the first three or four tracks it just gets so dull that I can't take it anymore. I don't understand how it's considered to be so groundbreaking when it sounds like most other 90s alternative/post-grunge bands. I think it was Radiohead's ability to try new things and their willingness to be experimental with their music that got me listening to them, and there is none of that in this album. "Creep," one my favorite songs on the album, is definately the most experimental song on the album, and it's probably one of the most overrated songs of all time. I even hate the album artwork. Another reason I started listening to Radiohead was because their artwork caught my eye, with the one exception of Pablo Honey. It's just not worth your money or your time.
Thursday, June 3, 1993
November 28, 2008
The aforementioned date is when I first heard of Radiohead. I was 14 and a high school freshman. I consider this information relevant because at that time is when I was first discovering my own musical tastes without anyone's influence also being really familiar with "Alternative" music, I have noticed it taking a different and somewhat of a disappointing turn so I saw the video "Creep" only briefly because I was unimpressed and it was because that song sounded quite similar to Sonic Youth (a dearly beloved band) especially before the chorus when there came that "guitar-crunch" I wasn't impressed because only Sonic Youth could work their sound like no one else. Also they seemed to be the latest band featuring morose lyrics, i.e. "Wish I was special...but I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo..." and a quiet-loud-quiet song structure, i.e. Pixies, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins so the way I looked at that song at that time was basically recycled by a brand new artist. Later that year, I've heard the album a couple of times as basically background music and while I wasn't fully engaged in it, it seemed alright...actually it was better than I thought it would be so then as years passed, I fully immersed myself in this album. I found myself connecting to some of its gloomy lyrics after all as well as their lovey side. The music is definitely brilliant (it's what I consider to be some of the best Alternative music ever made) Quite possibly my favorite song off this is "Stop Whispering" The first half is mellow coffeehouse atmosphere until it brilliantly segues into sprawling guitars that lead up to epic proportions. Brilliant! A song that I've connected to lyrically for a long time is "Thinking About You" Brilliant accoustic guitar and the electric guitar twinkle is excellent and the lyrics are standout. The amazing thing about Alternative music that I have realized from the start is that there is no formula to it. There's a lot and so much more that can come from Alternative music. While the band was progressing, I distanced myself more and more because they were the band "breaking new ground" (I wasn't ready for their drastic change) and quickly became the world's most beloved band. "Why all the hype?", "Could they really be as wonderful as many are proclaiming?" Well, now after finally listening to the rest of their studio albums early this year, they are a band who actually deserves all the hype, praise and accolades they receive. I will never again deny myself great music.
Very VERY humble beginnings
September 18, 2008
Another title to this review could've been 'Whoa! Whoa... Really not good. -at all'.
Let me first state that Radiohead is one of my favorite bands. I would give The Bends and OK Computer both five stars and the rest after them between three and four stars but this album is not really the Radiohead that I, and most everybody else, have come to know and love.
Another reviewer said it best in his title to his review, "Doesn't really foreshadow the future greatness of the band". And yet another reviewer said that "this could be anybody". I couldn't agree more with both of those reviewer's statements. Aside from track two (Creep) this album is nothing special and in my opinion is only worth having to complete a Radiohead collection.
90s pop rock, as good as it is going to get
August 22, 2008
While I know most people buy this album for the track "Creep" there are other good tracks as well. It took me a while to like these tracks (like at least 4 or 5 listens) after that it stuck with me. There are some very catchy pop tunes on here. "Stop Whispering," "You," "How Do You?," and "Vegetable" are some of the most memorable tracks. It is worth buying this especially if you are a fan of 90s pop/rock.
