Everything in its right place

Pop music is void. Void of emotion, character and creativity. I say this in my, typically pompous, position as Radiohead fan.

The alternative rock group has had a grip on me since I was made aware of them at the start of university. My best friend introduced me to their music. His dad had once journeyed through Europe with nothing in the car besides a copy of Radiohead’s 2nd album: ‘The Bends’. I am forever grateful for the day that he did…

I, proudly, admit that the group has infected my life. My day begins listening to them whilst getting ready and ends watching a video-essay dissecting one of their many great songs. ‘Spotify wrapped’ quantified this obsession: outlining how I was in the top 0.05% of Radiohead listeners (roughly, the top 7000 in the world).

But why is this so?

What has enabled the group to permeate my life?

The answer lies above. Pop music is void. It does nothing for me. I would rather swallow a bullet than listen to the hordes of songs, vaguely detailing alcohol-fuelled interactions in a club, that now dominate the music industry. Where is the emotion? How am I supposed to connect to the art? The conformity, and lack of character present in modern music almost killed my love for the medium, as I was unable to empathise with songs or the surface-level emotions of the artist.

Radiohead was the antithesis to this norm. They provided exactly what I was looking for in my music. They provided exactly what I was missing…

Emotional Accuracy.

My love for Radiohead stems from the fact that each of their songs tackles such a precise emotion. The specificity of lead singer Thom Yorke’s lyrics paired with sounds that perfectly capture the focal emotion is a recipe that I have fallen for. My first love was the song ‘Everything in its Right Place’.

The first song off their 4th Album ‘Kid-A’, ‘Everything in its Right Place’ mixes a powerful, descending arrangement of melancholy synthesisers with Yorke’s harrowing vocals. It captures the tragedy of the human condition: the fact that no matter how good things are, they are never good enough. The lyrics outline how although ‘everything [is] in its right place’ the narrative voice ‘[wakes] up sucking on lemon’.

The typically human feeling of discontentedness is one beautifully incapsulated by the song. I say this with authority, as the emotion has plagued my life.

Years of studying resulted in good grades that I was never satisfied with. Loving relationships broke down because, for unknown reasons, I had grown unsatisfied with the comfort. Everything was in its right place, but I was not happy.

I remember, distinctly, listening to the song in the pitch black of my university dorm. I had grown estranged from my housemates, due to a breakdown of relationships, and felt so, so isolated. Everything was O.K: I had a bed, roof over my head, a loving family. Everything was in its right place. I had so much to be grateful for. Yet, I was sad.

The song had become the mantra for an emotion that was consistent throughout my life, and the fact that a musical group was able to display these feelings with such accuracy, was stunning.

I love Radiohead. They have embedded themselves into my life by accurately capturing emotions I thought that only I had felt.

I urge readers to give them a listen, as I am sure that somewhere in their discography is a song waiting to imprint itself within your life.