Aug. 21st, 2010

No Surprises - Christopher O'Riley (Radiohead)


In the late 70s, my friends Elaine and Sherri would drag me to the punk clubs in Austin, which had a thriving scene. Oh God was that fun! The people, the garb, the jumping, the drinking, the occasional airborne bottle. I even enjoyed the earsplitting distortions coming from the stage. I couldn't possibly tell you any of the bands I heard, much less any songs they sang. To me the music was enmeshed with the whole experience. All of the elements were equally important, especially the listeners - although that word is far too passive for the role they played.

I enjoyed the punk scene ever much more than the quasi-religious posture that rock had had ten years before. The early 80s in NYC must have been the most fun of all! - I can even name some of those bands. (I experienced the same feeling of spontaneous group catharsis when I first went to the urban bear events in the 90s - especially in Chicago. Again, I really didn't distinguish the music being played from the dance itself.) I did try a few times to hunt down the CDs of this or that band, but disembodied from their true context, it just wasn't the same.

At least for me.

I know I'm unusual in this regard. I guess I'm just not much of a band person. (Though I should say that I am enjoying the YouTube's people are offering up for this meme - and learning a lot from them.)

So for this day (and probably the next day), I'm just going to submit a tune that is probably tangential to the concept of band. Christopher O'Riley plays a song of Radiohead. Band people would call this a cover, I would call it a piano transcription. If you like Radiohead (or even if you don't) and haven't heard his recordings of their songs - you probably should.

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