OK Computer

OK Computer is a famous music album by the English rock band Radiohead.

It was released on 21 May 1997. The album is known for its thick, layered sounds and unusual lyrics. These lyrics look at the modern world in a deep way. They explore themes like new technology, politics, and how people feel alone in big crowds. Some people say the album captured the mood of the 21st century before it even arrived. It helped change British rock music by moving away from simple pop styles. Instead, it helped make atmospheric rock more popular for many years.

To make this sound, the band tried many new things. They wanted to move away from the guitar-heavy style of their previous work. They used instruments like the Mellotron, an early keyboard, and the glockenspiel, which is a set of metal bells. Most of the album was recorded live. This means the band members played together at the same time. They did not use a lot of separate layers added later. This made the music feel more natural and real. They even used a plate reverberator to create special echoing sounds.

Radiohead spent a long time finding the right place to work. They started by recording demos in Oxfordshire. They also used a converted shed called Canned Applause. Later, they moved to a historic mansion called St Catherine's Court near Bath.

This large house helped them find unique sounds. For the song "Exit Music (For a Film)," they recorded voices on a stone staircase. For the song "Let Down," they recorded in a ballroom at 3 am. This allowed the band to work at their own pace. They had a budget of £100,000 for their recording equipment.

The band worked with a producer named Nigel Godrich. He became a very important part of their team. Some people even call him the "sixth member" of the band. They also recorded string music at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. The album had many successful songs. These included "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," "Lucky," and "No Surprises." Even though their record label thought the album might be hard to sell, it became a huge hit. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. It also sold at least 7.8 million copies all over the world.

OK Computer is now seen as one of the greatest albums ever made. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1998. In 2014, the US Library of Congress added it to a special registry. This registry keeps records that are culturally or historically important. The band even released new versions of the music years later. In 2017, they released a remastered version called OKNOTOK 1997 2017. This showed how much the album still matters to people today. It remains a key part of music history.