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April 11, 2007
OKC-NVMD: And what would the kids think?
Starting in March, MerrySwankster and its readers held a tournament to determine the best album of the 90s. Styled after March Madness, it included 65 teams. Nirvana's Nevermind and Radiohead's OK Computer are the finalists. To vote on which album you think should win, click here or vote in the comments below.
These are Randall Monty's thoughts.
Nevermind and OK Computer in the final; has the “No Surprises” hand already been played?
I think there are a number of ways to approach the question, “What is the best album of the ‘90s?” Initially, most would assume that that question asks, “What is your favorite album?” But I don’t think that’s what the question means, although I do think it is possible to separate the two.
The next course of thought is probably, “What is the most artistically relevant album that came out at any time between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1999?” But once again I don’t think that is the best way to look at it either, because that p.o.v. all but completely removes the listener from the equation. No, I want to take the question quite literally. In my estimation, the initial inquiry seeks to find the album that best embodies and summarizes the entire decade in question while also being simultaneously liked and creative. That is why my vote goes to Nevermind.
Taking nothing away from the prescient qualities of OK Computer, for which I’m sure other writers on this site will more eloquently opine, Radiohead’s coup de grace just doesn’t seem to hold the same cross-cultural impact of Nirvana’s breakthrough album. In fact, it’s not even close. Nevermind, for all its genre-specificity (after all, angst-fueled three piece r’n’r had been done), became a phenomenon: there is a certain ubiquity to the opening cords of this masterpiece that nothing on OK Computer can match. To continue that raw communicative emotion throughout an entire album that still sounds fresh today is nothing short of revolutionary.
I mean, it seemed like everybody loved “Teen Spirit”, even my dad and those friends who didn’t listen to “rock” music. Conversely, I could walk outside my door right now and find someone my age that has never heard “Airbag”. Perhaps that says more about my neighbors than necessary, but the fact of the matter remains: Nirvana meant (and still means) more to more people than Radiohead ever will. I don’t want to turn this argument into a strict popularity contest, but you can’t simply discredit it either, especially when it’s the music’s primary success.
The Beatles aren’t the greatest band of all time only because they were creative geniuses, or because they wrote wonderfully catchy songs. They are so regarded because they were creative geniuses that wrote wonderfully catchy songs that entire nations of people somehow managed to relate to. Perhaps not on that high a level, Nevermind continues with that same “accessibility without artistic compromise” aesthetic. People listen to this stuff, remember? OK Computer, on the other hand, is bourgeoisie, it sounds as though it were written for, and possibly by, robots.
I doubt this next part lends much critical weight to my argument, but I can imagine my offspring someday pulling out a copy of Nevermind (or uploading, or whatever they’ll do) and becoming transfixed by its rawness, power, and emotion. I hope that some day my kin will also appreciate OK Computer, and other complex albums, but I know that if and when they do, it will not be an immediate transformation; falling for OK is a careful measure that takes time. And that’s a good thing! But the ‘90s weren’t about calculated listening parties; they were all rough-shot race riots, presidential blowjobs, labor strikes by millionaires, and AIDS realizations. If you’re going to harp on how Radiohead managed to set the stage for music in the 21st Century*, then vote Computer the best album of the ‘00s. But when it comes to the decade of the nineteen-hundred and nineties, the conversation begins and ends with Nirvana.
* Which I don’t totally buy. OK Computer seems to be influencing this century’s music in a “1950’s, every-family-in-a-flying-car-by-1993” sort of way.
Posted by Keith O'Brien at April 11, 2007 09:51 AM
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Comments
Great debates have landed at Merry Swankster. The problem for me with Radiohead is that I get bored with their songs pretty quicky, including a well done album such as OK Computer. I can respect the work for it's influence moving forward through time but all in all I would rather be watching Nirvana than Radiohead if concert tickets were being handed out.
Posted by: Kelli Douglas at April 11, 2007 11:05 AM
KD, in theory Radiohead is probably a pretty boring band. It I go long without listening to them, I even start to believe it. That is until a track comes across on shuffle; then it's back to the "Holy-shit-this-is-awesome!" mood. And then the cycle repeats itself. Ebbs and flows every couple of months or so.
Posted by: Randall Monty at April 12, 2007 03:02 PM
