Radiohead, Pablo Honey
and how I came to love this early unruly child
and how I came to love this early unruly child
Conventional musical wisdom suggests that any band’s second record is to be labelled their “difficult second album” as, continuing with more generalised music industry thinking, any band has had their entire lives to produce their first album and hence this is the greatest creation they could possibly have waxed to vinyl before being rushed into producing a follow up 9/12/18 months later. Now Radiohead don’t do convention so such “rules” never apply to them! And never was this more aptly demonstrated than in 2007 when they released their sixth album “In Rainbows” as a pay what you want, honesty box internet download. But we’ve already skipped way ahead into a brilliantly Radiohead tinged future and this blog is designed as a follow up to my previous entry on the five musical geniuses from Oxford, England, and posted here under the title “Radiohead, OK Computer — and how saying no to The Bends saved my life”. This entry will be much shorter than that particular love fest and only spotlighting their first album and, in an attempt to write a slightly different blog this time, I’ll run through the album track by track with a myopic appraisal of each track as well as how I felt about the song on first listen and how my feelings may have changed on the numerous subsequent listens ever since.
Just for the record and full disclosure — I’m a Radiohead obsessive and unabashed fan. However, much like this album itself, I had a rocky start with Radiohead and as covered in the above noted previous blog I initially turned down “The Bends” and it was only my mad as a box of frogs but golden hearted friend Gareth who refused to accept my refusal that it was anything but a masterpiece and I relented to a second listen and quickly realised my much missed friend was in fact correct all along. So I missed the official start of Radiohead’s career and bought this album after listening to their second album over and over and over again in 1995. But we’re skipping ahead again and so here’s my track by track, then and now, appreciation of their first album and an album that’s difficult to love but over time, I have. Kind of!
(1) “You” — A lyrically twisted song that appears to be about confusion, of believing another person and doubting their own decisions amid an apocalyptic end, but it’s so vague it remains to me open to interpretation.
Favourite lyric — “You, are, the sun and moon and stars”
Then and Now — Far too heavy and grunge influenced for my youthful precious ears, this has developed into a firm favourite over the years and a portent for the future with Thom Yorke’s vocal high in the mix and Jonny Greenwood’s beautifully melodic guitar riffs to the forefront.
(2) “Creep” — The infamous Creep! The song with a thousand different explanations generated over the years and which very quickly had Thom and the band retreating a thousand miles away from their own creation. Every Radiohead fan worth their salt has their own interpretation for this unquestioningly brilliant song and rather than putting Thom the songwriter as the song’s “creep” and “weirdo”, I’ve embraced the view of putting myself front and centre and the song has given me a comfort blanket of sorts over the years, of wanting to be “special” set against the beauty of others and ultimately not belonging whether I try to or not. A comfort blanket? A constant companion? Or just a song I sing when I need to raise my personal defences? Probably all three, and a thousand other reasons too.
Favourite lyric — “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here”.
Then and Now — I adored this on first listen and despite the on/off love affair the band have had with their own song, I adore it with perhaps even more reverence and love now. From it’s gentle beginning of melodic jangling guitars to it’s equally soulful and quiet ending, to Jonny’s crashing “crunch” of his guitar (another urban legend of this song suggests he absolutely hated it and wanted to signal his distaste with a ripping, discordant riff) to Thom’s screaming and elongated vocal of “Run” towards the song’s climax, I’ve always adored this song and will continue to do so, but I’m a creep, and a weirdo, and often question what the hell am I doing here?
(3) “How do you?” — A first person song spitting venom at everything and everyone around them but who this person is and why remains a mystery.
Favourite lyric — “And he was a stupid baby, who turned into a powerful freak”
Then and Now — At only 2 minutes this is one of Radiohead’s shorter compositions and flat out frenetic, venomous punk rock they quickly moved away from. Not a favourite then and a song that makes me smile for it’s audacity and energy but that’s about it. Not a particular favourite all these years later.
(4) “Stop Whispering” — Railing against perceived injustices, perhaps even alluding those closest of all to home and personal gripes, this is an early Radiohead rallying cry against an established order and to simply stop whispering “and start shouting”.
Favourite lyric — “Dear Sir, I have a complaint. Can’t remember what it is. Doesn’t matter anyway”.
Then and Now — Another in the category of loving instantly and still so 26 years later. From it’s acoustic beginning to the full band spectacularly crashing together as it builds to it’s denouement, it’s a brilliant song and the first on the album showcasing Colin Greenwood’s distinctive and effortless seeming basslines. I’ve always been a sucker for Colin’s bass and it’s a huge reason for my continued love for this song.
(5) “Thinking About You” — On one level, a simple song about masturbation. On another, a barbed, spitting attack on an unrequited love possibly or a love that’s been lost.
Favourite lyric — “These people aren’t your friends, they’re paid to kiss your feet”.
Then and Now — A purely acoustic song and a story told in under three minutes in duration. Always a firm favourite and will forever remain so.
(6) Anyone Can Play Guitar — Another song that plays on many levels, with a desire to be in a rock band, famous and follow in the footsteps of Jim Morrison. But it’s equally a barbed attack at the absurdity of it all, as well as life in general and our human mortality.
Favourite lyric — “Grow my hair. I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be Jim Morrison”.
Then and Now — Fuzzy, deliberately musically discordant and a time sequence on drums deliberately out of kilter with the song (almost a trademark that we as fans would become so familiar with on future albums and a testament to the brilliance of drummer Phil Selway), it’s still a difficult song to really like but I try. Probably because of the way Thom spits out his reference to Jim Morrison.
(7) “Ripcord” — Pablo Honey resumes on side “b” of a traditional vinyl album with a theme that Radiohead (and Thom in particular) would return to time and again on future albums and especially so The Bends and OK Computer, themes of dislocation, falling and a distrust of aeroplanes and cars. It has also been posited that this song is in response to the band being signed to a record label and of losing control and already spiralling way out of control.
Favourite lyric — “Soul destroyed, with clever toys, for little boys”
Then and Now — Another song I found too “heavy” and grunge rock when I first listened but have warmed to over the years. It’s another frenetic “thousand miles an hour” (to quote the lyrics) of a Radiohead song that I like rather than love but I do love the guitar riffs high in the mix mid-way through.
(8) “Vegetable” — Another returning theme for later albums is here, that of anti authoritarianism and resistance to control and outside influences.
Favourite lyrics — “I spit on the hand that feeds me. I will not control myself”.
Then and Now — Like so much of Pablo Honey, this song veers from “pop” to grunge rock and like Ripcord above, I’ve warmed to it over the years whilst never fully loving it. Jonny and Ed O’Brien’s guitar work is stellar and Thom’s venomous delivery still raises a smile.
(9) “Prove Yourself” — The title of this song states the obvious (and is repeated numerous times in such a short song) as is the refrain of being “better off dead”. It’s as downbeat as early Radiohead can be.
Favourite lyrics — “Nowhere to sit without a gun in my hand. Hooked back up to the cathode ray”.
Then and Now — There’s nothing in this song I’ve ever particularly enjoyed and this continues to this day.
(10) “I Can’t” — One of the longest songs on the album and a short story of the despair of anxiety, frustration and inability to do anything.
Favourite lyrics — “Please forget the words, that I just blurted out. It wasn’t me, it was my strange and creeping doubt”.
Then and Now — I loved this song on first listen and still do for three main reasons, firstly the above quote (a refrain I’ve jokingly used numerous times), the beautifully crafted beginning of the song and it’s move into the first chorus and the simple but brilliant bass solo, then drum solo, before the group crash in for the finale’.
(11) “Lurgee” — A sonically beautiful ode to a relationship breakup. Probably.
Favourite lyrics — “I feel better. I feel better, now there’s nothing wrong”.
Then and Now — Hated this on first listen and it’s very definitely grown on me over the years. Simple repetitive lyrics, evenly paced and nowhere near as frenetic as many other songs on the album. Will never appear on a “Greatest Hits” selection but a hidden gem for me.
(12) “Blow Out” — Anxiety? Pain? Inner demons? Possible lyrical allusions to drugs and the ultimate life consequences?
Favourite lyrics — “I am fused, just in case I blow out. I am glued, just because I crack out”.
Then and Now — This album ending track has always intrigued me and has very definitely grown on me to the point I now adore this song. Colin’s sublime bassline, Phil’s drums higher in the mix and Thom and Ed alternating on singing duties before the entire band crash in to end the album.
So there we have it, a brief (for me) ramble through “Pablo Honey” and Radiohead’s debut album that is seriously and relentlessly panned by critics and some of the band member’s themselves, but an album I’ve grown to like if not love. But make no mistake, there is some fantastic stuff here and I’m not just referring to the behemoth monster that “Creep” would soon become and remain so 28 years after it’s vinyl debut here.
In 2009, a deluxe “collectors edition” of the album was also released and much to the delight of die hard Radiohead fans as together with demo versions of many of the original album songs, acoustic versions, live and “in session” versions too, there was also the addition of rare/unreleased gems such as “Stupid Car” and “Killer Cars” (a theme of a fear of cars/travelling that Thom would expand upon on the album OK Computer), “Inside My Head” (a continuing theme of masturbation possibly), “Million Dollar Question”, “Faithless the Wonder Boy”, “Coke Babies” and “Pop is Dead” amongst many others.
So according to our five musical geniuses from Oxford, “Pop is Dead” and it “died an ugly death by back catalogue” which of course is an irony considering my appraisal of the first of their back catalogue of songs above. But Radiohead were never “Pop” anyway and as the albums and indeed decades progressed, so did they, from rock to prog rock, ambient to electronic, and, in this myopic fan’s view, a style of musical genre all of their very own.
Please see my previous blog on Radiohead here and stick around for future blog appreciations of the band coming soon.
Radiohead, OK Computer
And how saying no to The Bends saved my life.medium.com
