Radiohead released OK Computer, their third studio album on June 16th 1997 . After releasing the emotional, guitar driven The Bends album full of introspective lyrics two years earlier, the band aimed for a different sound and more positive outlook with OK Computer. Singer Thom Yorke stated “we could really fall back on just doing another miserable, morbid and negative record lyrically, but I don’t really want to, at all. And I’m deliberately just writing down all the positive things that I hear or see…”

The result was an album that still stands out as one of rock’s most unique. Singles “Karma Police”, “Paranoid Android” and “No Surprises” led the way while deeper cuts like “Exit Music (For a Film)” and “Climbing Up The Walls” offered a glimpse into the genius that was just getting tapped into.

Lyrically, it’s not as if Ok Computer wasn’t as emotionally charged as it’s predecessor as York’s quote above might suggest. It’s just that the songs aren’t so much about personal problems and concern, but more so about stress on a societal level. The album touch on topics like having a second chance at life (“Airbag”), crooked politicians (“Electioneering”), and missing the moment (“The Tourist”). Then of course songs like “Karma Police” and “Paranoid Android” are about almost exactly what their titles would imply. It was a combination of these song’s masterful, often poetic-like lyrics with their experimental nature that would make this record so special.

OK Computer would lay the foundation for the further success and experimentation in music that Radiohead would achieve in the years that followed. Their 2000 Kid A album was hailed as a breakthrough, but that sound had evolved directly from OK Computer and that groundwork it laid. Later songs like “There, There” from 2003’s Hail To The Thief or even “Burn The Witch” from 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool have strong shades of OK Computer influence. That combo of rock guitar with progressive arrangements can all be traced back to OK Computer.

It’s difficult to argue what Radiohead’s best album is. But the distinction OK Computer will always have, besides the modest radio hits it delivered, is that it was a transition album for the band. A departure from the post-grunge sound of The Bends while not quite as out there as Kid A, OK Computer offers the best best of both worlds for Radiohead fans.