Hysterical and Useless
As a 90s alternative rock enthusiast and a great admirer of narrative, emotionally- charged poetry, I was naturally fascinated by Radiohead’s magnum opus OK Computer. Tinged with piercing electronics and screaming guitar leads, its grandiose, reigning instrumentation drew me in like nothing ever had before. But it was not until the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic that I began to grapple with the album’s pervading anxiety, its themes of alienation, automation, and dissociation from reality, and its despairingly relevant sense of trepidation that had previously gone unappreciated. Despite being written in the seemingly centuries-ago of 1997, the longing, uncertain lyrics of Thom Yorke seemed to me all-too pertinent amidst the not-so-distant struggles of 2020.
