As noted as recently as this past June, there’s a certain entry I posted back in the balmy, comparatively carefree days of 2006 that has gone onto become the single-most clicked post in this blog’s fifteen plus years of existence, that being my windy unpacking of Chuck Klosterman’s frivolous theory that Radiohead’s Kid A predicted the events of September 11, 2001. Chuck wasn’t entirely serious when he wrote it. I wasn’t entirely serious when I recapped it. But the clicks flock to that entry like the swallows used to flock to Capistrano. I guess it doesn’t hurt that when I type in “Kid A,” “Klosterman” and “9/11” in Google, that entry is the first that seems to pop up. Results will vary, of course.
As I mentioned back on that June post (and in 2016 and in 2010), that entry has evidently become a de-facto starting point for folks wishing to discuss the matter, usually on message boards and Radiohead fan sites, but also on otherwise quasi-reputable websites like Cracked and Noisey. Last week, though, I noticed a sudden, new spike in traffic on my blog and – sure enough – it was that post, newly picked up by Pitchfork. Curiosity piqued, I went over to check it out.
In this instance, my shoddily written recap and rumination on Klosterman’s original essay were fleetingly alluded to in a review of a new book by one Steven Hyden titled “This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s Kid A And The Beginning of The 21st Century.” Fittingly enough, we are but mere days away from the twenty-year anniversary of the release of Kid A, which landed on unsuspecting listeners on October 2, 2000. Seems like yesterday.
The excerpted passage from Hyden’s book in the Pitchfork piece prompted me to go pick up a copy – less intrigued about the actual subject matter than by the fleeting chance that maybe – just maybe -- my stupid blog post would get a mention and/or plug in the text. I’ve gotten lucky like that in the past – earning invocations in Joe Gross’ book about Fugazi, Bryan Waterman’s book about Marquee Moon, Eric Wendell’s “Patti Smith: America’s Punk Rock Rhapsodist” (asserting a frankly misinformed position I’ve since recanted) and on the back cover of Trevor Ristow’s “Waiting For Another War.”
Well, no such luck, this time. Either Hyden bypassed my entry and went right to Klosterman (who gets a single invocation on page 134), or learned about it without any help from me. Oh well. I'm still looking forward to reading the book.
In terms of the premise of my original post and Chuck Klosterman's theory, however, it seems some inventive individual took the time to make ... the video in the link below. Please note, if you are triggered, disturbed or offended by graphic depictions of the events of September 11, 2001 ... which, even this many years after the fact, is entirely understandable ... I strongly advise you against watching.
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