Tori Amos on her favourite Radiohead album
Inhabiting the alternative sphere around the same time in the 1990s, it’s no surprise that Tori Amos admired and took inspiration from Radiohead. Fronted by Thom Yorke, the band were – and still are – an alternative essential, bringing glitchy electronica and lyrical melancholy into the genre. From Pablo Honey to In Rainbows, Radiohead have consistently delivered some of the most well-loved entries into alt-rock, but there is one that stood out to Amos.
As the 1990s came to a close, Radiohead delivered their third record, OK Computer, an album that began to cement the band as innovators of the genre they sat within. Perfectly timed with the birth of the digital era, the record maintained a focus on the changing world that surrounded the band, considering capitalism and futurism amidst a collage of strings, drum loops and bleeps.
It was this LP that Amos cited as having a particular impact on her in her mid-30s. During a conversation with Pitchfork, she recalled, “When OK Computer came out… now, that was something really different.” It certainly was something different, something that would go on to inspire artists far beyond Amos.
“It was this explosion that changed the terrain sonically and got invoked in other people’s work,” she explained, “It’s hard to define, but it’s one of the most influential records for artists from all genres.” This stood true in Amos’ own catalogue, as she cites OK Computer as having a huge influence on her 1998 art-pop album, From the Choirgirl Hotel.
It’s easy to see how Amos was inspired by Radiohead’s electronic experimentation on this record. Leaving harpsichords and acoustic guitars behind, the muted keys and trip-hop influences that pervade the album can be likened to Radiohead’s stylings.
“Things changed from Boys for Pele,” Amos explained, “Which was the harpsichord punk record of mine but acoustic-driven, and this was more an electric-driven record. Matt Chamberlain came out and played drums for the first time on my records; we had a bunch of musicians coming in and out. That’s when things started to change in our world in a big way.”
Amos concluded that it was a “very different type of record for me, and that came from listening to OK Computer.” She certainly isn’t the only artist who felt the transformative effect of Radiohead’s blending of rock and electronica. From Julia Jacklin to Muse, their singular sound influenced countless future indie and alternative icons. The sphere is still littered with references to Radiohead and to OK Computer, and likely always will be.
Revisit OK Computer below.
