Everything in its Right Place

Abstract

Abstract Analyzing Radiohead advances the claim that, more than any rock artist since The Beatles, Radiohead’s music between 1997 and 2011 inhabits the sweet spot between two extremes: on the one hand, music that is wholly conventional and conforms to all of our expectations about rock music, and, on the other hand, music so aggressively experimental that it thwarts any learned expectations. In terms of musical perception, the former extreme arouses little need for interpretation, while the latter frustrates any search for meaning based on expectation–realization chains. Radiohead’s music contains many surprises, yet remains accessible within a framework of expectations inherited from rock and other musical traditions. This listening experience, in which expectations are constantly set up and yet frequently subverted, produces a rich environment for interpreting musical meaning. Tools adapted from recent research in music theory illuminate these expectations and surprises in four musical parameters: form, rhythm and meter, timbre, and harmony. In the process of analyzing these musical elements in Radiohead’s songs, the book consistently addresses potential meanings by linking elements of musical structure to song lyrics. Relating these structures and lyrics to similar popular music, classical music, music videos, literature, and films illuminates even more potential intertextual meanings.

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