LET'S ARGUE: OK Computer Is Overrated 

LET’S AGREE: anthony should bring back the bass intros 🙂

Came for the musical hot-takes, stayed for the unexpected gastrointestinal health advice. Amazing pivot.

OK Computer is the best rap album of all time

Is the computer really OK? I feel like we need to check up on the computer and make sure they are doing well.

the tourist is actually my favorite somg off of the album, i just love thom’s distant vocals and the slow build to the guitar solo towards the end-it’s just such a perfect finisher

Let Down is absolutely one of my favorite Radiohead songs. I love the way it swells.

If MGK dropped Ok Computer in 2023, Anthony would give a 2/10

I think the reason people put so much stock into replay value is because music is one of the only mediums where a casual consumer will regularly return to a given piece, which in a way gives music its own special place in popular media. Most people won't watch a TV show or movie more than once, or will only rewatch them after a few months or years have gone by. By comparison, its not uncommon to loop the same song many times a day. Obviously replay value shouldn't be the only thing considered when judging music, but its an important part of what makes music unique from other art mediums, so it's worth considering most of the time.

I would argue Radiohead found their “sound” with The Bends, and then proceeded to dismantle and rebuild it for every subsequent album (save for Amnesiac, which was recorded the same time as Kid A)

There was this dude in his late 40s in my college class and we bonded over our love for rock music. He told me he liked radiohead and I told him that the bends was better than ok computer and I never saw him again. So he either dropped the class or he killed himself but either way I broke that man.

OK Computer is the most underrated reggae album of all time

Paranoid Android is my favorite Radiohead track. Thanks to Ergo Proxy for having it as the credits theme. One of the best rock songs I've ever heard.

"They haven't found their sound" = "they haven't found the sound that I prefer."

I finally just got around to listening to Ok Computer and Kid A, and tbh Ok Computer had me confused why it was so hyped the first listen, every song was just solid and good….and then it stuck with me all day. Every song, stuck with me, and I wanted to listen to it again and again.

Regarding the 'replay factor' argument, Sinner Get Ready comes to mind. It's probably the most emotionally impactful album listening experience I've ever had but I still wouldn't listen to it again cause it's just too upsetting. Couldn't imagine myself washing dishes to that or just chilling to it after a hard day the way I would to, say, Future Nostalgia.

I was recently surprised when relistening to Radiohead-Ok Computer by how quality it is considering how cliche it’s greatness is It really is fantastic as tight as almost any album I’ve heard Just classic after classic I agree it’s not there best album but I think as far as critical acclaim goes it’s not particularly overrated

I recall you saying, in regards to whether TPAB or Ok Computer deserves the title of "best album of all time", "Anyone with an alternative rock taste would like OK Computer." OKC isnt particularly hard to listen to but I think thats fucking amazing and a sign of expert musicianship. To get ideas across about the existential dread of computers forever changing society, and actually have the ideas be digestible and not overly cryptic takes so much talent. Rick Beato (a music producer) says in one of his videos that while he was in music college, EVERYONE there was trying to reverse engineer and understand how tf OKC was made. It was so far ahead of its time with its sound and the ideas. Its a fantastic album I'll cherish forever. When listening to Radiohead's discog I usually come back to In Rainbows more, simply because its nice, emotional music you can throw on anytime (and Jigsaw Falling into Place is the best song ive ever heard), but OK is their greatest achievement IMO.

You can hear "fucking hell" in one of The Beatles' biggest hits - Hey Jude. It was number one for weeks, is still one of the best known songs in pop music, and yet a lot of people are still unaware of it.

That cursing ban in the 60's was very real, probably one of the most iconic edits was on The Doors's debut, where Jim Morrison shouts "She get high!" But even to this day most people remember the censored version.

I can't be certain I will EVER listen to A Crow Looked at Me by Mt Eerie ever again, but I would easily rate it in the top 50 albums of all time. It's just emotionally devastating, and if I listen to it I know I'm gonna have a long, ugly cry. That's a tough sell for a listening experience. But I can't think of any single album by any artist that is even half as emotionally charged.

John saying "He was such a stupid GIT" on "I'm so Tired" said with such vitriol is pretty much just as impactful as any swear would be there. We saw what happened when John had full reign over what words he used in his songs in a very interesting diddy about women.

Gerard might be the only vocalist during that era that wasn't obnoxious.

Replay value doesn't have to equal to daily rotation. A high replay value can mean that you remember the album and return to it over time and time again, and perhaps it not only delivers the same experience again, but adds to it, you discover new aspects of it over time.

I did not expect to laugh as hard as I did with "Here comes the BLEEEEEEP". Oh, that was good. Thanks melon!

I have a funny story about the Beatles swearing. A while ago, I visited the O mansion in DC where they have all these fancy rooms decorated like TGI Fridays that could be rented out like a hotel. The owners were avid friends and fans of the Beatles and he had a room dedicated to John Lennon. I walked into it while one of Lennon’s songs was playing in the background and I laughed; in the song he messed up, paused, and cursed a bunched.

one of the main things i hear from people who also love lingua ignota is that they can’t listen to her music all the time and i can’t relate, even though her music is incredibly emotionally intense and brings up some rough things for me, the songs get stuck in my head!! i listened to thousands of minutes of lingy last year

it's underrated because it is not one of the biggest selling albums of all time or one of the most listened to. There will though still be people listening to this in 20 years time, 200 years time and possibly 2000 years time. It's timeless.

New editing stylings are incredible and bring a lot to the videos!

On the replay value topic, generally when I hear that term used i think more along the lines of "okay, this song sounded nice, but I don't think its going to give me enough to come back to it ever" as opposed to music that is really good, but you have to listen to it sparingly because its a very involved listen

I have to be honest I don't even understand the replay value debate. If I like a song or album I'm going to listen to it more than once. If something is good it automatically has replay value by default.

love when a melon is clearly in a good mood

Very much agree on the point about replay value. My first reaction was disagreement, but then after stopping to think I realized that most of my favorite albums in fact do not have high "replay value," in the sense that I need to be in at least a somewhat specific mood/set of circumstances to put them on. For sure, there are plenty of albums I love that I probably could listen to almost any day, but that doesn't mean they are better or that I enjoy them more than an album I listen to on a less frequent basis.

God these intros are always a damn trip, Ryan is a damn gift

The editing in the last couple of Let's Argue videos has been awesome! 10/10 😚👌

Best episode of let's argue in recent memory, although they're all great. I find myself looking forward more and more to the psychotic openings.

From the Basement is their best album. It may not be an album, but its their best performance, and they always composed their music thinking about playing them live. From the Basement is probably the best concert, live, performance, session that any group of humans have ever constructed. You can't judge Radiohead until you listen (and watch) their From the Basement sessions. In Rainbows is the great one, but im just saying, there are two of them.

OK Computer is the prototype, OK Human is the fully realized vision

Re: replay value, 100% agree- Carrie and Lowell, Fabulous Muscles, Suicide self-titled, Down Colorful hill, etc have only listened ~5 times and still consider them favs just bc they’re so emotionally devastating

LET'S ARGUE: Everything popular is going to be "overrated" to a certain extent because music is inherently subjective, and there's always gonna be some lesser praised thing in a similar field that people think should be up there instead...but if it was, then they'd be calling that thing overrated too.

these episodes keep getting better and better! keep up the great work daddy melon

i think a productive way to look at "replay value" isn't the frequency you revisit a record. for me, the question is - WHEN i re-listen to a record, do i get anything new from it? is there anything else there i missed? there's some records i've loved, and i DID listen to them every day, that after a while i found i had gotten everything from the album that i was going to get. that's not replay value! this also fits nicely into anthony's take here since not every deep record is possible, or even healthy, to listen to super often.

Replay value = longevity, if we’re still coming back to an album like A Crow Looked at Me as a pinnacle of artistic expression in ten-fifty years then it has more replay value than a flavour of the month pop album we wear out in a summer

Absokutely not overrated. Perfectly rated.

LET’S AGREE: In Rainbows is the best Radiohead album

Always admire Anthony's repeated refusal to agree with "We should bring x style of music back" takes and instead saying that we should push for new sounds.

I agree with the replay value take, cause for example if a song is sad or something it could be really good but you’re not always going to be in the mood to listen to it, and as for when there is a song you listen to often it might not be the best lyrical song but it just sounds good in the background, so it can’t really be used when talking about how objectively good something is. But if you’re having a conversation about what you like more, obviously the replay value is one of the more important factors

0:00 Intro 0:44 "OK Computer isn't Radiohead's best album." 1:58 "The Beatles should have cursed more in their music." 3:08 "Downtempo and boom bap type beats should make a comeback in hip hop." 3:48 "ICP and Odd Future are more alike than people think" 5:01 "How to fix tummy ache." 5:35 "MCR's music is great but Gerard Way is completely intolerable." 6:15 "The Forever Story > TPAB" (featuring lots of pixels) 6:32 "The term "Replay Value" is the worst factor to judge music on." 8:13 "Nicki Minaj is one of the weaker mainstream female rappers." 9:48 "U look beautiful today melon." 9:54 Outro

LET'S AGREE: Ok Computer is the best depressive funeral doom drone metal album ever made

I had the replay conversation with someone a while ago because someone was surprised I didn't listen to my favourite albums that often. For some reason she just couldn't understand that certain things require The Mood™ to be right.

The "ok computer" is a masterpiece of sound engineering, and when I first listened to as a teenager, it reminded me of Pink Floyd's 1967 album: "The Piper at the gates of dawn", which made an equally amazing impression on me. Still, I liked more"Kid A" - it is more neurotic, sounding like the sonic reverse of the previous one. I appreciate the music of the "radioheads", even though there was an incident during one of their last concerts in my country, which I remember, when one of the band members saw me staring in the crowd, impressed by spoting the legend, and just said: retard. Well, maybe God didn't give everyone the opportunity to look like McLuhan or a hot chick, but he did give radiohead albums xD.

Replay value can be a factor in quality, If I want to listen to an album again and again then I probably quite like it, But there are equally some songs I love with very little replay value, Like Gotye's "State Of The Art" or Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop", Both excellent songs that I probably wouldn't listen to more than once or twice a year at most.

Ok Computer is the best Radiohead album to me by a wide, wide margin. It’s the perfect marriage of everything that makes them a great band. Kid A is great no doubt, but they were always best as a rock band, and this was the furthest they pushed that.

The "replay value" tweet reminded me of when Steven Hyden (one of the only other music critics I follow) had Sunbather by Deafheaven as his best album of 2013. He only listened to it a couple times overall because it's a lot.

Love the editing on this one. keeping it fresh! 🔥🫶🏻

Saw this right away and OK Computer is revolutionary. If not one of the best albums ever made. All the songs hit so perfectly.

Its one of the greatest albums in the history of recorded music and it is still 100% underrated.

In terms of replay value I feel as though it’s unfair to say that that shouldn’t be a factor because for some people being able to return to a song often is the determining factor of how much they enjoy it

Let's AGREE. fantano’s editor has gotten ALOT better over the years

Thanks, Fantano! Your tummyache advice helped me greatly!

I would argue that Ok Computer is where Radiohead found “their sound”. If you compare it to The Bends the difference is really obvious, and if I listen closely to tracks on Ok Computer I can still pick up new details that I haven’t heard before. I think that Ok Computer is Radiohead through the lens of 90 Alt Rock and Kid A is Radiohead through the lens of Electronica. Also Lucky and especially The Tourist are great tracks.

Here are my takes 1. OK Computer isn't overrated, and especially not just because they were still finding their sound. 2. The Beatles shouldn't have sworn more. In fact, I'd argue that swearing would've made their music more awkward. 3. Honestly, I wouldn't be against it. I'd appreciate a little boom bap in rap. 4. I have no say in bands/artists I have never heard 5. Try some Pepto Bismol. 6. Uhhh, My Chemical Romance? Never heard them before. 7. Man, I dunno at this point. 8. Yeah, but what if we want to hear it again? Didn't think about that one. 9. I have no opinion on this subject matter. 10. I agree.

Gerards vocals are incredible wtf 💀

Ok Computer it's still one if the best alternative albums of all time.

I agree completely with the opinion on the replays. The best music needs time to really sink in!

Their performance of Paranoid Android on Jools Holland is probably the greatest live performance of a track, ever.

Best album I can think of for the "replay value" argument is A Crow Looked at Me. I will always struggle to listen to it, does not mean it is a horrible album by any stretch of the mind.

The thing with swearing in music and art in general is that if it accomplishes something meaningful it should be there, but oftentimes is just unnecessary filler. It also alienates people who don’t want to hear that stuff. My dad apologized to me after taking me to Moneyball because there were 2 f-words in the whole movie and he has constantly complained about that every time he watches it. Even if people who are unbothered by swearing don’t see an issue, there are still people who are deeply offended by swearing in general, and their opinions do matter to some extent.

That John Lennon leak might be one of the greatest bits of music ever

7:18 Exactly how I feel you don’t play some of those best albums all the time but you can love them the most for how impactful and good they are and streaming services don’t show this

It's interesting to consider how that 'replay value' comment compares to other media. For example: While Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most beautiful, sad, touching and impactful movies I've ever seen, was an extraordinary rollercoaster of emotions, my life is better for having seen it, told all my friends they NEED to watch it, and my memory of that viewing is still very vivid in my mind even after more than 20 years; I never want to experience that movie ever again. On the other hand, I could watch Aliens once a week and not get bored of it for a long time. I consider Aliens to be a lesser movie than Grave of the Fireflies. There are a couple of albums that I consider to be outstanding, monumental, eternal but I can't really listen to them more than once a year (for example RYSFLATH).

Fun fact the Beatles would slip in “naughty” words for instance in “girl” the background harmonies sing “tit,tit,tit ect” and there are several others Not overt cursing but more “obscene” references for the time than most pop groups

There’s technically a swear in Hey Jude when Paul Mccartney misses a chord. You can audibly hear it in the official version. Its amazing

every time I run OK Computer back I'm reminded of how many tracks I love on it not my favorite by them by any means either but it's there as far as songwriting is concerned also Cedric's (ATDI/The Mara Volta) vocals are beautiful regarding that MCR take...Claudio from Coheed as well

LET’S AGREE: Anthony is indeed a beautiful melon boi

I recently thought of Radiohead's career as kind of taking off from the plateau of Pablo Honey onto Bends and OK Computer being the highest part of that soaring motion (I agree it's not a complete album, there are a couple songs on it I don't like.. but as far as efforts go, pretty good! [comparable to something like Revollver from the Beatles[).. Kid A is perfect. Hail to the Thief follows the weightlessness of Kid A with a plunge into the depths.. and now they've kind of settled into a serene (as serene as you can be in this world without blinkers on)-ish mood... heyy fucking juudee

The idea that they fully found their sound with Kid A and then adventured away to other sounds mean they didn’t find their sound in Kid A 🤣

Let down from Ok Computer is definitely a top 3 example for a Radiohead sound

I’m honestly scared of what music looks like after trap beats.

All these takes boil down to "this thing many people like is overrated, whereas this thing that was overrated after or before is not overrated because I like it"

6:08 Billy Talent and Smashing Pumpkins are also solid examples of shrill voices that still compliment their music.

I kinda agree about the "replay value" thing, I've noticed that the most emotional songs/albums I know, I just can't listen to often.

You know what? As a huge Radiohead fan, I agree. (And here I was thinking I was the only one in the whole wide world). OK Computer remains to be my keast favorite or revisited album of theirs. No matter what, "Karma Police" "Airbag" and a few other tracks aside, I just don't get down with the record like that. That said, In Rainbows, to me, is their crowning achievement, their magnum opus, if you will, because, to me, that record is the most omniscient projection of their overall "sound", idiom, and mission statement as a band.

For the argument at 6:40 ish of this video, I’d also argue alongside Melon that David Bowie’s final album ‘Blackstar’ is an almost perfect album that deals with Bowies impending death (for those that are unaware, Bowie was in the final stages of cancer during the making of this album). It’s a perfect send off, but it’s hard to replay songs like Lazarus even though they’re perfect.

Let’s stop arguing about Radiohead. We get it. Some of you think they’re the greatest band ever, and some of you can’t stand them and don’t understand what the hype is about.

OKC is my favorite album. Every so often, I'll go a month or two between listens. I'll think, "Is it really as good as I remember?" Then I put it on, and about 2 seconds into Airbag, I'm reminded of how stupid I am for thinking that.

The "replay value" take definitely applies to games and movies too. Like, there are plenty of games that offer an INCREDIBLE experience your first time through but have almost no replay value. I don't think this devalues how amazing that original playthrough is, and I've always found that judging media by its replay value isn't the most helpful metric when the media in question wasn't designed to be replayed.

OK Computer is the perfect balance between what they were during The Bends and what they would become with Kid A.

Is it the best Radiohead album? No. Is it the most accessible Radiohead album? Yes. Goddamn. .

Ok computer is still one of the best techno funk records of all time

Gerard Way has an amazing voice, how dare you?!?!

To OK a Computer is definitely the greatest hyperpop album of all time

Easily best Radiohead album after the bends it’s a 10/10 for me and idk how in rainbows and okc are that highly regarded even though they’re still really really good

OK Computer is not overrated imo. Half the songs of the album they still play live. The Tourist is not formulaic. It's has a strange interrupted time signature going for it. Lucky is the oldest song of the albums, and its sound and temperament, led the way and inspired the rest of the album (I think I heard them say somewhere).

the editing of this let's argue is amazing

If I ever run into that guy who insulted Gerard Way's singing, it's ON SIGHT.

I can finally have an opinion on OK Computer, thanks Anthony!

The replay value discussion is actually really interesting. To step outside of music: The Last Duel is a truly great movie (IMO) that I never want to see again. It packed an emotional punch that just about any other piece of media I have ever consumed has not managed to match. For that, and the quality of craft involved int he film, I would consider it a great piece of art. However, the subject matter of the film is unsuitable to many people and truly disturbing by any metric. I never want to watch it again as I know the difficult elements take me to an emotional place that it is not healthy to regularly visit. But for the sole instance of my watching it, I would consider that experience well worth it.

2:05 In 1967, when The Doors played their song Light My Fire on the Ed Sullivan Show, they were asked to change a line in the lyrics from "girl, we couldn't get much higher" to "girl, we couldn't get much better" because sponsors of the show were uncomfortable with a possible reference to drugs. Jim Morrison sang the original lyrics and Ed Sullivan did not shake his hand after the performance and they were never invited back on the show. 60s pop culture, TV and radio was a hell of a lot more conservative. Like, I still remember radio edits of American Idiot where they just muted the vocals for swear words 😂 sounded terrible. Radio edits were not that long ago. Ofc there's also Rage Against the Machine's BBC 2009 performance of "Killing in the Name Of which cut broadcast half way thru cuz Zack de la Rocha started swearing 😂

This the funniest “Let’s Argue” in awhile. 😂

Gerard Way and Cedric Zavala are some of my favorite vocalists. Their voices are beautiful to me however, I can understand someone not being into it lol