Radiohead Illuminates "Riverdance"

First, about Radiohead:

There are a number of things about Radiohead that ought to be deal breakers for me. The first several times I tried listening to them all I could think was "Pink Floyd did that bombastic, over-dramatic whiny thing twenty years ago."

For some reason though I kept trying and finally something clicked. I realized that they don't sound all that different from a lot of other things l like to listen to.

Now I'm obsessed. I can't stop listening even though I want to. Some mornings I wake up after a night of their songs going through my head and I think "I really have to stop." But I can't. I need to hear those strange sounds. Their sounds twist my brain in a way I really love. It's almost consciousness altering. They open other worlds up in my mind. I LOVE that. Because heaven knows this one's not good enough. And I can do it myself but it's nice to have help from time to time.

I would think that the relentless moping or the U2 level drama or T.Y.'s whiny tones would drive me nuts but no. His voice scratches an itch I didn't know I had. Can't. Stop. Listening. They don't even have that many albums and I don't even have them all. Some of the stuff I used to like to hear sounds lifeless and dull now and I blame them.

It's all about compulsive behavior that you don't like but can't help. Sex, death, and consuming. Painfully animal - and natural and beautiful. And then there's escape into the ether of one's mind. Torn between the carnal and the ethereal - being both and needing both.

This is why we invented monsters: because we are monsters. Every one of us has a Mr. Hyde that doesn't always stay inside. Sometimes we don't even notice that he's out and active.

Drama drama drama! And I can't get enough. As long as it's in the art I like and not in my life.

At the moment my favorite is "Everything in its Right Place" from the Kid A album. It sounds multi-dimensional. No I have not been smoking whacky weed or ingesting other illicit substances.

And what the hell's with Thom Yorke anyway? He ought to be unbearably annoying but no, he's kind of fascinating. That's a guy with charisma.

There's nothing annoying about the drumming though. Phil Selway is one of the rare drummers who uses his kit as a musical instrument. Most drummers seem to think only about rhythm or texture but he thinks about the notes he's playing too.

John Waters once said that the best art is the kind you don't like at first. I think that's right: it's the kind that really bugs you to the point that you are forced to figure it out. Art that comes and gets you without your permission.

This is where Riverdance comes in. I tried to understand the appeal of Riverdance once, since it was all over PBS and it was bugging the hell out of me. I sat down and watched it a couple of times and then I spent weeks with it in the back of my mind trying to figure it out. During those weeks Pete and I drove out to Las Vegas for a wedding. We passed innumerable houses in the middle of nowhere. Places where it was hours worth of driving just to get to a gas station. Maybe these were the people who made Riverdance such a huge hit? Or Monster Trucks or Rob Zombie movies? They have plenty of natural beauty around them to develop an aesthetic sense, but not much access to culture. Obviously they get some culture but not much in the way of variety. Riverdance must appeal to people who don't have much in the way of man-made spectacle to compare it to.

Art is supposed to transport the person experiencing it to another level of awareness. Now, probably ten years later, I suppose that Riverdance (and monster trucks and Rob Zombie movies) evokes the same sense of mystery, strangeness, beauty and otherworldliness in some people that Radiohead does in me. So for some people I guess it would be art. I could definitely see Riverdance starting some people off on their search for the extraordinary.