The Unintentional, Accurate Predictions of "OK Computer" by Radiohead
Radiohead released their third LP, OK Computer , in 1997. But they never knew that the album’s predictions of the inevitable, dooming future caused by technology would come true years later. Radiohead, comprised of Thom Yorke, Ed O’Brien, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, and Phillip Selway, wanted to move in a different direction for their third album. The scare caused by the rise of smarter technology in the late 1990s influenced themes expressed on OK Computer . The album grapples with many themes such as the changes in behavior and isolation due to technology, political corruption, and the false promises of hope––which all still resonate today. On this album, Radiohead foresees a bleak, inevitable future in which humans have lost themselves to technology. An example of a song that deals with this is “Paranoid Android.” The song tells the story of a man reborn in a world with disgusting humans who behave with no moral compass. Plus, in this world, communication is only via soci...
