

One significant event was the band's participation in the War Child project. There were several things that influenced the production of " OK Computer". Its commercial performance would eventually allow the band to score 100,000 British pounds worth of mobile studio equipment from their label on "OK Computer". "The Bends" instead had been a steady slow-building release. This was partly due to "The Bends" seeming to lack a catchy radio-friendly single like the legendary " Creep". "The Bends" was not the barn burning commercial success that their debut " Pablo Honey" had been. " OK Computer" was the third studio album for Radiohead and the follow up to " The Bends". By ignoring their label, Radiohead would be rewarded for listening to their inner voice, presenting an off-kilter/introspective release that would capture the era's zeitgeist. Contextually this was a period where many of the preconceived norms of society were being weathered away by technology, and the manifest uncertainty of this occurrence was perfectly encapsulated in "OK Computer". That may be laying it on a little thick but "OK Computer" is brilliant in capturing all the angst and foreboding lurking at the edge of the end of the 20th Century.

"OK Computer" would be overwhelmingly acclaimed by the critics, and many listeners and musicians consider it one of the greatest albums of all time. Endless reviews, theories and strange conspiracies have been spawned by this little album that could. Where did the time go? "OK Computer" is an album that the band's record label foolishly dubbed career suicide, getting it utterly wrong, and it has become one of the most lauded and seminal albums of the late 20th Century. Radiohead's "OK Computer" is 20 years old this spring.
