Back in 2005, I penned an Old Testament-sized post about a strenuously dubious theory initially proposed by pop culture writer, Chuck Klosterman, specifically regarding how Radiohead’s “challenging” fourth album, Kid A eerily predicted the events of September 11th, 2001. That’s them above, incidentally, snapped in …uhhh… 2001, by Danny Clinch. Odd, that.
Anyway, it was not a theory I personally subscribed to, nor one I think even Chuck Klosterman took very seriously, but it did make me listen to that record again with a new pair of ears. In any case, it was fun post at the time, and that was that.
Strangely, out of all the entries I’ve published on this silly blog over the past decade, it is the one that will not die!
As mentioned in this post from 2010 (which already feels like a lifetime ago), the post was picked up by the fine, funny folks at Cracked.com, which gave the still percolating post (seemingly roundly invoked on many a Radiohead chat board) a fresh new boost. And being that Cracked routinely gets far more deeper clicks than this silly blog, that original post’s placement on same kept people coming back to it.
Then, in 2014, Noisey also pointed to the post in a cheeky takedown of the band called Radiohead is for Boring Nerds, and –- again -– the clicks rained down.
Today, in 2016, Noisey must have revived that post in light of the long awaited release of a new Radiohead record, as this blog has received both a huge spike in page views and a fresh new crop of correspondence from feverish Radiohead fans and detractors alike.
Here’s the thing: I DON’T CARE!
I do actually like Radiohead, although I’d hardly call myself an ardent fan. I thought the new single with the claymation “Wicker Man” theme was perfectly alright. I’m not sprinting out to buy it, although I’m not even sure I could if I wanted to, being that I think it’s a digital only release and, … on yes, … THERE AREN’T MANY PLACES LEFT TO BUY A PHYSICAL COPY OF IT, but that’s obviously a different, tenaciously stinging grumble.
But in terms of the merits of the original theory about Kid A and September 11th, I’m sorry -– and I’m relatively certain Chuck Klosterman would agree –- it was just a bit of silly rumination and juxtaposition, not something you should really be taking all that seriously.
There are bigger fish to be fried, no?
I have the audiobook to killing yourself to live and i always find myself intrigued by the strikingly accurate "musical storyboard" that Kid A is to the events of sept. 11. however, even klosterman acknowledges that most of kid a was written when yorke had a terrible bout of writers block, and was writing lyrics on scraps of paper and pulling out lines and working them into the musical arrangements. all of this was happening in the fall of 2000. so unless yorke was pulling the scraps from the goblet of fire, and there is some unexamined lapse in the space time continuum, it is verifiably impossible that it was in a anyway a prediction.
Posted by: Davidblakeolsen | January 22, 2017 at 02:53 AM
The thing is, there was more to it than just the album and a couple of images. There was so much promo art going around, websites, videos, etc. I was curious about the 9/11 connection too, after seeing the “flaming tower” album art and a picture of twin pyramids with windows like skyscrapers bleeding into a river. It was uncanny just how much of that media depicted some variation of themes like twin buildings, fire and death, even airplanes crashing into a city on the water. Some of the strangest were the MTV “blips” they aired leading up to the albums release
Posted by: Josh Lawson | October 04, 2018 at 05:34 PM