To preface this blog, Radiohead has been a huge influence on one genre of music I listened to growing up. They led me to discover Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Queen, and David Bowie among other great musicians. Their 1997 album Ok Computer is widely considered one of the best albums of all time, 5x platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. Foremost, the title “Ok computer” was inspired by the BBC TV version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in which the character of Zaphod Beeblebrox says the line “Ok Computer”. There are no explicit mentions of computers on the album. In a similar way that “science” is emphasized in “science-fiction”, “OK Computer” is ultimately less about technology than submission- The pursuit of happiness has become less of a goal and more of a process.  

Thematically, the album depicts a world in which consumerism, social alienation, emotional isolation, and political malaise are all on the rise. On a larger scale, the band was world-building the idea that technology and society were moving too fast for their own good. Radiohead used unconventional production techniques at the time including “natural reverberation through recording on a staircase and no audio separation.” Much like some of the literary works in science fiction, the album’s vision of the future didn’t feel like some far-off imagined apocalyptic dystopia, but ‌rather a natural extension of the present from which it arises.  Here are the first three songs that have science-fiction elements!

 

1. Airbag

“In an interstellar burst, I am back to save the universe”

This song deals with topics of world war, fear-mongering, reincarnation, and space explosions. However, in a more literal sense, the song is about awareness of the precociousness of life following a moment of avoiding an accident. An airbag is a technology that saves lives, and the song is about a feeling of rebirth and being happy to just be alive. The first song in the album sets a precedence for the science-fiction delivery of serious topics in the rest of the album!

 

2. Paranoid Android

“From all the unborn chicken, Voices in my head, What’s that?, (I may be paranoid, but not an android)”

Much like the title of the album, this song is a direct reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The song references Marvin the Paranoid Android, a robot who is always depressed because the infinite possibilities within his mind are wasted on repetitive, trivial activities. The line, in particular, illustrates that one true escape is in one’s own mind, while at the same time the song deals with the distancing of humans from technology.

3. Subterranean Homesick Alien

“Up above aliens hover, Making home movies for the folks back home”

In this song, the singer has seen the future, and that future was aliens creating drone porn for their civilization back home. Personally, I’ve always thought this song was more or less a metaphor for feeling a bit alienated with one’s own life, own society, and place in the world. This person wishes they could view the world from a different, fresh perspective (alien). This song made me think of the alien scene in H.G Well’s “The Star”