Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre (Routledge Studies in Popular Music) [1 ed.] 113833474X, 9781138334748

Citation preview

Routledge Studies in Popular Music

RADIOHEAD AND THE JOURNEY BEYOND GENRE ANALYSING STYLISTIC DEBATES AND TRANSGRESSIONS Julia Ehmann

Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre

Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre traces the uses and transgressions of genre in the music of Radiohead and studies the band’s varied reception in online and offline media. Radiohead’s work combines traditional rock sounds with a unique and experimental approach towards genre that sets the band apart from the contemporary mainstream. A play with diverse styles and audience expectations has shaped Radiohead’s musical output and opened up debates about genre amongst critics, fans, and academics alike. Interpretations speak of a music that is referential of the past but also alludes to the future. Applying both music- and discourse-analytical methods, the book discusses how genre manifests in Radiohead’s work and how it is interpreted amongst different audience groups. It explores how genre and generic flexibility affect the listeners’ search for musical meaning and ways of discussion. This results in the development of a theoretical framework for the study of genre in individual popular music oeuvres that explores the equal validity of widely differing forms of reception as a multidimensional network of meaning. While Radiohead’s music is the product of an eclectic mixture of musical influences and styles, the book also shows how the band’s experimental stance has increasingly fostered debates about Radiohead’s generic novelty and independence. It asks what remains of genre in light of its past or imminent transgression. Offering new perspectives on popular music genre, transgression, and the music and reception of Radiohead, the book will appeal to academics, students, and those interested in Radiohead and matters of genre. It contributes to scholarship in musicology, popular music, media, and cultural studies. Julia Ehmann is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hamburg. She obtained her PhD from Oxford Brookes University in 2016. Her research interests include popular music history and reception studies.

Routledge Studies in Popular Music Ageing and Popular Music in Europe Abigail Garner and Ros Jennings Metal, Rap, and Electro in Tunisia Post-Revolution Fragile Scenes Stefano Barone Rethinking Difference in Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Music Theory and Politics of Ambiguity Edited by Gavin S. K. Lee Bruce Springsteen and Popular Music Rhetoric, Social Consciousness, and Contemporary Culture Edited by William I. Wolff Global Metal Music and Culture Current Directions in Metal Studies Edited by Andy R. Brown, Karl Spracklen, Keith Kahn-Harris, Niall Scott Independent Music and Digital Technology in the Philippines Monika E. Schoop Hip-Hop Authenticity and the London Scene Living Out Authenticity in Popular Music Laura Speers Voicing Girlhood in Popular Music Performance, Authority, Authenticity Edited by Jacqueline Warwick, Allison Adrian Global Glam and Popular Music Style and Spectacle from the 1970s to the 2000s Edited by Ian Chapman, Henry Johnson Queerness in Pop Music Aesthetics, Gender Norms, and Temporality Stan Hawkins Goth Music From Sound to Subculture Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock Popular Music Industries and the State Policy Notes Shane Homan, Martin Cloonan, Jennifer Cattermole Popular Music Fandom Identities, Roles and Practices Edited by Mark Duffett Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre Analysing Stylistic Debates and Transgressions Julia Ehmann For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ music/series/RSPM

Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre Analysing Stylistic Debates and Transgressions Julia Ehmann

First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Julia Ehmann The right of Julia Ehmann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-33474-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-44514-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

Contents

Acknowledgements

vii

Introduction Book structure  4 Notes 7 References 7

1

1

Popular music genre Definitions and distinctions  9 Etymological debates  13 Historical origins  16 Genre theory in cultural studies: genre as process and as discourse  18 Genre theory in popular music studies: from tradition to transgression  25 Genre identities and the popular music discourse  32 Notes  38 References  38

9

2

Genre and transgression in the music of Radiohead Methodological backgrounds  40 A look at “Creep” and its alternatives  44 A text-based analysis of genre in the music of Radiohead  49 Concluding thoughts  78 Notes  80 References  81

40

vi Contents 3

Challenging genre: Radiohead and the music press A brief history of genre in music journalism  84 Journalism in theory  87 The case of the ‘genre portrait’  91 The journalistic genre discourse on Radiohead  93 Uses of genre in music journalism  110 Notes  124 References  126

4

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead The scholarly discourse on Radiohead  132 Notes  145 References  145

131

5

Genre online: wider audience and fan perspectives Methodology and ethical concerns  149 Online writing conventions and temporal constraints  151 Specialist genre audiences and processes of canon-building  155 Canonic terminologies and stages of the discourse  157 Non-canonic terminologies  161 A few words about fan message boards  163 The ‘Radiohead genre’ and notions of transgression  164 Notes  168 References  169

147

Conclusion Note  176 Reference  176 Appendix Index

84

171

177 180

Acknowledgements

Radiohead and the Journey Beyond Genre emerged from a long-standing fascination with Radiohead’s work and the music press, which led me to pursue a PhD in 2013. This book expands on my PhD research and I am deeply indebted to all the people who supported and encouraged me during this time as well as during the editing process. A heartfelt thank you goes to my former supervisor and director of studies at Oxford Brookes University, Dai Griffiths, for his constant advice and guidance. I am also very grateful to Jan Butler and Pete Dale for providing supervision and advice at various stages of this thesis. Many thanks go to Warren Buckland for commenting on an early version of the thesis; to various members of the Popular Music Research Unit and School of Arts at Oxford Brookes for the pointers and comments I received on various occasions; to Paul Dibley and Nick Reyland for their advice and suggestions; and to the anonymous reviewers and editors at Routledge. This book would not have been possible without the academics, journalists, and fans who have discussed and reviewed Radiohead’s work over the years. I am grateful for having been able to read so many thought-provoking discussions. A very big thank you goes to the creators and administrators of the fan sites and internet archives mentioned in this book, who go to great lengths in making journalistic content available online. I would also like to say thanks to the friends and family members who have accompanied me throughout this journey and provided support and occasional distraction – especially to my mother, Eva Ehmann. A final and special thank you goes to all members of Radiohead for creating music that continues to inspire.

Introduction

In November 1991, the Oxford-based magazine Curfew published an interview with a young local band that had recently started to gain the attention of major record labels. Editor Ronan Munro talked to the members of Radiohead – then still known as On A Friday – about the Oxford music scene, their creative influences, and their latest adventures in demo recording. A regular at their gigs, he went on to describe the band as “a great pop group” if maybe “a little weird” and concluded that all band members “stamp their individual influences and tastes on the music and this means that the end product doesn’t really sound like anyone else” (Munro, 1991). Written over a year before the release of Radiohead’s debut album Pablo Honey in 1993, Munro’s words are a fitting assessment of Radiohead’s ambiguous relation with genre and the popular mainstream and remain valid until this day. At its core, Radiohead’s music is grounded in popular music aesthetics with its sense of accessibility and, ultimately, mass appeal. Yet the band often delves deep into musical experimentation, offers sounds that are out of the ordinary, and carves a space for itself at the edge of various generic categories. A dichotomy between the popular and the avant-garde has always shaped Radiohead’s creative endeavours and sparked countless critical debates on the nature of genre and stylistic transgression in their work. Fans and journalists have assigned Radiohead a multitude of genre terms. Examples range from post-shoe-gazing (Lamacq, 1992), progressive rock1 (Dawn, 1997; Doyle, 1997) or post-rock (Marzorati, 2000; Reynolds, 2000a; Reynolds, 2001) to ambient (Irvin, 2000; Coney, 2016), dance and electronic music (Fricke, 2012). By contrast, others state that Radiohead’s music defies traditional categorisation (DiCrescenzo, 2000; Lowe, 2000). With the release of the band’s ninth studio album A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), the discourse on genre is as strong as ever and suggests that Radiohead are not easily pigeonholed. While popular music reception usually starts with very clear-cut assumptions about genre, Radiohead have often diverted such expectations. This becomes especially clear when tracing the band’s wider reception. Whereas genre boundaries can serve to guide analytical endeavours and assessments, genre analysis is equally valuable for highlighting musical transgression and change in individual works as the following chapters aim to show. Over the years, Radiohead’s audience has kept a keen interest in exploring the intricacies

2 Introduction of the band’s music and its relation to established musical categories, artists, or works. Given that categorisation affects how one encounters not only music, but also other goods, ideas, or philosophies in everyday life, the prevalence of these genre-centred debates comes as little surprise. Radiohead’s music has sparked heated discussions about genre, the likes of which are rarely found in current artist reception or criticism. The clash between Radiohead’s mainstream roots and their stylistic transgressions is a recurring theme in their music that has given rise to the idea that Radiohead are working outside the parameters of established genre categories. When other interpretations fall short, the concept of genre transgression and stylistic diversity is a common denominator in audience discourse that promotes the popular claim that Radiohead’s music either cannot be categorised or exists within a category of its own. While the idea of a distinct ‘Radiohead genre’ may rely on many a listener’s ambition to authenticate or elevate their own musical experience, it is a most intriguing interpretation that begs further discussion. The book will therefore not only address the question of how Radiohead’s music can be – and has been – described in terms of genre, it will discuss the ways in which the band plays with genre, distorts it, and at times transcends it. Popular music genres are complex constructs that are subject to constant processes of change and progression. They hold great descriptive value and can convey particular sets of connotations amongst different audience groups. While genre presents an important means of characterisation, it also underlies numerous definitional struggles that propel interpretative debates. In order to comprehend Radiohead’s relation with genre, it is crucial to know how genre functions on a larger scale and that it is essentially a multi-faceted system of meaning that is in a continuous state of flux. The aim of the book is then twofold: firstly, it examines the role of genre in Radiohead’s work and in the accompanying discourse with a particular focus on instances of genre transgression. It asks how genre manifests in Radiohead’s music and whether it is possible to identify a common thread amongst the multitude of available interpretations. Secondly, it considers the implications for genre transgression in a more general sense and develops a strategy for studying instances of stylistic diversity and transgression in individual popular music oeuvres by combining text- and discourse-based means of analysis. This means that the book not only includes a basic music analytical perspective on genre in Radiohead’s work, but also extensive discussions of journalistic, scholarly, and online audience interpretations. Since understandings of genre can be extremely versatile, a combination of different analytical angles is useful to comprehend how generic meaning arises in different contexts. A basic understanding of different popular music categories is often so ingrained in our minds that genre interpretations can be quite spontaneous. This immediacy of genre presents a central theme of the book in so far as it affects both analytical and discursive processes. The majority of discourses on genre in Radiohead’s music operates based on an immediate genre perception and therefore rarely goes into great music-analytical or technical detail. Often genre is considered common knowledge, self-evident, and a quick way of transmitting certain ideas about music. Meanwhile, the music-analytical portion of this book presents an exposition

Introduction  3 for understanding the issues that commonly arise in discourse. It considers which elements of Radiohead’s music can give an immediate impression of genre at first listen without requiring deep analytical thought. While the discussion of genre and stylistic transgression in Radiohead’s music may interest both academic and casual readers, due to its subject matter a majority of the text will therefore be comprehensible for readers without an extensive music-theoretical knowledge. Most readers will already be familiar with Radiohead’s work to some degree, but a short recap of the band’s history can help clarify Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory and position in regard to genre. Formed in Oxford in 1985, Radiohead consists of band members Jonny and Colin Greenwood, Thom Yorke, Phil Selway, and Ed O’Brien. The members of Radiohead have different degrees of musical training and bring together a variety of influences. Jonny Greenwood is the only band member with an extensive classical background. He was a member of the Thames Valley Youth Orchestra and is a trained violist. The band made several demo recordings before releasing their debut album Pablo Honey in 1993 and gaining worldwide success with the single “Creep.” Initially many critics saw Radiohead as a grunge-inspired band, which might have been a side effect of the timing of their success. In the following years, Radiohead’s music evolved around their innovative use of guitars and Thom Yorke’s unique singing voice, enabling the band to establish themselves as one of the more experimental acts in the broad spectrum of alternative rock music. A constant strive for change is one of Radiohead’s defining traits and consequently their studio albums not only evoke a sense of continuity, but also function as a stylistic break and musical progression. With the release of The Bends (1995) and OK Computer (1997), Radiohead gained major recognition and earned top spots in many year-end ‘best of’ lists. Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) mark a prominent period of change in Radiohead’s oeuvre and a move from rock into more electronic-inspired territory. Kid A in particular presents a break with the guitar as a lead instrument and demonstrates the band’s growing interest in the Eno-esque tradition of in-studio composition.2 While Radiohead’s sixth album Hail to the Thief (2003) was generally perceived as a return to rock music, it also includes a considerable amount of electronic experimentation and combines musical elements from all previous Radiohead albums. In 2007, Radiohead famously released their next album In Rainbows on a pay-what-you-want basis. The album features more mellow sounds and intricate string arrangements. It also resulted in much discussion about marketing strategies and the value of pop music amongst critics and fans. The King of Limbs (2011) strays from its predecessor and is steeped in electronic sounds. It is notable for its play with looped recordings and presents another exercise in creating electronic soundscapes with the help of studio technology. The album TKOL RMX 1234567 (2011) quickly followed. It features remixed versions of King of Limbs songs by different electronic music artists. The album not only shows Radiohead’s growing interest in new collaborations and sounds, but also underlines the songs’ versatility and potential as electronic adaptations. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) is Radiohead’s ninth studio album and the band’s most recent recording to date. The album contains various new compositions, but also some

4 Introduction much-anticipated older songs in new arrangements. It combines elements from Radiohead’s previous work with atmospheric soundscapes and electronic orchestrations. In many ways, it is a culmination of Radiohead’s compositional journey and one can only assume that it will again give direction to what is yet to come. Over the years, most Radiohead members have also released solo recordings and worked on different musical projects. A complete discography of the band’s work and the individual band member’s solo endeavours appears in the Appendix. All discussions of songs and mentioned time marks furthermore refer to the listed versions of these recordings. The members of Radiohead have often emphasised the importance of their musical influences that play a crucial part in their relation with genre. Apart from a common interest in the post-punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the band members have quite diverse musical tastes that range from classical music to jazz over all sorts of rock subgenres to electronic music and remix culture. This shows not only in all Radiohead recordings, but also in various solo works. In order to understand the working mechanisms of genre in popular music – and Radiohead’s music in particular – it is important to know that genre is deeply layered and a product of past styles and developments. There is no point before genre. Old genres evolve and unravel, which leads into the formation of new musical styles and counter-styles. In a similar way, the individual musical style of one band or artist is shaped by their musical aptitude and by a unique combination of musical and personal influences. It is thus crucial to bear in mind that musical influences and genre sounds are essentially two sides of the same coin. As composers, Radiohead bring together a considerable range of such influences and creative approaches that have made their use of genre and play with transgression so intriguing. Meanwhile, the members of Radiohead have always been very careful or even suspicious about labelling their music. When prompted to explain Radiohead’s generic roots by an interviewer in 2003, Jonny Greenwood initially struggles with his answer, but proceeds to say the following: “It’s like when you meet someone who’s 70 years old and they ask you to describe what you do and you have to say ‘well, we’re sort of a rock band and, um, we’re a bit like Buddy Holly’” (The Mauler and Rush Show, 2003: 2:40). This understanding of genre is simple and to the point – rock music serves as a musical anchor for the band – but at the same time, it is also unrestrictive and leaves room for interpretation and development. Radiohead play with genre and divert expectations, but by not putting too much of a label on their music they leave room for themselves to further experiment with styles and for their fans to explore different sides of generic meaning. While the band’s open outlook may also raise questions about genre authorship, it is one of the reasons why the discourse on genre in Radiohead’s music is so diverse and fast-paced.

Book structure The book is divided into six parts. Chapter one lays out the theoretical groundwork for a study of genre and provides an overview of historical developments

Introduction  5 and terminologies. While the beginnings of genre theory can be traced back to the writings of Aristotle, the idea of a genre theory for popular music is still relatively fresh. Academic studies on popular music genres emerged in the early 1980s. A growing interest in crossover styles developed more recently and there is naturally still a lack of extensive theories when it comes to studying genre transgression in individual musical works. By discussing competing genre theories from various disciplines, Chapter one wants to remedy this issue and develop an analytical strategy for approaching stylistically diverse and transgressive music. It does so by promoting a flexible genre concept that adapts to transgressive notions of genre and by highlighting the value of studying both genre texts and genre reception. The chapter looks at the working mechanisms of popular music genres and compares different ways in which genre has been made sense of. It shows how some artists deviate from the norm and explains what can be done to understand the causes and effects of these transgressions. Additionally, the chapter pays attention to the uses of audience discourses in popular music studies so far and shows that discussions of popular music genre benefit from integrating contrasting perspectives. Chapter two offers a text-based music-analytical view on genre and transgression in Radiohead’s work. It traces the band’s stylistic trajectory throughout the years and highlights continuities and disruptions. Listeners mostly evaluate genre in a spontaneous fashion and the first moments of listening can be sufficient to form an opinion about the music’s generic placement. This immediacy of genre perception is instructive when it comes to determining the defining traits of a music genre or individual style. The chapter builds on a body of research on genre iconography conducted by film scholars, which has shown that viewers are often able to identify genre spontaneously by relying on a number of socially established visual cues. Chapter two aims to show that popular music listeners interpret genre in very similar ways. It examines a range of musical and social aspects that signify genre in Radiohead’s work. This includes the uses of voice and instrumentation, dynamics, lyrics, production, live performances, and paratexts. All of these aspects are easily apparent at first listen (or sight) and can be judged without much previous musical knowledge. By showing that genre appears as a collection of separate characteristics that is put into a specific order, the chapter outlines how genre functions on an individual level and in the work of Radiohead. It explains how genre can be read in different ways during the interpretative process and offers strategies for dealing with generic elusiveness in individual musical oeuvres. A basic understanding of Radiohead’s stylistic traits is essential for analysing the validity and substance of audience discourses and thus serves as a central premise for all following chapters. Studying popular music discourses is an effective way of illuminating issues of genre transgression and diverging opinions. Chapters three, four, and five explore different sides of the genre discourse on Radiohead by focusing on journalistic, scholarly, and wider online audience discourses, respectively. Chapter three commences with a brief history of popular music journalism and traces Radiohead’s journalistic reception from the release of Pablo Honey up to A Moon Shaped Pool. Of particular interest are the evaluative strategies of music journalists, their

6 Introduction common and unusual types of genre interpretations as well as their mentions of genre transgression. Over the years, most journalists have shown great interest in Radiohead’s strive for change, but also in musical continuities that counter this development. Chapter three addresses the functionality of genre in these contexts and explains the different types of terminologies and interpretations that are at play. It pays specific attention to the different uses of established ‘canonic’ and newly developed ‘non-canonic’ types of genre interpretations. In doing so, the chapter shows how genre affects thought processes and expectations, but also the very structure of journalistic analysis, its styles of writing, and analytical languages. Chapter four continues the discussion of genre discourses and reflects on scholarly writings on Radiohead. By discussing different types of academic interpretations, it wants to show how scholarly texts – including those that do not necessarily focus on the topic of genre – make use of a genre-centric language and reference issues of categorisation. Academic writings on Radiohead first appeared in the early 2000s and the band’s music has since become the subject of a growing academic discourse that has tackled many musical, social, and philosophical issues. The chapter contrasts points of view from various academic disciplines and explores genre analyses in different text formats such as PhD theses, essays, and monographs. It shows how academic and journalistic perspectives and uses of genre compare, overlap, or differ. Journalists and academics often operate under different working conditions that include specific temporal constraints and retrospective analytical approaches. Chapter four also looks at the impact of music journalism on academia and reflects on the fact that popular music scholars often work with journalistic source material and respond to issues that have previously been raised by the media. In recent years, online audience discourses have made up a substantial part of popular music reception. Listener opinions and interactions are becoming increasingly accessible and online contexts are a significant resource for popular music research. Chapter five therefore deals with the uses of genre in new media contexts and examines Radiohead’s online reception. By looking at different types of sources (buyer reviews, social media commentary, etc.), it shows how uses of genre differ from those found in offline journalism or academia. The chapter addresses the technicalities of studying genre in online discourses, traces Radiohead’s online reception and makes a case for combining online and offline research methods. While both, journalists and academics, utilise genre in ways that are specific to their fields, often their uses of genre and terminologies are shared. Listener groups overlap – academics can be journalists or fans and vice versa – which is also the case in online contexts. Online anonymity or pseudonymity allows audience members to be part of a virtual community that is incredibly hard to map. Chapter five discusses the implications and effects of this predominantly anonymous discourse and shows how its specific conditions bring about more daring and spontaneous interpretations. It also explores the impact of temporality and retrospection on a discourse taking place on virtual platforms that are often considerably younger than the music that is discussed.

Introduction  7 Finally, a concluding section draws out the stylistic intricacies and genrecompositional strategies of Radiohead by reflecting on the text- and discoursebased analytical outcomes. It synthesises the methodological and theoretical ideas developed throughout the book and asks what remains of genre in the light of its past or imminent transgression. Following this, a glossary of terms and concepts pertaining to genre that are introduced throughout the book rounds off the discussion. The discourse on Radiohead often portrays the band’s music as something unconventional that defies categorisation and that thrives on diversity and transgression. Nevertheless, the band remains one of the most prolific musical acts and continues to enjoy constant mainstream success. The book wants to elaborate on this complex position Radiohead occupies in current popular music and to show how their specific uses of genre and transgression contribute to their reputation as a generically subversive musical group. At various points in time, Radiohead have been credited with having created their own generic category. The book proposes possible ways in which such a ‘Radiohead genre’ could be understood or contextualised – if one is inclined to do so – and discusses how this strand of interpretation has affected the genre discourse as a whole. It addresses the implications of genre debates that focus on individualisation and transgression at the same time. An argument is made that the combined use of text- and discourse-based means of analysis can help reveal the flexible and multi-dimensional character of popular music genre. The method serves to highlight different sides of generic meaning in Radiohead’s work and allows new insights into genre crossover and transgression. At the same time, the book sets out to show where genre terminologies have fallen short and pinpoints audience members’ growing awareness of genre issues that eventually led to the formation of a meta-discourse on genre in Radiohead reception.

Notes 1 The description of Radiohead as progressive rock often goes hand in hand with comparisons to the music of Pink Floyd. For more information on the topic, see Reisch (2009). 2 The term ‘in-studio composition’ was coined by Brian Eno and has been a vital part of his musical work. It describes music that is composed in the studio with the help of all available technologies. For further insight on the topic, see Eno (1979).

References Coney, B. (2016, May 10). Radiohead Excavate Their Most Vital Release in at Least 15 Years. The Line of Best Fit. Accessed at: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/ albums/radiohead-a-moon-shaped-pool [27.02.2019]. Dawn, R. (1997, November). Does Compute. Alternative Press. Issue 110. Accessed at: http://citizeninsane.eu/media/usa/ap/03/pt_1997-09_ap.htm [27.02.2019]. DiCrescenzo, B. (2000, October 2). Radiohead: Kid A. Pitchfork. Accessed at: http:// pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6656-kid-a [27.02.2019]. Doyle, T. (1997, June). Party On! Q. Issue 129. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/q/03/pt_1997-06_q.htm [29.02.2019].

8 Introduction Eno, B. (1979). The Studio as Compositional Tool. In: C. Cox and D. Warner, eds (2004). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. London, New York: Continuum. pp. 127–130. Fricke, D. (2012, April 26). Radiohead Reconnect. Rolling Stone. Issue 1155. Accessed at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-reconnect-248129 [27.02.2019]. Irvin, J. (2000, October). Boys in the Bubble. Mojo. Issue 83. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/mojo/04/pt_2000-10_mojo.htm [27.02.2019]. Lamacq, S. (1992, May 16). Drill EP (Parlophone). Melody Maker. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/mm/01/pt_1992-02-22_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Lowe, S. (2000, August). Praise Be! Q. Issue 167. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/q/04/pt_2000-08_q.htm [27.02.2019]. Marzorati, G. (2000, October 1). The Post-Rock Band. The New York Times Magazine. Accessed at: http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001001magradiohead.html [27.02.2019]. Munro, R. (1991, December). Unknown Title. Curfew. Accessed at: http://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/etc/ 01/pt_1991-12_curfew.htm [27.02.2019]. Reisch, G. A. (2009). Is Radiohead the Pink Floyd of the Twenty-First Century? In: B. W. Forbes and G. A. Reisch, eds Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive. Chicago, La Salle: Open Court. pp. 3–14. Reynolds, S. (2000a, October). Radio Chaos. Spin. Accessed at: http://www.followme­ around.com/presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=88 [07.01.2016]. Reynolds, S. (2001, July). Walking on Thin Ice. The Wire. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/etc/05/pt_2001-07_wire.htm [27.02.2019]. The Mauler and Rush Show. 101.1 XFM. (2003, June 22). Interview with Jonny Greenwood. Accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RtVYcnBYE0 [27.02.2019].

1

Popular music genre

Genre is a controversial and ambiguous concept that plays an important role in the ways in which popular music is produced and perceived. As a means of organisation, genre is present in many areas of our lives – from the displays of book and record stores to the structures of newspapers or radio programmes. Most people have clear ideas about genre and are able to identify related musical canons. Yet when searching for a definition of the word ‘genre,’ one encounters a multitude of different views. Although genre theory builds on a more than two-thousand-yearold tradition, it also relies on vague definitions and a wide spread of approaches. Ironically, some genre theorists completely forgo terminological explanations and treat genre as self-evident. At the same time, others prefer open-ended and flexible genre concepts. There is an advantage in looking at the methodological differences that arise from the remaining uncertainty. The following paragraphs offer an overview of the available definitions and theoretical approaches and discuss their individual and combined value for a study of popular music oeuvres and Radiohead’s work in particular.

Definitions and distinctions While theories of genre are well established in the fields of musicology, literature, and film studies, the discipline of popular music studies is considerably younger and has produced less research on genre-related issues. This is due to a number of reasons: the abstract nature of music that complicates the identification of genre traits, as well as a lack of comprehensive research methods and sources. Musical scores can be detailed and insightful, but do not serve to address non-musical features. Notation for popular music is rarely available and often incomplete. While it can highlight musical features, aspects such as the performance or production of music do play as much of a part in the identification of genre as musical recordings do. Fabian Holt (2007: 5) points out that the specific cultural and commercial dynamics of popular music, with tensions between standardisation and originality, and with unique forms of production and marketing, contribute to a condition of constantly changing and transforming genre identities and boundaries. He also suggests that this situation calls for analysis of not just the musical but also the wider cultural and social dimensions of popular music. When studying

10  Popular music genre popular music genre, it is therefore useful to adopt interdisciplinary perspectives and consider the abundance of previous research in other areas of cultural studies – including their dealings with hybridity and transgression. In contemporary genre theory, two types of genre definition prevail – a technocratic and a more abstract, reflexive approach – that appear either separately or in conjunction. Most frequently, genre is defined in the technical sense as a concept of classification that relies on a number of interrelating rules and characteristics. It is used as a system of organisation, which enables listeners to identify and navigate between a vast range of musical canons. Writing for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Jim Samson (2001: 657) explains genre as a “class, type or category, sanctioned by convention” and states that genres rely on “the principle of repetition. They codify past repetitions, and they invite future repetitions.” Genre thus exists on a temporal scale and is deeply rooted in social traditions. The discrepancy between a mere repetition of genre rules and their eventual transgression makes it possible to observe how genres evolve over time. Like Samson, most popular music theorists emphasise the role of social and historiological factors in the negotiation of generic meaning. A previous knowledge of genre rules and traditions determines the ways in which music is produced, encountered, and perceived. Genre guides interactions between different groups of people. It affects the processes of communication and works as a shorthand language in conversations (Negus, 1999: 4). Popular music genre is therefore not solely comprised of musical features, but also includes social aspects, events, and relationships. David Brackett (2002: 66) describes genres as “ways of categorizing popular music so as to create a connection between musical styles, producers, musicians and consumers.” This way genre audiences, critics, and industries play a major role in forming and defining popular music categories. It is interesting to contemplate the relative importance of different genre elements when studying specific musical oeuvres. Which aspects are at the heart of a genre? And what is less important to note? How are all generic features weighted against each other? One aspect that complicates the study of popular music genre is the extent of details found in different accounts on specific genres. It is often said that the more rules exist for a genre, the harder it is to find musical works that fulfil these conditions. Similarly, the fewer rules there are, the harder it is to define a genre in the first place. While one can thus distinguish between detailed and open-ended definitions of genre, it is important to stay aware of their advantages and disadvantages. A large number of common features can be beneficial for the validation and stability of a genre. Meanwhile, an open-ended definition accommodates inter-generic hybridity and genre transgression more easily. It brings with it a sense of flexibility that accounts for a wider range of works. Flexible notions of genre are specifically useful for addressing instances of genre transgression in individual oeuvres. Keeping a balance between the different takes on genre and evaluating genre according to circumstance is important when tracing stylistic developments and transgression in musical works. Not every definition of genre relies solely on a catalogue of rules and shared features. In recent years, there has been a tendency to view genre not only as a

Popular music genre  11 means of classification, but also – in a more abstract sense – as a form of discourse, that exists in the actions and interactions of its users and determines how music is made sense of. Brackett’s earlier statement about genre audiences is just one example of a genre concept that is shaped by individual understandings and interpretations, rather than a mere list of musical features. Abstract genre definitions do include a technical understanding of generic categories, but they also provide an additional dimension to the study of genre. They position genre as a subjective concept and describe the ways in which meaning arises and evolves. John Frow (2006: 10) explains it like this: Genre, we might say, is a set of conventional and highly organised constraints on the production and interpretation of meaning. In using the word ‘constraint’ I don’t mean to say that genre is simply a restriction. Rather, its structuring effects are productive of meaning; they shape and guide, in the way that a builder’s form gives structure to its materials. Generic structure both enables and restricts meaning, and is a basic condition for meaning to take place. I take it that genre theory is, or should be, about the ways in which different structures of meaning and truth are produced in and by the various kinds of writing, talking, painting, filming, and acting by which the universe of discourse is structured. That is why genre matters: it is central to human meaning-making and to the social struggle over meanings. Genre is not only part of a text and its context; it also shapes the meaning that is created within and through the text during the process of production and interpretation. Generic constraints are as much present in our minds as they are in the music or any text for that matter. Frow’s definition focuses on the functionality of genre, as do many of the more abstract definitions. While genre is often regarded as a principle of organisation, he goes one step further by describing genre as the meaning that is created from such processes of structuring. His understanding of genre theory is to explore how exactly this meaning comes to be. Applied to music, genre plays an equally important role in the creative process as it does in the course of analysis. Without genre, we would be hard pressed to locate meaning in specific works of music. Would punk, for instance, be the same if we were unaware of its do-it-yourself ideology, its quick chord progressions or subversive attitudes? How would our understanding of the music change? Would it bear the same meaning? And what happens if the music does not conform to what we have come to expect of it? Writing about film genre Steve Neale (2003: 161) touches upon this matter and says that genres are not simply bodies of work or groups of films, however classified, labelled, and defined. Genres do not consist only of films: they consist also, and equally, of specific systems of expectation and hypothesis that spectators bring with them to the cinema and that interact with films themselves during the course of the viewing process.

12  Popular music genre Neale’s words suggest that genre exists on various functional levels: it resides in the work itself and is imposed by its creator, it is used for production and marketing purposes, and it shapes the reception of a work and its future impact. When we encounter genres, we bring with us preconceived ideas that influence our ways of thinking. These expectations are similar to what Frow calls ‘constraints’ because they are at work in our minds. Previous understandings shape the ways in which genre texts are encountered, experienced, and perceived. While the idea of genre rules and structures can be quite restricting, Neale’s words underline the relevance of individual audience reactions. No audience member watches a film in the same way. Every reaction is personal and subjective and therefore genre needs to be flexible and accommodate different opinions. A look at genre discourses helps to get an impression of the wide range of interpretations available and opens up new analytical views. Studies of genre reception are amongst the newer approaches to genre theory. They are common in film studies, where the interpretation of audience and media responses often provides an alternative or complementary approach to text-based genre analyses. By comparing different opinions on genre, one can get a good grasp on how generic diversity and transgression affect genre interpretations. Barry Langford (2005: 11) points out that audience responses always need to be understood in relation to the kind of spectator that a genre text implies. Langford is referring to film genre, so the question of whether the same could be said about music genre is of considerable importance. An awareness of audiences affects various areas of music making and marketing, and it is important to consider the different ways in which audiences experience genre in music as opposed to film or literature. Even though individual degrees of concentration may vary, readers and spectators tend to encounter genre texts in an active manner by giving them their full attention. In music, passive encounters are equally common, which effectively broadens the spectrum of resulting genre interpretations. Whether we hear a certain piece of music in the car, in a shop, as soundtrack to a film, or on headphones influences our perception of it and has consequences for our ways of understanding. In this way, the reception of popular music genres is based on a particularly wide range of competing opinions, which needs to be taken into consideration in an analysis of genre. There are considerable differences between genre structures – and hence genre theories – in music, literature, and film studies. An interdisciplinary perspective is then useful to develop a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of genre. Holt (2007: 4 f.) states that genre theory is more strongly entrenched in film studies than it is in any other field. He argues that the fluid nature of popular music genres makes it hard to establish accurate genre theories. Popular music differs from film not only in terms of its reception contexts, but also with regard to its formats, medial roles, and as Holt rightly points out, the nature of its production, signification, and performance. Moreover, films rely almost exclusively on visual or iconographic aspects and storylines to convey their meaning. This knowledge has shaped genre theories by film scholars for decades. Neale (2000: 10) states that film genre theory first emerged as a critical tool based on a “desire

Popular music genre  13 to complement, temper or displace altogether the dominant critical approach used hitherto – auteurism.” A shift to genre criticism meant a move away from the interpretation of films as the artistic and individual expression of directors – just as a focus on music genre can deflect attention away from its creators. Looking at genre transgression in individual oeuvres thus proves beneficial for highlighting authorship and compositional meaning alongside questions of classification. The brief discussion of film and auteurism draws attention to the role of popular music artists. Factors such as the individuality of performances, the demeanour and appearance of musicians, and the audiences’ live experience shape the formation of genres and affect perceptions. The lines between creators, performers, narrators, or protagonists of popular music thereby overlap or become blurred. Musicians are inevitably linked to their musical output and consequently to particular genres. An awareness of the individualistic and artist-centric nature of popular music genre is crucial for comparing it to other types of genre. While both music and literature genres share film’s emphasis on artistic expression, they differ in other areas. Literature theory precedes all other genre studies and thus gives direction to genre theory as a whole. It works with long-standing traditions and ingrained hierarchies. Literature genres are more stable and precise than other fast-lived genres (Fowler, 1982: 20 ff. and 216 ff.). This is mainly because their taxonomic structures have developed over a much longer period of time. While literary genres are by no means static, popular music genres evolve more quickly and their hierarchies are fluid. At the same time, popular music genres can be deeply affected by lyrical structures and contents that allude to literary and poetry genres, works, or themes. This is often the case with Radiohead’s music that includes references to works by Douglas Adams (“Paranoid Android”), George Orwell (“2+2=5”), and Dante Alighieri (“Pyramid Song”) amongst many others. There is also a distinction to be made between the different levels of popular music genres. Subgenres develop at a fast pace and form highly branched systems of micro-classification, the likes of which are rarely found in other fields. Metagenres – wide categories such as rock or pop – exist on a higher level than genres and subgenres (Shuker, 2012: 147 f.). Working with these hierarchic levels is useful when trying to navigate the vast field of popular music categories. A brief discussion of genre terminologies shall provide further insight into popular music classification and its hierarchic structures.

Etymological debates Many texts about genre attempt to explain the word with the help of such replacement terms as ‘category,’ ‘type,’ ‘kind,’ ‘mode,’ ‘form,’ or ‘style.’ In doing so, they mainly address the functional aspects of genre or its characteristic dimensions. A reference to replacement terms is by far the most common approach to defining genre and therefore warrants further discussion about the terms’ implied meanings, interchangeability, and individual merit. The confusion about terminologies has etymological reasons. The French word ‘genre’ derives from the Latin term ‘genus’ that translates as ‘type,’ ‘kind,’ or ‘class.’ The structuring

14  Popular music genre function of genre and its hierarchical dimension are implied in the word origin. While ‘type,’ ‘kind,’ and ‘class’ highlight the connections and structures behind different bodies of music, they do not come with the extensive list of connotations that genre nowadays entails. Similarly, words such as ‘mode’ or ‘form’ emphasise single characteristics within the broad spectrum of features associated with certain genres and are thus equally narrow substitutes. In contrast, the term ‘style’ presents a more open-ended alternative. It can include a large number of features and is often used to address the character of a genre-text rather than its context. Style frequently appears in writings about popular music, and its relation to genre is highly debated amongst academics. Allan F. Moore (2001: 432 ff.) discusses the topic in depth and argues that both terms are “concerned with ways of erecting categorical distinctions, of identifying similarity between different pieces.” He questions whether these similarities exist on the same hierarchical level and states that style and genre could almost be used interchangeably were it not for the fact that most texts insist on using both. Moore finds that both musicologists and popular music scholars place style and genre in a hierarchical relationship, but while genre often appears subordinate to style in musicology and hence classical music, in popular music studies it is the other way around. The works of popular music scholars Franco Fabbri and Philip Tagg are cited as examples of pivotal genre theories that position style as only one part of the whole genre spectrum. Stating that there is no single understanding of both terms in the wide field of cultural studies, Moore proposes four ways in which genre and style can relate to each other: First, style refers to the manner of articulation of musical gestures and is best considered as imposed on them, rather than intrinsic to them. Genre refers to the identity and the context of those gestures. This distinction may be characterized in terms of ‘what’ an artwork is set out to do (genre) and ‘how’ it is actualized (style). Secondly, genre, in its emphasis on the context of gestures, pertains most usefully to the esthesic, while style, in its emphasis on their manner of articulation, pertains most usefully to the poietic. Thirdly, in its concentration on how meaning is constituted, genre is normally explicitly thematized as socially constrained […]. Style, on the other hand, in its emphasis on technical features and appropriability, frequently simply brackets out the social […] or at least regards this realm as minimally determining, where it is considered to operate with a negotiable degree of autonomy […]. Fourthly, in its consideration of manners of articulation, style itself operates at various hierarchical levels, from the global to the most local. At global levels it is usually considered to be socially constituted, while it may operate with greater degrees of autonomy at more local levels. (Ibid.: 442) Both terms are flexible and carry different connotations according to their contexts. While all of Moore’s explanations make sense and can affect genre discourses either individually or simultaneously, it is the third option with its clear contrast

Popular music genre  15 between the social and technical sides of genre that popular music audiences reference the most. It offers a simple hierarchic explanation of generic structures. One is able to draw an easy distinction between genre as an all-encompassing social construct and style as – as Moore puts it – the manner of its articulation. Talking about genre crossovers, Brackett (2002: 65) states that style is “a bundle of characteristics that may be linked to a particular musician or recording and that participate in a socially recognized musical genre.” Style is the individualistic expression of genre that appears in specific canons and oeuvres. However, it is not necessarily bound by genre and can be transgressive. Brackett uses style as a substitute for the phrase ‘the music itself’ that he deems as too narrow to describe the sonic elements of music without overlooking the influence of social contexts. While his notion of style mainly focuses on individual musical tendencies, it is open ended and able to accommodate the social relevance of musical details. Mark Spicer (2010) offers an alternative take on the terminology. He mentions reggae, punk rock, jazz and blues as examples of musical styles, but does not make any noteworthy distinction to genre. According to this, both terms are equals, but style might be the preferable option for music analysis – a notion that appears in many studies on classical music. Spicer describes style as “a musical world that is defined by a family of specific musical devices” (Ibid.: 127) and thus brackets out the social. The level of musical expression is presented as the grounds on which styles are built. It becomes clear that the functionality of style and genre is largely determined by analytical intent, academic background, and identity. It is therefore inherently subjective. A popular music scholar with a classical background may reference genre and style in specific ways, but it is fair to assume that this changes from person to person. Spicer mentions the term ‘idiolect,’ which according to Moore (cited in Spicer, 2010: 125) describes “style characteristics that identify an individual band.” Perceptions of genre or style can be triggered by single characteristics, even if these are not put into a specific genre context. Spicer argues that “one small musical topic – such as a distinctive riff, a rhythmic pattern, a chord, or even an effect – can be enough to evoke the essence of style as a whole” (Ibid.: 140) within a specific oeuvre. A stylistic element within the work of a band not only denotes genre, it also presents an individual take on genre and is therefore part of the band’s idiolect. To put it another way, Radiohead’s early work features a singing style that is in some ways reminiscent of grunge. Songs such as “Creep” make use of the genre’s characteristic loud-quiet-loud vocal dynamics that alternate between chorus and verse. While these vocals can indicate grunge influences on part of the band, Thom Yorke’s singing style at the time was also shaped by a specific tone of voice, intonation, and a singing range exclusive to Radiohead. The vocals are not simply stylistic indicators of grunge, but rather form part of Radiohead’s specific take on the genre and of their early idiolect. An idiolect thus constitutes a subordinate level of genre and style. It is the manifestation of predominantly musical elements in the work of one particular band or artist – their individual language, so to speak. While there is no single definition of genre or style, looking at the ways in which both terms have appeared in academic studies it becomes possible to

16  Popular music genre observe different hierarchies and uses. In popular music studies, genre describes groups of musical works in the widest sense. Style, on the other hand, is often mentioned in the subordinate context of strictly musical features. At the same time, both terms are also used interchangeably and subjectively. While the variety of genre definitions discussed so far can be confusing, their combined knowledge serves to highlight the complex character of musical classification and shows the multitude of connotations that genre entails. Rather than narrowing genre down to one specific definition and meaning, a study of genre diversity and transgression benefits from open-ended and flexible genre concepts. They allow for a discussion of musical works from various angles in order to achieve a more adaptive and comprehensive analysis.

Historical origins While genre identifications often serve rudimentary functions in everyday life and in the early stages of an analytical framing of objects of musical analysis, there is also the possibility of more advanced scholarly conceptions of genre that can guide deeper analysis of musical culture. At the same time, academic approaches to genre can vary greatly and some avoid the commitment to clear genre definitions. While genre studies builds on slightly unstable premises, a majority of genre theory is remarkably elaborate and gives valuable insight into the working mechanisms of genre. Genre theory describes the ways in which genre functions  –  how processes of classification create specific meaning that would not become apparent otherwise. In Radiohead’s career, genre transgressions have marked momentous points of change that have elicited strong fan reactions – the perceived lack of guitars on Kid A or the electronic compositions of The King of Limbs. Without the notion of genre, these moments of change would be hard to put into words. The following paragraphs therefore take a closer look at theoretical genre concepts, starting with an overview of the historical roots of genre. Genre theory evolved over a long period of time and many contemporary studies continue to be deeply affected by the historical origins of genre. Genre history and theory are inevitably linked. A brief historical overview shall serve to show how genre conceptions have changed since their beginnings to include new forms of artistic expression and cultural formation. At the same time, a look at genre history also reveals parallels to modern genre studies and principles that have persisted over time. Aristotle’s Poetics (ca. 335 BC) is generally considered one of the oldest and most influential texts in the history of genre theory. To this day, most literary genre theories rely on taxonomic principles that can be traced back to Aristotle’s division of poetic genres into the epic, the dramatic, and the lyric (Frow, 2006: 59). Aristotle speaks about pre-defined categories. He does not address the issue of generic formation, which implies an awareness of poetic categories on part of his readers. In the same way that popular music genre nowadays serves as an easy means of communicating specific musical and social associations, Aristotle introduced the categories without much concern for establishing a common ground of understanding. He describes the different poetic categories as

Popular music genre  17 modes of imitation. They differ, according to Aristotle, in terms of their medium, object, and manner of imitation. Rick Altman (1999: 2 ff.) points out that this way of codifying pre-existing practices remains one of the most persistent models in current genre theory, but he states that it also has a downside: Aristotle’s unquestioning use of the pre-defined term ‘poetry’  –  reminiscent of many theorist’s uncritical use of ‘genre’  –  implies a consistent understanding of the word and neglects the conditions of its origin. By identifying the mentioned types of characteristics that shape a poetic category, Aristotle thus seemingly disregards other factors such as the uses and functions of genre. While Aristotle’s writings have inspired genre theorists for more than two thousand years and their basic principles necessarily shape studies in popular music, they should be approached with a critical mindset due to their lack of clear definitions and analytical emphasis on textual features. Especially with regard to new popular art forms, it is important to remember that a universal understanding of generic categories does not exist and that conceptions and theories of genre can vary greatly. In the first century, Horace’s Ars Poetica (ca. 18 BC) brought up new ideas about the nature of imitation in literature. The study reads like an instruction for writers – rather than a description of existing genres – and presents readers with rules about the form, unity, and content of a work. Altman notes that Horace argues against a mixing of strictly opposing genres, but maintains that at times even a comedy can include tragic moments and vice versa. In this way, the text not only marks the beginning of a new awareness of genre rules on part of writers, but also contains the first notable mention of genre diversity and transgression. It is notable that the history of genre transgression and an awareness of such transgressions is almost as old as genre history itself. As this shows, genre has always existed in the midst of struggles about its identity and presumably thrived on such negotiations of meaning. With this in mind, one might go even further to say that transgression – in any form – is the drive behind genre development and thus especially relevant in the fast-lived popular music environment of today. According to Altman, it was in the Middle Ages that a greater interest in generic crossovers developed in Western Europe, which carried on throughout the sixteenth century. This initially resulted in heated debates about the purity of literary forms. While disagreements amongst genre theorists were common, Altman states that the emerging interest in the construction of genre hybrids also led to wider acceptance. In consequence, a majority of genre theories published until the end of the nineteenth century discuss the appropriateness of mixing genres. Most of these theories feature a “classic versus romantic genre dialectic, opposing the so-called pure genres handed down by tradition to modern mixed genres more attentive to human multiplicity and complex reality” (Altman, 1999: 7). With new developments in the natural sciences, the nineteenth century also saw changes in the study of genre, in particular the emergence of a ‘scientific model’ of genre informed by Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species from 1859. Theorists in cultural studies began to apply scientific metaphors in order to argue for the reality of generic categories and affirm their relevance. While different attempts at a scientific justification of genre were influential at the time, they also

18  Popular music genre carried ideological undertones and often concealed the need for further studies on the theoretical problems of genre (Altman, 1999: 6). In the wake of the failed scientific approach, genre studies continued its process of growth and compartmentalisation. New and growing academic disciplines developed their own takes on genre and transgression according to the rules of their fields. In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of theorists began to question the concept of genre as a whole, leading to a re-evaluation of the relationship between genres and individual texts. Going against traditional assumptions, this broadened discussions about the actual existence of genres and also had an impact on subsequent attempts to validate or renew genre theory (Ibid.: 7). In the second half of the twentieth century, genre theory reached a new highpoint and began to draw interest from a wider range of academic fields, in particular those associated with the study of popular culture. Utilising genre theory in the context of film and eventually popular music analysis, scholars achieved new insights into the working mechanisms of their objects of study and developed alternative methodological strategies. These new approaches predominantly focus on the formative and developmental aspects of genre and tend to regard it as a fluid concept rather than a static catalogue of rules. They also accommodate processes of genre transgression and stylistic diversity more easily. One can observe a growing theoretical interest in the contexts and social factors of genres as well as their different functions and uses. As a consequence, contemporary genre theories often incorporate more than a text-based study of genre and reflect on the complexities of popular genre concepts in a carefully thought out, in-depth, and adaptive manner that is tailored to individual circumstance.

Genre theory in cultural studies: genre as process and as discourse A look at genre theories outside the fields of musicology and popular music studies shows that a discussion of popular music genre benefits from cross-disciplinary perspectives. Useful insights into the formation and development processes of genre can be gained from studying literary and linguistic approaches as well as film genre theories. The following section provides an overview of such literatures and clarifies how genre forms, evolves, and how it is contextualised. This line of discussion is of importance to the study because it also provides basic rules for how genre manifests, transforms, multiplies, and disintegrates in individual popular musical oeuvres – a topic that has so far received little scholarly attention. Published in the 1970s, the structuralist works of Tzvetan Todorov (1970) and Todorov and Berrong (1976) are amongst the most frequently cited writings on generic change. Todorov argues that every theorist inevitably works with hypotheses about the nature of literary works that should be re-evaluated constantly. Deviations from the norm create an awareness of the limitations of generic systems and Todorov thus states that “the goal of knowledge is an approximate truth, not an absolute one” (1970: 20–23). His words emphasise the tentative and subjective nature of genre theory and stress the importance of knowing that genres

Popular music genre  19 evolve quickly. What is true about a genre today may soon be inaccurate and the same holds true for related theoretical views. In this context, hybridity is understandably common and a by-product of generic progress – especially in the fast-paced world of popular music. The mixing of genres and rule transgressions are signs of the “authentically modern writer – one who no longer respects the separation of genres” (1976: 159). This process, say Todorov and Berrong, was often seen as a fundamental step towards the eventual disintegration of genres in modern society. However, a transgression of genre rules does not make genres non-existent, but contrarily serves to affirm their existence. According to Todorov and Berrong, a transgression requires a specific law that can be transgressed, and a rule becomes particularly visible mostly through its transgression. In Radiohead’s case, it is the transgression of genre rules and the diversion of expectations that draw more attention to genre. Finally, Todorov and Berrong state, it is the exception that arises from transgressions that has the potential to become itself a generic rule. New genres therefore always arise as transformations of one or more old genres (Ibid.: 161). There is no specific point before genres – especially in popular music, which thrives on rule breaking – but it is crucial to see how genres form and evolve. Todorov shows that the historical existence of genres is indicated by the existence of a discourse on genres that leads to codification. Genres, he states, are further dependent on processes of institutionalisation in order to communicate with the society in which they exist. Generic systems serve as ‘horizons of expectation’ for readers as well as ‘models of writing’ for authors (1976: 163). Since genres arise from within society, they reflect related ideologies: a society chooses and codifies the acts that most closely correspond to its ideology; this is why the existence of certain genres in a society and their absence in another reveal a central ideology, and enable us to establish it with considerable certainty. (Ibid.: 164) While Todorov speaks about literature, his ideas help to clarify the construction of popular music genres. Genre systems in popular music are deeply intertwined, fluid, and evolve quickly. If new genres form through a transformation of old genres and rule transgressions, popular music presents a particularly favourable environment for these developments to take place. Popular music genres are hence characterised by their own historicity – they are a product of continuous processes of change. The notion of musical influence plays an especially important role in all of this. Even genres that deny their influences or that were formed in reaction against other genres – much like punk – inevitably have their roots in previous genres, whether they make it known or not. There is a crucial connection between popular music genres and audience or industry discourses that play a role in naming genres and creating an awareness of genre codes. While music genres arise from a dichotomy of tradition and transgression, the process of naming confirms their differentiation from the past and underlines their individuality. New popular

20  Popular music genre music genres emerge rather quickly and are often associated with particular happenings in society at the time of their development. Ideologies are reflected in not only the music and lyrics of a song but also through a number of choices in production, distribution, and marketing. Bearing in mind the development of genres through a transgression of rules, it is interesting to note that in popular music, rule transgressions are part of many musicians’ ideology. This more than anything explains the fast development of popular music genres and – considering the relatively short existence of rock music – its sheer multitude of subgenres. On a more individual level, genre transgression also plays a pivotal role in the development of popular music oeuvres. Continuing processes of stylistic change and subversion go hand in hand with expanding musical interests and ideologies of musical advancement through stylistic progress. Genre is shaped by the society in which it exists. It evolves through the interactions of audiences and creators and correlates with their specific mutual expectations. Heather Dubrow (1982: 2 f.) therefore describes genre as a “code of behaviour established between the author and his reader.” Her words make it quite clear that genre has two fundamental sides: it is highly dependent not only on creative processes, but also on audience feedback. Genre codes are omnipresent and they guide actions as well as reactions. While it is possible to challenge or overthrow them, Dubrow states that it is impossible to exclude them from creative and receptive processes. Genre is created by authors and manifests in their works, but it also appears in processes of reception. Changing audience expectations, modes of consumption, and creative strategies shape the progress of genres – and vice versa – which contributes to the emergence of new meanings. Amy J. Devitt (1993) argues that understanding genre not only depends on the comprehension of classification systems but also on a knowledge about the origin of patterns that constitute these systems. She states that “genre entails purposes, participants, and themes, so understanding genre entails understanding a rhetorical and semiotic situation and a social context” (Ibid.: 575). While genres respond according to individual circumstance, they themselves play an essential role in the construction of these conditions. The interactions of creators and audiences with genre – their choices of and responses to genre including all possible miscommunications – can shape and transform creative and receptive contexts. Popular music entails many forms of artist and audience communication, not least in the form of live performances and media work. It is therefore important that popular music studies focus on genre from both a musical and a discursive angle in order to accurately trace genre formations and developments. Devitt sees genre as a mediator between the different elements and levels of a text and its contexts. Genre creates connections between the creators, audiences, and situations in which it is found and therefore always incorporates an interdisciplinary dimension. In popular music, the correct understanding of genre contexts is of great importance. The contexts in which a genre appears have the power to affect musical and lyrical themes, but also performances, audience responses, and related ideologies. In this regard, popular music genre, once again, differs from genre in other art forms. Popular music genres feature less-distinguished

Popular music genre  21 forms than their counterparts in literature or even classical music do. While formal differences between a novel and a drama, a sonata and an aria effectively indicate different situations and meanings, a majority of popular music compositions revolves around verse-chorus-verse structures and is therefore extremely closely linked. This can explain the fluid nature of popular music genres and their propensity for transgression. Even though there is a myriad of popular music genres, they have to rely on factors other than form to distinguish themselves and achieve appropriate audience reactions. When studying popular music genre, it is therefore crucial to bear in mind that generic meaning depends on the ways in which various generic features interact, evolve, and change. Musical and social aspects are of equal relevance and it is important to focus on the particularities of genres in the face of similar structural premises and fluid genre boundaries. Genre allows us to locate a relative meaning in different works of art and draw comparative conclusions. It creates connections between artworks, but also separates them and constructs imaginary lines. Popular music genres are in many cases about the ways in which these lines can be distorted and crossed. Genre can be restrictive, but it also enables new creative possibilities by making boundaries more visible. A clear focus on new horizons, that can be reached, is an incentive to try just that. However, there is more to genre than mere categorisation and a knowledge of rules. It is a multidimensional system linking aspects that would otherwise be regarded separately. Genre responds to changes in these constellations and transforms as a result. According to Frow, genre produces meaning because it creates structure and puts texts in systematic categories. The categories entail specific associations and thus influence creative actions and reader expectations. Todorov states: When we examine works of literature from the perspective of genre, we engage in a very particular enterprise: we discover a principle operative in a number of texts, rather than what is specific about each of them. (1970: 3) In this way, the awareness of genre changes our perception of a text and interpretations. Even without considering genre, it is possible to make interpretative assumptions about a text and its individual features. However, these assumptions lack points of reference that are assembled within a wider context. Reading a text while focusing on its generic qualities leads to very different conclusions and affects the perception of meaning. Frow points out that genres are responsible for defining the possible functions and uses of a text. Works of art are essentially uses of genre or performances of the specific sets of constraints that a genre entails. While they are shaped by rules, Frow notes that they also have the power to transform them (2006: 25). In this regard, creators of any profession operate also and equally as the performers of genre and makers of structure. While genre can at times appear very regimented, it also does leave room for individual expression. Audiences are by extension the consumers and critics of genre performances. The

22  Popular music genre ways in which they encounter, use, and talk about specific works of art are almost always guided by genre constraints. A look at film genre theory gives further insight into the role of audiences and their ways of encountering genre. Dealing with another popular art form, film studies features approaches that are easily applicable to popular music and therefore had a considerable influence on genre theory in popular music. In the late 1960s, a growing interest in the study of film genres arose from film criticism and was largely informed by literature theory. Tom Ryall (1970) notes the growing interest in film genre as opposed to auteurism by pointing out a changing relationship between both concepts. Until this point in time, genre was seen as only one factor within a range of choices to be made by a creative director. The growing public interest in genre changed this dynamic. Genre criticism maintains that artists – and auteurs for that matter – can be intertwined with genres, but this is not always the case. Genres need to be regarded independently. According to Ryall, they provide directors with sets of rules for the making of films and audiences with sets of expectations (Ibid.: 26). They are able to influence processes of creation and reception. Ryall remains unclear about the extent to which either of these processes might also shape genres. Nevertheless, it is crucial to note that genre is not a static and text-based concept with audiences and filmmakers as mere social tangents. Both groups equally shape it in return – its transformation is regulated by and depends on the input of creators and audiences. Despite the fact that it is not theoretically comprehensive, Ryall’s text is essential reading when looking for the roots of film genre studies. Most notably, he addresses the concept of film iconography as a central aspect of genre analysis. Iconography is an easy way of identifying and interpreting the visual and immediate elements of a genre text. In film genre studies, these elements function as primary indicators of genre. Originating from art history, iconography was adapted by film theorists as a means of highlighting the predominantly visual character of their medium. Iconographic methods also apply to paratexts  –  like film posters or advertisements – that create early genre-based expectations. While a sole focus on visual aspects can be discriminatory and thus problematic in certain contexts, the iconographic approach is useful to emphasise the representative visual cues of a genre. Horses, cowboys, and vast landscapes, for instance, imply that one is dealing with a Western. While the truth of this first impression can always be challenged by further analysis, iconography plays a pivotal role for the designation of film genres, for audience reactions, and presents a crucial first step in most film analytical endeavours. Since the iconographic analysis characteristically focuses on the visual elements of its subject, it is all too easily discarded as an unsuitable principle for genre analysis in popular music. At first glance, the visuals of popular music genres and film genres seem to be diametrically opposed. While the visual nature of films makes it easy to discern iconographic elements in a filmic text, popular music mainly functions on an aural level. Visual characteristics appear as contextual or paratextual features – types of clothing, advertising, cover art, instrumentation, particular performance styles et cetera – and they are consequently

Popular music genre  23 less immediate and central to the genre text. In film criticism, iconography has a signalling function. Filmic icons are succinct indicators of genre. They are easily apparent and provide guidance for the individual understanding and interpretation of films. This primal level of signification – the immediate, in this case visual, impression that shapes audience opinions from the first moment on – is a crucial layer in the overall construction of genre. It is for this reason imperative to consider how a similar immediate signification is achieved for popular music genres. Focusing on the functional rather than the visual implications of iconography, it is apparent that an iconographic perspective highlights generic signals that serve as allegories to the genre and that entail part of its ideology. Iconography is therefore of relevance to the semiotic study of genre and, in a functional sense, applicable to other areas of genre study than film. Popular music features elements that have a similar function to the iconographic elements in films. It includes visual characteristics that do give a first immediate impression of genre, but there are also musical elements – specific sounds, melodies, lyrics or instruments – that fulfil the same function. In this way, genre is often determined at first listen. The upcoming genre analysis in Chapter two therefore pays close attention to the immediacy of genre and considers it a starting point for a study of Radiohead’s work and inherent genre transgressions. Genre essentially exists as a system of signification that transforms through different readings. Neale (1980) describes genre as variations of an interplay between codes and discourses. They are “instances of repetition and difference” that are bound by the articulation of desire on the part of the spectator (Ibid.: 48). He states that while every text is a repetition of the general mainstream narrative, variations within texts and the resulting progress ensure the audiences’ continuing interest. Genres cannot be completely static if they want to survive. They are bound by temporality and grounded in history, but also need to transform and adapt in some way in order to stay relevant. For this reason, transgressions and variations are necessary by-products of genre development and there is no absolute uniformity amongst genre texts. Genres are ambiguous by nature. Individual genres are characteristically hard to grasp and to define, because they slowly keep on changing. The change depends on audience preferences, which in turn are subject to economic, social, and institutional factors. Neale (Ibid.: 55) points out the interdependence between film audiences and industries: As well as providing a means of regulating desire across a series of textual instances, and of offering an ordered variety of the discursive possibilities of cinema itself, genres also provide a means of regulating memory and expectation, a means of containing the possibilities of reading. Overall, they offer the industry a means of controlling demand, and the institution a means of containing coherently the effects that its products produce. While the industry gains control due to genre expectations, it also depends on audiences to develop and react to these expectations. Meanwhile, film critics mediate and guide opinions on both sides. In this way, genre regulates the conditions of

24  Popular music genre its own reception by establishing relations between the agents involved in its construction. It is interactive, multilateral, and at its very core a collaborative process. If genre changes, audiences and institutions change and vice versa. It is for this reason crucial to consider the contents of genre discourses also in relation to the time of their origin. When speaking about a genre from a temporally remote position – one that is for instance retrospective – it is necessary to bear in mind the possibility and implications of a gradual genre change. Over time, genre expands and becomes increasingly more hybrid. Neale states that genres extend their repertoire either through processes of addition or transgression (2003: 161 and 171 f.). Amongst other things, this affects audience perceptions of genre authenticity and accuracy – a topic that is highly debated amongst film critics. At the same time, however, the expansion and growing interconnection of most generic categories also complicates the identification of genre and in this way fuels the genre discourse. The longer a genre exists and expands, the more it becomes subject of a growing critical discourse. The breadth of genre interpretations makes it necessary to pay close attention to the ways in which different perspectives develop from a genre text and in relation to each other. A basic semiotic analysis with a focus on genre signification is then not only useful to highlight the essential elements and structures of a genre text, but also to monitor the contents and conditions of its interpretation. Altman (1984: 6) states that this strategy makes it possible to trace “the relationship between differing critical claims and their function within a broader cultural context.” How do genre interpretations come to be? Where do they overlap? And to what extent can their differences be explained? These questions can be answered by studying genre discourses and processes of canonisation. There is a growing discrepancy between all works belonging to a genre and those that are seen as prime examples of it. Individual texts relate to their genres in different ways and genre thus incorporates various levels of meaning. It is shaped by individual circumstance and needs to be interpreted as such. Altman argues for greater attention to the temporal transformation of generic structures. He also raises the question of authorship and positions genre as a process of negotiation between the different groups involved (Ibid.: 7 ff. and 17). More attention needs to be paid to the construction of generic texts and resulting interpretive differences. This goes a long way in accounting for hybrid notions of genre, perceived transgressions, and overlapping genre boundaries. It is noteworthy that Altman has updated his semiotic approach to genre to make room for a pragmatic level of analysis. He holds the opinion that an analysis that merely focuses on the semantic and syntactic elements of genre can always be threatened by divergent perceptions. He emphasises that genres are multi-discursive and multi-coded. A theory of genre should therefore examine competing and contradictory uses and instances of miscommunication in order to understand how meaning is created through the regulation of multiple discourses (Altman, 1999: 207–215). What matters is not only the genre text, but also the many different ways in which it can be understood. There is no discourse about genre without a genre text, but at the same time, generic meaning manifests and evolves mainly

Popular music genre  25 through the discourse. Altman’s ideas revolve around a theory of meaning and can be easily applied to popular music. Most popular songs are very concise genre texts that exhibit an extensive set of genre characteristics over a relatively short amount of time. Radiohead songs usually last between three and six minutes, but combine a wide range of musical features that determine identifications of genre. Looking at the semantic and syntactic features of songs is a sensible and systematic approach to realise how genre is constructed within them. A pragmatic study of popular music genres is equally essential to examine the uses to which the music is put as well as the discussions it produces. While film and music differ in many ways – their modes of consumption, typical uses, and audience rituals – the analytical imperatives of their genre theories are of a similar nature and can therefore have a combined value. This fact again speaks for the application of an interdisciplinary perspective when studying popular music genres.

Genre theory in popular music studies: from tradition to transgression While the discussion of genre theory in the field of cultural studies has shown how genre emerges and transforms on a general level and how it is anchored in social practice, it is crucial to go into more detail about music-specific approaches to genre and their value for a study of individual popular musical oeuvres. Genre theory appeared as a widely debated sub-discipline in musicology and – more recently – popular music studies. It combines many of the previously discussed views and influences with new and music-specific perspectives. The following paragraphs explain the historical emergence and uses of genre in popular music studies. In doing so, they work out a concept of genre fluidity that pertains to individual canons of music and bring into focus the theoretical underpinnings for a study of popular music genre and transgression. The discussion further wants to give insight into the inner workings and current situation of genre in popular music studies. Similar to literary genre theory, the study of music genres has a long tradition and passed through corresponding development stages. In the German encyclopaedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart1, Hermann Danuser (2005) offers a detailed overview of historical music classification since the Late Middle Ages that warrants further discussion as a rare account on the history of popular music genre that goes back several hundred years. Danuser’s findings are helpful for understanding where modern theories of popular music genres come from and how they have changed in light of new forms of music making and reception. According to Danuser, a first detailed treatise on aspects of music classification, titled Ars Musicae, was written by music theorist Johannes de Grocheio around 1300. Grocheio’s system of music genres (referred to as ‘genera,’ ‘membra’ or ‘partes’) is geographically and culturally based on music in Paris at the end of the thirteenth century. Danuser explains that it describes genres in terms of their social, ethical, political or liturgical functions, their intended listener groups, and performance spaces. It is interesting to note that many of these functions are adaptable to current popular music genres. Danuser rightly

26  Popular music genre points out that this early example of a genre system contains a notably diverse range of criteria for music classification (Ibid.: 1046 f.). As early as 1300, music categorisation is treated as an interdisciplinary field of study and Grocheio lists popular music forms alongside church music while refraining from any outright value judgements. Notable for a history of music classification is also Johannes Tinctoris’ Terminorum Musicae Definitorum  –  according to Danuser the first known dictionary of musical terms – released in 1472. While Grocheio works with a large number of generic traits, Tinctoris’ strategy for categorisation is simple: his system is based on generic height and relies on the organisation of musical works into a hierarchic order. The aspect of height does not necessarily reflect a high/low art divide. Instead, it alludes to the length of a musical work and the subjective importance and meaning of musical settings (Danuser, 2005: 1046 f.). Tinctoris’ writings thus underline a long-standing tradition of musical value judgements and their role in processes of classification. Both authors set the direction for future studies on music genre. While many later theories depict the complexity of music genres through an extensive list of criteria, others focus on single characteristics or specific ideologies. As a result, most modern systems of musical categories rely on either interdisciplinary approaches and sets of multiple traits or aim for distinct and concise definitions. Both can easily be questioned and contested with regard to their individual subjectivity and the authors’ personal views. Since popular music incorporates very diverse understandings and uses of genre and has produced a wide array of theories, it is crucial to stay aware of the individual motives behind each different approach and consider genre from a number of different perspectives. While early music genre theory rarely addresses aspects of subjectivity and perceptive differences on the parts of writers or readers, the seventeenth century saw an increasing interest in the ways in which the doctrines of affect could feature in musical categorisation. Previous ideas about musical categorisation were combined with the organisation of musical works according to the emotions and listener reactions they produce, which has consequences for the uses of particular genres, for music listeners, and for listening contexts (Danuser, 2005: 1050). For the first time, audience perceptions feature as a distinct focal point in music genre theory. Despite the fact that generic categorisation based on affections alone is potentially problematic, one can detect elements of a more progressive approach to genre studies that incorporate a new attentiveness to listeners and the ways in which genre categories relate to the effects they have on audiences. The fact that audience receptions of music genres have been a subject of academic interest for so long serves to emphasise their continued relevance. However, a focus on genre perceptions did not prove to be more popular amongst genre theorists until much later. Samson (2001: 658) states that major changes in genre analysis mainly occurred in the 1960s and brought about a shift of attention towards the study of aesthetic experiences as opposed to the exclusive study of the nature of artworks. While earlier theories were adamant about the purity and invariability of genres, new genre concepts focused on the fluidity of genres and their uses in

Popular music genre  27 discourse. An awareness of the historicity of these approaches – their individual historic roots  –  is useful for understanding the purposes behind different modern genre theories. With increasing tendencies towards genre transgression also comes the need for more frequent negotiations of genre rules. As a result, one can note a growing interest amongst modern-day popular music scholars in genre discourses, that not only thrive on rule transgressions but in this way also produce greater generic multiplicity. While popular music studies is a relatively young discipline with first studies on genre appearing in the 1980s, it is interesting to note that popular categories frequently feature in historic studies on music – such as Grocheio’s system – and function as a counterpart to art or church music. This fact is meaningful for the following reasons: firstly, popular music is included alongside other categories, but treated as a separate field of study. For the most part, popular music and other categories did not mix. Popular music appears as a separate category on the same hierarchical level as art music. While historical genre systems are not always free of value judgements, popular music appears as an equal and independent part of each system defined by its secular nature and entertainment purpose. Secondly, when popular music features in historic genre systems, it is subject to evaluative processes based on the musical parameters and standards of art or church music. It is judged with analytical means that did not arise from a study of popular songs but rather from a study of opposing musical categories. Popular music appears in relation to other categories and it is not evaluated based on its own characteristics. Despite the fact that these early accounts of popular music give valuable insight into popular music history, aspects such as the genre-specific rules and characteristics, the different uses, expectations, and motivations of composers and audiences were sometimes all too easily overlooked. Methods for a more comprehensive study of popular music genre remain a hot topic amongst scholars even today. A quick look at genre theory in Western art music shows that musicologists have brought up issues regarding the negotiation of generic meaning that also apply to popular music. Jeffrey Kallberg (1988: 239) states that “generic criticism is in some ways the tale of centuries of competing claims and systems. The suggested systems range from the utterly preclusive to the all-comprehensive.” The true challenge of genre theory is then to find a good middle ground between the opposite ends rather than to fluctuate between both approaches. Kallberg argues that theoretical writings on genre should pay attention to “the reconstruction of contexts and traditions, and the perceptions of composers and their audiences, both historical and modern” (Ibid.: 243). His notion of genre thus paves the way for a study that includes both music-analytical means as well as music reception. Kallberg’s words make it clear that it is essential to regard all theoretical attempts as products of their time and place. Changing historical contexts and ensuing differences in interpretation regulate genre rules. If new or widely differing perceptions challenge traditional understandings, this can result in genre development and change. While Kallberg is dealing with classical music, his ideas are highly relevant for popular music studies. Popular music audiences are widely engaged

28  Popular music genre in the tradition of genre because they often create their own rituals, scenes, and media outlets. As such, they are not only responsible for shaping genre rules through their behaviour and expectations they also produce a detailed genre discourse that can have a tremendous impact on the negotiation and progress of genre. Perhaps more than any other type of genre, popular music categories are therefore reliant on frequent audience interactions and a permanent questioning of rules that promotes genre development. Bearing Kallberg’s words in mind it proves crucial to find not only a middle ground between approaches, but also to adopt a flexible notion of genre during the analytical process, that is especially relevant to popular music. A brief overview of genre theory in current popular music studies can help clarify how this can be done. As one of the first popular music scholars to address genre studies, Fabbri (1981) argues for an interdisciplinary theory that combines musical and sociological elements. He explains popular music genre as “a set of musical events (real or possible) whose course is governed by a definite set of socially accepted rules” (Ibid.: 7). Fabbri introduces rules that are meant to describe any popular music genre. These are ‘formal and technical,’ ‘semiotic,’ ‘behaviour,’ ‘social’ and ‘ideological,’ and ‘economical and juridical rules.’ He states that it is possible to illustrate the complexity of particular genres by creating a matrix of genre elements derived from these rules. There is no fixed hierarchic order, but some rules are more important than others depending on the genre in question. He further introduces the idea of ‘hyper-rules’ – reminiscent of ideologies – that determine the weighting of particular rules within a genre (Ibid.: 10). Popular music genres are established as constructs that are confirmed by social discourse. All types of genre rules, says Fabbri, are dependent on previous processes of communication and codification. These processes also shape audience expectations and are shaped by audiences in return. Putting Fabbri’s ideas in relation to the ways in which audience expectations and reception appear in earlier discussed theories again shows that popular music studies builds on very similar premises as for example film genre theory. While Fabbri’s discussion does not go into much detail about discursive action, his study shows the many advantages of exploring genre from different angles and of combining methods. It is pioneering in its attempt to develop a more nuanced and comprehensive perspective of popular music genre. A brief summary shall suffice to clarify Fabbri’s approach and the detail in which one may analyse popular music genre: in Fabbri’s opinion, formal and technical rules are central to most studies of genre. They are concerned with the structural aspects of a composition – its form, melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation or lyrics (1981: 10 f.). In listening contexts, these characteristics determine the initial identification of genre. Referring to semiotic rules, Fabbri addresses the narrative strategies inherent in genres and means of communication. This includes the coding of temporal and sociological differences with implications for genre audiences and listening contexts. Semiotic, he states, are also the gestural, mimical, and facial codes of performers and audiences (Ibid.: 11). They describe how genre is articulated – how audiences and music makers communicate with and through genre. Rules of behaviour are similar, but depend on the

Popular music genre  29 psychology of musicians when faced with an audience and vice versa. Behaviour rules influence the ways in which audiences perceive a performer’s sincerity. They describe, according to Fabbri, the rituals within a genre that identify exclusive circles of fans or intruders (Ibid.: 13). Talking about social and ideological rules, Fabbri states that a knowledge of genre rules and the social images of a genre by one of its participants is of an ideological nature. Ideology emphasises or conceals genre rules (Ibid.: 14 and 26). At the same time, individual views vary greatly and are often affected by a desire for authentication, which can distort the perception and eventual tradition of genre. Lastly, economical and juridical rules deal with the economic situation of genres within the music industry and thus determine the longevity of genres. Economical rules describe for instance issues of marketing, promotion, and retail. In contrast to other genre features, Fabbri states, economical and juridical factors are often ideologically concealed (Ibid.: 14).2 Fabbri’s study offers a detailed perspective that informs about musical features, but also about the social and contextual properties of genre. It shows that a multidimensional approach is crucial for the study of genre, because it reveals the deeply intertwined inner workings of genre and underlines the resulting complexities of all genre perception. As a result, it appears necessary to study not only genre texts and discourses in conjunction, but also to remember that both are composite constructs that entail different levels of meaning. In the 1990s, more popular music scholars developed an interest in genre and dove deep into less discussed issues such as generic change, rule transgressions and the extensive critical discourse of popular music genres. In doing so, they also laid the groundwork for a study of individual genre transgression. Simon Frith (1996: 75 ff.) argues that processes of genre labelling lie at the heart of value judgements in popular music, because genres organise processes of music evaluation. According to Frith, they do so in three ways: firstly, as a commercial tool, they organise the sales process. Secondly, they organise processes of music making and depend on a shared musical knowledge amongst musicians. Labels are used as shorthand terms to describe particular sounds. Thirdly, genres organise the listening process and serve as a means of comparison and measure for expectations. Frith states that every musical judgement depends on what people understand to be true and authentic to a certain genre. While he notes that all genres rely on processes of rule bending and testing, he stresses that all readings of genre necessarily rely on genre rules. Frith thus points out the inherent complexity that underlies all genre transgressions and that will resurface in the following chapters: genre always bridges a gap between tradition and transgression. It exists and evolves in the resulting field of tension. The same is true for genre in individual musical oeuvres. Frith states that genres are “not determined by the form or style of a text itself but by the audience’s perception of its style and meaning, defined most importantly at the moment of performance” (Ibid.: 94). Popular music audiences have tremendous power to shape genres and to determine new generic meaning. At the same time, aspects of subjectivity and the precise manner in which value judgements are made are not always obvious and genre progress and discourse are therefore at least in some ways shaped by misinterpretations,

30  Popular music genre inattention or even wilful ignorance. This makes it necessary to study not only the ways in which audience interpretations portray genre, but also how these portrayals relate to the genre text in question and to each other. A look at different types of genre performances and listening contexts – live or recorded – is equally valuable for understanding how genre is conveyed, articulated, and perceived in different situations. Popular music genres are often hard to grasp and to define. The same is also true for individual manifestations of genre that are additionally distorted by a distinct sonic language. This makes it increasingly clear that genre concepts in popular music need to be ideally fluid. Jason Toynbee (2000) points out that, if genre was a fixed set of characteristics, eventually no text would feature all traits associated with a specific genre. At the same time, genre cannot exist without rules. As a solution, Toynbee proposes a less exclusive view on genre for the purpose of orientation. He states that genre “will tend to be contested, becoming the subject of struggles for definition across the continuum from production to consumption” (Ibid.: 103). Constant processes of negotiation and renegotiation amongst its participants shape generic meaning. It is bound by its own tradition and history, which serves as a basis for all discussions. Genre rules are transformed, re-established, or discarded. Brackett (2002: 67) explains that “genres may be understood as mediating the discursive web (spun between the media, consumers and industry personnel) in which musical meaning circulates and the objects to which these meanings are attached – the sonic materiality of specific performances and recordings.” The more complex this process turns out to be, the more widespread a genre will be. The verbal and social discourse on genre also provides a breeding ground for new opinions and varied forms of expression. Genre articulation and mediation happen on many levels. One example is the type of language that genre participants use. In discourse, genres and ideologies are for instance articulated through the use of affective language – one of the main tools of genre criticism. Genre reception and criticism are a major cause for genre progress. As such, it is necessary to view genre discourse analysis as a crucial part of genre studies. Holt (2007: 20 ff) argues that all genres go through two basic processes: they are ‘founded and codified’ and they develop through further negotiations. Codification happens, according to Holt, in ‘center collectivities’ – small insider communities within a larger network of genre participants – that give direction to the genre. They determine genre conventions: its codes, values, and practices. Holt states that these change according to different cultural and economic contexts. As this shows, there are several levels of genre discourses that shape a genre in different ways. Certain journalists, industry personnel, and well-known fan circles can have a more significant impact on the formation of opinions than other genre participants. This influence depends on the interconnectedness of people, their cross-media reach, and their perceived authenticity or sincerity. Generic hierarchies not only include different levels of genre, but also inter- and intra-generic relationships. Genre discourse is shaped by many factors, not least of all its own historicity and origin. Brackett (2002: 2 and 20) addresses the instability of genre

Popular music genre  31 over time. He states that genre interpretations are temporally bound and at times retroactive. Retrospective points of view often appear in discussions of genre and determine how a piece of music is perceived. If one person is new to a genre or simply not aware of its transformation over time, they might judge and interpret it differently than more informed listeners. Listening to older albums by individual artists years after their initial release – as many people do, who discover Radiohead’s earlier work today – brings up a similar issue. All first impressions of the music are coloured by the fact, that listeners are often already aware of the artist’s more recent reception and work. This leads to new value judgements that differ from past views – in many cases, a retrospective reappraisal of works that were controversial during their time – and acknowledgements of the work’s status within a particular oeuvre. Attention to the timing of genre discourses is therefore a crucial factor in most analytical endeavours. Since a study of well-documented genre discourses makes it possible to trace genre development, it is not surprising that genre transgressions become visible in the process. Holt is one of the first to write extensively about border crossings and genre transformation in popular music. He proposes a ‘decentred concept of genre’ – a way of understanding music that exists in between genres and that thrives on heterogeneity. His ‘in-between model’ is structured by “continuums and plural narratives rather than dichotomies [that] embrace polymorphous semantic textures rather than distinct categories” (2007: 159). Complementing traditional theoretical models with ‘decentred’ notions of genre raises greater awareness of those types of music that defy categorisation and that are inherently diverse. Holt’s discussion calls attention to the space that exists between all genres and that leaves room for transgressive behaviour and a mixing of styles. His ideas emphasise the need for studying in detail how some artists – and especially Radiohead – achieve a transcendence of boundaries, and how their music relates to various genres at the same time. In some ways, popular music has a problem with too strict categories. If rules are followed too rigidly, this can stifle creativity and progress. Genre can manifest outside of existing categories and across boundaries. It can be interpreted in many ways at the same time. Rather than presenting one analysis that highlights the position of Radiohead’s music amongst genres, it is therefore interesting to examine genre in Radiohead’s work by analysing parallel interpretations and to explore their comparative validity. Looking at the different ideas presented here, it is clear that a theory of popular music genre requires more than a text-based study of musical elements or any number of contextually related characteristics. It needs to pay attention to the ways in which genre guides the interactions between musicians, producers, the music industry and audiences, in particular critics and fans. The theoretical grounding for this study closely aligns with Holt’s and Brackett’s ideas about genre transgression and instability. Meanwhile, the following chapters take a slightly different methodological and topical stance by focusing on the complexity of genre within the work of one musical oeuvre rather than genre as a whole. The aim in doing so is to develop a theory of flexible genre identity that builds on a multilateral exchange between the different elements and agents involved in its making. Genre

32  Popular music genre transgression is made visible by studying the genre text – Radiohead’s work – and its reception in close proximity, but at the same time from widely differing angles. The contrasting points of view shall serve to achieve an all-encompassing and multidimensional picture of genre transgression in popular music. Genre functions as a process of communication and reception that evolves over time. It creates meaning by mediating between its users and it is furthermore characterised by its varying uses. While genre is able to guide different forms of discourse, it is also shaped by them and thus dependent on a complex interrelation with its participants. A study of popular music genres and transgression requires a closer look at the many ways in which genre is perceived, how it appears in discourse, and how the different levels of discourse affect genre in turn. Based on individual requirements, an analysis of genre discourses can go into incredible detail – or it can be very basic. In light of this, the following section shows how popular music discourses and identities have been discussed by academics in the past and reflects on strategies, methodological benefits, and difficulties.

Genre identities and the popular music discourse The rapidly increasing interest in genre studies amongst popular music scholars has led to new and multi-dimensional concepts of genre that enable diversity and transgression. In academic texts, one can observe a closer engagement with the social dimensions of genre and audience involvement. The growing interest in reception is of great value for studies of popular music genres, especially because most of these genres tend to produce an extensive and well-documented discourse. At the same time, the extent to which a study of genre should focus on musical or social settings and discourses requires careful consideration. A methodological approach to genre analysis may vary from genre to genre. All genre texts are constructed differently and the same is true for genre discourses. While an analysis of genre characteristics is elemental for understanding the full scope of a genre text, genre gains meaning due to its impact on processes of communication and interpretation. When studying genre texts, one can observe exactly how genre identities emerge and how they are constructed within and from a piece of music. By looking at genre discourses, one is able to see how audiences translate this generic meaning into their own interpretations. In this way, genre influences both creative and receptive processes and a study of popular music genres can therefore equally benefit from text-based and discourse-based methods of analysis. Both approaches highlight two different yet complementary sides of generic meaning – the intended or embedded meaning originating from musicians, composers, or producers as well as the perceived meaning on the side of the audience. While a simultaneous look at different analytical angles can bring up contradictions, all conflicts in genre reception provide further ground for discussions about the nature of genre construction and freedom of interpretation. Discourse-based approaches to genre analysis are still somewhat new to popular music studies and therefore difficult to approach. While many older studies work with text-based methods and disregard genre reception, those who focus on

Popular music genre  33 discourse-based means often pay less attention to textual analysis. A sole focus on discursive sources is problematic, because without an independent study of genre features it can be difficult to evaluate or compare other opinions. At the same time, a mere text-based study is barely sufficient to reveal all facets of a genre by itself. Genre discourses provide insight into the working mechanisms of genre – they illuminate the relationships between a genre and its participants. By analysing genre discourses, one can consider a genre from various angles and develop a more comprehensive perspective. Brian Paltridge (2006: 179) elaborates on the details that affect critical discourse analysis and offers methodological strategies: Critical Discourse analysis […] explores issues such as gender, ethnicity, cultural difference, ideology and identity and how these are both constructed and reflected in texts. It also investigates ways in which language constructs and is constructed by social relationships. A critical analysis may include a detailed textual analysis and move from there to an explanation and interpretation of the analysis. It might proceed from there to deconstruct and challenge the text/s being examined. This may include tracing underlying ideologies from the linguistic features of a text, unpacking particular biases and ideological presuppositions underlying the text, and relating the text to other texts and to people’s experiences and beliefs. Discourse analysis considers how and why specific themes appear in discussion. It looks at argument structures and interpretations and informs about the functions of specific discourses. By studying popular music discourses one can therefore explore how genre canons and conflicts come to be, and how genre is affected by socio-cultural circumstance. An analysis of genre discourses not only serves to highlight the uses of a genre, but also to detect social components such as the backgrounds and motives of its users. In this way, genre influences the contents of discussions and ultimately the ways in which these contents are described. An assumption can be made that genre discourses are therefore always genre specific. They are shaped by the very thing they seek to describe and define. Most genre discourses feature their own language, writing styles, and conventions. This is especially true for genre-discourses that revolve around the work of specific artists and therefore seek to establish a strong individual genre identity. Since no genre discourse is ever the same, discourse-analytical strategies also vary. Knowledge of how discourse analysis works in different situations is useful for judging variations in genre reception. Stephanie Taylor (2013: 1) explains that discourse analysis does not rely on a single approach or methodology. It accommodates various strategies – like those mentioned by Paltridge – and is therefore useful for studying notions of hybridity, transgression, and conflicts of opinion. Taylor states that by using discourse-analytical methods one is able to work with an extensive range of interesting data in order to gain information about social practices, interactions and identities (Ibid.: 53 ff.). While the language and contents of a discourse serve to examine any of these aspects, popular music discourses also include information about what a genre might sound like, how the

34  Popular music genre music is created and performed, and how genres are named. The discourse on new popular music genres is quick to evolve – much like popular music genres themselves. It is characteristically interactive – especially with regard to new media outlets – and it thrives on the many discussions and conflicts between fans, journalists, musicians, and the music industry. Genre discourses are therefore equally valuable for gaining information about the texts and contexts of a genre. Their study is a useful starting point for understanding how audience expectations and genre identities emerge and change over time. Since most popular music genres produce a diverse discourse, analyses benefit from a multiplicity of opinions. When working with popular music discourses, most scholars develop their individual methods and it is interesting to consider how discourse analysis is applied in different contexts. A general account about the discursive study of popular music genres remains yet to be written, but the growing number of studies on related issues gives a first impression of appropriate strategies and requirements. Johan Fornäs (1995) brings up crucial points about genre development and genre discourses that emerge over a longer period of time. Focusing on hypothetical future developments rather than present instances of genre, he describes how ongoing definitional debates amongst audiences lead to the construction of rock as an “open and unfinished category” (Ibid.: 113). Fornäs states that a genre’s future development depends on discursive negotiation and that an active discourse ensures the creative lives of genres. In his opinion, definitional debates characterise genres and once a genre can be unambiguously defined, it is dead (Ibid.: 120 f.). Interpretative struggles enable genre progress by maintaining a sense of tension between its participants and thus keep debates going. Genre progress and growth happen on different discursive levels. All genre discourses consist of various sub-discourses that mainly reflect notions of identity. Depending on the genre, topics can include the self-image of audience members, debates about genre ideals, ideologies, notions of authenticity, and more. Individual debates and uses are furthermore subject to changing historical, cultural, and socio-political contexts. Sub-discourses are helpful for establishing a sense of structure within the larger discursive framework. Paying attention to the sub-discourses of particular genres or oeuvres makes it easier to navigate and organise a wider range of available sources. A study of subdiscourses thus presents an interesting angle on discourse analysis and calls for further research. Different approaches to discourse analysis serve to highlight various sides of generic meaning. Genre discourses can be highly subjective and biased, which needs to be taken into account during analysis. A look at two studies on indie music reveals how different academic concepts of a genre emerge. Depending on the purpose of the study, some sub-discourses are of more interest than others and one might even detect hierarchic structures. Writing about the politics and aesthetics of indie music, David Hesmondhalgh (1999: 36) discusses a number of common and less common sub-discourses – ‘burn-out’ and ‘sell-out’ as well as ‘classicist’ and ‘aestheticist’  –  in order to judge how particular debates and dichotomies evolve differently over time. His critical focus on two opposite sides

Popular music genre  35 of a sub-discourse allows for variations in opinion. The comparative angle is useful for evaluating discourses effectively, but at the same time staying aware of their limitations and complex nature. Hesmondhalgh’s study of indie shows that discourses can be extremely subjective, because they are governed by individual or collective ideologies. They inform about the guiding principles of a genre and constructed genre identities, but they are also constrained by them. Writing about the genre some years after Hesmondhalgh, Ryan Hibbett (2006) positions indie as a social discourse. To explain how identity is established through this discourse he analyses the negotiation of generic meaning in an online article on how to “fake being an indie rock expert” (Ibid.: 69). Rules of behaviour, dress, and conventions are listed alongside the kinds of music one should listen to. Hibbett’s point is that being an expert in a genre can be learned – it requires the acquisition of a distinct knowledge. ‘Fake’ and ‘real’ experts are only distinguished by their credibility. Even without considering the music, the genre discourse thus exists as a form of social etiquette (Ibid.: 69 ff.). Hesmondhalgh and Hibbett approach the topic of indie discourses from two different informative angles. While Hesmondhalgh describes discursive conflicts, Hibbett discusses the knowledge of indie discourses as a form of cultural capital. In both cases, genre discourses fulfil the purpose of individual expression. The studies differ, however, with regard to their focus points and show that genre discourses are in many ways dependent on notions of authenticity and a concealment or ignorance of anything that could be construed as negative. It becomes clear that genre discourses are not only ruled by their own subjective nature, they can also be applied differently during academic analysis. This makes the work with genre discourses a difficult endeavour and underlines the necessity for choosing carefully which types of discourses to include in a study of genre. The construction of genre identities in discourse is ideological, subjective, and shaped by temporal conditions. It depends on the participants’ individual background and intent. When analysing genre, it is useful to compare many different genre discourses and contrast opposing points of view in order to achieve comprehensive and reliable insights. Chris Atton (2001: 30 ff.) shows how this can be done with regard to progressive rock and that the genre is shaped by a variety of discourses and contradicting opinions. He analyses the genre in light of the interactions and arguments that can be found in discourses on its musical value. Atton focuses on discursive action that takes place roughly twenty years after progressive rock reached its peak and his study illustrates the impact that temporal displacement can have on judgements about genre. It also shows that new discourses can revive and transform a genre and its uses. Audience groups with varying sets of experiences or degrees of familiarity with a genre encounter the genre in different ways and discuss it in relation to these encounters. Young listeners experience older genres retrospectively and they have access to a wide range of music and literature that can affect their judgement. Older audiences can often draw on a more active involvement in a genre and therefore work with notions of authenticity. Overall, discourses are rather unstable constructs that are highly dependent on the people involved in their creation. They reflect social transformations within

36  Popular music genre a genre and enable development. At the same time, they are changed by genre progress. Genres and their discourses are inherently connected in structure and content and they are thus mutually influential. A look at genre discourses often reveals audience ideologies about the idea of genre itself. Discussing noise music, Atton (2011) explains that genre construction is inherently shaped by these beliefs. It is a process of discursive negotiation that depends on how “music becomes understood according to ideological, economic, cultural, and social interest” (Ibid.: 327). He compares different media discourses on noise that describe the genre as an ordinary musical category, as an anti-genre, and lastly as a type of music, that defies categorisation. Atton points out a distinctive style in noise discourses including particular listening practices and genre-specific styles of writing (Ibid.: 336). He states that noise music can be approached as a set of “open texts” through which listeners may project their own identities, experiences, histories, and ideologies upon a text. […] Such an interpretation places the discursive practices of fans at the center of the construction of noise music as a genre. (Ibid.: 339) In this way discourse functions as a site of social meaning, that is used to express fundamental ideas about music and society in general. Nevertheless, the ways in which these contents are articulated still mostly depend on genre-centric ideals, groupings, and environments. In more recent years, the development of online communities has led to more widespread and fast-paced debates driven by a mixture of opinions. The easy accessibility of past music has shaped new genre discourses in so far that many people are able to acquire a wider musical knowledge at a lower cost than previously possible. As a result, some newer genres combine a larger variety of musical influences. At the same time, there is also an oversaturation of sorts, which can result in more discussions, conflicts, and in some cases a dwindling attention to detail. Joti Rockwell (2012: 372 f.) states that online discourses on popular music benefit from a diverse range of participants and allow for more active and interactive discussions. He points out that even supposed misconstructions of a genre in online contexts can be beneficial to the genre as they serve to sustain definitional debates. Online discourses thus provide insights into the content-related struggles over genre and can inform about dominant positions and arguments. When studying popular music genres, online discourses provide a useful source of information, that not only serves a site for the negotiation of musical meaning, but also as an archive for past discourses in the form of press releases, video recordings, and so on. While participants in online discussions about genre can be at the centre of the discourse – like fans or journalists on well-known message boards, review sites, or social media platforms – they can also be at the margins. A person’s positioning and status within the online discourse determines their general influence on genre development. Writing about post-rock, James A. Hodgkinson (2004: 222 ff.) proposes that whole scenes can be constructed and take place online.

Popular music genre  37 He argues that the post-rock scene is essentially trans-local and takes place on a virtual level through online media discourses. In the face of this subcultural displacement, Hodgkinson states, debates based on a shared language and knowledge serve to create a genre community that finds expression in a wider network of fanzines giving direction to the genre. In cases like these, the genre discourse takes on the important role of a main means of communication between locally separate groups that are placed within a shared generic context. Genre discourse presents an essentially social space that counteracts generic dispersion and disintegration. By providing a platform for social interaction, it offers a secure space in which meaning is negotiated and functions as a catalyst for the formation and conditioning of genre scenes. However, positions expressed in genre discourse need not always reflect mainstream opinions and may vary substantially. They can even take place outside of genre scenes. Different religious, cultural, and political backgrounds influence discussions in so far, that a genre might be construed in opposing ways. Talking about a negative construction of rock music in religiously informed discourses, Anna Nekola (2013: 408 f.) argues that these debates can be used to illuminate the development of particular cultural and political situations. She states that some positions can influence and are influenced by developments that lie outside of the genre realm. Her words indicate essential links between genre worlds and different processes taking place within a wider cultural and political field. This more than anything shows how genre interpretations are dependent on audience intentions. A genre discourse is not only produced by fans and music listeners, but it can also include people that are not involved or even interested in the genre’s inner workings. However, this also shows that genre has an impact beyond its inner circles and can affect developments within society. Genre development therefore takes place in a field of tension and relies on struggles about characterisation and canonisation. While this study takes inspiration from the methods used by authors such as Atton, its focus will be on analysing genre discourses on mainstream sites of online communication and media outlets rather than tracing genre at the margins. The aim is to ensure comprehensive insights into the wider discourses on Radiohead and the many constructions of their musical identity – in accordance with the popularity of the band – in order to reflect on a varied network of opinions. A discourse-based analysis of popular music genres is beneficial due to a number of reasons. Not least of all, it informs about the construction of genre identities under different circumstances. The discussion so far has shown that genres are subject to many different discourses and conflicting opinions. Debates highlight the flexibility of genre and ensure the ongoing negotiation of meaning that is a necessary condition for progress. Discourse analysis provides insight into the social dimensions of genre and is a starting point for exploring the roles and relationships of genre audiences. It accounts for the subjectivity inherent in all genre definitions and presents a useful way of dealing with different perceptions. A discussion of genre discourses is essential for creating an overview of popular debates within a genre, including those about competing ideologies and identities.

38  Popular music genre Since genre discourse is a means of communication that involves most participants of a genre, it provides a multitude of different insights that are in many cases well documented. One can trace in detail how genres form, evolve, decline, or transcend their own boundaries. A discourse analysis can also be used together with text-based approaches to explore the working mechanisms of genres and different sides of generic meaning in the works of specific artists. One can take note of rule transgressions, hybridity, and all other aspects that defy the norm. The following chapters therefore explore how a combination of text- and discoursebased means serves to highlight the various generic intricacies, peculiarities, and transgressions to be found in Radiohead’s musical oeuvre.

Notes 1 The title translates as ‘Music in History and the Present.’ Danuser’s entry is listed under the subject title “Gattung,” which he translates as ‘genre.’ Furthermore, the encyclopedia includes an entry on ‘style’ (“Stil”), which is concerned with individual- and group-specific particularities in compositions. Style is used almost synonymously with the word ‘character.’ For the full entry, see Leisinger and Seidel (2005). 2 For an example of a study that does pay great attention to genre industries, see Negus (1999).

References Altman, R. (1984). A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre. Cinema Journal. 23(2). pp. 6–18. Altman, R. (1999). Film/Genre. London: BFI Publishing. Aristotle. (Ca. 335 BC). Poetics. Translation by S. H. Butcher. (1902). Accessed at: https:// www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/1/9/7/1974/1974h/1974-h.htm [27.02.2019]. Atton, C. (2001). ‘Living in the Past’?: Value Discourses in Progressive Rock Fanzines. Popular Music. 20(1). pp. 29–46. Atton, C. (2011). Fan Discourse and the Construction of Noise Music as a Genre. Journal of Popular Music Studies. 23(3). pp. 324–342. Brackett, D. (2002). (In Search Of) Musical Meaning: Genres, Categories and Crossover. In: D. Hesmondhalgh and K. Negus, eds Popular Music Studies. London: Arnold. pp. 65–82. Danuser, H. (2005). Gattung. In: L. Finscher, ed. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. 2nd ed. Vol. 3 (Subject Encyclopedia). Kassel, Stuttgart: Bärenreiter. pp. 1042–1069. Devitt, A. J. (1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication. 44(4). pp. 573–586. Dubrow, H. (1982). Genre. London: Methuen. Fabbri, F. (1981). A Theory of Musical Genres: Two Applications. In: S. Frith, ed. Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Vol. 3. London: Routledge. pp. 7–35. Fornäs, J. (1995). The Future of Rock: Discourses That Struggle to Define a Genre. Popular Music. 14(1). pp. 111–125.

Popular music genre  39 Fowler, A. (1982). Kinds of Literature: An Introduction to the Theory of Genres and Modes. Oxford: Clarendon. Frith, S. (1996). Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Frow, J. (2006). Genre. London, New York: Routledge. Hesmondhalgh, D. (1999). Indie: The Institutional Politics and Aesthetics of a Popular Music Genre. Cultural Studies. 13(1). pp. 34–61. Hibbett, R. (2006). What Is Indie Rock? Popular Music and Society. 28(1). pp. 55–77. Hodgkinson, J. A. (2004). The Fanzine Discourse over Post-Rock. In: R. A. Peterson, ed. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 221–237. Holt, F. (2007). Genre in Popular Music. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press. Horace. (Ca. 18 BC). Ars Poetica. Translation by A. S. Kline. (2005). Accessed at: http:// www.poetryin translation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceArsPoetica.htm [27.02.2019]. Kallberg, J. (1988). The Rhetoric of Genre: Chopin’s Nocturne in G Minor. 19th-Century Music. 11(3). pp. 238–261. Langford, B. (2005). Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Leisinger, U. and Seidel, W. (2005). Stil. In: F. Blume and L. Finscher, eds Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. 2nd ed. Vol. 8 (Subject Encyclopedia). Kassel, Stuttgart: Bärenreiter. pp. 1740–1759. Moore, A. F. (2001). Categorical Conventions in Music Discourse: Style and Genre. Music & Letters. 82(3). pp. 432–442. Neale, S. (1980). Genre. London: British Film Institute. Neale, S. (2000). Genre and Hollywood. London: Routledge. Neale, S. (2003). Questions of Genre. In: B. K. Grant, ed. Film Genre Reader III. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 160–184. Negus, K. (1999). Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London: Routledge. Nekola, A. (2013). ‘More Than Just a Music’: Conservative Christian Anti-Rock Discourse and the U.S. Culture Wars. Popular Music. 32(3). pp. 407–426. Paltridge, B. (2006). Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. London: Continuum. Rockwell, J. (2012). What Is Bluegrass Anyway? Category Formation, Debate and the Framing of Musical Genre. Popular Music. 31(3). pp. 363–381. Ryall, T. (1970). The Notion of Genre. Screen. 11(2). pp. 22–32. Samson, J. (2001). Genre. In: S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell, eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. London: Macmillan. pp. 657–659. Shuker, R. (2012). Popular Music Culture: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge. Spicer, M. (2010). Regatta de Blanc: Analyzing Style in the Music of the Police. In: J. Covach and M. Spicer, eds Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. pp. 125–153. Taylor, S. (2013). What Is Discourse Analysis? London: Bloomsbury Academic. Todorov, T. (1970). The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to Literary Genre. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. Todorov, T. and Berrong, R. M. (1976). The Origin of Genres. New Literary History. 8(1). pp. 159–170. Toynbee, J. (2000). Making Popular Music: Musicians, Creativity and Institutions. London: Arnold.

2

Genre and transgression in the music of Radiohead

The variety of individual genre perceptions becomes apparent when one is aware of the larger stylistic elements and developments that make up a musical text. Without textual and contextual points of reference, it is impossible to judge whether genres are constructed comprehensibly and justly in discourse. In order to decide which discursive sources one should consider during genre analysis, it is necessary to make judgements about the importance of these discourses by looking at the music and contexts they describe. For this reason, a study of textual matters presents a crucial prerequisite for the understanding of discourses and their individual constructions of genre identity. The following discussion introduces ideas for a text-based genre analysis. It shows how notions of genre and transgression appear in Radiohead’s music, how they transform over time, and how they can be made sense of.

Methodological backgrounds Radiohead’s music is the subject of a wide and diverse discourse that is shaped by audiences, journalists, and industries alike. Looking at the many discussions, one is confronted with a myriad of opinions about genre and individual style. While debates often focus on stylistic hybridity and Radiohead’s position in particular genre canons, it is the sheer number of diverse interpretations that underlines the importance of genre as a significant feature in their work. Individual takes on genre in Radiohead’s music present opposing ideas and contribute towards a sense of generic elusiveness, which in the absence of textual reference points leads to confusion. Creating an overview of recurring genre elements in Radiohead’s work – or any particular oeuvre for that matter – is thus essential for the understanding of individual discourses on genre. Specific attention is also paid to the stylistic constants and developments in Radiohead’s music in order to understand what defines it. While all discourse on genre in Radiohead is based on the same genre text  –  Radiohead’s music and performing contexts  –  genre affects individual opinions in various ways. The same text can be understood differently depending on varied listening circumstances and personal factors. Discourses are further shaped by the tone of speech or writing. They can be humorous, ironic, or plain

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  41 and straightforward. It is the analysts’ responsibility to consider the extent to which their discursive sources – and even their own perspective – are affected by these matters. Genre immediacy plays a crucial role for the ways in which music is discussed. While some listeners take longer to form an opinion about a song by listening to it on repeat, many develop impressions of genre at first listen or in passing. Members of the music press work under specific temporal constraints. When passing judgement on various pieces of music in a limited amount of time, it makes sense for journalists to take note of distinctive musical elements and use genre to position interpretations in a wider context. While the practices of popular music journalists vary, they are also context dependent (Gudmundsson et al., 2003: 307). Music journalists are bound by notions of genre, but their perceptions of genre features and analytical focus points can differ. All audiences develop first impressions of genre based on expectations and by taking note of distinctive genre elements. These impressions may change upon further listen and determine how genre is henceforth perceived. When analysing genre, it is essential to consider which characteristics are the most immediate aspects of a genre text. One can then compile a list of musical and social features that are easily noticed by people with different amounts of musical training in the first moments of listening. It is these elements that often resurface in discourses on genre. This makes it possible to achieve a deeper understanding of how first impressions of genre texts are formed and which aspects they rely on. A text-based analysis of genre immediacy in specific oeuvres is a useful starting point for studying genre discourses. It can highlight the essential components, structures, and developments of the music and its contexts. To develop a suitable approach for the text-based study of popular music genres, a look beyond popular music studies is again helpful. Studies of film genre incorporate iconographic analyses as premise for more complex research questions. The description of immediately noticeable visual elements serves to position films and iconic scenes in a wider context, which makes the genre text either more palpable to readers or more peculiar. The iconographic analysis highlights important textual features that serve – together with the larger narratives of a film  –  as points of reference for all further elaborations, including those about genre development, success, and reception.1 Iconographic elements have a crucial impact on genre reception because they shape first impressions of a genre and consequently affect interpretations. Initial responses to a genre determine how the same genre is regarded in the long run. The prevalence of film genre iconography emphasises the importance of studying genre immediacy on a wider scale. It presents a way of getting to the essence of all genre texts. Not all genres may be predominantly visual, but they all evoke spontaneous reactions at first encounter. The concept of genre immediacy is therefore adaptable to other areas of genre studies and presents a starting point for studying popular music genres. However, this also demands a shift of attention away from the purely visual. What kinds of musical features do we listen for, if we hear a song for the first time? And what are the most immediate elements of a musical genre text? The visual focus of the iconographic analysis makes it necessary to adapt its specific principles into a more general method for exploring other types of genre texts.

42  Genre and transgression in Radiohead In order to design a similar approach with a focus on popular music genre, analytical attention needs to shift from the visual nature of the method towards the character of the aspects it is intended to highlight. Immediacy is again key. It is often the most basic and striking elements of a genre text that affect first impressions and thus provide the foundations for numerous genre discourses. Individual decisions about the affiliation of a particular song with a genre mainly occur in the early moments of listening. It is the most obvious, memorable, and easily identifiable elements of a piece of music that largely determine genre reception. These include musical as well as social characteristics that serve as signifiers of genre in different contexts. Consequently, a text-based genre analysis needs to look for immediate features in a genre text – elements that a majority of listeners will be able to identify and judge at first listen – and it should consider conflicts amongst the implied genre audiences that can lead to different genre perceptions. Musical texts include genre elements that fulfil a similar signifying role to that of filmic icons. Stylistic elements, that are immediately noticeable at first encounter, are highly indicative of genre and perhaps even more so of possible reception processes. A quick look at genre discourses shows that genre interpretations are usually based on the same types of musical and social characteristics. These may include musical factors such as instrumentation or lyrics, but also social elements such as certain clothing styles or behaviours. In the following, a text-based analytical approach is introduced that focuses on the identification and study of such genre signifiers in a popular music context. This is in order to explore the ways in which immediate genre indicators appear in the music of Radiohead. The methodological reflections not only incorporate iconographic strategies and principles, but also the idea that the perception of popular music genres is especially dependent on individual listening circumstances and spontaneous reactions. All discourse participants work with different elementary ideas about genre. Interpretations become more complex and diverse, the more one faces issues of transgression and crossover in musical works like in Radiohead’s case. However, an analysis of genre immediacy in musical texts contributes towards a better understanding of these differences by reflecting on the lowest common denominators in a genre text that lie at the roots of most interpretations. In order to work towards a concept of genre immediacy, it is crucial to decide which aspects of a specific musical text are the most striking. Shuker (2012: 199) states a selection of such characteristics is necessarily subjective and their interpretation changes according to the listening circumstances, personal backgrounds, levels of attentiveness, and interests of listeners. He elaborates: Listening to particular musical styles requires distinct cultural capital, including, but not limited to, a knowledge of the sonic codes and conventions of the genre and the previous work of the performer and similar artists. (Ibid.: 200) From this argument follows that the process of listening to music – in particular, different genres  –  is highly dependent on previous knowledge and on the

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  43 engagement with the music in question. Any reactions or interpretations are inevitably coloured by these conditions and might refer to different aspects of the genre text. In choosing the types of characteristics that are to be discussed, one should consider the wide disparities between listening contexts and make decisions that are reconcilable with the inferred perceptions of the majority. Contrary to film genres that feature obvious genre-indicative visuals, the task of choosing aspects that can be considered indicators of popular music genre is more complex. Genre signification mainly happens on a musical level. Indicators of genre are less standardised and fall amongst a wide range of elements that fulfil a similar function to that of film visuals. Moreover, any genre characteristic can be of relevance in different discourses. In order to prepare one elementary text-based analysis of genre in Radiohead’s work that can be of use for a later study of genre discourses, it is therefore essential to draw up a list of elements that affect a majority of listening experiences. A pre-emptive look at the genre discourse can often give direction to the study. A quick look at Radiohead reception shows that some aspects are more often discussed than others. There are frequent focus points in audience discourses on genre that define the band’s musical oeuvre by creating an atmosphere and personality within and from the music. Before moving on and discussing specific genre elements, a closer look at the nature of these aspects shall clarify their position in discourse. Hesmondhalgh (2007: 517) points out that listeners with little background in music theory mainly discuss music in terms of its expressiveness. This mode of description is adapted by music journalists in order to portray the music in more relatable terms; in particular, if a piece of music is difficult to describe or unusual. Writing styles of popular music journalists are often characterised by their use of stylistic devices and generic allusions, while interesting musical aspects are explained in affective terms. Writing about Radiohead’s Kid A, the expressive style of journalist Simon Reynolds (2000b) reflects these principles in a way that is partly factual and partly affective. He uses words such as ‘eerie’ or ‘enchanting’ to capture the album’s atmosphere and describes Thom Yorke’s vocals as a “shimmering tapestry of multi-tracked and treated […] voice-goo” (Ibid.). Reynolds picks striking aspects of individual songs and uses metaphors, comparisons, and occasionally onomatopoeic adjectives to evoke a strong impression of the music. Genre allusions and comparisons contribute towards the stylistic positioning of the album. Journalistic language often operates to create a sense of expressiveness while describing distinct musical features in generic terms. Affective descriptions make discussions easily comprehensible. Expressiveness is therefore an important factor of genre immediacy and legibility. Immediate genre signifiers are aspects that contribute to the expressiveness of music and that are consequently favoured in discussions. In addition to genre expressiveness, other external conditions such as listening situations or time constraints can affect perceptions of genre. It is useful to study textual features that are easily noticed by listeners in various occupational contexts and with different levels of attention. The characteristics that are analysed should ideally be describable in non-technical terms – as they emerge from largely

44  Genre and transgression in Radiohead diverse audiences – and accessible for people with different musical backgrounds. They should be apparent to listeners in a casual first listening scenario without requiring much concentration. The text-based analysis then has the freedom to go into a bit more detail and add background knowledge, while offering a broad overview. More complex principles of music analysis can appear in discourse and the selection of immediate aspects for analysis thus largely depends on the genre or oeuvre in question. Genre reception can be as much shaped by the music’s affective qualities as it might be subject to a technical knowledge depending on the listener’s musical background. Immediate genre perceptions are affected by spontaneous reactions, but deeper compositional structures may become apparent through repeated focused listening. An analysis that considers genre immediacy first and foremost should pay attention to this dichotomy by studying single aspects as well as their collective composition within a piece of music. A closer look at some musical examples – in particular Radiohead’s song “Creep” – shall serve to clarify how the proposed concept of immediacy works in practice and which kinds of features should be included in the analysis.

A look at “Creep” and its alternatives Out of all Radiohead songs, “Creep” continues to have a particularly significant impact on the band’s stylistic reception and on their positioning within a wider rock canon. Initially released in 1992, “Creep” was met with little critical acclaim in the UK and continental Europe but soon gained wider popularity – first in Israel and later in the US in the wake of grunge – leading to its re-release in 1993. The song appeared on Radiohead’s debut album Pablo Honey of the same year and secured the band a place in the British alternative rock scene. Many years after its initial release, “Creep” remains one of Radiohead’s most successful songs.2 As a debut single, it occupies an important position in the band’s oeuvre as the one song that introduced many people to Radiohead. The band’s early commercial success was highly dependent on its frequent radio play and it stands to reason that a majority of listeners were first exposed to Radiohead’s musical style while listening to “Creep.” Of course, this also benefited album sales. “Creep” played a seminal role in defining Radiohead’s music – at least during their early years – because for casual radio listeners it essentially served as a stylistic indicator for Pablo Honey, taking on a pars pro toto role. The song presented listeners with an incentive to buy Pablo Honey. Nevertheless, it does not and cannot reflect the album in its entirety. While “Creep” for instance contributed to Radiohead’s association with grunge, Pablo Honey combines other influences. The situation of “Creep” thus brings up the crucial question of whether a band’s generic perception depends on their entire oeuvre or just their most well-known songs. In actuality, it is often a little bit of both. Audiences are keen to discuss new musical material, but old ‘classics’ almost always present grounds for comparison. Here again lies the significance of famous songs such as “Creep,” that come to be seen as especially representative, original, or authentic works within one oeuvre and therefore shape genre perceptions continuously.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  45 Undoubtedly, “Creep” is one of Radiohead’s most defining songs – not only because of its huge exposure but also due to its telling choice as a debut single, which would introduce Radiohead to the wider public. A closer look at “Creep” and its most striking features therefore serves to illustrate the types of immediate genre signifiers one can find in many popular Radiohead songs. From the beginning, it is apparent that “Creep” features a standard rock instrumentation consisting of drums, bass, and guitars. While this arrangement is typical for a popular music setting and thus less striking, together with the 4/4 rhythm and G major harmony it loosely positions the song in rock music. “Creep” opens with an arpeggiated guitar melody rather than a more basic rhythm guitar section. This shows an interest in elaborate playing techniques and points towards more diverse uses of the band’s three guitars as melody instruments. The first seconds of “Creep” make it quite clear that one is not listening to a punk, reggae, or techno track for example. The song’s instrumentation and playing techniques are immediately apparent and do suggest otherwise. They convey a first impression of style, albeit in the widest sense. After Thom Yorke’s voice sets in at 00:18 for the verse, it initially remains within in a lower register sounding vaguely detached. Throughout the chorus, it grows perceptibly louder but still appears restrained only rising slightly with the presumable intention to give more emphasis to the lyrics. During the second chorus, it gains strength and builds up towards the bridge section where its full range unfolds. Following the chorus, the vocals rise within the range of a major tenth ascending from g’, the last note of the chorus, to b’’, the highest note during the bridge, and culminating on a descending line from a’’ over the word ‘run’ which is held twice for approximately six seconds each (see Radiohead, 1997a: 13–16). At this point, the voice is the main centre of attention and one of the most striking characteristics of the song, especially in terms of its expressiveness. The iconic muted guitar chords at the beginning of each chorus (00:57 and 02:00) are amongst the most defining elements of “Creep” and stand out from the rest of the instrumentation. By causing a stark break in the flow of the music, they demand the listeners’ attention. They underline the importance of instrumentation as an indicator of style in Radiohead’s music. The guitar is used as an instrument that is crucial for creating suspense and for drawing attention towards structural change. The chorus is further characterised by distorted rhythm guitars interwoven with arpeggiated notes. It builds a dynamic contrast with the considerably more quiet beginning of the song. This contrast between loud and quiet sections notably contributed to Radiohead’s association with grunge (Ibrahim and Moore, 2005: 141 f.). It emphasises the need for taking note of peculiar dynamics during analysis and for studying their roles in constructing genre identities. Additionally, aspects such as the use of effects or production techniques are significant for appointing genre. The use of heavy distortion is a further indicator of grunge influences on “Creep” and therefore especially meaningful in combination with the noted dynamic contrasts. In this way, different signifiers of genre not only operate individually, but also gain greater meaning when combined. They can additionally vary greatly across live performances.

46  Genre and transgression in Radiohead The lyrics of “Creep” are further indicators of genre. At its core, the song deals with low self-esteem issues and the glorification of the person that is addressed. While lyrics are generally likely to be interpreted differently based on subjective perceptions, their overall themes, rhetorical devices, and specific word choices are essential markers of genre and personal style. In combination with the singing voice, they are often more individualised than other genre signifiers. “Creep” features elaborate lyrics that revolve around the narrator’s persona and the relationship to the addressee of the song. A look at the lyrics can again serve to situate Radiohead in a rock tradition due to the typical verse-chorus-bridge structure, the extensive narration and coherency as well as the romantic and yet problem-ridden subject matter. At the same time, the topics of self-deprecation and romantic admiration from afar set the tone for Radiohead’s early work and regulate other already-mentioned aspects that contribute towards the song’s expressiveness – like the voice. “Creep” establishes a lyrical scheme, writing style, and mode of expression by which listeners could subsequently measure other Radiohead songs. While the lyrics of “Creep” are just one instance of Thom Yorke’s writing – and a very early one at that – due to the song’s considerable success they could and certainly did contribute towards audience expectations that affect Radiohead reception to this day. While the discussion so far has listed a number of important stylistic elements in “Creep,” their role as immediate indicators of genre becomes clearer when compared to Radiohead’s later work. A brief look at the song “Treefingers” from Kid A serves to show extreme stylistic contrasts. It illustrates Radiohead’s stylistic development, but also the adaptability and explanatory power of immediate genre signification. Listening to “Treefingers,” it becomes quickly apparent that the song does not feature most of the elements that inherently define “Creep.” Those that can be found present stylistic opposites to the older song and construct genre in a very different way. “Treefingers” does not feature any lyrics or singing. It consists of atmospheric guitar textures and does not contain any rhythmic patterns or formal intersections. There are no dynamic contrasts and the song could be described as inherently quiet throughout. In this way, it can evoke the impression of an ambient track. While “Creep” was frequently played live during Radiohead’s earlier years, “Treefingers” has at this point only been played once during a live performance.3 It is therefore a prime example of a studio composition. The immediate aspects that marked genre in “Creep” – its instrumentation, lyrics, playing techniques, and so on – are equally relevant for identifying genre in “Treefingers.” However, looking at each aspect, it is apparent that overall genre is constructed differently. The example shows that it can also be the absence of certain features that demarcates genre. An analysis that focuses on genre immediacy thus serves to illustrate how both songs differ stylistically on a basic level. It shows that their variances and disparities are of utmost importance for understanding how audiences make sense of generic meaning at first listen. At the same time, it becomes clear that this type of analysis is also useful for tracing stylistic developments in a band’s oeuvre – especially in light of continuous transgressions.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  47 While “Creep” and “Treefingers” are in many ways stylistic opposites, a middle ground can be found with other Radiohead songs. Thus, immediate genre signification is also helpful for examining smaller stylistic nuances and contrasts. The song “Go To Sleep” from Hail to the Thief, for instance, opens with guitar sounds and straightforward lyrics, establishing clear rock premises. It continues with relatively sparse instrumentation, but accumulates more voice and instrumental effects. “Go To Sleep” closes on a guitar solo (02:36–03:12) that is distorted and formed by computer-manipulated sounds, which distinguishes the song from a typical rock track. It appears more experimental concerning the use of studio techniques, while still holding on to a normal rock format. The song combines the typical rock guitar solo with sounds that are usually found in more electronic-inspired genres and thus creates a contrast of different genre sounds. This especially translates well during live performances. While the song has been performed live on many occasions, Jonny Greenwood’s use of on-stage computer manipulations for the guitar further distinguishes the performance from other rock shows on a visual level. A look at certain genre signifiers can thus help to point out crossover tendencies and stylistic diversity. With this in mind, one can now identify a number of musical and social characteristics that are expressive and easily apparent in most popular music songs – or obviously lacking. These elements are accessible and understandable to wide audiences, they feature heavily in the genre discourse, and can thus be regarded as immediate indicators of genre across various listening contexts and popular music styles. Different singing styles and the overall sound of the voice are amongst the most expressive features in a genre text and easily describable in non-technical terms. Walter Everett (2009: 117 ff.) states that the voice is a crucial part of the instrumentation and especially unique. He notes the importance of vocal range, colour, and techniques. Instruments such as the lead guitar also play a major role in underlining vocal expressiveness and can sometimes even serve as a stand-in for vocals. Traditionally and classically, instrumentation is the main indicator of music genre and it used to be an important factor in naming bands or categories (Laing, 2003: 6).4 The instrumentation of a song can be incredibly layered and it is important to consider the extent to which these layers become audible at first listen.5 With this in mind, the text-based analysis of genre in Radiohead’s music will begin by focusing on the voice and instrumentation. Both elements are responsible for providing a sense of individual expression that is hard to replicate and in this way contribute towards the construction of a personal style. The vocals are the one element within a particular oeuvre that is different from the work of every other artist. While the voice alone cannot always indicate genre, aspects such as the singing style, vocal range, and timbre6 can be signs of genre and need to be considered carefully. The choice of instrumentation and playing styles has a comparable impact and is equally significant in its impact on genre perception. Song lyrics provide a focus point that intersects with the voice and its modes of expression. Lyrics are a main aspect of interest in almost all genre interpretations. Frith (1996: 158 ff.) notes that music analysis frequently locates the meaning of popular songs in the lyrics and that musical sounds make lyrics more memorable.

48  Genre and transgression in Radiohead Dai Griffiths (2003: 42 f.) further suggests a new ‘word-consciousness,’ which pays more attention to the functionality of lyrics and their historically changing position in pop songs. Lyrical meanings are highly debated amongst audiences and different perceptions depend on concepts of ideology, authenticity, and verisimilitude. Lyrics are a subject of analysis that is more easily approachable for wider audiences than more technical features such as harmony, melody, and form. While these latter aspects are part of genre, they are more difficult to discern and might not be apparent to everyone at first listen. They are mostly excluded from this analysis as they clash with the very idea of an immediate genre perception and discourse, that is subject to time constraints and that arises in part from non-professional audiences. The composition and structure of lyrics are especially important for the construction of genre in a song. While first impressions can suffice to get an idea of lyrical styles and genre associations, detailed insights again require repeated listening. The analysis will further focus on the influence of dynamics on genre. Dynamic and timbral elements are core characteristics of expressiveness. Their development and contrasts are highly influential for the formation of stylistic perceptions. They affect the voice, instrumentation, and the overall sound of a song. At the same time, they are subject to studio technologies and experimentation. Production techniques and effects have a crucial impact on the construction and perception of genre. It is interesting to consider how Radiohead’s music is shaped by studio technologies and whether their songs are studio compositions. In addition to the already-mentioned musical characteristics, a rounded analysis also needs to include contextual aspects. The discussion will focus on two important features: firstly, the changing aspects of live performance including stage setup, song adaptations, and behavioural aspects – as mentioned by Fabbri (1981) – that affect processes of genre communication between artists and audiences. These are essential for understanding how immediate genre signification can work in live settings and affect artist and audience interactions. In many cases, one can detect specific patterns of audience behaviour during certain songs or performance sections that are bound by genre. Secondly, paratexts are of utmost importance for transmitting ideas of genre. They include music-external factors such as album or single artwork, promotional videos, posters or adverts, merchandise, artist clothing and costumes. These aspects often affect stylistic perceptions before one even has the chance to listen to the music. As such, they have a significant impact on first impressions of genre texts. While the discussed aspects serve as focus points in this analysis of genre immediacy, it is crucial to bear in mind that more detailed analyses of musical texts can reveal the deeper underlying structures of genre composition from a musicological perspective.7 More technical aspects can inform genre perceptions and may be given attention if addressed in discourse. It should, however, be noted that an extensive music analysis does not also require a simultaneous analysis of genre; it can have a different purpose and aim. By contrast, the aspects of analysis chosen in this study – the voice and instrumentation, lyrics, dynamics, production, live performances and paratexts – are necessarily selective and referential of Radiohead-specific genre conditions. While they can be applicable for analysing

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  49 other musical oeuvres, a prerequisite step should always include a skimming of the discursive material in question. The specific aspects are chosen with a subsequent discourse analysis in mind and they relate to genre-informed listening conditions. They shape genre interpretations significantly and are useful parameters for monitoring Radiohead’s stylistic development and reception over time.

A text-based analysis of genre in the music of Radiohead Over the years, Radiohead’s music has followed a stylistic trajectory that touches upon many different genres and musical influences resulting in a complex amalgamation of styles. Radiohead have released nine studio albums to date and the band members can look back on a variety of collaborations and side projects. Their music has become the topic of varied audience discourses with the themes of stylistic development and diversity often at the centre of discussions. Looking for stylistic elements in Radiohead’s music under consideration of the abovementioned signifying criteria, one can therefore expect a variety of different characteristics that contribute towards the construction of a musical style that draws on a multitude of generic sources. The following paragraphs consider the usefulness of the outlined immediacy-based approach for analysing genre texts. They ponder the question of how Radiohead’s music can be described generically and to what extent the notions of stylistic diversity and transgression are illuminated by a study of musical texts. The analysis addresses the previously highlighted genre aspects individually and thus goes into detail about the voice and instrumentation, dynamics, lyrics, production, live performances and paratexts of Radiohead in this order. By discussing the specific nature and developmental trajectory of each of these aspects separately and combined, the analysis aims to explore the value of considering aspects of immediacy within the course of a text-based genre analysis. It sets out to create an overview of characteristic elements in Radiohead’s music and to trace the band’s development and change in terms of genre over the years. Voice and instrumentation The discussion so far has shown that the uses of voice and instrumentation can have a crucial impact on the perception of popular music genre in the early moments of listening. Both are thus of considerable importance for the interpretation and reception of genre in Radiohead’s oeuvre. Listening for these elements, one can draw a number of interesting conclusions about the ways in which the band’s music evolved stylistically from early demo recordings to more recent albums. While the main focus here is on Radiohead’s studio recordings – which are at the centre of the genre discourse – the demos are useful for getting an impression of Radiohead’s early vocal and instrumental sound. One of the band’s first recordings, a demo cassette tape made in 1986, is especially interesting because it includes material that cannot be heard anywhere else.8 While there are several other demos from later years, these mostly contain songs that would resurface on subsequent studio albums. On the 1986 demo, the band – then still called On A

50  Genre and transgression in Radiohead Friday9 – uses a standard rock instrumentation revolving around guitars, drums, bass, and singing voice, which emphasises their roots in rock music. While this initial setup is not much different from Radiohead’s early studio line-up of voice/ guitars/bass/drums, the demo tape contains some interesting particularities that highlight the band’s search for their own style. Most notably, the music is marked by an augmented instrumentation that hints at a general experimentation in terms of instrumental roles. Saxophone interplays – the band reportedly featured three saxophone players at the time (Randall, 2011: 22 f.) – and solos feature in a number of songs and set the music apart from Radiohead’s later work. In a popular music context, the saxophone can evoke different forms of generic meaning because it is associated with a variety of musical styles such as jazz, blues, and soul amongst others. In a rock setting, the addition of saxophone is a distinguishing factor that creates a slightly experimental air and possibly holds aspirations towards a more sophisticated sound. It can also disrupt the construction of a clear generic label and gives an early hint at genre transgression in Radiohead’s work. While later songs on Pablo Honey do not feature saxophone sounds and thus fit more seamlessly into a particular genre niche – such as the grunge rock sound of the early 1990s that Radiohead was often associated with – they are overall more well-rounded and present a first step towards the formation of Radiohead’s own style. Although the instrumental arrangement on the 1986 demo is overall quite similar to later albums, there are a number of relevant differences that allow for interesting conclusions about Radiohead’s generic development. Concerning genre immediacy, the intro sections of each song are particularly informative about stylistic manifestations. Looking at individual instrumental roles, it is apparent that the songs do not follow a set compositional formula. In contrast to Radiohead’s early professional work that often features guitar intros revolving around chord sequences or arpeggios, the demo recordings offer diverse intro sections starting with either drums, keyboards, or guitars. Four of the songs contain drum intros – “Fragile Friend,” “Fat Girl,” “Lemming Trail,” and “Lock The Door” – while “Girl (In The Purple Dress”) opens on a keyboard sequence and “Everybody Knows” and “Mountains (On The Move)” feature guitar intros. At this point in time, Radiohead featured only two guitarists instead of the three guitars of later years. This is because the demo was recorded before the addition of Jonny Greenwood to the band – initially playing keyboards and harmonica. These instrumental choices can point towards a variability of sound and stylistic diversity, but they are also a sign of experimentation and the band members’ way of trying to find their own position in the group. While the songs highlight an interest in different techniques and formats that would later enable Radiohead’s play with genre and transgression, they show stylistic disparities that suggest a linking of various musical influences and aims. The knowledge about the instrumentation on the 1986 demo is particularly interesting when compared to Radiohead’s first studio album. Pablo Honey does not feature any keyboard sounds. It is characterised by the joint sound of the band’s three guitars and its songs feature guitar intros. The individual instruments have taken up more fixed roles and are used to create

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  51 a melodic and tightly knit wall of sound. The album features a standard rock instrumentation – bass, guitars, drums, and singing – with the slight anomaly of a third guitarist in addition to the usual rhythm and lead guitar. The sound is punctuated by guitar interplays  –  finger-picking sections or arpeggios like those on “Creep” – and the singing voice is at the centre of the recording. The instrumentation on Pablo Honey and later albums stands in contrast to Radiohead’s demo work. Amongst other things, this is certainly due to the line-up and compositional changes brought on by Jonny Greenwood’s shift from keyboards to lead guitar. Overall, there is a development towards a more stable allocation of instrumental roles and a beginning consolidation of the band’s individual style. On early Radiohead albums, Thom Yorke’s voice takes up a central position and plays a significant guiding role in the instrumental arrangements. Compared to the 1986 demo, there is a clear development in terms of technique and singing style. While the demo features the voice as a central focus point, the singing techniques are varied and the vocal style less consolidated. Thom Yorke’s singing on these recordings is still evocative of the band’s early influences. There are certain forms of intonation and vocal emphasis that can remind of bands like The Smiths, Talking Heads, or R.E.M. In comparison to later recordings, Thom Yorke’s vocals are somewhat more reserved and restrained. For the most part, the songs do not feature great intervallic leaps such as the ones that would come to characterise “Creep.” Songs such as “Fragile Friend” certainly give an impression of Thom Yorke’s vocal range and in particular, of the higher registers that he would reach on later albums. Nevertheless, it is often these higher sections that are sung with less vigour and more carefully. While the higher notes are reached without effort, the voice still appears somewhat untrained and therefore perhaps less powerful. Its full potential and variability would further unfold over time. Interestingly, the development is already noticeable on later demo recordings. The song “To Be A Brilliant Light” from the band’s second demo recorded in 1988 features a strong vocal performance that is less restrained.10 It actively makes use of Thom Yorke’s wide vocal range – and strength – and shows off his ability to hold high notes especially during the chorus. On Radiohead’s first three albums – Pablo Honey (1993), The Bends (1995), and OK Computer (1997) – Thom Yorke’s voice notably strengthens with training, his vocal range evolves, and his singing style solidifies. This results in a number of characteristics that again emphasise Radiohead’s roots in rock music and thus define the band’s individual style. While the instrumental arrangements take on a more pronounced role over the years – specifically with the purpose of creating textures and layers – the vocals remain the central focus point in most songs and draw in the listeners’ attention. Thom Yorke’s wide vocal range is one of Radiohead’s most constant and prominent elements. Many of the choruses and bridges feature higher passages with long-held notes and notable interval jumps. This is not only the case with “Creep,” but also with songs such as “Stop Whispering,” “High & Dry,” “Fake Plastic Trees,” or “Lucky” to name but a few. These sections are often combined with a rise in emotive content and manner. In this way, they present a contrast to the verses that are often sung in a more

52  Genre and transgression in Radiohead restrained style and lower register. A good example is the song “Exit Music (For A Film),” which features a very restrained and distraught voice and sparse instrumentation during its first verses. This changes when the final bridge sets in and the full instrumentation unfolds. The voice rises and the orchestration becomes densely layered. Osborn (2017: 37) notes that this section leads into “the song’s only cacophonous outburst, featuring overdriven bass, washy cymbals, and Yorke screaming a full octave higher” than before. This coincides with and emphasises the emotional content of the lyrics – their theme of running away and their ‘us against them’ mentality – that culminates in the final moments of the song. Over the years, the interaction between the voice and the individual ­instruments – in particular the lead guitar – comes to characterise much of Radiohead’s work. While the muted guitar chords on “Creep” served as structural elements that underlined the contrast between verse and chorus, together with the vocals they are also the most striking elements of the song. While the voice presents a main focal point in Radiohead’s earlier songs, Jonny Greenwood’s lead guitar is equally positioned. It not only creates a sense of form, but generally contributes to the overall emotive articulation. On The Bends, guitar solos take up a considerable part of the songs and serve to highlight or extend the vocal range and expressiveness. The lead guitar is prominently placed in comparison to the album’s rhythm section and helps the development of melody lines in a direct interplay with the voice. This can be heard on songs such as “The Bends,” which starts with sampled sounds before moving on to a chord sequence that is played in unison by all three guitarists. The vocals set in at the thirty-second mark. While both bass and drums accompany the intro, they are more restrained in volume. Distortion effects and short melodic guitar interplays shape the guitarheavy sound. It features the voice as a wordless textural layer that accompanies the melody. At 1:05, a guitar line takes over from the vocals and signals a break between the first and second verse with the last note continuing through the beginning of the next vocal passage. In this way, voice and guitar alternate and share a leading melodic role. At 1:55, the move from a stripped-down instrumentation to quick successive guitar strumming indicates again structural change before the full instrumentation sets in for the verse. As a further example, “My Iron Lung” is characterised by an arpeggiated guitar line that is established in the song intro. The arpeggios continue throughout the song and alternate with the sung verses creating something close to a call-and-response effect, before eventually leading up to the chorus. Following the chorus’ slightly heavier instrumentation and sound effects, they mark the transition into the more quiet verse. It is especially the interaction between the lead guitar and the singing, but also the density of the instrumentation and different playing techniques that create structure and suspense. Similar conclusions can be drawn when listening to other songs on the album. The Bends is additionally marked by the use of keyboards, which subsequently became a standard element of Radiohead’s instrumentation. These are for instance heard during the intro of the album’s opening track “Planet Telex” – featuring a heavy space echo effect – establishing the augmented and texturally rich instrumentation of The Bends from the very beginning.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  53 With OK Computer, Radiohead’s instrumental and vocal arrangements become more elaborate and diverse. The recording process for OK Computer marks an important period of experimentation during which the band came to fully recognise the possibilities of studio recording and its general implications for creating and transforming sounds as opposed to the limitations of a live setting. The album features the band’s first use of vocal effects – these can be heard on “Climbing Up The Walls” where they create a slightly eerie and detached atmosphere – and the vocal tracks on OK Computer are generally more varied than on previous albums. “Exit Music (For A Film)” features quiet and intimate lyrics that appear to be recorded very closely ending with the voice nearing to the point of breaking. “Let Down” follows with a calmer and less emotive style of singing that interweaves with the continuous guitar line. Notably, it features a second vocal line – also sung by Thom Yorke – that sets in at the beginning of the last verse and takes over the lyrics while the first vocal track moves into the background. While “Exit Music (For A Film)” centres around Thom Yorke’s voice and his manner of singing resulting in a narrational and dramatic style that can easily be recreated in a live setting, the interwoven vocal layering on “Let Down” adds a sense of artificiality that underlines its position as a recorded album track. With the addition of the second vocal track, Thom Yorke’s voice is obviously featured on two different levels emphasising the status of the song as a studio composition that is comprised of several interwoven layers. This makes it hard to recreate live. Possibly due to this reason, “Let Down” has not been performed live very often. During the rare occasion, Thom Yorke would usually continue to sing the first vocal line, leaving out the last verse and continuing the background singing. OK Computer thus features different manners of singing that highlight the wide range between live inspired contexts and the possibilities of studio recording. The album shows Radiohead’s growing interest in layers and textures, but also in more diverse sounds – crossing over into unknown territory somewhere between stadium rock and experimental studio composition. While most songs on OK Computer contain clear and unprocessed vocals, “Fitter Happier” is a noteworthy exception. It is the first track on a Radiohead album that does not feature Thom Yorke’s voice or any sounds created by guitars. A computer voice is used to read out the lyrics and, as Griffiths (2004: 65) notes, it takes particular care “to avoid any obvious euphony (rhyme or closely placed alliteration or assonance).” The song not only presents a clear break halfway through the album, but also shows a growing interest in presenting lyrical content through technical means. The stark contrast between this track and the rest of the album shows that the expressiveness, clarity, and emotive qualities of Thom Yorke’s voice are amongst the most characteristic elements of Radiohead’s first three albums. At first listen, the singing serves to distinguish the band’s style from genres with a bigger focus on instrumental music and vocal processing such as electronic or dance music. Patrik N. Juslin and Renee Timmers (2010: 453 ff.) note that emotive expression has a considerable impact on how music is perceived and communicated. They state that performers utilise expressiveness to bring music to life and to produce emotive responses in audience members. In

54  Genre and transgression in Radiohead this regard, the expressive and affective qualities of Thom Yorke’s voice serve a major communicative purpose within Radiohead’s music, because they are utilised to convey distinct sets of emotions to listeners. Juslin and Timmers further state that expressiveness affects performances, but also depends on the relation between a performance and its interpretation. They show that expressiveness is multi-dimensional and incorporates structural aspects such as timing, dynamics, or loudness, but also affective qualities, stylistic deviations, motoric limitations, and elements of unexpectedness in performance. Emotions are encoded in the music by means of various acoustic cues and decoded by listeners, but according to Juslin and Timmers, expressiveness is not strictly dependent on a correct decoding of emotional cues. Deviations from existing norms are often perceived as more emotive or expressive (Ibid.: 454 f. and 472 ff.). This explains why rule transgressions are so common in popular music and why Radiohead’s individual style thrived during moments of genre transgression. Based on Juslin and Timmer’s statements, Thom Yorke’s voice appears as the main emotional lead that guides and structures Radiohead’s music. His singing is not only characterised by contrasting dynamics and variations in tempo and loudness, but also relies on expressions of different moods that are emphasised through the choice of lyrical content. Returning to “Exit Music (For A Film),” the voice is the centre of attention. The contrast of loud and quiet passages is extremely important in conveying an increasing intensity, fear, sadness, anger, and desperation. The breaking voice at the end of the song signals emotional fragility and vulnerability but also conveys authenticity mostly based on the closeness of the recording. This aspect is further emphasised in live contexts that highlight the contradiction of such a quiet song being presented to thousands of people. In order for the song to work, it is necessary for everyone to remain silent, which is not always an easy feat.11 By contrast, “No Surprises” shows that emotions can also be expressed indirectly. Here, the voice is very clear and calm, but it clashes strongly with the song’s melancholic theme. This results in an atmosphere of dejectedness and helplessness. The fact that “Fitter Happier” clearly lacks these qualities and thus breaks the flow of the album, emphasises the emotional impact of Thom Yorke’s vocal expressiveness on OK Computer and other albums. Michael Spitzer (2010: 156) states that, specifically with regard to music, emotions are understood either through empathy (expressions of sameness) or sympathy (expressions of difference). He stresses that reactions do not have to mirror the expressed emotion, but they can also lead into other emotions based on emotional leakage like joyfulness due to exhilaration. In this way, perceptions and interpretations of very expressive music may differ significantly and result in stronger opinions. Expressiveness is a stylistic device that shapes reactions in different ways and that presents a framework for coping with emotions by distorting them. Radiohead’s particular take on emotive expression – the range of expressive modes and deliberate contrast between lyrical content and singing style – is one of the main reasons why Radiohead elicits strong and diverse reactions in listeners. It is a significant part of the band’s musical identity and on OK Computer it marks the culmination of various stylistic tendencies and interests.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  55 While OK Computer contains more elaborate and layered arrangements than previous albums, these are also marked by a wide and varied selection of instruments and playing techniques. There is for instance a Mellotron, keyboards, piano sounds, strings, manipulated drum sounds, a Glockenspiel, and the triangle at the end of “The Tourist” that characterise Radiohead’s new augmented sound. In particular, the album signals a new approach towards the role and use of guitars. Even before the release of OK Computer, band members had declared a decreasing interest in guitars, which may be surprising given the album’s detailed and characteristic guitar arrangements. The guitar sounds of OK Computer are an obvious step away from earlier recordings and show a new approach to guitar playing rather than a complete loss of interest. There are still the rock typical guitar intros, riffs, and solos of previous Radiohead albums, but also more guitar textures and sound effects. In an interview with the TV channel Music Factory (1997: 1:36), guitarists Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood explain the album’s difference to previous recordings: ED O’BRIEN: 

I think we’re trying to find new sounds…guitars are actually pretty versatile instruments, they don’t have to be straight ahead. You can find new sounds and that’s always quite interesting. JONNY GREENWOOD: People have started saying there are less guitars on the album, which isn’t really true. I think a lot of the time it is still a guitar but it just doesn’t sound like a guitar. Another interview from the same year has Jonny Greenwood elaborating on the topic and he mentions that he is not so much bored by guitars as by guitar bands and “keen to do other things with the guitar” (MusiquePlus, 1997: 6:50). It is reasonable to understand these statements as a shift of interests mainly in terms of playing styles and techniques. In light of this, OK Computer highlights the move from a more simple and rock-oriented style towards a growing interest in experimentation that adopts instruments and methods from a number of different genres. Jonny Greenwood has pointed out that the album is characterised by the band’s wish to recreate particular atmospheres from albums they liked (Randall, 2011: 147). More than anything, this sentiment explains Radiohead’s active development in a new experimental direction that fuses different aspects of style. Although Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) are often regarded as a clear stylistic and compositional break from Radiohead’s previous work, they do continue the beginning experimental path taken on OK Computer and explore the idea of creating music from layers and textures in much greater depth. The development raises the question of genre and holds implications for what Holt (2007: 159) has described as ‘in-between’ genres – the possibility of a space amongst genres and of plural narratives that leave room for transgression. It also begs the question to what extent the release of Kid A really marked an intended and perceived shift in generic meaning and in what ways this has been achieved. In the wake of OK Computer, Radiohead had for instance considered a change of band name, which would have certainly fuelled debates about genre. At the same time, such

56  Genre and transgression in Radiohead a re-formation might also have prevented some discussions about transgression, because it would have effectively announced the imminent change to listeners. Without any previous signs, the change between one album and the next came without much warning and elicited stronger reactions. Kid A differs from OK Computer not only with regard to its instrumental makeup, but also in terms of compositional techniques. On most songs, the instrumentation slowly builds up and it is again the intro sections that can hint at greater variety and change. There are many studio and sound effects to be heard, but also keyboards, guitars, and drums. “The National Anthem,” for example, starts with a bass line and the song’s textural density slowly increases through the addition of drums, sampled sounds and voices, sound effects, and a short horn interplay. When the voice sets in at 1:36 minutes, the song’s overall soundscape is still relatively sparse in comparison to the band’s earlier songs and the absence of guitars is notable. While the density of the instrumentation becomes more prominent later on, it is interesting that texture is mostly created through studio effects. The use of more studio technology and synthesised sounds – most prominently featured on “Idioteque” – is what really sets Kid A apart from Radiohead’s earlier work. It also highlights the band’s more proficient engagement with studio techniques, that naturally contributes towards a flexible and innovative use of well-known instrumental means and techniques. Both Kid A and Amnesiac are marked by a greater variety of instrumental uses and playing styles. Several Radiohead members have stated that they had the ambition to move away from previously established instrumental roles towards variable positions allowing for more experimental and creative ways of composing and recording. In light of this, it is especially interesting to contemplate the changing role of Thom Yorke’s voice on Kid A and Amnesiac. Kid A mostly contains short and fragmented lyrics – that will be discussed later on – and therefore the album features less actual singing. There are many instances in which the voice is utilised to create textures assuming a more instrumental and less emotively central role. As Thom Yorke has repeatedly stated one of the main ideas for the album was a repositioning of the voice as an equally treated part of the instrumentation: Whatever I did with my voice, it had that particular set of associations. And there were lots of similar bands coming out at the time, and that made it even worse. I couldn’t stand the sound of me even more. [I] got really into the idea of my voice being another one of the instruments, rather than this precious, focus thing all the time. (cited in Reynolds, 2001) Nevertheless, even this new style of singing cannot be completely free of genre associations. The vocal improvisation on “The National Anthem” for instance features a jazz-inspired improvisation style. The overall approach of utilising the voice as texture – either heavily processed and cut up like on “Everything In Its Right Place” or purer at the end of “How To Disappear Completely” – reminds

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  57 of post-rock techniques. While the reduced lyrical space on some of the songs draws attention away from the voice, other songs still follow a more traditional rock formula. “How To Disappear Completely” presents the singing voice as an emotive lead that is embedded in an instrumental arrangement dominated by the acoustic guitar. It contains prominent strings – with underlying Ondes Martenot sounds – that intertwine with the voice and thus share in its central and emotively guiding role. While the voice is set apart from the instrumentation through more elaborate lyrics and a clear enunciation, towards the end it mirrors the instrumental melody line and becomes part of the song’s rich instrumental texture. “How To Disappear Completely” is more reminiscent of older Radiohead songs than other Kid A tracks, but it also features the voice in a very close and interdependent relation with part of the instrumentation, the roots of which go back to earlier interactions between the voice and lead guitar. Kid A and Amnesiac mark the beginning of an interesting affiliation between the voice and studio technology that is used to alter its sound and, according to Thom Yorke, to create a “grammar of noises” (cited in Reynolds, 2001). During the recording process, sound effects were applied live in the studio in order to achieve a better understanding of how they would ultimately transform Radiohead’s sound (Ibid.). Vocal processing has a significant impact on the affective quality of the voice and the presentation of lyrics, which by themselves can often appear quite dark and sinister like on “Kid A” (see Radiohead, 2001: 9–14). The somewhat muffled and distant sound of the lyrics softens the scary implications and heavy atmosphere. While several tracks on Kid A feature vocal effects, the title song is a great example of the particular methods that were used. Thom Yorke’s voice is processed through a vocoder that is connected to the Ondes Martenot and could in this way manipulate the vocal pitch (Reynolds, 2001). The procedure contributes to obscure the lyrical meaning of the song, because it makes it harder to decipher. There are many instances of vocal sampling as on “Everything In Its Right Place” or “Idioteque.” And then, on “Treefingers,” there is no singing at all. Recorded during the same studio sessions as Kid A and released in the following year, Amnesiac expands on Radiohead’s experimentation with vocal processing. In particular, the band started to work with an autotuner, which is normally used to create perfect pitch. This gave the vocals a peculiar sound that Thom Yorke describes as follows: There’s also this trick you can do, which we did on both “Pakt [Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box]” and “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors,” where you give the machine a key and then you just talk into it. It desperately tries to search for the music in your speech, and produces notes at random. If you’ve assigned it a key, you’ve got music. (cited in Reynolds, 2001) Other effects include the use of an egg box as a shield in front of the microphone on “You And Whose Army?” while the band played the song live in the studio. Not only the vocals but also the rest of the instruments were filtered through the

58  Genre and transgression in Radiohead egg box. Additionally, a Palm Speaker was used to create reverb sounds on the voice recordings. Jonny Greenwood explains: The Palm Speaker is something else that Monsieur Martenot invented, to go with the Ondes. It’s a bit like a harp with a speaker in the middle of it. The strings are tuned to all 12 semitones of an octave, and when you play a note in tune, it resonates that specific string and creates this weird kind of echo that’s only on those pitches. (Ibid.)12 Meanwhile, the vocal melody of “Like Spinning Plates” was adopted from the song “I Will” – later released on Hail to the Thief – but played backwards. According to Colin Greenwood, Thom Yorke had learned to sing the backward melody forward and to mimic a backwards-sounding intonation (Fricke, 2001). The extended use of vocal effects combined with the augmented role of the voice as part of the instrumentation clearly distinguish Kid A and Amnesiac from previous Radiohead recordings. The composite vocal sound and characteristic use of effects distracts from other generic associations that come to mind with the idea of the voice as a facilitator of texture. Moreover, it shows an amalgamation of many generic influences – parts of jazz, rock, electronica, and so on – and thus underlines the development of Radiohead’s personal transgressive take on genre. While effects contribute towards the range of affective nuances reflected in the singing, they can also create a sense of alienation and suggest the disembodiment of the voice. They can for instance make the voice sound more detached, physically removed, or computer like. There is a clear break with typical rock mechanisms like identification. This is telling since Thom Yorke has stated the following: “The real problem I had was with the ‘identify’ bit. […] By using other voices, I guess it was a way of saying, ‘obviously it isn’t me’” (cited in Reynolds, 2001). In this way, the new use of the voice actively aims to create a decentred and depersonalised notion of the narrating persona. While there are less guitar-facilitated and dominated sounds on Kid A and Amnesiac, both albums emphasise the move towards a new use of guitars as texture instruments. At the same time, Radiohead developed an interest in using different lead instruments and playing techniques to replace and alter the heavy guitar-sound of previous years. This also resulted in new compositional strategies. In the documentary Reflections on Kid A (2000: 13:15), Thom Yorke explains his method for writing most of the Kid A songs like this: I started playing the piano and I’m a terrible piano player so that was kind of good. So everything was a novelty. And I wrote a lot of stuff on piano… badly. But it was good. I mean, in a way the less you know about an instrument, the more you get excited about it, I think. In the BBC Radio 3 programme Mixing It (2001: 7:16), Jonny Greenwood continues this line of thought:

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  59 I think all of us – by turns – find the instruments that we’re using frustrating and exciting and very easy to work with, and then very frustrating…whether it’s a sampler or guitar or anything. And these things tend to be most exciting and creative when you first come across them in a way, when you first start using them. But there is something about the guitar that does keep me coming back to it. There’s more guitar on this record than people realise in a way. It’s just more hidden than it previously was, I think…There is songs like “Treefingers,” which is just one guitar. But people just assume that it isn’t. He also states that often the guitars were used to create texture that was then either used as sampling material or modified by effects. Guitars were processed through studio technology in order to create layers. While the band continued to experiment with new guitar sounds, inspired by their different musical influences they also started using instruments that did not feature on previous albums. Both albums are characterised by a growing interest in sampling techniques – “Idioteque” famously features a sample from Paul Lansky’s piece “Mild und Leise” – and show influences from electronic and dance music. A brass section was added to the “The National Anthem” – a song inspired by Charles Mingus (Ibid.: 4:14). On “How To Disappear Completely,” the band added strings modelled to resemble the music of Krzysztof Penderecki. Most notably Kid A makes use of the Ondes Martenot, triggered by Jonny Greenwood’s fascination with Olivier Messiaen’s work with the instrument, which is featured on “The National Anthem,” “How To Disappear Completely” (playing along with the strings) and “Optimistic.” As previously stated, the Ondes Martenot was also responsible for forming the vocal melody on “Kid A” and parts of Amnesiac. In interviews, Jonny Greenwood often highlights its voice-like quality. During live performances, the Ondes Martenot sound is used as an accompaniment or counterpoint to the voice, taking on its role as a facilitator of texture.13 On Kid A and Amnesiac the Ondes Martenot has a crucial role, because it serves not only to distinguish the albums from Radiohead’s earlier work, but also from most other popular music. Amnesiac continues Radiohead’s experimentation with electronically created and synthesised sounds like on “Packt Like Sardines In A Chrushd Tin Box,” “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors,” “Hunting Bears,” or “Like Spinning Plates.” But the album also contains guitar-driven songs such as “I Might Be Wrong” and “Knives Out.” There is a notable jazz influence with song arrangements such as “Dollars And Cents” and “Life In A Glasshouse” – the latter of which features jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton and his band. As is to be expected, the songs’ intro sections are notably diverse and shaped by different sounds, instrumentations, and techniques that complicate perceptions of style. The extended instrumentation especially points towards influences that lie outside of popular music – jazz and contemporary classical music – and thus creates a more diverse spectrum of genres that contributes to the band’s stylistic progression and diversification. The album Hail to the Thief, released in 2003, again takes a different approach. It brings together elements of Radiohead’s earlier albums with sounds inspired by Kid A and Amnesiac. Hail to the Thief appears to take a step towards a more

60  Genre and transgression in Radiohead rock-oriented sound that is achieved through an amalgamation of the band’s early rock-inspired style and the experimentation of the two previous recordings. The album features notably more guitar sounds and again more traditional instrumental roles. On songs such as “2+2=5” and “There, There,” the lead guitar appears as a structuring device that contributes towards the development and clear distinction of the songs’ individual sections and creates obvious breaks in between. Osborn (2011) notes that “2+2=5” features the guitar as an important lead instrument that emphasises the song’s structure as through-composed. On both songs, the guitar works to create a building sense of suspense that is closely linked to dynamic variations. At the same time, guitars do not take up as much space as they did on Radiohead’s early albums and Hail to the Thief – while characterised by its rock-inspired guitar sound – contains a considerably wider range of instruments and studio-generated music. There is again piano sounds (“Sail To The Moon”) and Ondes Martenot (“Where I End And You Begin”), but also a range of electronic sounds, programmed beats (“Sit Down. Stand Up”), and loops (“The Gloaming”). As such, the album is stylistically rather diverse – the different intro sections are again characterised by the wide range of instrumental techniques in use. It is less of a step back towards older recordings, than a mixture of and logical follow-up to Radiohead’s pre- and post-Kid A work in terms of instrumentation and musical experimentation. A listen to the vocals on Hail to the Thief reveals a similar approach. The album presents a shift back towards a more common use of the voice as a central focus point within the recording. Vocals take up considerable space on the songs and present an element of guidance for instrumental arrangements. They draw attention towards lyrical content and emotive expressions. This indicates a renewed function of the voice as an aspect of identification and holds implications for more rock-oriented forms of emotive authenticity. At the same time, the album continues the experimentation with vocal effects and textures of the two previous albums. It explores the wide range of possibilities that both of these approaches – the rock-based and live-inspired way of singing and the experimentation with vocal effects and techniques – offer and how they contribute towards a more diversified construction of style in each of the songs. Not only does Hail to the Thief feature different singing techniques  –  like the vocals on “A Wolf At The Door” with a singing style almost reminiscent of rap – but also an intricate engagement with studio-based vocal constructions. The album makes use of backing vocals that are often directly interwoven with the lead singing voice and more prominent than on previous Radiohead recordings. This can be heard on “Sit Down. Stand Up,” that introduces a second vocal line with different lyrical content early on in the song. “I Will” includes two additional vocal lines that set in at different times and feature the same lyrics as the main voice sung at different pitch levels. Both instances point towards a new interest in vocal multiplicity – reminiscent of the techniques used on “Let Down” – and suggest a play with perspectives and the construction of the singer’s persona within the song. Hail to the Thief thus brings together elements of Radiohead’s early and more live-inspired rock background with experimental and studio-based approaches in an amalgamation of old ideals and new expanding interests. Hail to

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  61 the Thief neither signals a step back towards Radiohead’s pre-Kid A style nor picks up directly where Kid A and Amnesiac leave of. Rather, it presents an intriguing mixture of both stylistic periods, as far as instrumental and vocal arrangements are concerned. In Rainbows, released in 2007, marks another shift in Radiohead’s vocal and instrumental style, with a more pronounced focus on the softer qualities of Thom Yorke’s voice and more mellow instrumental sounds. While the album’s instrumentation does not vary greatly from that on Hail to the Thief – with the exception of a slightly more frequent use of string arrangements on songs such as “Nude” or “Faust Arp” – the overall quality of sounds is a very different one, which indicates the use of different playing techniques and compositional approaches. The album is shaped by Radiohead’s increasing interest in a compositional style that facilitates the use of instrumental and vocal textures and layers. If brought together, they serve to create extremely intricate sound designs. The result is a number of detailed musical constructs that appear – despite their grounding on a slightly extended rock instrumentation – more complex and orchestrated. “Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi” starts for instance with a short drum section, before moving into a series of layered arpeggios created by two guitars, that set in at different times. The instrumental density and texture slowly builds up with the addition of guitars, bass, singing, and background vocals. While the song features rock instruments, it is notable that the playing techniques and overall instrumental layering have changed since albums such as The Bends or even OK Computer. There is a more fluid instrumental build-up and the voice is again at the front of the recording. “15 Step” starts with drum loops that continue through the first minute of the song, before the guitar sets in. String arrangements can be heard on “Nude” and – more cacophonously – at the end of “All I Need.” Meanwhile, “Faust Arp” has more of an acoustic live feel, with Thom Yorke counting in the song before the acoustic guitar sets in. In a similar way to the album’s many-layered guitar arrangements, vocal layers are common and background vocals like on “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” assume a more prominent position. The vocal arrangements on In Rainbows display the use of a higher-pitched singing range that often spans over longer song passages and includes more falsettos. In this way, the vocals are reminiscent of Radiohead’s early work, but go even further by introducing longer sustained high passages rather than short emotional outbursts. Examples include “Nude” and “Reckoner” – the latter of which features elaborate backing vocals that quote the album’s title. Backing vocals also appear as wordless texture and contribute to the construction of a more mellow atmosphere and intricate soundscapes. The album is characterised by Radiohead’s continued interest in new compositional strategies based on a combination of studio technologies and more live inspired and voice-centric sounds. With The King of Limbs (2011), Radiohead continue their experimentation with textures and layers, but also take this principle further by employing a wider range of instruments and effects that create greater contrast. The album is shaped by computer sounds and samples, that include instrumental recordings, but also pre-recorded nature sounds. Additionally, the album also makes use of classical

62  Genre and transgression in Radiohead instrumentation – for instance woodwinds. Especially interesting is the increasing emphasis on the construction of rhythms and the extensive use of drum loops like on “Bloom,” “Feral,” or “Lotus Flower.” These were subsequently recreated live by employing an additional drummer. With its multitude of tonal and rhythmic sources, the album creates a sense of high textural density that is apparent from the beginning. The opening track, “Bloom” features breathy vocal samples that overlap with the main vocal line and weave through layers of stacked drum- and piano-loops, a flugelhorn arrangement, and samples of birdsong. Many of the songs feature drum-dominated intros or samples. With this in mind, “Codex” is arguably the most stripped-down track on the album because it mostly relies on a piano melody and the voice, adding woodwinds only towards the end. While the voice frequently appears as central element, it is also used to create texture. Backing vocals and heavily layered vocal tracks add to the textural density of the album. This again shows Radiohead’s move towards a studio-based compositional approach that draws more attention to the artificiality of the sonic construction of each song as opposed to a live setting. The example of “Bloom” shows that the album is marked by a growing interest in vocal samples. While shorter vocal samples previously appeared on tracks such as “Everything In Its Right Place,” The King of Limbs makes extended use of this technique that can for example be heard on “Feral” or “Give Up The Ghost.” On both songs, the vocals are processed and often distorted. Layered arrangements play a considerable role and the recordings feature various stacked vocal tracks. On “Feral,” the vocals are at times difficult to discern and lyrics are not easily understood. In contrast to the song’s prominent instrumental arrangements, the vocals are used to create extra texture and they are comparably quiet. While “Give Up The Ghost” features more prominent vocals over sparse instrumentation, the song also makes extended use of vocal layers that are often processed. In this way, texture is built up and background vocal samples often create something close to a choir sound. The effect of this extended vocal treatment in combination with Thom Yorke’s high singing range is a sound reminiscent of the often heavily processed and almost de-gendered vocals of dance music rather than rock, which by extension can serve to create an atmosphere of disembodiment and alienation. The King of Limbs is characterised by Radiohead’s careful attention to layered arrangements and the sonic possibilities of studio recording. The album again marks a shift because it combines rock music with intricate electronic sounds and is in this way a prime example of Radiohead’s continued stylistic transgressions and play with genre. The release of a remix album, TKOL RMX 1234567, that is comprised entirely of The King of Limbs tracks, further drives home this point and underlines Radiohead’s foray into electronica and the stylistic adaptability of songs. With the release of A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), Radiohead return to a somewhat calmer and less electronic and rhythm-heavy sound. The album is shaped by orchestral arrangements, starting with col legno strings at the beginning of “Burn The Witch.” There are more atmospheric drawn-out soundscapes like for instance on “Daydreaming” or “True Love Waits,” that can remind of film music. There are

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  63 electronic sounds, like the quiet drum loops on “Decks Dark.” Drum sounds often appear restrained and somewhat muffled. This creates an overall more acoustic atmosphere that also shines through on songs that make greater use of acoustic guitar sounds and melodies such as “Desert Island Disk” or “Present Tense.” At the same time, the album features some of Radiohead’s most elaborate orchestral arrangements to date with songs such as “Burn The Witch,” “Glass Eyes,” “The Numbers” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief.” The singing is again front and centre. There are long and elaborate lyrics that allow for a greater vocal presence and layered background arrangements. Choir arrangements like on “Identikit” and “Decks Dark” punctuate the singing. But there are also vocal samples and loops like those on “Identikit,” “Ful Stop” and “Daydreaming.” The album presents a more electronically restrained take on in-studio composition. It still features samples and loops, but they are combined with more elaborate orchestral sequences to create greater sonic depth and variety. There are some songs that are obviously studio-built, but others that give off a more acoustic and live atmosphere. The presence of the almost unaltered, central, and therefore often vulnerable voice on many of the songs makes the album emotively accessible and stands in contrast to some of the more processed and succinct vocals on The King of Limbs. In this way, the album marks once again a stylistic shift and signals Radiohead’s interest in a wider orchestration and combination of studio-based and other compositional approaches that reflect and to a certain extent explain the inherent stylistic diversity and crossing of musical borders. The discussion so far has shown that over the years, Radiohead’s instrumental and vocal arrangements have changed considerably. While it is notable that both singing techniques and the uses of vocal effects have become more diversified, the band has also incorporated new instruments and playing techniques. There is a clear move towards more elaborate orchestrations that incorporate the compositional means afforded by studio technologies. With the release of Kid A there is a notable change, that introduces more sound manipulation but also a new awareness of instrumental and vocal roles. In a similar way, one can detect an increasing work with sound layers, that has affected the band’s working mechanisms and performance structures ever since. All in all Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory is strongly shaped by a diversification and multiplication of different generic influences, an experimentation with crossover techniques, and plural narratives. It is affected by and reflects various genres at different points in time, but in this way, it also moves towards a more personalised sound based on Radiohead’s specific take on the mixing and overcoming of genres. Dynamics A further aspect that has an immediate impact on genre perception is dynamics. While the importance of dynamics is often emphasised in classical music analysis, popular music dynamics are addressed less frequently which amongst other reasons might be due to a lack of notation in this regard. Matthias Thiemel (2001)

64  Genre and transgression in Radiohead describes dynamics as “the intensity of volume with which notes and sounds are expressed […] which function interdependently to create musical meaning and structure.” He goes on to say that “dynamic variation is so natural to the performance of almost all styles of music that its presence can normally be assumed even when indications for it are mainly or even entirely absent from the notation” (Ibid.). For this reason, the impact of dynamics on popular music should be considered when dealing with musical structures and it is in particular the arrangement and variation of dynamics that serve as significant indicators of different musical styles. According to Thiemel, the emergence of new concepts of dynamics is closely linked to the formation of new genres throughout history and particular genres are characterised by certain dynamic structures and effects. Since dynamics not only affect the specific construction of musical works but also the transmission of moods and affects – and thus work on a very immediate personal level – it can be helpful to discuss the use of dynamics when analysing popular music genres in particular musical oeuvres in order to map stylistic tendencies and crossovers. A look at Radiohead’s studio albums shows interesting dynamic constructs and changes. Writing about Radiohead’s idiolect, Moore and Ibrahim (2005: 142) point out that Radiohead’s early songs are often characterised by stark dynamic contrasts between verse and chorus that are reminiscent of bands such as the Pixies and point towards a grunge influence. In more general terms, the loud choruses counterbalanced with more restrained verses serve to underline Radiohead’s wider rock influence and stand for a simple and genre-conscious dynamic and compositional approach. The notion that dynamics can reflect the interests and influences of musicians is meaningful considering Jonny Greenwood’s earlier-mentioned statement about attempting to recreate atmospheres and soundscapes from favourite albums. Dynamics thus present an often subconscious, but nonetheless very telling indication of genre intention. The muted guitar chords in “Creep” are a primary example of dynamic structuring. Interrupting the quiet and self-reflective atmosphere of the verse, the strong dynamic contrast leads into an instrumentally more fleshed-out and energetic chorus. Similar ways of musical structuring can also be observed on other songs on Pablo Honey. On “Stop Whispering” the quiet verse is contrasted with a louder chorus section that is marked by the enunciation of the word ‘shouting,’ larger vocal intervals, the addition of more guitars as the song progresses as well as an increase in volume and emotive delivery. The stark dynamic contrasts emphasise the typical verse-chorus-verse structure of most rock songs and hence there are not many stylistic surprises. The Bends holds on to similar structures, but often adds more instrumental density during choruses that almost swamp the voice like on “My Iron Lung.” Later Radiohead albums show even more, how dynamic contrasts affect the construction and composition of songs. The song “Paranoid Android” from OK Computer is divided into several sections that are marked by specific dynamics. Rather than indicating the change between verse and chorus, the dynamic changes characterise individual parts of the song and convey an overall development and progression. While the song features four distinct sections, the first and second

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  65 section are marked by a layered and intricate guitar sound that gradually builds up in density. The song’s second section, starting around the two-minute mark, grows increasingly louder and features more expressive vocals and distorted guitars before moving into an extended guitar solo. The third section starts at circa 3:30 minutes and at this point, the song almost comes to a standstill. The new section features an acoustic guitar and sparse instrumentation. It focuses on Thom Yorke’s emotive singing that is accompanied by choir-like background vocals. A fourth section serves as the song’s outro and starts at 5:37. Once again, the song features louder guitars, more textural layers and sound effects. While the lead guitar picks up the guitar solo from the end of section two, this final section does not feature any vocals. The composition of “Paranoid Android” shows how dynamic contrasts are used to create structure and progress. The song proceeds through various contrasting dynamic stages, that differ in terms of speed and volume level created through changes in instrumentation and voice. It is not only characterised by changing dynamics that underline its unusual structure, but also by different moods and atmospheres that can influence perceptions of authenticity, emotional honesty, and eventually the generic verisimilitude of the song. The intricate dynamic construction of “Paranoid Android” explains to a certain extent its frequent association with progressive rock in the media. It is also a prime example of how dynamics can be used to guide the listener through various expressive stages and in this way create an emotive storyline that can move between different genre allusions. Radiohead’s compositional techniques on OK Computer thus clearly present a move away from earlier recordings towards a more complex and intricate sound design. Songs feature more electronic sounds than before. At the same time, they also lose their grunge association and move towards more elaborate sub-areas of rock that feature complex compositions and structures. While dynamic contrasts can be heard within songs, they also affect the sequencing of albums largely. This also becomes obvious on OK Computer – Radiohead’s first more experimental album as far as genre-based dynamics are concerned. The sequence of songs on OK Computer shows that dynamic contrasts have a great impact on the overall perception of genre and compositional complexity. Thiemel (2001) points out that great dynamic contrasts often serve to underline experimental and progressive compositions. The album is shaped by dynamic and timbral differences between songs. While “Exit Music” closes very quietly and slowly on a rather desperate note, “Let Down” picks up in a considerably faster tempo and at the same time presents a distinct change in mood. Similarly, the fast and loud “Electioneering” provides a noticeable contrast to the monotonous computer voice and quiet piano play of “Fitter Happier,” while “No Surprises” follows as a quiet and slow counterpart to the tumultuous and effect driven “Climbing Up The Walls.” The examples show that the dynamics reflected in song sequences can affect the general perception of moods and emotions. They can express and emphasise particular atmospheres and narratives through the course of an album. The ending of “Climbing Up The Walls” with its dissonant strings, noise, and screaming may on its own appear disturbing, but the quiet that follows with “No Surprises” is shocking because it presents such an abrupt change. In this way,

66  Genre and transgression in Radiohead overall dynamic contrast can either contribute towards a consistent sound or, in this case, highlight a growing diversification, different stylistic references, and a multiplicity of conveyed emotions. A look at Radiohead’s later work shows that distinguished dynamic contrasts in songs remain of considerable importance. Over the years, the band achieves an even greater dynamic diversity. Kid A in particular underlines Radiohead’s use of more subtle and often flowing dynamic changes, which can for instance be heard on the title song. Meanwhile, on “Treefingers,” the band utilises an equally quiet and flowing sound structure reminiscent of ambient textures. While the traditional loud-quiet-loud structures remain of importance even in later years – and especially on Hail to the Thief – there are also more quiet and delicate sounds like those on In Rainbows. New computer-generated rhythms and structures shape the dynamic outbursts of more recent albums such as The King of Limbs. The fact that many of the album’s sounds are machine generated distinguishes them from Radiohead’s early work. The album allows for a parallel existence of electronic and acoustic sounds and in this way offers more possibilities for dynamic diversity. A Moon Shaped Pool continues the creation of ambient flowing soundscapes, but also adds more orchestral detail. The addition of more classical instruments and playing techniques – such as the col legno strings on “Burn The Witch” – naturally offers even greater dynamic diversity. In this way, dynamics feature as a vital part of stylistic construction in songs or albums and can reflect generic change. At the same time, a constant variation of dynamics or use of decidedly contrasting dynamics has the power to complicate the identification of genres and can specifically mark music as experimental. Moreover, dynamic diversity often points towards elaborate and elongated song structures and thus stands for more experimental genres. As this condensed overview of dynamic uses in Radiohead’s work shows, a basic impression of dynamics is often sufficient to trace notions of genre and, in this case, stylistic diversity. The discussion highlights that Radiohead often work with experimental approaches and elaborate song structures, that are for instance often found in progressive rock or post-rock, but also in electronic music. However, there are many subtle dynamic changes and fluid variations that again serve to indicate a stylistic multiplicity. Dynamics are therefore a telling part of genre construction and they play an important role in its immediate identification. At the same time, an abundance of dynamic contrasts or complete lack thereof can complicate genre identification and point towards a more experimental approach that often obscures genre boundaries. Lyrics The composition and use of lyrics in songs is an important part of immediate stylistic perception and thus a significant indicator of genre. Looking back to the discussion of the voice as a means of lyrical expression, lyrics themselves appear in a similarly weighted role and over time evolve in a parallel manner. While early Radiohead songs feature lyrics as very central elements, later albums – starting

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  67 mainly with Kid A – show changes in regards to the positioning of voice and lyrics. Comparing the topics and structures of lyrics on all Radiohead albums one can observe how Thom Yorke’s style of writing evolves and transforms through a play with genre and different writings styles. In early songs, Radiohead’s lyrics are generally very coherent, elaborate, and tend to follow specific storylines. While Pablo Honey does not present any overarching conceptual narratives, it features recurring topics like an outsider mentality and a constant struggle to overcome certain issues or gain recognition that is often found in rock and pop music. The songs present relational and personal dichotomies like the lines “I’m still noone” and “you’re now a star” in “Thinking About You” (see Radiohead, 1997a: 33), which has the protagonist filled with self-doubt and a feeling of inadequacy. Meanwhile, there are other stories about being successful despite all obstacles like in “Anyone Can Play Guitar” (Ibid.: 42 ff.) – a song that already announces its punk mentality through its title. In “Stop Whispering,” a similar sentiment is expressed through the song’s symbolic appeal to “stop whispering” and “start shouting” (Ibid.: 25 f.). Often the songs are directed at a second person which usually remains anonymous and is solely addressed with the pronoun ‘you.’ Most famously, this happens in “Creep,” but it is also the case with “You,” “Thinking About You” and “Prove Yourself” amongst many other examples. While The Bends continues some of the mentioned topics, it adds more variety in terms of themes and lyrical structures. Lyrical meaning is generally more obscured and indicates the move towards an intricate style of writing that features a wider range of stylistic devices. The album’s title song illustrates this new approach not only by showing a greater range of lexical choices, but also by using decompression sickness as a substitute for metaphorical oppression. Notably, the lyrics often feature the narrator as a partaker in the actions of the songs, but also as an observer, which signals a slight change from Radiohead’s previous work. While all songs make use of first-person pronouns in different capacities, “Fake Plastic Trees” is one example of a song that signifies the move towards a retelling mode of speaking and an observational stance. It specifically highlights the partaking of other characters in the storyline. Although the album’s content includes similarities to previous topics, it also shows a clear development. The aspect of success and recognition is again very central to Radiohead’s songs. With lines such as “kill yourself for recognition” and “turning into something you are not” “High & Dry” (see Radiohead, 1997b: 21 f.) illustrates the addressee’s ambitious struggle and personal change in the process. However, the song is also marked by a decidedly more detached demeanour of the narrator, who highlights both conflicts and downsides of the described behaviour and thus assumes a more critical and careful position in comparison to Pablo Honey. OK Computer contains a mixture of topics that hint at a sense of apprehension and paranoia in the face of the developing digital age and the taking over of new technological means. As has been pointed out by various writers, the album most famously addresses topics of transportation and the general issues of an increasing mechanisation. Moreover, OK Computer deals with aspects of violence, fear, and different forms of escapism. In contrast to both previous albums,

68  Genre and transgression in Radiohead the lyrical themes on OK Computer seem to form an overarching narrative that could be interpreted as a loose lyrical concept for the album. While the album again features a mixture of observer and insider standpoints, it also makes use of a range of different personas as narrators. Starting with the line “I am back to save the universe” on the opening song “Airbag” (see Radiohead, 1997c: 6) the album features a recurring superhero theme, with “Lucky” being another example. Interestingly, this often clashes with the topic of apathy in the face of impending doom in songs such as “Subterranean Homesick Alien,” during which the narrator claims he would end up being “alright” despite being “shut away” (Ibid.: 20ff.). The song describes the feeling of driving down a lonely road at night and waiting to encounter alien life forms. The emotive expression is detached in a way and the alien theme – and wish to escape – again hint at the outsider mentality and feeling of alienation of previous albums. At times, the songs feature protagonists that appear dangerous or even deadly like on “Climbing Up The Walls.” The album’s lyrics develop a defensive group mentality – now favouring pronouns such as ‘we’ or ‘us’ – that is novel to Radiohead songs. On “Karma Police,” for instance, the narrator warns: “this is what you get” in case you “mess with us” (Ibid.: 39). The variety of narrating personas becomes especially clear with “Fitter Happier,” which is marked by its use of a computer voice. The song exemplifies the album’s theme regarding the overtaking of technology. The lyrics are read out in a plain voice and without any emotive enunciation. They list steps to feel better in everyday life with instructions such as “eating well,” “not drinking too much,” and being “more productive” (Ibid.: 42). The album’s particular brand of apathy in the face of impending doom is again expressed in the lyrics and through the distinctly emotionless lyrical performance. If OK Computer describes themes of growing unrest in modern life and scepticism in the face of technological change, “Fitter Happier” presents solution strategies in a manner that is eerily and ironically inexpressive, and decidedly not human. Radiohead are certainly aware of this, driving home the point about individual powerlessness with lines about cats being “tied to a stick” and pigs “in a cage on antibiotics” (Ibid.: 43). Kid A marks a notable change in lyrical composition and content that is the result of an experimentation with aleatoric methods – a strategy that incorporates elements of chance and that is mostly found in avant-gardist classical music. A considerable part of the album’s lyrics is put together by drawing individual lines out of a top hat (Reflections on Kid A, 2000: 19:08). This, together with a tendency for repetition and short or incomplete sentence structures, contributes to an altered lyrical style that obviously favours experimentation while meanings are often obscured. This can for instance be heard on the album’s title song that includes lines about having “heads on sticks” and “ventriloquists” (see Radiohead, 2001: 10 f.). The song also deals with topics of paranoia and a feeling of being watched. It references the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin with the narrator proclaiming that rats and children would follow him if he were to leave town (Ibid.: 13). The narrative structure and topics are in this way reminiscent of OK Computer, but Kid A does not feature its predecessors’ super-hero theme and contains more bleak and dark moments. At the same time, the topics appear to be thrown together

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  69 and address seemingly separate subject matters. Analysing conceptual tendencies on Radiohead’s Kid A Marianne Tatom Letts (2010: 45) highlights the subject of disappearance as a central lyrical element on the album and states: Although the lyrical themes of Kid A are similar to those of OK Computer (alienation as a reaction to the onslaught of technology), Kid A challenges Radiohead’s earlier methods of narrative cohesion by forming a hopeless, self-negating subject who disintegrates at the midpoint of the album at the moment of his maximum articulation. Kid A then presents a continuation of various previously explored topics, but it also features a more radical approach to the notion of the narrative as a whole. While Tatom Letts identifies a single and central subject in the songs thus building her argument for a vanishing subject (Ibid.: 104 ff.), one can certainly challenge the interpretation of the narrator as one individual. The resulting lack of absolute clarity complicates the identification of any overarching narratives and developments. While the narrating persona is therefore in a way more obscure than on previous albums, earlier established topics like a certain apathy or paranoia persist. Due to the less central position of the voice and repetitive structure of certain lyrics, one can question the general importance of lyrics on the album. With regard to the aleatory aspects of composition, one might especially wonder to what extent lyrical meaning is still directly imposed by the songwriter. Amnesiac signals a slight move back to more elaborate and coherent lyrical structures. It also deals with a variety of different topics, that are only partly reminiscent of Radiohead’s work prior to Kid A. As Moore and Ibrahim (2005: 145) point out, the album can be seen as a consolidation of the stylistic tendencies introduced on Kid A, but also presents a collection of disparate and juxtaposed songs. While it grazes various topics, themes of escapism and a fear of being trapped appear repeatedly. The album’s lyrics interestingly feature a more antagonistic and defensive attitude, which appears in songs such as “You And Whose Army?” (“come on if you think you can take us on”) where it is notably paired with a switch to a first-person plural point of view (see Radiohead, 2002: 12). Moreover, the album again features images of violence – figuratively in “Dollars And Cents” (“we’re gonna crack your little souls”) and literally in “Like Spinning Plates” (“I’m being cut to shreds”) (Ibid.: 39 and 42). In this way, the lyrics often present a contrast to the more passive viewpoints of Kid A. Generally, the lyrics are longer and more elaborate. On Amnesiac, the narrator is often involved in the action of the song and –similar to Kid A – it is again unclear whether the songs revolve around a singular narrator or different personas. Meanings are obscured by a lack of fully coherent storylines and by the use of stylistic devices and references. “Pyramid Song” in particular features various lyrical references to literary and mythical depictions of death. While it has been mentioned by band members that the song was based on Dante’s Divine Comedy as well as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it also references ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology. An early version of “Pyramid Song” was even titled “Egyptian Song” and influenced by

70  Genre and transgression in Radiohead Thom Yorke’s visit to an exhibition of Egyptian art. The song repeatedly mentions themes of death and afterlife. The line “we went to heaven in a little row boat” (Ibid.: 7) alludes to the Greek myth of the ferryman Charon who carries souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron to Hades. The imagery of “Pyramid Song” includes “black-eyed angels,” a “river,” the “moon” and “stars,” a “boat” and “astral cars” that serve to depict death, afterlife, heaven and purgatory (Ibid.). At the same time, the album contains historical references in “You And Whose Army?” (“holy roman empire”) and socio-political thoughts in “Life In A Glasshouse” (“think of all the starving millions”) (Ibid.: 12 and 44). Amnesiac’s lyrics are symbolic and referential of cultural, historical, and mythical events and works. The album presents a more developed take on the themes and styles of writing used for Kid A, but at the same time also incorporates aspects typical of Radiohead’s prior work. It can consequently be seen as an amalgamation and expansion of the band’s previous lyrical traits. While Hail to the Thief has often been discussed as either the true successor to OK Computer or as yet another stylistic change in Radiohead’s work (Tatom Letts, 2010: 178), the album is shaped by a number of ambiguities. This becomes already clear when looking at its name and song titles. They all feature alternative titles that are listed in brackets. Despite the fact that these other titles could be regarded as elaborations on the main song names and thus enable further individual readings, they might also be seen as replacement options and facilitate a plurality of interpretations. The album features a range of very elaborate and long lyrical structures, but it also contains short and more repetitive lyrics that can for instance be heard on “Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.).” As regards to the changing of song structures alone, Hail to the Thief could be interpreted as a mixture of characteristics taken from Radiohead’s pre- and post-Kid A phases. Some of the lyrics appear obscure or randomly put together and it is in some instances difficult to identify clear narratives. Lyrics are again referential of other works ranging from Orwell quotes on “2+2=5” to fantasy and fairy tale imagery on “A Wolf At The Door,” “The Gloaming,” and others. There are political undertones and one theory explains the album’s title as a reference to the US elections in 2000. But there are also mythical themes (“There, There”) and biblical topics (“Sail To The Moon”). The album’s lyrical style therefore not only features a wider scope of attributes than previous albums, but also includes many different literary references that hint at a growing cultural capital as part of Radiohead’s oeuvre. Tatom Letts (2010: 183) points out that the album explicitly highlights the presence of the band members on the recording. The first song, “2+2=5,” opens with instruments being plugged in and a short conversation between Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, which Tatom Letts notes can be heard in the background. The album is thus marked by a sense of studio realism. From the beginning, the audience is made aware of the recording process and the artificiality of the music they are listening to. This indicates a higher emphasis on studio technology and careful composition – and consequently underlines the artwork status of the recording. However, studio realism also reduces the distance between artists

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  71 and audiences by offering an insight into the making of the album. While similar disruptions of an album’s unity can be achieved through other forms of stylistic breaks – for instance the lack of lyrics on Kid A’s “Treefingers” or the computer voice on OK Computer’s “Fitter Happier” – the placement of this particular instance at the beginning of Hail to the Thief is curious because it can be forgotten or missed rather easily. Although it creates a distinct awareness of the often artificial recording process, it does not distract from the song’s escapist tendencies and overall sequence. Instead, it can attest to the album’s growing stylistic diversity, that is mirrored in the shape and structure of lyrics and contents, and perhaps a more self-reflective and open stance. The notable instances of contrast and change also make it counterproductive to identify any overarching narratives on Hail to the Thief. While In Rainbows is again characterised by long and elaborate lyrics, it interestingly features a first and second person dynamic reminiscent of Radiohead’s earlier albums. However, on In Rainbows, the meanings are generally more obscure and flexible. A range of stylistic devices – in particular metaphors and similes – transform the lyrics into something more oblique and poetic. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” features aquatic terminology and includes lines such as “turn me into phantoms” and “I follow to the edge of the earth and fall off” (see Radiohead, 2008: 45 f.). There’s a sense of fear and violence in the song that leaves the narrator afraid to be eaten by worms and the eponymous “weird fishes” (Ibid.: 50). There is also something to be said about the spelling in Radiohead songs that often actively deviates from the norm. Small changes in spelling and deliberate misspellings already appeared on Amnesiac (“Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box”) and form a characteristic part of Radiohead’s idiolect and personal lyrical language. In Rainbows notably introduces more romantic themes that appear for example on “House Of Cards” (“I just want to be your lover”) (Ibid.: 78). This is a deliberate change from earlier Radiohead albums that are for the most part characteristically devoid of romanticism. The album thus also presents an engagement with one of the most frequently addressed topics in rock and pop music and in this way adds a new dimension to Radiohead’s work. The lyrical structure and contents on The King of Limbs present a change from previous recordings and are particularly varied. While some of the songs feature long lyrics that are rich in content such as “Little By Little” and “Lotus Flower,” others are characterised by a minimalism reminiscent of Kid A. The album’s opening track “Bloom” features scarce lyrics in proportion to the song length and no apparent chorus. Osborn (2017: 40) notes a rise of strophic song forms in Radiohead’s later years. The new lyrical style not only disrupts the more elaborate narrative structures established on both previous albums, but it also presents a move away from the verse/chorus/verse structure typical of many popular music songs. This becomes even more apparent on “Feral” which features only one verse composed of four lines (see Radiohead, 2011: 26 ff.), that is almost unintelligible with effects and woven into a construct of instrumental layers and vocal textures. The persona of the narrator is different from previous albums. While In Rainbows often portrayed a partaking or active involvement in the contents and actions of

72  Genre and transgression in Radiohead the songs, the narrative persona on The King of Limbs fluctuates between partaking and observing. There is a portrayal of different standpoints expressed through a changing use of the voice, background vocals, and effects. On “Give Up The Ghost,” different vocal deliveries – the highly processed background voice and the clearer lead voice – can be interpreted either as the same person or as a change of persona and perspective. The multiplicity of vocal sounds and effects allows for a sense of ambiguity and diverse lyrical interpretations. A Moon Shaped Pool features for the most part more elaborate and lengthy lyrics than The King of Limbs. There is a sense of dread and fear, but also threatening words on the album’s first track “Burn The Witch.” The song also marks the return of the ‘we’ narrator. It is interesting to note that many of the album’s songs have been long in the making. “Burn The Witch” harks back to the Kid A recording sessions, “Present Tense” was first played live in 2009, and “True Love Waits” even precedes OK Computer. “Ful Stop” and “Identikit” were premiered and played frequently during Radiohead’s The King of Limbs tour in 2012. They are most characteristic for Radiohead’s sound at that time and are also the only songs on the album, in which repeated or looped single lines make up long sections and bridges. There is again a notable interest in individual grammatical choices with titles such as “Ful Stop.” Since most other songs originated closer to and during the recording sessions for A Moon Shaped Pool, it appears that overall Radiohead again move away from the overtly electronic sounds of The King of Limbs. The newer songs on the album feature extensive lyrics that are metaphorically rich. The call for resistance and change on “The Numbers” appears inherently political. The songs do not revolve around easily comprehensible storylines or narratives. Consequently, there is more room for interpretation. The album shows that the structure and content of Radiohead’s lyrics – and the overall use of vocals on part of the band – has become much more diversified over the years. It reflects increasingly complex song structures and more than anything an interest in constant lyrical development and a variation of styles.14 Production The concept of production and sound design in the studio presents a further element of interest to genre scholars and warrants a brief overview. Elements of production and overall sound are often discussed in genre discourse and thus affect the immediate identification of genre. Producers have the power to influence the sound of an album and particular songs considerably. In the realm of popular music, it is often a producer’s work with specific bands or artists that draws the attention of new acts and consequently affects the ways in which their music is recorded and perceived. Bands may choose producers based on their contractual obligations or budgets, but they may also employ specific producers and engineers to duplicate well-known sounds and to be associated with specific artists. While this is only one way in which musical influence can shape the stylistic identity of musicians, it often leads to a particular branding of artists and an identification with specific eras and – more or less well-known – genres.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  73 Thus when discussing Radiohead’s debut album, journalists like to refer to its ­grunge-inspired sound and producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie’s previous work with bands such as the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., or Throwing Muses (Dee, 2003: 15). Likewise, Radiohead’s move from changing producers on the first two studio albums to a consistent work with Nigel Godrich – who had previously been present as a recording engineer during the production of The Bends – has led to a consolidation of the band’s individual style and perception thereof. In a similar way to other producers who work constantly with the same artists, Godrich has reached a status as the producer of Radiohead. In this way, he contributes to the emergence of a particular style of production that is typical for Radiohead and that evolves and transforms over time. He helps shape the band’s relation to genre and with it different genre-based processes of recording and composing. Radiohead’s means and strategies for recording their music have changed tremendously over the years and so has their general outlook on the recording studio. Overall, Radiohead have moved from more live-influenced ideas about composition and recording towards a deep interest in and engagement with studio-based composition and the possibilities of production. Their recent approach to recording is strongly affected by a view of the studio as a creative and compositional tool. The general concept of composing songs in the studio and developing musical structures with the help of recording equipment is often attributed to Brian Eno (1979: 129) who describes the process as follows: in-studio composition, where you no longer come to the studio with a conception of the finished piece. Instead, you come with actually rather a bare skeleton of the piece, or perhaps with nothing at all. I often start working with no starting point. Once you become familiar with studio facilities or even if you’re not, actually, you can begin to compose in relation to those facilities. This way of composing is often associated with the creation of textures and layers and generally pays great attention to the details of a recording. A changing attitude towards the studio can attest to Radiohead’s growing interest in more detailed and layered song arrangements over the years and the frequent experimentation with effects and sampling. Following the release of Kid A, Thom Yorke explained the band’s altered way of recording and the use of the studio as a space for composing like this: We started recording before we knew what we were doing, deliberately, so that recording became part of writing. Like when you do programming and electronic stuff, you essentially edit rather than write. (TMF9, 2000: 0:22) I think a lot of what changed about the way that we work is that it became less about standing in a room with five people, working like you would in a live situation and more about people going off on their own and experimenting and bringing things in and editing, which is a totally new thing for us. You

74  Genre and transgression in Radiohead generate material and then you edit something together and then you generate some more and then you edit that and it becomes like editing a film and depending on how you put a chord with another chord. (MusiquePlus, 2000: 3:38) Talking to the New York Times in 2012, Jonny Greenwood stresses that after Kid A Radiohead started to evolve into a group of arrangers, interested in starting with very basic ideas and working out more elaborate orchestrations in the studio (Pappademas, 2012). While earlier Radiohead songs are recorded in a rather linear fashion, the recording processes for later albums revolve around an assemblage of elements and details and rely heavily on sound editing. An early example of this is the song “Idioteque” off Kid A, which features a repeating electronic beat, sound effects, and samples. The song relies heavily on studio techniques. While there have since been numerous live interpretations – featuring a modular synthesiser and live sampling techniques – the song’s sound might have been drastically different had it originally been adapted from a live to a studio setting without major changes. In a similar way “Like Spinning Plates” (Amnesiac), which emerged from the reversed recording of “I Will” that was later released on Hail to the Thief, is a composition that takes advantage of studio technology and would have undoubtedly sounded different if it were not for its style of recording. Methods like these are common for Radiohead and previous sections have already given insight into some of the techniques in use. Many songs on The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool make extensive use of advanced studio techniques and sound processing to increase textural layering and density. This not only includes the creation of drum and other instrumental loops but also sampling techniques in general. In this way, Radiohead are able to include elements like the recorded nature sounds on “Bloom.” As Jonny Greenwood has pointed out, they can re-arrange and edit their music in order to achieve very specific desired sounds. Radiohead’s later compositional work does therefore not only consist of complex song constructs that are enhanced by technological means, but it is also more difficult to reproduce in a live setting. In a way, this can strengthen the artwork status of the recordings, mostly depending on the audiences’ point of view. At the same time, the changing manner of production also contributes to an awareness of the recordings perceived artificiality – which the beginning of Hail to the Thief with its studio realness illustrates. Audience members might become more aware of Radiohead’s music as very thought out and intricate, which is achieved with the help of a variety of technological equipment and methods. Despite the fact that the specific manner of production and recording is not always apparent from a first listening experience, a basic impression of an album’s overall recorded sound – its use of sound effects, samples, layers, digital processing, and so on – can influence perceptions of genre, associated ideologies, and authenticity. While the use of effects and textural elements can thus give audiences a basic idea of genre, it is also the distinct awareness of an album as a studio product that can affect the views on genre tremendously.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  75 Performances and paratexts The previous sections have shown that observations about a small number of textual aspects can already go a long way in giving an impression of the construction of genre in Radiohead’s music and possible interpretations. However, when analysing genre in musical oeuvres, it is also important to take note of different listening circumstances. As such, the conditions of live performances and paratexts – the types of artwork, clothing, and actions that accompany a musical text  –  are crucial indicators of genre and shape first impressions of artists and their music significantly.15 While the previous discussion – and in fact many other forms of popular music analysis – build on an ideal case scenario of listening to the recorded version of a song, audience encounters with new music are often coloured by live experiences, a previous knowledge of associated acts or genres, and the accompanying imagery. Listening to specific radio programmes or podcasts, one might, for example, come to expect a specific type of music that is often played. Artworks can inform about a band’s ideology and include heavy genre symbolism. They may show certain instruments and artefacts – electric guitars for rock, a DIY aesthetic for punk and so on – but also reflect allusions to musical themes and subjects like the transport imagery on the cover and liner notes of OK Computer. During live performances stage visuals, the behaviour and clothing of the band, and audience interactions often suffice to convey a first impression of genre. But unusual instruments, dance styles, and performance structures can also disrupt and confuse genre impressions. Before gaining more radio exposure through the re-release of “Creep” Radiohead, like many other young bands, achieved recognition in the UK through touring. Thus, early audience perceptions of Radiohead’s style were necessarily based on the live representation of songs. Recordings of early Radiohead performances show the band members anchored to their instrumental roles and moving within a predetermined space in a rather conventional rock performance style. Genre is reflected on a musical rather than appearance level – Radiohead’s instrumentation and behaviour is more or less that of a typical rock band at the time. Their performance of genre and submission to certain rules – band members’ positions on stage, movement patterns, etc. – allows for an initial visual impression of genre. This impression is then either confirmed or proven wrong. In this way, live performances underline the immediate nature of genre construction and communication. While Radiohead’s initial performances convey the impression of a guitar or rock band, this image changes over time. Starting with a growing range of instrumentation, the live interactions between the band members and their onstage actions increase and become more varied. Jonny Greenwood’s role as multi-instrumentalist is emphasised by the more frequent use of diverse instrumentation such as the Ondes Martenot, modular synthesiser, and Laptop amongst others. Notable is also Ed O’Brien’s heavy use of guitar effects and pedals in more recent years that have come to dominate his side of the stage. Likewise, Thom Yorke’s shift between his position as third guitarist, pianist, and singer becomes more pronounced over time. His stage behaviour – especially his dancing and

76  Genre and transgression in Radiohead interactions with the audience  –  are increasingly more animated. At the same time, the constant change of instrumental setups makes time for more talking to the audience in between songs. While the changes in instrumentation and action serve as visual indicators of Radiohead’s growing interest in experimentation and the accurate live reproduction of their recordings, a more frequent use of live sampling and effects can furthermore attest to the changing use of ‘liveness’ and genre performance. Following the release of Kid A, this becomes particularly obvious through the use of live voice sampling on songs such as “Everything In Its Right Place,” that builds on short recorded phrases sung by Thom Yorke at the beginning of the song.16 These recordings are then sampled and manipulated by Jonny Greenwood and used to build an extended outro section. In a similar way, “Idioteque” relies heavily on the difficult operation of a modular synthesiser and for this reason, the song’s live adaptation always includes elements of variation and improvisation to differing extents. It is notable that various Radiohead songs, whose studio versions are shaped by technology and effects, appear altered or stripped down in live performances. This is, for instance, the case with “Like Spinning Plates” that does not feature any vocal or instrumental effects during performance and simply consists of Thom Yorke’s voice accompanied by a piano. “Bloom” on the other hand is one example of a song arrangement that adopts and translates studio sounds into a live setting. Instead of playing drum loops and other samples from a computer on their tour for The King of Limbs, Radiohead employed Clive Deamer who played drums alongside Phil Selway and Jonny Greenwood to reproduce the rhythmic structure and to replace other textural layers that are heard on the studio recording. Radiohead’s live performances often include forms of musical experimentation and incidental elements that are constantly changing. They also display an attention to detail and accuracy as demonstrated by the extended use of instrumentation and live techniques. More recently, Radiohead’s performances reflect the band’s interest in studio composition by utilising a large variety of available technologies and methods. At the same time, they also showcase a clear development in behaviour which not only includes a more confident appearance that comes with more live experience, but also a clear move away from fixed instrumental and representational roles. This also means a step away from more typical rock mannerisms and performance structures. It is notable that all band members have switched between instruments in the past or employed additional instrumentation. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood in particular use a variety of instruments during live performances – guitars, keyboards, and drums amongst other more unusual choices – and often fulfil multiple instrumental duties within the span of one song. This, together with the band’s general interest in using an extended instrumentation, clearly emphasises Radiohead’s experimentation with textural layering and technologies on a visual level. While not strictly associated with the creative context of musical composition and production, paratexts such as album covers and videos shape first impressions of artists and genres. They can even inform perceptions of someone’s economic or

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  77 social status within and outside of the music industry. In Radiohead’s case, there is a mostly consistent artistic representation through artist Stanley Donwood, who has created the band’s album covers since The Bends – and often in collaboration with Thom Yorke.17 Writing about Radiohead’s artwork, Lisa Leblanc (2005: 85 f.) states that over the years Donwood has created an iconographic language through his work that functions as a visual analogue to Radiohead’s music. She highlights themes such as progressing anxiety, societal fear, and destruction as main motifs in Radiohead’s artwork and songs. In light of this, the dystopian landscapes on the cover of Kid A can for instance hint at some of the more violent and dark imagery on the album. As such, the album art holds generic significance, because it reflects thematic issues and creates atmospheres that add to the music. It presents listeners with immediate visual cues for what the music might sound like – what they should expect and prepare for. Through their consistent work with one artist who is close to the band, Radiohead achieve a sense of unity and continuity in the presentation of their music and visuals. The intricacy of the artworks, their high presence and detail in album booklets – as opposed to a use of band photographs or lyric prints – again emphasises the artwork status of the music and exudes a sense of detailed artistic complexity. An impression of stylistic diversity is especially apparent in Radiohead’s music videos. They vary between live scenarios (“Creep”), partial and full animations (“There, There,” “Pyramid Song”) with optional narratives, and – in the case of Kid A and Amnesiac – short animated clips that feature Stanley Donwood’s album artwork.18 The video for “Lotus Flower” features Thom Yorke in a more active role dancing throughout the course of the song.19 While Radiohead’s representation in promotional videos is accordingly varied, it also demonstrates a development in terms of genre. There are changes in terms of the band members’ presence in the videos, the inclusion of their artwork, narrative strategies, and the use of ‘live’ music performances. The promotional video for “Anyone Can Play Guitar” is an early example of Radiohead’s construction as a rock band. There are elements of live performance interspersed with images of the band posing and interacting in a mostly empty room. A second scenario is dominated by the band’s – or director’s – choice of clothing and accessories, which includes leather jackets, black clothes, sunglasses, and a feather boa. As the video progresses, movements and actions increase in speed, band members are playing their instruments before smoky backgrounds, and the video concludes on the image of a burning guitar. The video thus features a variety of elements that are often associated with rock and rock star behaviour: distorted images of live performance, high energy levels, extravagant dress styles as well as elements of destruction and chaos. While many of Radiohead’s later videos feature different approaches and representations, it is notable that over the years the band has appeared less often as the protagonists of their own videos. In recent years, this role mostly fell to Thom Yorke like in the videos for “Lotus Flower,” “Daydreaming” or “Lift” – a song released with the reissued album OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017. Over the years, many storylines for videos become more extended and the film and production quality notably increase. The video for “Pyramid Song” for instance is

78  Genre and transgression in Radiohead entirely animated and takes place in an underwater landscape. “There, There” shows Thom Yorke as an observer in the midst of animated woodland creatures. It revolves around a linear storyline that turns from a wedding scenario to him being chased by birds. “Burn The Witch” – directed by Chris Hopewell who is also responsible for “There, There” – uses the same technique of stop motion animation to retell the story of the horror film The Wicker Man (1973) in the style of a children’s TV programme. “Daydreaming,” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, shows Thom Yorke walking through a number of different locations including houses, a parking garage, a hospital, woods, and mountains. In “Lift,” he is literally standing in a lift, while other people walk in and out. While there are certain similarities in some videos – mostly in those produced during the same time periods – others are inherently different. This might be due to the influence of different directors, but it also underlines the variability and interpretational possibilities inherent in Radiohead’s music. In terms of genre signification, the videos offer a range of material for analysis and thus illustrate Radiohead’s stylistic progression over time. There is a variety of themes and recording techniques that reflect Radiohead’s diverse oeuvre. Prominent details such as genre symbols, colour schemes, dress codes, and behaviours – but also an overall sense of authenticity and ideological expressions – further affect the perception of style in music videos. In this way, contextual aspects such as paratexts can shape first impressions of genre significantly and should therefore be considered in discussions of genre immediacy.

Concluding thoughts The text-based discussion of Radiohead’s music has shown that by looking at elements of genre immediacy and simple genre signification, one can gain a first basic impression of style in a musical oeuvre and create a foundation for a deeper analysis of the genre discourse. One is able to see how different indicators of genre work in listening contexts under temporal constraints and affect genre interpretations. They are marked by their expressiveness and easy intelligibility for listeners with different degrees of knowledge. A textual and contextual analysis similar to the one presented here is useful to create a basis for understanding immediate reactions within a range of listening contexts and audience interpretations of genre that are shaped by temporal constraints. Building a text-based analysis of genre in musical oeuvres on the principles of film genre iconography is further helpful for pointing out those genre elements in a text that are particularly striking. The previous discussion thus presents a starting point for the upcoming analysis of different types of discourses as it gives a basic impression of generic developments and influences in Radiohead’s work. By looking at the discussed genre features, one can identify different stylistic tendencies, continuities, and changes. This knowledge of Radiohead’s stylistic peculiarities and transgressions is of considerable importance for exploring how different interpretations and opinions come to be and should be judged.

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  79 The analysis has highlighted a range of significant stylistic features in Radiohead’s work, like the use of an extended rock instrumentation or recurring lyrical themes. These individual instances of genre appear at specific points in time and go through constant processes of change and progression. While the basic instrumentation used in a majority of Radiohead songs remains, in later years it is transformed by new playing techniques and sound effects, additional instruments, and a variation of instrumental roles. Similarly, lyrical topics evolve through a use of different personas, singing styles, word choices, and stylistic devices. These developments not only affect how Radiohead’s personal style emerges and transforms over time, but also how it is interpreted generically. It is predominantly a growing interest in diverse playing and singing styles, a changing relation to studio techniques and composition, and the unusual or extended instrumentation that have come to define Radiohead’s work and that are meaningful for identifying genre in an immediate fashion and altogether. However, due to the varied uses of these aspects and Radiohead’s constant strive for change, a very strict classification of their music would be a slightly pointless and misguided attempt at explaining and simplifying one of the band’s most striking features – their inherent stylistic diversity. While there exist a multitude of genre interpretations with regard to Radiohead’s music, it is the diversity – and fluidity – of their work over time that specifically highlights the band’s generic complexity and that presents one of the most defining stylistic patterns. Kid A and Amnesiac are often considered a move away from Radiohead’s previous work and as such, they are also responsible for influencing and altering audience perceptions of Radiohead’s music. By introducing contrasting and experimental musical ideas, they allow audiences to encounter the band from a new generically regulated position. It is thus often the awareness of genre or perceived generic notions of artists that – once swayed or moved by inconsistencies – can have a considerable impact on the ways in which genre is henceforth interpreted or redefined.20 For these reasons, this chapter arrives at a concept of genre as a means of describing and accounting for aspects of experimentation and musical development – as in the case of Radiohead – rather than a strict set of artist-specific rules and stylistic features. It is important to bear in mind that due to their spontaneous nature, immediate listener interpretations also allow for mistakes and a later change of opinion. In light of this, the ideas presented here should be considered a means for orientation that serves the purpose of identifying basic structures in specific musical oeuvres shaped by generic complexities and in the accompanying genre discourse. The analysis is deliberately kept vague to a certain extent and does not attempt to assign Radiohead one definite generic label. This is to ensure a less biased and unrestricted perspective for studying and comparing different external genre interpretations. In order to judge how other people interpret genre, it is useful to refrain from developing a unilateral, inflexible, and overall too subjective point of view as much as that is possible. When studying genre texts and discourses in conjunction, there is a fine line between offering enough information and being too specific and imposing. One therefore has to tread carefully. In a text-based analysis of genre immediacy, there should

80  Genre and transgression in Radiohead be room for a plurality of interpretations and different genre concepts. It should also be adaptable to discuss or compare different works and oeuvres. While any attempt to position Radiohead within a specific genre canon thus seems counterproductive, considering their music from varying interpretive angles can offer new perspectives on genre and transgression in musical oeuvres and on the flexibility of stylistic perceptions. For this reason, the second half of this book focuses on discursive interpretations of Radiohead’s music amongst different audience groups and explores how various forms of generic meaning and debates arise.

Notes 1 For examples of how this strategy is applied by film scholars, see Martin (2009) and Sexton (2012). Both authors do not only discuss the horror genre and its characteristics, but also reflect on film journalism and its analytical strategies. 2 The latest release of “Creep” (XL Recordings) was awarded platinum status in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry in 2018. For more information, see British Phonographic Industry (n. d.). The status can be viewed through a search for the term “Creep.” 3 The first live performance of “Treefingers” occurred during Radiohead’s concert in Nimes, France on 10 July 2012. The song was performed with Ed O’Brien on guitar and Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood on keyboards. 4 Traditionally, according to Laing, bands were classified according to their instrumentation, occupational origin or function, geographical origin, the incorporation of a musical style into their title, the incorporation of a band member’s name into their title or their identification by gender, ethnicity or demographics. For more information, see Laing (2003: 6 f.). 5 For a detailed discussion of instrumental layering and the positions of instruments on recorded tracks, see Moore (2012: 29ff). While Moore’s model of a ‘soundbox’ goes beyond the scope of genre immediacy intended here, the impact of instrumental roles and varying richness of textures that he discusses are crucial elements of most popular music recordings and should be kept in mind during any analysis. 6 In his 2017 study on Radiohead, Brad Osborn also notes the general importance of timbres for shaping musical style. For his ecological approach to timbre in the music of Radiohead, see Osborn (2017: 93 ff.). 7 This has already been shown in a number of in-depth music-analytical accounts on Radiohead. See, for instance, Osborn (2011; 2017) and Hesselink (2013). 8 It was recorded in Abingdon School near Oxford, which all band members attended, and can be found online. See Radiohead (1986). 9 Before taking on the name Radiohead, there were several other band names considered. Ed O’Brien discusses this in an interview from 1995. See Anon. US Radio Station (1995). 10 This demo recording is also available online. See Radiohead (1988). 11 A great example of this can be found on the fan-recorded and downloadable DVD Live in Praha that is based on a concert in Prague from August 2009. At the beginning of “Exit Music (For A Film),” audience members begin to shush other visitors who are still talking. The resulting quieting creates an intimate and almost reverent atmosphere. See Radiohead – Live in Praha (2009: 1:01:00). 12 The palm speaker is one of the Ondes Martenot’s four loudspeakers. It has a resonating body and 12 strings that are stretched over its front and back. It is mostly used to create “eerie bowed-string sounds” (Holmes, 2002: 61–64).

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  81 13 During live performances, the Ondes Martenot is substituted with an Analogue Systems French Connection, a custom-built Analogue Systems modular synthesizer with an added controller to emulate the sound and playing technique of the Ondes Martenot. For more information, see Anon (n. d.), The King of Gear. 14 While a more detailed analysis of Radiohead’s lyrics would deflect from the immediate character of this analysis, future research might look at lyrical functions in Radiohead’s music – its humorous, poetic, or didactic elements – and examine the impact on lyrical meaning. For more information on the nature of lyrical themes in popular music (in light of poetic genres), see Griffiths (2008): 99 f. 15 For more information on the important role of performances in popular music contexts, see Frith (1996). 16 This is usually either a short passage from a different Radiohead song or varying cover versions. 17 Thom Yorke’s contribution is credited under pseudonyms like “The White Chocolate Farm,” “Dr. Tchock,” or “Tchocky.” 18 For more information on these ‘antivideos,’ see Joseph Tate (2005: 103 ff.). 19 In 2013, Thom Yorke’s side project Atoms for Peace released a promotional video for the song “Ingenue,” which features Thom Yorke in a similar role dancing alongside a professional dancer. 20 This is also related to the notion of genre expectations – one of the main themes in film genre theory. For more information, see Neale (2003: 161).

References Anon. (n. d.). The King of Gear: A Website about Radiohead’s Gear. Accessed at: http:// thekingofgear.com [27.02.2019]. Anon. US Radio Station. (1995, April). Interview with Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood. Accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uNEHiomCk [27.02.2019]. British Phonographic Industry. (n. d.). Certified Awards: Radiohead—Creep. Accessed at: http://www.bpi.co.uk/ certified-awards/search.aspx [07.01.2016]. Dee, J. (2003, July). In Bloom. Q Special Edition: Radiohead. p. 15. Eno, B. (1979). The Studio as Compositional Tool. In: C. Cox and D. Warner, eds (2004). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. London, New York: Continuum. pp. 127–130. Everett, W. (2009). The Foundations of Rock: From “Blue Suede Shoes” to “Suite Judy Blue Eyes”. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Fabbri, F. (1981). A Theory of Musical Genres: Two Applications. In: S. Frith, ed. Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Vol. 3. London: Routledge. pp. 7–35. Fricke, D. (2001, August 2). Radiohead: Making Music That Matters. Accessed at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/radiohead-making-music-thatmatters-84574 [27.02.2019]. Frith, S. (1996). Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Griffiths, D. (2003). From Lyric to Anti-Lyric: Analyzing the Words in Pop Song. In: A. F. Moore, ed. Analyzing Popular Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 39–59. Griffiths, D. (2004). OK Computer. London, New York: Continuum. Griffiths, D. (2008). Elvis Costello. London: Equinox.

82  Genre and transgression in Radiohead Gudmundsson, G., Lindberg, U., Michelsen, M. and Weisethaunet, H. (2003). Popular Music Criticism. In: J. Shepherd, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1. London: Continuum. pp. 304–308. Hesmondhalgh, D. (2007). Audiences and Everyday Aesthetics: Talking about Good and Bad Music. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 10(4). pp. 507–527. Hesselink, N. D. (2013). Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”: Ambiguity, Rhythm, and Participation. Music Theory Online. 19(1). Accessed at: http://mtosmt.org/issues/ mto.13.19.1/mto.13.19.1.hesselink.html [27.02.2019]. Holmes, T. B. (2002). Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition. New York: Routledge. Holt, F. (2007). Genre in Popular Music. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press. Ibrahim, A. and Moore, A. F. (2005). Sounds Like Teen Spirit: Identifying Radiohead’s Idiolect. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 139–158. Juslin, P. N. and Timmers, R. (2010). Expression and Communication of Emotion in Music Performance. In: P. N. Juslin and J. A. Sloboda, eds Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 453–489. Laing, D. (2003). Bands. In: J. Shepherd, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 2. London: Continuum. pp. 6–7. Leblanc, L. (2005). ‘Ice Age Coming’: Apocalypse, the Sublime, and the Paintings of Stanley Donwood. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 85–102. Martin, D. (2009). Japan’s “Blair Witch”: Restraint, Maturity, and Generic Canons in the British Critical Reception of “Ring”. Cinema Journal. 48(3). pp. 35–51. Mixing It. BBC Radio 3. (2001, January 20). Interview with Colin Greenwood and Jonny Greenwood. Accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaDQ_ WwIWNg&feature=plcp [27.02.2019]. Moore, A. F. (2012). Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. MusiquePlus. (1997, August 21). Interview with Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke. Accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai-o5KNijeE&feature=plcp [27.02.2019]. MusiquePlus. (2000, September). Interview with Phil Selway and Thom Yorke. Accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8VJurWFFVA&feature=plcp [27.02.2019]. Neale, S. (2003). Questions of Genre. In: B. K. Grant, ed. Film Genre Reader III. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 160–184. Osborn, B. (2011). Understanding Through-Composition in Post-Rock, Math-Metal, and Other Post-Millenial Rock Genres. Music Theory Online. 17(3). Accessed at: http:// www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.osborn.php [27.02.2019]. Osborn, B. (2017). Everything in Its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead. New York: Oxford University Press. Pappademas, A. (2012, March 9). Radiohead’s Runaway Guitarist. New York Times. Accessed at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/jonny-greenwoodradioheads-runaway-guitarist.html [27.02.2019]. Radiohead. (1986). Unknown Title [First Demo Recording]. Accessed at: https://www. youtube.com/watch ?v=gj57DcRYB3w [27.02.2019].

Genre and transgression in Radiohead  83 Radiohead. (1988). To Be A Brilliant Light [Demo Recording]. Accessed at: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=u7Fl4xJftgw&list=PL84hkZJsrgPxtGph3HOOeyZBexdhwNk 6s&index=2 [27.02.2019]. Radiohead. (1997c). OK Computer [Guitar Tablature]. London: International Music Publications. Radiohead. (1997a). Pablo Honey [Guitar Tablature]. London: Faber Music. Radiohead. (1997b). The Bends [Guitar Tablature]. London: International Music Publications. Radiohead. (2001). Kid A [Guitar Tablature]. London: International Music Publications. Radiohead. (2002). Amnesiac [Guitar Tablature]. London: Faber Music LTD. Radiohead. (2008). In Rainbows [Guitar Tablature]. London: Faber Music LTD. Radiohead. (2009). Live in Praha [Concert Film]. Produced by Nataly. Accessed at: http:// radiohead-prague.nataly.fr [27.02.2019]. Radiohead. (2011). The King of Limbs [Guitar Tablature and Piano Score]. Van Nuys: Alfred Music Publishing. Randall, M. (2011). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. London, New York: Omnibus Press. Reflections on Kid A [Documentary]. (2000). Directed by R. Hodselmans for VPRO.nl. Accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7-wTWhp5UU [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2000b, November). Radiohead’s Kid A: Revolution in the Head. Uncut. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radioheads-ikid-airevolution-in-the-head [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2001, July). Walking on Thin Ice. The Wire. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/ uk/etc/05/pt_2001-07_wire.htm [27.02.2019]. Sexton, J. (2012). US “Indie Horror”: Critical Reception, Genre Construction, and Suspect Hybridity. Cinema Journal. 51(2). pp. 67–86. Shuker, R. (2012). Popular Music Culture: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge. Spitzer, M. (2010). Mapping the Human Heart: A Holistic Analysis of Fear in Schubert. Music Analysis. 29(1). pp. 149–213. Tate, J. (2005). Radiohead’s Antivideos: Works of Art in the Age of Electronic Reproduction. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 103–117. Tatom Letts, M. (2010). Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. The Music Factory. (1997, April). Full Band Interview. Accessed at: http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=lVCPPfBLano&feature=plcp [07.01.2016]. Thiemel, M. (2001). Dynamics. In: Grove Music Online. Accessed at: https://doi. org/10.1093/gmo/ 9781561592630.article.08458 [27.02.2019]. TMF9. (2000, September). Interview with Thom Yorke. Accessed at: https://www. youtube.com/watch ?v=qdwhpdXJZ_Q [27.02.2019].

3

Challenging genre Radiohead and the music press

Genre plays a crucial role in the popular music press. Journalists use genre terminologies to evaluate music and often attempt to strengthen their own authority by appearing as the connoisseurs or name givers of specific genres. In Radiohead’s case, genre discussions have been particularly opinionated and varied. Discussions of genre transgression and expectations have dominated the discourse – especially after the release of OK Computer and Kid A. The following paragraphs take an extended look at journalistic practices and the journalistic discourse on Radiohead that is available today. The aim is to develop an overview of Radiohead reception and a method for genre analysis that combines a study of genre discourses with the text-based analysis of genre immediacy shown previously. By taking account of the numerous journalistic discussions of Radiohead’s music, the chapter sets out to explore how genre affects critical debates. It examines how journalism deals with instances of genre transgression, stylistic diversity, and flexible terminologies. Of particular interest is the question of how genre immediacy affects journalists and their constructions of generic meaning. At the same time, the chapter wants to shed light on different perceptions of Radiohead’s specific brand of genre transgression and stylistic diversity. A theoretical overview of genre in music journalism provides the methodological framework for the critical analysis of journalistic discourses and practices. Following a brief review of the history and changing role of genre in the popular music press, the chapter discusses Radiohead’s reception throughout the years. A detailed look at different forms of genre discourse shall serve to round off the study of journalistic perspectives on Radiohead.

A brief history of genre in music journalism As one of the most significant fields in which genre discourses take place, the popular music press plays a pivotal role in the development of popular music genres and their introduction to wider audiences. In the specialised print media, genre terms fulfil a range of diverse functions and feature not only as a means of editorial organisation but also as a way of describing, analysing, and interpreting popular music. Publications order their contents according to genres or focus on specific genres that largely determine their thematic coverage. Popular themes for articles include the emergence of new genres and associated scenes, the revival

Challenging genre  85 of old genres, and generic changes in the work of well-known artists. Most often, journalistic articles contain short allusions or comparisons to certain genres that allow the writer to set the tone for a description of new and old artists as well as musical works. Genre appears in many different ways and formats. A closer look at its position in the popular music press is thus essential for understanding its specific, context-related working mechanisms. While the popular music press underlies certain genre-related constraints, it is interesting to consider if and to what extent journalists can influence genres in the process of their coverage. Generic meaning arises in discourse, which suggests that journalistic discussion serves as an important prerequisite for genre development. Often journalists are actively involved in naming newly emerging genres. In this way, they not only shape a genre’s wider presentation and perception, but also assert their own relevance in music history. As Holt (2007: 3) points out this naming process is essential for a genre’s continued existence and development. Simon Reynolds’ (1994) article “Post-Rock” written for The Wire presents one such example. It is one of the first articles to cover post-rock in greater detail and illustrates the role of journalists as name givers. Reynolds highlights specific post-rock characteristics in an elaborate manner and includes statements from three bands partaking in the genre that lend his discussion credibility. Not only does he provide a list of main elements his readers should expect when listening to the music, he also creates an inner circle of bands that are to be associated with the genre. The article addresses a specific audience, namely the readers of The Wire. Writing under the magazine’s banner, Reynolds positions post-rock within the musical spectrum of a publication that specialises in experimental music and the genre can gain value in the eyes of a specific readership. Its status is thus shaped by the actions of journalists and editors. The example makes it clear that journalists have a considerable impact on generic formation and change. In later years, Reynolds (2004: 358 ff.) went on to rework his article for an academic book publication and added new information and stylistic changes that had taken place over the years. Again, he was able to document the genre, based on his authority as a name-giver, and this time reach an audience of music scholars. It thus appears crucial to consider the impact of music journalists on the development and reception of genres, but also to bear in mind their subjectivities and the influence of genre on their work. While a general overview of genre in the popular music press is essential, a focus on the extensive work of rock critics can provide considerable insight on Radiohead reception. The case studies presented in the following sections mainly emerged from the rock press, which often has a wider reach and subsequently includes more varied genre and subgenre coverage than other specialised genre publications. They inform about the ways in which this particular group of journalists operate and underline the position they occupy in the music press. While academic writings and journalistic texts about different forms of popular music can be traced back over a thousand years, popular music journalism only began to develop as a separate journalistic discipline in the latter half of the nineteenth century with the emergence of trade magazines such as The Music Hall (est. 1889)

86  Challenging genre in the UK and Billboard (est. 1894) in the US (Leonard and Strachan, 2003: 38 f.). Early issues of Billboard resemble classic newspaper formats and contain news reportage on various aspects of the music industry. The first issue features the subheading “Devoted to the Interests of Advertisers, Poster Printers, Bill Posters, Advertising Agents & Secretaries of Fairs.” It establishes the magazine’s role in providing a marketing space for the industry and buying guides for consumers. However, during its very early years, the readership was mostly restricted to members of the music industry. Apart from news reportage, Billboard includes consumer guides that are often divided according to genres and other forms of musical categorisation. Early archived issues published in the 1940s divide their reviews according to categories such as vaudeville, night clubs, and orchestras. Later issues organise their content based on an ever-growing range of music genres.1 Recent issues feature more than twenty different single charts arranged according to genres. Early reportage, however, seemed to emerge from a more general form of news journalism and predominantly highlights the sales potential of artists and developments in the music industry. Genre was utilised to organise the magazine’s content and present what can ultimately be seen as consumer goods by providing reference. When working with journalistic sources, it can thus be crucial to consider the roles of journalists as commercial mediators between the industry and the audience. As Gudmundsson et al. (2003: 304 ff.) note, the early 1930s saw a selective interest in jazz in the educated middle class, which led to an increasing demand for journalistic writing on the topic. This was brought forward by the recent emergence of specialist publications such as Melody Maker (est. 1926) in the UK. The authors further state that this led to the development of particular journalistic discourses directly associated with jazz – debates about authenticity, the conflict between high and low art, and discussions about the value of its subgenres. Journalistic practices and publications are thus genre specific and regulated by the emergence of distinct ‘genre audiences.’2 At the same time, genre discourses are influenced by the demographic backgrounds and interests of audiences as well as journalists who might exhibit a certain audience consciousness. Gudmundsson et al. further explain that in a similar way to jazz, blues criticism, which started in the 1950s, was directed at a particular audience and featured specific sub-discourses. Interestingly, discussions of topics such as the genre’s value3 were influenced by similar arguments in jazz discourse, which suggests that longer existing genre discourses can affect the form and content of new discourses significantly. This also becomes clear when looking at the beginnings of rock criticism. Appearing in the late 1950s in reaction to the emergence of rock´n´roll, rock criticism draws on the older journalistic discourses on blues and jazz. However, by positioning rock and pop music as mass cultural art forms and by focusing on the distinctions between them (Ibid.; Leonard and Strachan, 2003: 38 f.), the new popular music press also began to develop their own discourses. Specialist magazines with a focus on popular music were flourishing in the early 1950s. Soon this led to a split between the traditional rock/pop reportage, towards a repositioning of several magazines, and to the targeting of new and

Challenging genre  87 different audiences. New magazines set themselves apart from older music publications by targeting music listeners – rather than industry personnel – and by narrowing their focus down to specific types of music. Leonard and Strachan (2003: 39) note that while established magazines such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express4 (UK, est. 1952) adopted a pop-oriented stance, publications such as Sounds (UK, est. 1970) or Rolling Stone (US, est. 1968) began to write specifically for a rock audience. They further explain that this new and more selective grouping of magazines facilitated the emergence of a more distinguished coverage and specific writing styles: the pop press was largely aimed at a teenage audience and featured a lighter writing style, short articles, and a focus on the personas of artists. Meanwhile, the new rock magazines favoured a similar format but also aimed for a more serious and in-depth coverage in order to position the music in a socio-political context. Leonard and Strachan stress that in his way, rock criticism emerged as a distinguished discipline that featured its own journalistic style and specific discourses. At the same time, rock criticism and the journalistic discourse on rock developed from a combination of different areas such as “popular culture journalism, film, jazz and folklore discourses, philosophy of art and contemporary debates on Pop Art, New Journalism, the resistance of youth, technology and US culture” (Gudmundsson et al., 2003: 306). The newly emerging discourse was thus largely shaped by previous discourses and journalistic traditions. At the same time, it built on a wild mixture of elements that emerge from different cultural areas. While rock criticism was in this way established as a new compound style of writing, it necessarily reflects pre-existing ideologies. Over the years, the development of new sub-styles has contributed to increasingly different and specialist styles of writing and a genre-specific reportage. While rock criticism thus affects the self-understanding and progress of rock culture and creates new canons (Ibid.; Leonard and Strachan, 2003: 41), it also regulates the forming of identities, ideologies, and associated scenes.

Journalism in theory The discussion has shown that, amongst other things, genre serves as a commercial tool. While music journalists can take on the role of mediators between the music industry and the audience (Leonard and Strachan, 2003: 40), their position is considerably more complicated. By forming an active part of the audience and of the music industry, journalists occupy an ambiguous position within the cultural and economic landscape. This affects their work tremendously. Not least of all their perceptions can be coloured by conflicting values like those concerned with commerciality and authenticity. In order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which journalists operate under these conditions, it is helpful to consider their work and roles from a media-theoretical standpoint. Dealing with the intricacies of what he describes as the ‘journalistic field,’ Pierre Bourdieu (2005: 30 and 39 f.) provides insights into the constraints of journalistic labour. Since his work focuses on more general forms of journalism, Bourdieu’s writings can also highlight the particularities of rock criticism in this regard. Writing about the relations

88  Challenging genre between politics, social sciences, and journalism, Bourdieu describes the specific working mechanisms of each so-called ‘field.’ ‘Field’ means a social construct in which agents – in the case of journalism this means editors, journalists, and so on – occupy different positions. These are the result of the specific rules of the field and of the status and background of each agent. Bourdieu further states that all agents have the power to affect the field’s internal structures. A field’s structure is largely determined by the varying degrees of autonomy and authority of its agents. While the agents accordingly operate under particular constraints and hierarchic structures, their actions are direct reactions to these conditions and they are able to shape them to a certain extent. At the same time, Bourdieu notes that different fields are conditioned by the relations and invisible structures that exist between them. He explains: when the historian addresses the journalist it is not an historian who speaks to a journalist – which is already a start in the construction of the object – it is an historian occupying a determinate position in the field of the social sciences who speaks to a journalist occupying a determinate position in the journalistic field, and ultimately it is the social science field talking to the journalistic field. (Ibid.: 31) In light of this, the specific positions of agents within their respective fields and their individual motives determine their agendas. News journalists might for example have different aims and strategies than rock critics. Their interactions with people in their field or from other fields are determined by this. While the interactions and relations between music journalists, audiences, and the music industry are determined by similar forces, it is important to take note of the difficult position of rock critics who occupy different positions in all three of these fields. While they are originally part of the audience, their individual careers may lead them to adopt a journalistic stance and either work closely with the music industry in marketing new acts, occupy positions within record companies, or be musicians themselves (Leonard and Strachan, 2003: 40). Journalists are – separately and simultaneously – affected by the constraints within each field and they can have ambiguous motives. Music journalists are consequently not only influenced by the rules of their main occupation, their ideals and motives are also less obvious and may influence their uses of genre. At the same time, journalists also possess the power to influence all three of the mentioned fields. One aspect that Bourdieu deems responsible for the actions of agents is the necessity to distinguish oneself from other agents in order to ensure one’s existence within the field (2005: 39). The pressure of coming up with new topics and stories plays an important role in music journalism, which might also explain the journalistic struggle to uncover new styles of music and genres. This is brought forward by the competition between similar publications and by the actions of individual journalists who strive to achieve a certain status within their field. Bourdieu states:

Challenging genre  89 A field is a field of forces and a field of struggles in which the stake is the power to transform the field of forces. In other words, within a field, there is competition for legitimate appropriation of what is at stake in the struggle in the field. And, within the field of journalism, there is permanent competition to appropriate the readership, of course, but also to appropriate what is thought to secure readership, in other words, the earliest access to news, the “scoop,” exclusive information, and also distinctive rarity, “big names,” and so on. One of the paradoxes is that competition, which is always said to be the precondition of freedom, has the effect, in fields of cultural production under commercial control, of producing uniformity, censorship and even conservatism. (Ibid.: 44) In music journalism, it is especially this emerging uniformity that also has the power to create genre canons that arise through a repetition of what is perceived to be new stories. New genres develop from an area of tension between the journalistic struggle to be the first to present new and innovative music and the need not to miss out on topics already covered by others. Therefore, generic canonisation and genre discourses in general largely depend on journalistic competition. Talking about journalists as ‘interpretive communities,’ Barbie Zelizer (1993: 219 ff.) brings up a number of interesting points that can further clarify how journalists operate and interact. Zelizer’s specific construction of news journalists as an interpretive community is based on the idea of a ‘shared discourse’ amongst journalists that leads to collective interpretations of particular public events. She notes that through informal networking and the monitoring of each other’s work, journalists establish their own conventions that become visible through communal discourses. These discourses and interpretations are consequently dependent on previous discourses and conditioned by them. While Zelizer mostly refers to the working mechanisms of news journalism, these principles can also be of help in understanding similar aspects in popular music journalism. The historical discussion of popular music journalism has already shown that new genre discourses often depend on previous genre discourses by adopting their forms, themes, and narratives. Since musical influences are often used to position new musicians in existing canons, discourses on popular music show a substantial degree of interdependence. At the same time, rock criticism is particular because it emerged at a time when music journalists gained greater independence from their predecessors and thus builds on a wider range of influential components. Many early rock critics came from other disciplines and did not have a large number of previous journalistic discourses on rock music at their disposal.5 For this reason, they had to construct their own identities and modes of expression that were based on their previous occupations and discourses from other areas of journalism. While they were thus in part influenced by older forms of journalism, they also had the freedom to develop individual styles of writing by taking up the perceived ideals of their subjects in rock music. According to Zelizer, news journalists generally operate with the help of a particular “repertoire of past events” that are used as standard points

90  Challenging genre of reference to make judgements about the presence (Ibid.: 224). Bearing this in mind it seems natural that music journalists utilise established genre categories and events in similar ways to evaluate newly emerging genres. While an awareness of past genre reception is thus crucial for the analysis of present discourses, the growing amount of available interpretations has an increasing impact on new writings. Genre comparisons are gaining more importance in current music journalism, simply because there are more and more generic categories and artists to choose from. This makes it all the more difficult for new artists to position themselves outside of existing genre boundaries and discourses or to compete with them. Zelizer states that by “constitut[ing] themselves not only as the objects of the accounts they give but as the subjects of other accounts that elaborate on their earlier reportage” (Ibid.), journalists position themselves in double time. The temporal duality is, according to Zelizer, marked by two modes of interpretation that help journalists establish a higher degree of authority over their topics: firstly, in the ‘local mode’ of interpretation reporters construct their authority through their presence at particular events. The role of an eyewitness is assumed. Zelizer states that different verbal markers further emphasise this notion of ‘being there’ (Ibid.: 224 f.). This mode of interpretation is interesting with regard to the ways in which journalists construct their own position and identity in their writings. As such, it also plays a significant role in popular music journalism. Zelizer stresses that news journalists often construct themselves as the observers of events: they try to uphold the image of objective and professional reportage. In rock criticism, this self-construction is more varied. While eyewitness accounts similar to those described by Zelizer appear often, some journalists prefer to construct themselves as being more involved in particular events. They take on a participatory stance and gain authority through this. While the ideal of an objective and informed reportage also affects rock criticism, the self-construction of journalists is taken to a more extreme and individualised level that also shapes styles of writing. One example is again the proactive role of journalists as name givers to specific genres. Journalistic identity construction also appears when music journalists report on their personal experiences, interactions, and relationships with musicians. There are for instance a large number of articles that document rock tours and backstage events in this way. Zelizer introduces the ‘durational mode’ of interpretation as a second way of establishing authority for journalists. It is, according to her, a way of judging current events within larger discursive frameworks in order to discuss their significance. She states that “[in] establishing authoritative views of an event long after it took place, [journalists] generate contemporary standards of action for other members of the interpretive community” (Ibid.: 232 f.). The durational mode of interpretation, according to Zelizer, allows for a second evaluation of events from a retrospective perspective and presents a chance to establish new meaning. This re-evaluation of events is also found in music journalism and genre reportage. It accounts for retrospective applications of genre. While newly emerging forms of music are sometimes met with scepticism or open criticism, they are often constructed as more valuable in later years. Artists that were criticised initially have

Challenging genre  91 the opportunity to gain more favourable reviews upon second evaluation – like in the case of “Creep” and its re-release – which eventually leads to the construction of new standards and collective views amongst journalists. New interpretations of musical works that have been released in the past are affected by the degree of knowledge gained in the meantime. OK Computer, for instance, appears in a different light when compared to Kid A. While it was discussed as Radiohead’s most experimental and unusual album upon its release, Kid A was a complete game changer and led to a re-assessment of all previous albums as ‘classical Radiohead.’ In this way, journalistic discourses about past events and opinions are crucial for a re-evaluation of meaning. Shared discourses about the past lead to the emergence of new conventions and affect interpretations. The individual status and value of musical works can thus drastically change over time. Nowadays, popular music journalism produces works and publications that fall into the wide spectrum between active consumer guidance and academically informed criticism (Gudmundsson et al., 2003: 307). The reviewer’s individual background, personal opinions, and general stance of publications can affect genre evaluations tremendously. It is therefore crucial to consider the subjectivities that shape genre reportage. In order to take note of the individual divergences in genre discourse, it is important to understand the role of genre in music journalism on a general level. Writing about genre reception in the British music press, Jason Toynbee (1993: 295) elaborates on the position of genre in journalistic writing. While Toynbee states that genre often appears as a means of organising the review sections of magazines, he finds that different genres are often valued differently in various magazines. These positions, says Toynbee, reflect the changes of and relations between journalists and the cultural and economical fields. They can have an influence on the development of audience receptions. Concluding, Toynbee takes great care to show that journalists often apply different critical standards for different genres. Genre discourses are thus as much informed by journalistic ideals and value judgements as they are by the actual music or thematic contents and standards of genres and artists. It furthermore appears that there are often established ways of discussing individual genres – including specific writing styles and appropriate sub-discourses  –  that arise from shared discourses and journalistic competition. Toynbee further points out that genre reportage is often driven by shared motives. By introducing new genres and making them more relatable, journalists contribute towards the genres’ popularity, commerciality, and consequently their future development. When studying journalistic discourses, it is therefore important to bear in mind that genre criticism is shaped by individual values as well as shared opinions and methods. Genre criticism accordingly occupies a difficult position somewhere in-between subjectivity and journalistic uniformity.

The case of the ‘genre portrait’ A look at different music publications shows that the concept of genre appears in various ways in journalistic writing. It is often used as a structuring tool. Genre

92  Challenging genre terms appear at the beginning of articles, set the tone, and position the discussed music in a wider framework. Reviews and other short text forms also include genre terminology in their headlines in order to catch the readers’ attention. When discussing new music, genre is often mentioned alongside the influences and geographical origins of a band to create a short introduction to help readers form first impressions. It presents a point of association and identification and thus serves as a common denominator between journalists, audiences, and by extension artists. There is rarely an article written about music that does not reference genre in some shape or form. One interesting example is what one might call the ‘genre portrait.’ A quick look at this type of article can help clarify how journalists establish and describe genres in practice and show the types of genre features and sub-discourses they address. Sam Wolfson’s (2010: 40 f.) article “Jumping the Wave” for NME deals with the genre ‘chillwave’ and shall serve as a case study. The article revolves around an interview with one of the emerging artists of the genre – Washed Out. It includes quotations from the interview that are used to cement the genre’s legitimacy and authenticity. Wolfson starts by positioning the genre geographically (Florida, USA) and establishes an ideology of sorts that derives from this location. Adjectives such as “sun-drenched” build up an image in the reader’s mind. Together with the article’s main picture – a photograph of Ernest Greene of Washed Out carrying a keyboard along a sunny beach with the ocean in the background – this suggests an atmosphere and preferred lifestyle for the genre. The imagery and word choices thus shape genre perception. Trigger words such as “scene” and “movement” appear in the article’s headline and contribute to the perceived consolidation of the genre. Wolfson states that Greene works without a manager or a fixed schedule, which further underlines the genre’s ideological preference for freedom and ease. At the same time, he also highlights the genre’s inner conflicts and emphasises its instability. In doing so, Wolfson draws on a common generic narrative that is often used to create suspense and interest in the face of a genre’s possible or inevitable self-destruction. Struggles and rivalries within specific genres are brought up as important plot lines that propel speculations about a genre’s inner conflicts and impending decline. These types of discussions also make room for new developments in the genre or a renegotiation of rules and power. While the article largely focuses on Washed Out, it does include short portraits of other associated acts and thus establishes the genre’s inner circle. Although Wolfson is not personally responsible for naming the genre, he discusses the emergence of the title to some extent. This underlines the importance of the naming process from a journalistic perspective. The article deals with the growing success of chillwave at the time and concludes with Wolfson’s thoughts on the genre including ideas about its target audience. While it mainly includes common types of sub-discourses – discussions of ideologies, authenticity, and so on – these serve the purpose of creating a clearer picture of chillwave, which is accomplished through a use of specific words and phrases. Wolfson addresses genre-specific narratives like the associated sense of freedom that plays into the genre’s ideology and more general ones like the genre’s inner conflicts and underlying instability.

Challenging genre  93 Like most forms of genre reportage, the article thus presents a mixture of common discourses that are of importance for a genre’s general reception and specific discourses and individualised language that serve to make the genre more tangible. Since Wolfson positions the genre in relation to his audiences’ inferred expectations and establishes a sense of value, it is reasonable to assume that he played an important role in introducing and conditioning chillwave for NME readers and, to a certain extent, the British market. The example of chillwave shows that genre appears as one of the main narratives in rock criticism. It holds a particular importance alongside other aspects like a focus on an artist’s persona or music histories and traditions. While genre serves as a principle of organisation and as a commercial tool, it is also used as a means of reference by journalists to help readers establish connections between their own musical tastes and new forms of music. Journalistic notions of genre and references to musical influences often appear in a similar manner and fulfil the same purpose. They can respectively be described as the horizontal and vertical axes of comparison in journalistic writing. They are used to position new music within the wide field of available and competing music and to locate its place in music history. Genre appears accordingly as a way of introducing new music by implying certain standards and values against which it can be measured. To a great extent, genre manifests and evolves in journalistic discourse and it is conditioned by the various complex ways in which the music press operates.

The journalistic genre discourse on Radiohead The upcoming paragraphs offer an overview of journalistic perspectives on genre in the music of Radiohead and in doing so aim to show how a study of genre in popular music oeuvres can benefit from including genre discourses. A look at the different stages of Radiohead reception in music, journalism shall serve to highlight moments of perceived generic change, transgression, and an increasing awareness of genre on the parts of journalists. Several examples of journalistic texts guarantee insight into the varying uses of genre terminologies. Before moving on to these case studies, it is important to develop a general idea of Radiohead’s overall journalistic reception and its individual components. As the previous discussion has shown, the notion of genre strongly affects the working mechanisms of popular music journalism and the reviewing process. Individual views on genre are shaped by different manners of interpretation. These also have a considerable impact on audience perceptions of artists. While journalistic genre discourses feature narratives, imagery, and styles of writing that are often specific to the discussed genre, articles with a particular focus on genre discussion – like the ‘genre portrait’ – count amongst the least common types of genre discourse and solely present the ideal case scenario of journalistic genre reception. Far more common and yet more obscure is the spontaneous and circumstantial use of genre as a means of description in evaluations of individual artists and oeuvres. These latter types of articles make up most of Radiohead’s journalistic coverage. Radiohead’s media reception has always involved debates about

94  Challenging genre genre – including diverse and contradicting opinions on the subject. While genre presents one of the few consistent narratives in Radiohead’s changing media coverage, many discussions highlight and thrive on interpretive issues and generic ambiguity. Their study reveals that the functionality of genre in journalistic writing is often inconsistent and inherently complex. As a result, there is a wide range of terminologies and generic descriptors to be found when studying the journalistic discourse on Radiohead. Genre appears as a multidimensional construct that allows for a number of different but equally valid interpretations. It seems crucial to find a semblance of order in the midst of these different takes on genre. The discussion therefore commences by tracing common genre discourses on Radiohead that journalists have produced, before identifying specific types of genre descriptions in these discourses and examining their interpretational strategies. Looking at various journalistic sources, one is able to create an overview of different reception stages of genre in the music of Radiohead that can also be of use for exploring the role of genre in music journalism as a whole. The results and debates included in the discussion are based on an extensive study of the band’s coverage in the commercial print media between the years 1991 and 2019. Approximately 2,500 articles were read with the main objective to identify different forms of categorisation, genre terminologies, and ways of utilising genre as a tool of music criticism. While some discourse-based studies with other focus points may benefit from the use of a word search function, in this case it had to be ruled out because a word search would have essentially predicted and thus falsified the results. Instead, all sources were analysed individually and sorted according to their individual relevance and mention of genre. The study looks at different forms of texts (reviews, features, and interviews), different types of publications (newspapers, music magazines, and specialist genre-focused publications), and international differences in journalistic discourse. While the results originate from a study of international publications and are based on this breadth of information,6 the discussion uses examples from the English-speaking music press for practical and strategic reasons. Despite the fact that a similar use of categorisation can be observed in a majority of the internationally reviewed sources, both the UK and the US have the advantage of a particularly active, varied, and well-established music press. Journalistic texts originating from these countries are easily available, plenty, and have a great international relevance and reach.7 This makes them useful sources for an extensive and in-depth study of genre discourses. A brief overview of British and US American approaches and publication formats can additionally shed light on the ways in which genre discourse is affected by outer circumstance. While the aim is not to provide a representative international comparison of Radiohead reception – this would be beyond the scope of a qualitative discussion – the analytical groundwork for this study allows for some correlative conclusions. Since a great part of Radiohead reception originated in the UK and the US, the differences between genre discourses in both countries are particularly apparent. In the US music press, the term ‘British’ is even used as an alternative form of genre classification. Understanding the basic conditions of both countries’ media landscapes and specialist music press is helpful for being

Challenging genre  95 able to judge their uses of genre. While a majority of early Radiohead reception in the UK appeared in music magazines, US reception at this point in time mainly occurred in local newspapers. The reason for this is very likely a different status of music publications in both countries. While the UK has a long history of weekly music publications, the US mostly has monthly formats, which explains the need for more music coverage in the non-specialised media. Interestingly, it is often smaller US newspapers that use more extensive genre terminologies to explain and describe Radiohead’s music – presumably for the purpose of concert advertising that is not aimed at an expert readership. In the UK, early concert advertising and reportage is mainly found in the specialist media. While Radiohead’s UK and US reception has continually become more uniform over the years, it is further notable that the specialist British media already began to show an interest in genrerelated issues in Radiohead’s music  –  rather than definite interpretations  –  in the late 1990s. This marked the beginning of a growing journalistic interest in addressing Radiohead’s generic complexities and transgressive tendencies. While the total number of articles included in this study was collected from various online sources,8 a majority of articles that are cited in the following were also viewed in print to verify their authenticity and determine their positioning and presentation in publications. An initial reading of all sources served to take note of how genre appears in Radiohead discourse and how it is used to evaluate music. It was also possible to trace the functions of genre in a wider media context and to identify common journalistic perspectives on Radiohead at different points in time. A second reading emphasised the need for a more detailed analysis and the selection of particularly relevant texts as case studies. A close reading of selected sources proved to be particularly useful for exploring the variances and disparities in Radiohead’s genre reception as well as the different journalistic uses of genre. Since the discussion builds on a large number of sources, it is important to emphasise once more that all observations are the result of a strictly qualitative analysis of media texts. While this allows for some general conclusions about the uses of genre, the list of examples given in the following relies on a subjective selection process focusing on texts that make significant mentions of genre. It is thus possible to discuss how genre affects journalistic reception individually and on a comparative level. Referring back to the previous text-based analysis, one can also examine the validity of different genre interpretations and their arguments. Bearing this in mind, the following paragraphs show how journalists make sense of music by applying different readings and methods of contextualising genre. It becomes possible to integrate the varying perspectives into a cluster of equally valid interpretations that builds on an understanding of genre as a fluid construct. While genre is one of the most controversial topics in Radiohead reception, it informs the band’s media coverage continuously and has led to the development of consistent strands of a specialist discourse. Since their early years, Radiohead’s press coverage has been affected by genre reception. New album releases often coincide with new directions in genre reception, resulting in a variety of common discourses and individual interpretations. The genre discourse on Radiohead

96  Challenging genre thus includes two modes of reception: it relies on individual perspectives that can be pitched against each other and that attest to an inherent stylistic diversity. However, there are also collective strands of genre perception and a consensus on musical characteristics in Radiohead’s oeuvre that reflect established genre rules. These collective strands of genre perception are what Zelizer describes as shared discourses and they exist due to journalistic competition and networking. Tracing Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory through the eyes of music journalists thus offers exclusive insights into the ways in which different individual and shared genre interpretations appear and evolve over time. Genre reception from Pablo Honey to OK Computer Journalistic writing is a substantial part of popular music discourse and affects the actions and opinions of listeners, musicians, and the industry. A certain amount of journalistic attention can play a crucial role for young artists in gaining recognition and success. At the same time, the discovery and subsequent introduction of new acts and scenes is a main aim of music journalists, who are then able to raise their own status to that of an expert or contributor in their specific field. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that genre references feature heavily in early writings about specific bands and artists. New acts are linked to current genres, mentioned to indicate possible revivals of older genres or positioned as the main actors of something entirely new. In Radiohead’s early press coverage, one can easily trace similar tendencies. However, there are also struggles with classification. Following the success of “Creep” and Pablo Honey, journalists began to position Radiohead as part of the then blossoming grunge genre. Apart from its similarly timed release, it was mainly the loud-quite-loud dynamic and subject matter of “Creep” that led journalists to describe the song as a ‘grunge anthem’ (see Gilbert, 1996) and compare Radiohead to Nirvana (see Harris, 1992). Even years after its release, reviews of Radiohead’s debut album include grunge references (see Dalton, 2001; Doyle, 2008; Reynolds, 2001). Topics of self-doubt and a struggle to overcome certain issues, as well as the band’s look and behaviour in a live setting, are discussed as indicative elements of grunge. Moreover, one can find numerous references to associated grunge acts. As this shows journalistic evaluations often seek to establish parallels – in terms of look, voice, overall sound, and so on – in order to provide guidelines for new listeners, that can be used as an indicator of whether one might like the music or not. These guidelines serve as points of reference for judging the music’s perceived value. While grunge appears quite frequently in Radiohead reception of the early 1990s, from this point on the band’s generic classification is increasingly varied. Following the considerable success of “Creep,” critical voices soon started proclaiming Radiohead as prospective one-hit wonders  –  an interpretation that was addressed and criticised by others (see Dawn, 1995; Nadler, 1993; Sullivan, 1997). The notion of Radiohead as one-hit wonders prevailed in various publications until the release and positive reception of The Bends. The term ‘one-hit wonder’ is not a canonic genre term  –  meaning it is not a socially established

Challenging genre  97 category that is defined by a list of associated characteristics, rules, and a canon of representative works. Instead, it is based on a single unifying characteristic and thus presents one of many alternative ways of classification that will feature in the upcoming discussion. These non-canonic categories typically lack most of the characteristics of their counterparts. Since journalists utilise different methods of classification not exclusively limited to canonic genre terminology, it is vital to approach journalistic writing with the understanding that categorisation comes in various forms based on different common traits and ideals. Doing so may generate a wider and more flexible concept of genre. While a majority of reviews discussed in this chapter deal with canonic genre terminologies and their origins, there is also a large number of more flexible and creative terminologies to be found in Radiohead discourse that will receive particular attention.9 Looking at different journalistic accounts on Radiohead, it is clear that the band’s success and specific status are important factors when it comes to noncanonic categorisation. Following many speculations about Radiohead’s future in the music industry, the release of The Bends signalled a distinct change in Radiohead’s media reception. Its vast critical acclaim ensured the longevity of Radiohead’s success story. Most frequently, the album is described with the rather vague term ‘rock’ due to its overall sound and instrumentation. This era in Radiohead reception marks the beginning of a growing discourse on future expectations. Based on The Bends’ substantial sales figures and positive reviews, journalists discussed the band’s prospective potential and sought out parallels to other well-known artists. Along with the frequent notion of Radiohead as the next big stadium act (see Cigarettes, 1993; Morrison, 1995), there are numerous comparisons to other successful bands and – quite frequently – the idea of Radiohead as the ‘new U2’ (see Sullivan, 1995; Sutherland, 1995; Williams, 1995). Of course, observations like these can evoke both positive and negative associations depending on the reviewer’s intention. The general concept of a band as the next big act in a certain genre – and as the successors of well-known artists – is a popular form of non-canonic categorisation that appears frequently in Radiohead reception. Like references to musical influences and scenes, this type of classification occurs as a way of familiarising the reader with new music. It establishes points of reference for future taste and value judgements, albeit avoiding canonic genre classification. Following the release of OK Computer, Radiohead reached a new level of commercial success and gained further critical acclaim. With the band’s growing interest in experimentalism and different stylistic influences, music journalists were quick to construe the album as a change in direction from Radiohead’s previous work. While the music was still often described as rock – a canonic meta-genre – or more specifically as guitar rock or music (see Cavanagh, 1997; Paphides, 1997), journalistic reception began to develop in different directions with a more explicit focus on issues of categorisation. Apart from Radiohead’s established status as a rock band, one of the most widely discussed genre interpretations centres around an alleged move towards progressive rock (see Dalton, 1997; Doyle, 1997; Sutherland, 1997). Interestingly, these interpretations are

98  Challenging genre often the work of the same journalists who were responsible for reviewing previous Radiohead albums. Looking at some big music magazines the band’s stylistic progression is described in similar ways, which underlines the validity of some interpretations, but also points towards the solidification of a shared discourse and journalistic competition. As opposed to previous journalistic accounts that position Radiohead amongst a variety of contemporary genres and artists, the reference to progressive rock focuses on a specific subgenre of rock and settles for a distinct and definite interpretation. Since progressive rock stands for an inherent experimentalism and varied musical tastes, the reference serves to distinguish Radiohead from their contemporaries. This divide is reinforced by the fact that progressive rock had been at its peak more than twenty years before the release of OK Computer. It subsequently attained a set of specific associations leading to a high level of signification solely through the genre name. Radiohead’s association with progressive rock thus points towards an inherent musical complexity and exploratory compositional approaches. Ironically, the interpretation of OK Computer as progressive rock does therefore not necessarily indicate a music that is referential of the past, but more so an interest in exploring new musical concepts that some journalists went on to describe as ‘futuristic’ (see Kessler, 1997; Sinclair, 1997). Studying different accounts of genre, it is important to note that progressive rock – and most other canonic terms – can have different evaluative connotations. In the world of punk, the genre was for instance often associated with an overindulgence in musical and technical experimentalism. It signalled a loss of focus on the conciseness of a song for the sake of presenting one’s own musical expertise. For this reason, a discussion of genre should take into account the relevance of journalistic authorship. The individual backgrounds and ideologies of writers affect presentations of genre and often shine through in music evaluations. Since a majority of journalists tend to write about the music they know, their writings on particular subjects often derive from their areas of expertise and may be coloured by personal tastes. Radiohead’s interpretation as a progressive rock band further shows that genre reception has a strong tendency to utilise genre terms independent of their original social contexts and historical position. While many readers may be aware of the history of different genres, it is mostly related ideologies and ideals that inform journalistic uses of genre. Genre presents a quick and immediate way of conveying specific associations without requiring much explanation – like Negus (1999: 4) states, it is a shorthand language. In this way, even the association of a relatively new band with an older genre can serve to make a statement about the artists’ position in the musical environment of the time and their musical approaches. In a similar way, the association with contemporary genres can be an expression of nostalgia or a general interest in music of the past. This was for example the case with britpop (Buckley, 2001). The release of OK Computer marks a point in time at which journalists started to develop an interest in Radiohead’s alleged progressiveness, proclaiming their music as the “future of the rock genre” and “indicative of the new millenium” (Feese, 1997). These references to the time of the album’s release not only serve

Challenging genre  99 to express a certain zeitgeist and underline the importance of historical or social circumstances for the evaluation of music, they also evoke the impression of a type of music that lies beyond canonic genre terminology due to its novel character. While this essentially points towards a different type of categorisation grouping together new and as of yet unnamed music, it also again emphasises Radiohead’s specificity amongst other artists at the time. The result was a more active discourse on the band’s general relation with genre and new interpretations of their music as a generic category in its own right. While the emergence of this ‘Radiohead genre’ became even more apparent in later years, it is the journalists’ growing interest in discussions about genre in Radiohead’s music rather than their use of genre as a mere tool for music evaluation that played a key role in the early manifestation of this development. The previous examples have shown that Radiohead’s early reception mainly revolved around the use of canonic and non-canonic genre terminology as a way of describing musical elements and the overall sound of the band to potential listeners. With the release of OK Computer, this changed. The topic of genre itself – including issues of categorisation –manifested as one of the main narratives in Radiohead’s media coverage.10 It is at this point that the discourse on genre as a whole – as opposed to individual genre interpretations – reached a central position in the journalistic coverage. Reflections on the great diversity of genre interpretations took a more prominent position in the genre discourse itself – resulting in a meta-discourse on genre. This acknowledgement of varied genre interpretations had a great impact on the perception of stylistic diversity and transgression in Radiohead’s work and lead to a re-evaluation of previous genre discourses. This can for instance be seen in journalistic reactions to some of the previously discussed genre interpretations like the notion of Radiohead as ‘one-hit wonders’ or as the ‘next U2.’ In both cases, the notion became at one point so widespread that a number of journalists seemingly felt the need to go against the statement, which they perceived as over-used leading to the formation of an ‘anti-discourse’ and instances of ‘anti-labelling.’11 As this shows, genre discourse evolved not so much unlike genre itself by dealing with certain notions and ideas that at one point were challenged or overthrown and then developed in new directions. This process is also one of the main reasons for the ever-growing genre discourse on Radiohead, which subsequently led to the widespread perception of the band as difficult to categorise. The band’s often discussed stylistic diversity relies heavily on the formation of more and more contradicting discourses that would eventually form the basis for the idea of Radiohead’s music as a distinct generic category. Genre reception of Kid A and the idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ While the music press took great care to point out the stylistic progress of OK Computer in relation to Radiohead’s previous albums, Kid A was presented as a distinct break and marks a turning point in Radiohead’s journalistic reception. It almost seems ironic that early Kid A reviews described the music as ‘futuristic,’ ‘experimental,’ or ‘challenging’  –  terms that were formerly used

100  Challenging genre for OK Computer. It is interesting to note that the standards for the evaluation of the new album had apparently changed: in hindsight, OK Computer achieved a new status as a more firmly established example of Radiohead’s style against which the new music was now compared. This also suggests that the meaning of canonic and non-canonic categories can change over time based on shifts in perception and expectation. While OK Computer marked a moment of stylistic change and a subversion of expectations  –  making its labelling as ‘futuristic’ or ‘experimental’ appropriate at the time  –  Kid A signalled an arguably more prominent break with a number of established musical elements and an introduction of new concepts and ideas. Descriptions of Kid A as ‘experimental’ usually served as euphemisms for either ‘challenging’ or ‘confusing.’ This way of thinking also made journalists re-evaluate previous albums and position them as part of a ‘classical’ period in Radiohead’s work and Kid A as a clear stylistic break (see Farley, 2000; Irvin, 2000). This retrospective canonisation process served to establish Radiohead’s first three albums as the norm against which later albums would often be judged. Peter Paphides (2003) points out that listeners who view the early recordings as part of a ‘classical period’ may see OK Computer as a “millennial masterpiece to take rock into the 21st century.” He states that in comparison Kid A and Amnesiac can appear experimental and confusing. There is also a distinction to be drawn to the category of ‘classical music.’ Several journalists have noted the influence of art music on Radiohead’s oeuvre and discussed parallels. Alex Ross (2011: 95) for instance describes Radiohead’s music as a “new kind of classical music for the masses,” while Andrew Smith (2000) notes that Kid A “demands to be heard continuously, as a piece, in the same way that much classical music does.” While OK Computer was often constructed as a stylistic turning point by the media, Kid A – as a second perceived change in direction – came as something of a surprise to the majority of journalists resulting in a subversion of genrebased expectations. Considering the intense and often negative reactions of many journalists to the album, it was made all the more clear that many writers had considered OK Computer to be the height of Radiohead’s own musical style and an important turning point in the band’s compositional development. In his article “Radiohead Reinventing Rock,” Farley (2000) notes that with Kid A “another Radiohead emerges: if the last album was about technology using up humans, the new one is about humans using technology.” In this way, Kid A was often presented as the beginning of Radiohead’s close engagement with studio technology, but also as a foray into the unexpected. This perspective dominated most genre discourses at the time. Previous discussions about a ‘Radiohead genre’ in light of OK Computer had pointed towards a perceived solidification of Radiohead’s personal style and held implications for future compositions. This can explain the strong media reactions expressing surprise at the release of Kid A and Radiohead’s change of direction. Since OK Computer had already been considered an experimental album, to many journalists a further change might have appeared unlikely or even counterproductive. The fact that with OK Computer Radiohead had already found their musical niche and reached a point where they

Challenging genre  101 were able to be commercially successful and thematically subversive at the same time, made the arrival of Kid A all the more jarring. The change in Radiohead’s media reception shows that journalists work with very specific expectations about the development and progression in specific musical oeuvres. While some artists are renowned for their consistent styles, others notoriously reinvent themselves or go through pronounced stylistic changes. These moments of change always evoke strong reactions from fans and journalists alike and they are frequently discussed topics in journalistic writing. The scanning of a band’s media coverage over the years usually allows for the identification of specific moments of change or one pronounced point of development that is often perceived as an important moment of maturing. One famous example of this is the changing reception of The Beatles who went from pop and rock music towards an increasing experimentalism.12 In Radiohead’s case, discussions of a generic shift – and a musical coming of age – predominantly appear around the time of OK Computer or Kid A. With both albums, there are numerous debates about a perceived stylistic progression and simultaneous individualisation that hints at the notion of a ‘Radiohead genre’ and a personal style that does not fit conventional categories. Discussing OK Computer in NME, Kessler (1997) notes that Radiohead have “found their voice so convincingly that they’ve invented a new musical language.” Lowe (2000) goes even further by saying that Kid A essentially “defies conventional labelling.” Ultimately, the statements show the important correlation between musical individuality and inherent progress. OK Computer and Kid A are considered innovative works, because they defy easy labelling. Radiohead had moved into a new stylistic territory that was less referential of existing genres due to an increasing penchant for rule transgressions. This cemented the foundations of their personal take on genre. Several stylistic changes in an artist’s work are not uncommon, but unless someone has built their reputation on reinventing themselves – as, for instance, David Bowie did – these changes are usually more subtle or further apart. The temporal component of genre perception that becomes apparent has a considerable impact on the forming of expectations and provides a useful angle for understanding reactions to stylistic change in music journalism. Retrospective perspectives change how people regard genre. This depends on the new kinds of knowledge that can be gained when one experiences specific musical works from a temporal distance. OK Computer signalled the beginning of a new chapter in Radiohead’s career that was cut short by the release of new and very different material on Kid A. The result is a very immediate second turning point that affected journalistic opinions tremendously. Over a short period of time  –  roughly three years to be exact – Radiohead had not only moved into their more mature style with OK Computer and were widely celebrated for this. They also completely broke with this success and tried to start anew with Kid A. The latter then not only had to compete with its predecessor, but was in a way also pitched against all previous Radiohead albums at the same time. This further explains some of the more extreme reactions to Kid A and its role as a milestone and turning point in Radiohead’s journalistic reception.

102  Challenging genre With the positioning of Radiohead’s style as a distinct musical category as well as the emergence of genre as one of the main narratives in the band’s media coverage, there was a general shift in journalistic reception. The discourse not only started to become more elaborate and active, it also paid greater attention to Radiohead’s status in the musical landscape at the time. While Radiohead were formerly described as the ‘new U2,’ they had now become something of a household name and it was not long before journalists began looking for the ‘new Radiohead.’ The band had effectively worked towards their own ‘genrefication’ – a process of individual generic distinction. The magazine X-Ray went one step further by saying that with Kid A “Radiohead themselves became ‘the new Radiohead’” (Anon, 2001b). While the band’s music can easily be described in terms of specific characteristics – as has been shown earlier – the then popular question of what made Radiohead’s style their own was usually answered with a mere acknowledgement of their stylistic diversity. Quite ironically, this often included a nod to their specific take on combining a particularly wide range of musical influences. Thus, the shift from OK Computer to Kid A marked one of the most distinct moments of change in the journalistic genre discourse on Radiohead. It was also accompanied by a shift of evaluative standards. While previous discussions of Radiohead albums were mostly characterised by their mention of canonic genre references that provided general musical and social norms, the majority of post-Kid A reviews focused on the new album’s deviation from previous releases and effectively positioned the band’s earlier music as the new main point of reference. While Radiohead’s diverse musical influences remained a major point of interest for journalists, their early work was also re-evaluated. The shift in journalistic reception towards the end of the year 2000 resulted in more references to Radiohead’s early albums as a way of reflecting on stylistic progress. To this day, journalists tend to use “Creep” as an indicator of Radiohead’s original sound and accessibility. At the same time, the band’s musical output up to and including OK Computer falls into the alleged ‘classical Radiohead’ period. It is roughly characterised by the band’s roots in rock music, their guitar-dominated sound, Thom Yorke’s unprocessed voice, lyrical references to struggle and uncertainty, and a slowly increasing experimentalism. In light of the media’s mostly astonished or confused reactions to Kid A, it is not surprising that reviewers concentrated on finding similarities to Radiohead’s previous works and highlighted the differences. Rather than attempting a more independent genre reading like with previous albums, the journalistic discourse on Kid A thus mostly revolves around the idea of a deconstruction of style based on what individual journalists had come to expect of Radiohead’s music. The concept of deconstruction naturally implies a previously established style that can be deconstructed. With the reception of Kid A, it is not always clear whether this style was constructed retrospectively by journalists in light of Radiohead’s recent generic changes or whether it was based on previously existing notions of genre in their work. Whichever may be the case, it appears that the growing interest in Radiohead’s music as an independent genre category was based

Challenging genre  103 as much on the almost reflexive construction of a ‘classical Radiohead’ period in light of recent changes in style as it was based on the growing list of diverse genre influences to be found in the band’s music at this point in time. This retrospective re-positioning of Radiohead’s early work also reflects what Zelizer (1993: 132 f.) describes as the ‘durational mode’ of interpretation – the positioning of events in a larger discursive framework. The tension between the initial reconstruction of Radiohead’s older works in light of their new music and debates about their new stylistic tendencies resulted in diverse interpretations. These largely focus on the assessment of generic change and possible readings of a ‘Radiohead genre.’ Quite interestingly, this development also led to Radiohead’s subsequent coverage in a much wider range of specialised genre publications like avant-garde magazine The Wire (see Reynolds13, 2001), Jazz Times (see Varga, 2001), as well as the academic Computer Music Journal (see Collins, 2004), which emphasises the band’s stylistic advancement and diversification. Radiohead’s tendency for genre transgression and diversity is notably reflected in a crossover between specialised publications and a wider coverage in non-specialised media outlets, for example, in newspapers.14 Looking at the trajectory of Radiohead’s genre reception in the media, one can consider different ways in which a ‘Radiohead genre’ might be conceptualised: firstly, it may refer to the manifestation of Radiohead’s stylistic diversity that permeates their work throughout the years. This assessment presents the simplest solution, because it reflects the majority of journalistic perspectives. It relies entirely on Radiohead’s characteristic use of diverse influences and transgression, while effectively avoiding a listing of individual musical or contextual features in the band’s work that would necessarily change over time. Secondly, a ‘Radiohead genre’ can be based on the understanding of Radiohead’s early work as a ‘classical’ period with OK Computer as the epitome of the band’s individual style and the manifestation of their generic independence. A listing of associated characteristics – like those mentioned earlier – would be a prerequisite for this interpretation. The ‘Radiohead genre’ would become particularly visible through its deconstruction in the band’s subsequent work. As a third option, Kid A can be interpreted as the culmination of Radiohead’s individual musical style. This would involve the shift from rock to electronic music that has often been noted by journalists (see Reynolds, 2000b) and new experimental tendencies. The genre is positioned in opposition to Radiohead’s earlier work that relies on more established genre traditions. It is important to note that even in this case Kid A still relies on diverse musical influences even if they can appear as new and innovative elements in a rock context. Ross (2011: 90 ff.) notes for instance the use of the Ondes Martenot and influence of Olivier Messiaen, but also the impact of jazz (in particular Charles Mingus, Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis) on Kid A and Amnesiac. A fourth concept of a ‘Radiohead genre’ is the notion of genuine musical novelty. The band that produced Kid A may be seen as a reformation of the former Radiohead, which had Thom Yorke in a very central position as the main songwriter. Kid A appeared as more of a six-piece group project – including producer Nigel Godrich – with a new experimental compositional approach

104  Challenging genre and marks the complete reconstruction of the band’s former sound. As mentioned before, Thom Yorke had considered a change of the band name to “make a break with Radiohead’s past recordings” (Reynolds, 2001). Nevertheless, this final concept of a ‘Radiohead genre’ is also the most difficult to account for, because it essentially implies a type of music that is completely unprecedented and free of such references that could anchor it to one specific genre. The different interpretations suggest that it is perhaps most plausible to regard the ‘Radiohead genre’ as a culmination of diverse influences in combination with changing characteristics that appear at different stages in the band’s career. Since OK Computer and Kid A have both been discussed as the respective epitomes of Radiohead’s musical style by journalists, both albums appear as distinct milestones in the overall development of a ‘Radiohead genre’ and are equally important in this context. While neither of these recordings should be interpreted as more representative of Radiohead’s work, they are both examples of how the band constructs their distinct stylistic language at specific moments in time. At the same time, it is debatable whether this constitutes a generic category in the traditional sense. A ‘Radiohead genre’ as it appears in Radiohead’s journalistic discourse is therefore best defined as a fluid construct that serves to describe the band’s music at different stages in their career and at the same time inspires other artists. It does not include any fixed musical or social characteristics, because it is constantly evolving. This interpretation is intentionally flexible and open-ended enough to accommodate a majority of journalistic opinions on the topic. It relies on a combination of Radiohead’s acquired musical tastes and changing takes on musical experimentation and composition. Identifying the band’s individual style as a category that is continually changing thus makes it possible to not only account for the variety in Radiohead reception as a whole but also to conceptualise the band’s development and stylistic independence over time. While the idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ contributed to the steadily growing range of journalistic genre discourses in the wake of Kid A, a re-evaluation of Radiohead’s past recordings in light of the new music also led to changes concerning the manner of discussion. Rather than dealing with specific genre interpretations, a considerable number of reviews written around this time focused on the issue of genre in Radiohead’s music on a more general level. As a result, journalists began to review Radiohead’s individual musical characteristics in detail to discuss their possible association with different genres from a more informed standpoint. This also led to a greater fragmentation in common genre interpretations of Radiohead’s work and more diverse analytical strategies. The popular reference to a ‘Radiohead genre’ also marks a moment in time when many journalists felt that traditional genre categories had either become insufficient to describe the full scope of Radiohead’s music or that the band’s status made stylistic explanations unnecessary. In the following years, Radiohead’s growing fame shaped how journalists viewed genre in their work. Audience consciousness and ideas about previous knowledge played their role in this. At the same time, Radiohead’s continued stylistic progression is one of their most distinct and prominent features, which

Challenging genre  105 justifies and necessitates journalistic reportage on the matter. The fragmentation of Radiohead’s genre reception after Kid A is therefore often borne out of necessity and an avoidance of clear statements in favour of highlighting interpretive flexibility and generic transgression. Genre re-appeared as a way of explaining the details of a track rather than an album as a whole: Reynolds (2000b) for instance describes the bass sound on Kid A as “hip hop-style” and states that the singing experiments with techniques from electronic music. Other journalists applied different canonic genre terms separately to each individual song on an album (see Stubbs, 2001). Alternatively, reviews refrained from making new genre interpretations by highlighting differences to previous recordings. In these cases, the music was evaluated based on older generic standards that derived from previous albums. Writers avoided the independent interpretation of new recordings in terms of genre by pointing out elements that defined earlier albums and that were now perceived to be missing. In his review of Kid A in The New Yorker, Nick Hornby (2000) laments the fact that Radiohead’s new music does not deliver the type or quality of ‘pop music’ that fans have come to expect. This ‘negative’ definition is one type of a non-canonic genre interpretation. It is often found in reviews that follow the release of Kid A and typically appears in accordance with the positioning of previous recordings as Radiohead’s ‘classical’ phase.15 Genre reception after Kid A and a fragmentation of style While reviews of Amnesiac continued in a similar fashion to Kid A’s media reception, they also included a large amount of speculation regarding the ways in which Radiohead’s music would henceforth develop. Significant in this regard was the question of whether the band would return to their ‘classical’ style or carry on in the same experimental manner that the previous two albums had indicated. While reviews of Amnesiac often repeated discussions that had started with the release of Kid A, they also addressed the question of what could be expected in the future. A crucial point of debate was whether Radiohead would ‘return’ to rock music or else become more experimental and entirely subvert expectations. This also contributed to speculations about a further complete shift in Radiohead’s musical style. It was thus often the journalists’ previous knowledge and genre expectations that had a considerable impact on the ways in which Kid A and Amnesiac were interpreted and presented in terms of genre. As mentioned before, audience expectations have a tremendous impact on genre. Both concepts are inherently connected. In this regard, it becomes again clear that individual interpretations of genre on Kid A and Amnesiac are based on the ways in which people have interpreted genre in Radiohead’s music in the past. To a certain extent, the specific type of genre discourse that followed Kid A was then already predetermined by the release of OK Computer – or at least conditioned by previous events. At the same time, genre perception is not only shaped by these past interpretations. It is equally affected by individual listening circumstances – like for instance the context of a person’s first encounter with the music in question – that can result in even more personalised takes on genre evaluation.

106  Challenging genre The release of Hail to the Thief saw a general decrease in journalistic discussions about genre-related issues. Instead, reviewers followed up on earlier speculations stating that the new album could very well be interpreted as a move back towards Radiohead’s ‘classical’ pre-Kid A sound and a rekindling of the band’s interest in ‘guitar rock’ (see Robinson, 2003; McLean, 2003). The album interestingly marks a point in time when journalistic discussions of genre in Radiohead’s music almost come to a standstill. While journalists continue to display an awareness of previous discourses, a majority of reviews imply that the readership would already be ‘in the know’ about stylistic developments throughout the band’s career and of different genre interpretations. The presumed return towards guitar rock is often addressed in a self-explanatory manner without further commentary. This essentially implies a shared discourse amongst readers regarding the stages of Radiohead’s generic progression. In this way, the genre discourse surrounding Hail to the Thief appears decidedly restricted. While journalistic evaluations of previous albums had led to a number of diverse genre interpretations, Hail to the Thief was mostly interpreted and evaluated in relation to previous albums and often reflects journalistic opinions of what Radiohead’s music should be rather than what it actually was. The process of journalistic genre appellation became slightly stagnant and referential of the past rather than innovative. While this change in Radiohead reception served to establish the idea of different reception stages more firmly in music journalism, one issue that arises is the fact that listener interpretations of these stages could differ significantly. Different fundamental attitudes and perspectives can disrupt processes of communication between wider audiences and journalists. This can often result in misinterpretations – not only of a genre text, but also of its presentation in the media. With the release of In Rainbows, journalists again focused on the album’s positioning in relation to previous works. Some reviewers saw a more pronounced return towards the rock-inspired style of earlier recordings (see Sandall, 2007). Other articles addressed Radiohead’s complex relation with genre in the past, like one reviewer in NME who notes that Radiohead had “dramatically somersaulted between genres” and that their live show displayed a stark difference between the band’s early rock-influenced music and more recent electronica (Anon, 2006). Considering the album’s particular release method – the songs were initially available online on a pay-what-you-want basis – it is not surprising that a majority of reviews discussed aspects of distribution and marketing in great detail. Meanwhile, debates about genre were often avoided. Radiohead’s work was praised as ‘futuristic,’ but rather than describing genre in their music, the description was strictly based on In Rainbow’s distributional strategy. This not only shows the impact of industrial aspects on genre interpretations, but also that the same terminologies can be referential of different creative or social domains. The band’s interest in new release methods served to underline their strive for a more autonomous position in the music industry. Radiohead’s move from the major label Parlophone/EMI to the independent label XL Recordings (and TBD in the US) also had implications for the band’s overall perception in terms of genre and authenticity. While all new music

Challenging genre  107 subsequently appeared under the banner of an indie label, Parlophone followed Radiohead’s parting with re-releases of their entire back catalogue and a best-of compilation. This led to a wider availability of Radiohead’s music  –  including rare live recordings and b-sides – and allowed a glimpse at the re-evaluation of Radiohead’s style from an industry perspective. The selection of songs featured on Radiohead: The Best Of16 shows clearly which tracks Parlophone considered to be the most commercial or well-known Radiohead songs. It presents what the industry certainly thought to be most representative of Radiohead’s overall sound and style. Songs taken from OK Computer and The Bends dominate the compilation. A majority of the tracks were previously released as singles. The album focuses on songs that follow a traditional rock formula, rather than more diverse sounds. It highlights the band’s older work and pays less attention to many of the songs on Kid A or Amnesiac that were often seen as more experimental. It is interesting to note that Hail to the Thief has equally little space on the ­compilation – despite its partial return to more rock and guitar music. There is a clear positioning of Radiohead’s supposedly ‘best’ work within the alleged ‘classical’ phase of their recording history. While this outlook is surely due to commercial reasons, it also indicates a canonisation and re-evaluation of the band’s early work from a temporal distance. After the release of In Rainbows, retrospectives and re-evaluations of Radiohead’s work started to appear more frequently in the music press. In 2007, many critics reflected on OK Computer and discussed the album’s status ten years after its initial release. They often emphasised the division of Radiohead’s musical recordings into distinct generic stages, while also making judgements about OK Computer’s continued value and success. A majority of these retrospectives turned the usual reviewing process around by comparing the album against what one could still expect from Radiohead in the future. Despite many initial interpretations of OK Computer as ‘experimental’ and ‘futuristic,’ the subsequently acquired knowledge about Kid A and later albums often served to relativise these readings and resulted in a retrospective positioning of OK Computer as closer to the rock mainstream. As this shows the impact of temporal distance and commercial intent significantly affects perceptions and presentations of genre in the media and in society. Retrospective discussions thus not only serve to cement an album’s special status in music history, but they also do away with previously expressed doubt and tend to create a myth-like status for the recording. The release of The King of Limbs was again met with relatively little speculation about specific generic interpretations in the press and genre discourses mainly repeated earlier debates regarding stylistic diversity and fragmentation. It is a statement of Radiohead’s status and the widespread distribution of their music that a majority of journalists did not seem to feel the need to include detailed explanations regarding the band’s overall sound. Rather, as the media reception of Kid A had already shown, partial elements that made up Radiohead’s music and individual songs were described separately with the help of generic terminology (see Lynskey, 2011; Lewis, 2011). In this way, the band’s media coverage mostly continued to focus on abstract ideas about generic shifts and

108  Challenging genre concepts rather than concrete interpretations of genre, but it also highlighted a stylistic diversification. This contributed to the development of what can best be described as a ‘meta-dialogue’ on conceptions and uses of genre in the music of Radiohead. At the same time, many journalists started to reflect on Radiohead’s media reception at large, which can be seen critically. In his review for The Guardian, Petridis (2011) for instance notes that many of his peers simply “sidestepped having to form any views of their own by writing pieces that simply collated other people’s.” Interestingly, the release of Radiohead’s remix album TKOL RMX 1234567 served to further emphasise the flexibility of generic categories. The album presents the songs that previously appeared on The King of Limbs in a way that shows their suitability in a new generic context when treated with the right techniques and methods. The music is adapted rather easily in a style that is inspired by electronic and dance music.17 The collection of songs that were treated by different musicians thus opened up new and distinct strands of genre discourse that re-interpret and re-evaluate Radiohead’s initial recording in light of the new material. Since the original tracks were still relatively new at this point in time, their transformation created space for new interpretations and a wider variety of readings. While Radiohead’s reception over time has become more diversified and complex, it also coincided with a growing interest in genre matters on part of their audience. With this in mind, the coverage of A Moon Shaped Pool appears inherently shaped by thought processes about categorisation and the transgression of specific norms – either in regard to Radiohead’s previous work or considering genre as a whole. Genre interpretations appeared more diversified and sometimes all over the place. One may come across strong opinions about Radiohead’s unchanging core, but also allusions to a play with genres and experimental sounds. Like its predecessor, A Moon Shaped Pool shows that in more recent years there is a greater awareness of Radiohead’s relation with genre and progress amongst journalists. Most writers appeared more inclined to write about genre and transgression from a meta-perspective rather than merely assigning genre terms. Petridis (2016) states that Radiohead “have always sounded like a band in constant motion: every album has seemed like an agitated shift from the last.” However, Coney (2016) maintains that Radiohead resist “the urge to stretch the frontiers of experimentalism even further.” There were many speculations amongst reviewers about how audience members might react to the music, how they might judge genre, and on what grounds (see Beta, 2016; McCormick, 2016). In this way, the discourse became more versatile and multilateral. The lack of a clear consensus about genre amongst journalists also resulted in less shared strands of discussion. At the same time, a previous knowledge about Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory was expected and journalists therefore tended to dive into the deep end of stylistic analysis more often than not. While the discussion so far has emphasised the prevalence of generic stages and shifts in the genre discourse on Radiohead, looking at journalistic sources one is also able to detect a number of general elements and statements that affect individual genre interpretations. It is noteworthy that a majority of genre assessments

Challenging genre  109 are not exclusively based on musical elements but also incorporate social circumstance. One example that reappears over the years is the statement that the members of Radiohead lead the antithesis to a typical rock lifestyle.18 This usually includes characteristics like being ‘polite’ or even ‘reserved’ during interviews or simply not drawing any negative attention within the media. Often articles present this behaviour as something of a novelty for rock musicians, which is worth pointing out to the readership. A further example is the continuing reference to Radiohead’s music as slightly ‘unusual’ or even ‘weird’ which often indicates a still lingering confusion in terms of the band’s generic interpretation with a tendency to avoid making any clear interpretative statements and instead relying on implications that can be read in different ways. A look at Radiohead’s media coverage shows that opinions on genre often rely on very different factors. They might be determined by musical features, but also by audience behaviours, styles of clothing, live performances and so on. Therefore, the process of genre interpretation differs from writer to writer. Overall, the genre discourse on Radiohead is incredibly diverse, but also shaped by some popular and recurring interpretations that are briefly summarised in Figure 3.1.19  It is the inherent diversity that allows for a comparison of different ways of listening and that makes it possible to consider varying interpretations contributing to a more informed analysis of genre. For this reason, the following paragraphs take a closer look at the distinct manner in which journalists describe genre in their discussions of Radiohead to achieve a clearer understanding of the functionalities of genre in the media discourse.

Figure 3.1 Journalistic perspectives on genre in the music of Radiohead.

110  Challenging genre

Uses of genre in music journalism A look at Radiohead’s media reception shows that genre fulfils a multitude of functions in different areas of music journalism and that it can appear in various formats. Most commonly, genre is used to explain the sound of a particular musical work to new listeners by making comparisons and evoking associations with other pieces of music that readers would already be familiar with. Genre thus creates relations between different works in order to facilitate the navigation of the musical landscape and enhance processes of communication and evaluation. It shapes expectations and affects the ways in which audiences approach new music. When dealing with journalistic sources, it is important to bear in mind that presented opinions are usually based on preconceived notions about genre and music in general. They are shaped by the extent of the journalists’ previous knowledge and by subjectivities. While Radiohead’s journalistic reception shows an incredible variety in terms of genre appellations, classification is by no means limited to canonic terminologies. Different forms of categorisation emerge at various moments in time throughout Radiohead’s career. Similarly, specific types of classification coincide with distinct phases in Radiohead’s work and can be associated with individual albums. The following paragraphs present an overview of the different forms of genre to be found in the journalistic discourse on Radiohead. They explain the functionality of genre in music journalism and show the ways in which different uses of genre can illuminate individual instances of genre reception in the band’s work. Canonic terminologies and their variations To get to the roots of Radiohead’s long-standing relationship with genre and the media, it is necessary to return briefly to the band’s first journalistic encounter. In Radiohead’s first interview with Curfew journalist, Ronan Munro (1991) had called the band “a great pop group” but also “a little weird.” Although Munro may not have anticipated the development Radiohead would undergo in the following years, his assessment of their music is rather on point. The article speaks of a dichotomy that on the one hand includes a grounding in ‘pop music’ – with its wide range of connotations – and on the other a sound and appearance that is out of the ordinary. This description inadvertently but accurately summarises the majority of genre discussions that would later appear as part of Radiohead’s media coverage. ‘Pop’ is a typical example of a canonic genre term, but also falls into the category of meta-genres. Meta-genres appear consistently in Radiohead’s media coverage – usually with reference to rock. They are often combined with further genre-based specifications that describe the music in more detail, but equally maintain a sense of evasiveness. Descriptors such as ‘weird’ are for instance used as a type of ‘ersatz’ genre terminology that makes it possible to deflect from making clear statements about genre. Adjectives in particular often appear as replacements for canonic terminologies. Utilising genre terminology in this way can lead to vague interpretations and serve to express confusion. At the

Challenging genre  111 same time – like in the case of Radiohead’s early coverage – it can also indicate a certain degree of generic diversity or complexity that may be difficult to make sense of. The specific uses of genre terminologies are often telling about journalists, their motivations, and personal views. They ultimately determine how genre and transgression are theorised on a wider scale within discourse. The use of what one might call ‘adjective genres’ is very widespread in music journalism and presents a common type of non-canonic genre terminology. As one of the main tools for describing new artists and generic change, this method of categorisation appears consistently in Radiohead reception. Despite their particularly descriptive nature, it should be noted that ‘adjective genres’ – especially in combination with meta-genres – can indicate an avoidance of more distinguished forms of genre interpretation. In Munro’s case, this is presumably due to the fact that at this stage Radiohead’s music was not well known and his evaluation necessarily built on first fleeting impressions. Adjective genres and meta-genres are circumventive methods of classification that are indicative of Radiohead’s lesserknown status at the time. However, Munro also took care to highlight the band’s individuality and it is this aspect together with the description of their sound as slightly out of the ordinary that allowed him to present Radiohead as generically distinguished. While the article can thus serve as a very early indication of Radiohead’s subsequent musical development, it is also decidedly careful and tentative, which is certainly due to the fact that it lacks any previous journalistic accounts of the band’s music as reference points. Munro’s discussion of Radiohead’s music shows that journalistic allusions to genre often present a first step in describing new music to possible audiences and establishing systems of expectation. Canonic terminology functions as a way of positioning the music in existing canons and traditions and serves to highlight possible associations with other bands and scenes. At the same time, Munro’s description of Radiohead – like many other discussions of new bands – takes great care to point out what one might find unusual about the band and their music. He clearly seeks to distinguish Radiohead in this sense and to point out main characteristics. Despite doing all of this, the article remains conveniently vague about more specific interpretations or detailed descriptions of the music. Whether this is due to the general style of the article, the overall listening circumstances, the lack of reference points, or simply a product of Munro’s specific style of writing is unclear. The article usefully illustrates the ways in which categorisation can appear in journalistic writing without making very specific and narrow statements about a band’s generic positioning. It shows that even vague and open-ended genre interpretations can appear in various shapes and forms and be informative about music and its wider perception. Looking at the contrast between terminologies in Munro’s description is furthermore helpful for understanding how a great part of Radiohead’s genre reception works. Munro describes Radiohead as a band that does not quite fit the pop mould, but that also has its roots in pop music. Elements of contradiction play a crucial role in Radiohead’s media reception to this day, because it tends to highlight genre inconsistencies and diversity. At the same time, all journalistic

112  Challenging genre statements need to be considered carefully with regard to their aims and contexts. In this case, Munro’s words are the exposition for an interview with Radiohead. They were presumably written after the fact and are very likely coloured by his personal interactions with the band. While the discussion has shown that it is possible to draw a number of conclusions about Munro’s journalistic perspective on genre based on very few words, this does not necessarily imply that he put a lot of thought into the description or focused on genre in particular. The article is more likely a spontaneous account. With this in mind, it is important to stay aware of the fact that the circumstances of journalistic writing and generic reception can vary significantly. Moreover, individual readings of genre interpretations can also differ. It is therefore mainly through looking at the similarities and parallels in journalistic discourse that one can draw general conclusions about the role of genre in artist reception. Canonic terminologies present the most common type of category in discourse. They usually serve to specify stylistic tendencies and to indicate the different levels of interpretation (i.e. meta- or subgenres). Canonic genre terms can appear in different contexts with regard to publications, article types, and their overall placement. Their choice may be based on sound arguments or else come with very little explanation. Mentioning genre without further discussion is common in Radiohead reception and music journalism in general. Genre is used as a signpost that is universally understood. This has strong implications in terms of journalistic audience consciousness and can indicate a presupposed awareness of Radiohead’s music and assorted genre terminologies on part of a specific readership. Different types of this assumed audience expertise are highly dependent on the publications in which the terminology is mentioned. Since different magazines cover specific genres, their readers might have an expert knowledge in these areas only. Journalists working for these types of publications might therefore approach the writing process with certain expectations about their specific readership in mind. The same journalist might describe a piece of music quite differently when writing for a rock or a jazz magazine. Genre thus appears as a communicative device that exists between writers and their audiences. It relies heavily on a shared knowledge of rules and serves to convey a distinct impression of music in very few words. As Negus (1999: 4) has stated genre essentially functions as a shorthand language. Another early example for the use of canonic genre terminology in Radiohead reception is Keith Cameron’s (1992) live review “Radiohead  –  Smashed!, Islington, London” for NME. Cameron described Radiohead as “a band who play tight, slightly noisy power-pop.” He presents the music as distinctly restrained and cautious. Cameron criticises that Radiohead are in his opinion “mannered beyond belief” and present a “slightly camp (but not too much), vaguely dissonant (ooh, but careful, not too loud) mod-ish (but hey, we’re lookin’ to the future) blueprint and can barely fathom a decent tuneful moment in their allotted 40 minutes.” This reasoning led him to describe Radiohead as a “pitiful, lily-livered excuse for a rock´n´roll group” – a quote that famously sparked a long-standing distrust between Radiohead and the NME. While Cameron’s article is amongst the shorter pieces of journalistic writing, his use of genre and related adjectives – terms such

Challenging genre  113 as ‘mod-ish,’ ‘camp’ or ‘dissonant’ that can imply specific genre sounds  –  is extensive and noteworthy in terms of Radiohead’s perceived authenticity. The performance of genre is presented as something that has to be done right and on point, or else one might be labelled as inauthentic or underachieving. Despite the fact that the band is presented in a very negative light one can gain the impression that, according to Cameron, the music is not living up to its true potential. The article highlights the contrast between his expectations or desired sound for the band and the reality of his experience and perception. Cameron utilises genre to draw comparisons between what he assumes Radiohead are aiming to do stylistically and the way he actually perceives the band’s music at this stage in their career, in a live context. In this way, genre is – often unwittingly – used as a subjective artistic standard and equally as a way of measuring someone’s perceived ability to improve. While Cameron initially describes Radiohead’s music as ‘power-pop,’ he also notes their supposed rock aspirations. His discussion of Radiohead revolves around what a ‘rock’n’roll group’ should sound and behave like and he explicitly states that this sound was not achieved. In this context, the term ‘power-pop’ can hold negative connotations, that are not only recognised by Cameron but also by his readers – an audience that likely consists of dedicated rock fans. The word ‘pop’ essentially appears to form a familiar antithesis to rock and – while Radiohead’s music aspires to the latter – Cameron is only willing to call the music ‘power-pop’ but nothing more. In a similar manner, Cameron describes Radiohead’s music by using words like ‘slightly’ or ‘vaguely’ together with specific adjectives to indicate why Radiohead do not fit the rock mould. Cameron’s view of Thom Yorke’s stage behaviour – which he describes as shifting between an inherent politeness and anger – is especially negative. Cameron interprets it as Thom Yorke acting out a specific role. Again, it becomes clear that Cameron’s notion of rock largely revolves around notions of authenticity. His evaluation of Radiohead is based on the fact that, in his opinion, Radiohead are too well mannered and not offensive and polarising enough for a rock group. It is therefore important to take note of the fact that certain genre terminologies can have distinctly negative connotations in specific contexts and changing musical environments. Similarly, journalistic writing often relies on comparisons and distinctions between certain genres in order to convey notions of authenticity and a sense of generic verisimilitude. As Cameron’s article illustrates canonic genre terminology mainly appears in journalistic writing as a way of introducing audiences to new sounds by establishing a norm against which the music can be compared. Canonic terminologies are therefore dependant on a shared knowledge and agreement between readers and writers regarding the rules and contexts of specific genres. Journalism can have an educative function. Often journalistic evaluations not only set the standard for genre-based expectations, they also provide readers with knowledge and shape the understanding of different genres and genre histories. In Radiohead’s early media coverage, there was a distinct tendency towards the use of canonic terminology – specifically meta-genres – and categories that were easily explained or widely known. By using words such as ‘rock’ or ‘pop’ that were well known but

114  Challenging genre yet vague, or more specific terms such as ‘grunge’ or ‘shoe-gazing’ that were popular at the time, journalists established Radiohead as a band that combined traditional styles with new trends. With their growing success, Radiohead’s journalistic coverage soon became more diverse and started to display a wider selection of canonic and non-canonic terminologies. Moving away from wide meta-categories, journalistic evaluations of genre began to sway towards more specific terminologies and detailed arguments that often reflected specific genre rules. This became especially apparent through a more frequent use of subgenres: albums such as Pablo Honey or The Bends were grouped under the banner of ‘indie rock,’ while OK Computer was often associated with ‘progressive rock.’ With each new album, the list of genre titles appointed to the band grew considerably. This diversity of genre interpretations in the journalistic discourse on Radiohead also indicates a continuously growing complexity of their music in terms of genre over time. While different genre interpretations of the same album like the ones presented above are useful to highlight various sides of the music and its inherent conflicts, they can also imply a multiplicity of parallel meanings. With the release of Kid A, reviewers not only started to employ different evaluative standards, but more often they also utilised the same terminologies in varied ways. Individual discussions and arguments were based on different notions of genre and different interpretations of specific genre rules. One example that is of particular interest in this regard is the interpretation of Kid A as a post-rock album. A comparison of two articles – Simon Reynolds’ (2000a) “Radio Chaos” and Gerald Marzorati’s (2000) “The Post-Rock Band” – shall serve to show the similarities and conflicts that can surface when writers utilise the same genre terminology in different ways. Reynolds’ article appeared in the rock magazine Spin and Marzorati’s review was published in the New York Times Magazine. While both articles mainly address Radiohead fans, due to the different publication formats and circulations Marzorati was able to reach a wider, perhaps less-specialised audience with a range of different areas of interest. As a rock journalist – one that had extensively dealt with post-rock before – Reynolds’ wrote for a specialist audience. In his capacity as an editor for the New York Times Magazine, Marzorati was by contrast responsible for a wider range of subject areas and therefore presumably wrote with a more diverse audience in mind. Bearing this in mind, both articles initially highlight similar aspects about post-rock and display an awareness of associated rules. Aspects that are mentioned in both texts and that serve as indicators of post-rock are: fragmented lyrics and voice manipulation; a lack of traditional guitar-sounds that are replaced with instrumental textures and electronically generated sounds; a new-found interest in synthesisers; a move away from traditional song structures in popular music; and, lastly, a compositional approach that mainly takes place in the studio.20 The articles differ, however, in their presentation of these features and it is noteworthy that they make use of different reference points. Reynolds mostly addresses new musical elements by naming specific musical influences. He draws comparisons to other genres such as free-jazz or ambient and bands like Hawkwind that can have further stylistic implications. Marzorati explains

Challenging genre  115 Radiohead’s lyrical fragmentation by referencing methods used by French dadaist Tristan Tzara.21 This difference in reference points is not only indicative of a distinct audience awareness on part of both writers, but it also reflects the intended readerships and interests of their respective publications. While the two articles initially work with similar notions of the same genre, it is interesting to consider the backgrounds of their genre interpretations. Both authors take care to position Radiohead as an ‘important band.’ Reynolds points out that there is something close to a “solemn self-seriousness” about Radiohead, which removes them from many of their contemporaries. Reynolds sees Radiohead as very ambitious and hard-working, but also as slightly “uncool” and unconcerned about current trends. This description of Radiohead’s attitude  –  combined with the earlier discussed genre characteristics – serves as an introduction to Reynolds’ assessment of Kid A as a post-rock record. It is important to note that Reynolds’ article extensively builds on his previous writing about post-rock, which he helped name and define in the early 1990s. There is little surprise in the fact that Reynolds’ statements about post-rock and its rules build on his previous writings. Reynolds has very extensive background knowledge about the genre and is careful in pointing out in which respects Radiohead’s album could be interpreted in this way. His article mainly relies on certain behavioural and musical aspects, which he describes precisely despite the relative shortness of the review. It is the way in which the album was composed and recorded as well as its specific musical characteristics that lead Reynolds to conclude that: “Essentially, [Kid A] is a post-rock record.” While Reynolds’ discussion relies on his personal interpretation of Radiohead’s music in light of an extensive knowledge about the rules of post-rock, Marzorati’s (2000) genre interpretation also reflects views on larger cultural developments. Despite the fact that Marzorati discusses the music to some extent and addresses specific genre features, his interpretation also relies heavily on current trends and historical developments within popular music. Marzorati positions Radiohead as a “significant band” that released their album in a “moment that has the feel of a mainstream-music paradigm-shift -- away from pop-rock and toward hip-hop, dance music and what gets called electronica.” As such, one can assume that Marzorati’s initial notion of the term ‘post-rock’ and interpretation of Radiohead’s music is not necessarily based on a historically anchored notion of the genre or previously established rules, but maybe as much on the idea of something that goes beyond rock – a new generic category that supersedes the genre. Notably, Marzorati compares Radiohead’s status and work ethic at the time to that of The Beatles and states that Radiohead are reinventing the concept of a rock band. In this regard it is most interesting to consider the fact that, while Reynolds uses the term ‘post-rock’ to describe Radiohead’s album Kid A in musical terms, Marzorati uses the same term to position Radiohead as a post-rock band at a moment of change within popular music as a whole. Marzorati’s article is conscious of the band’s status at the time and the ways in which their music reflected musical and social developments. His interpretation has a pronounced focus on larger happenings within the music industry and gives an indication of what role Radiohead played in this.

116  Challenging genre Despite the fact that Marzorati’s previous knowledge about post-rock as an existing genre is not made clear, his closeness to Reynolds’ writings – in terms of musical and compositional characteristics – suggests that he might have been familiar with Reynolds’ work on the subject.22 However, while Reynolds mostly utilises post-rock as a way of describing musical details, Marzorati makes more general statements and uses the term to explain Radiohead’s music as a product of its time and as a catalyst for change. In this way, even similar generic interpretations can be based on different notions of a genre and reflect various perceptions and objectives. Canonic genre terminology can appear in a variety of ways with different implications and it is possible to detect varying uses of similar terminologies in discourse. They indicate stylistic diversity and interpretative differences. Notions of the same genre term can often vary and it is useful to compare different uses of the same terminologies in order to trace how different interpretations arise and function. Following his initial review of Kid A, Reynolds’ (2001) went on to discuss the release of Amnesiac several months later and wrote about Radiohead’s possible association with post-rock in greater detail. His article “Walking on Thin Ice” was published as a cover story in The Wire and introduced Radiohead’s new album to a readership with a particular interest in avant-garde and experimental styles of music. While a large part of his discussion focuses on the positioning of Radiohead’s music after Kid A as post-rock and mentions related rules and musical elements in great detail, it is interesting to consider the differences between this evaluation and Reynolds’ previous review for Spin. A major factor in Reynolds’ new assessment of Radiohead’s music might have been his audience consciousness and, by extension, his knowledge about the generic associations of the magazine he was writing for. Reader reactions to Radiohead’s presence in The Wire were mixed, with some more critical than others.23 While Reynolds’ previous article was written for a rock audience with a possibly wider background knowledge about Radiohead and the post-rock scene, the newer article takes a more careful stance and focuses less on the band’s positioning as a post-rock band than the idea of a general deconstruction of the rock genre and the concept of a rock group. It is particularly in this regard that the article is occasionally reminiscent of Marzorati’s views. At times, Reynolds’ writings almost read like a justification of Radiohead’s presence amongst the more experimental musicians usually covered in The Wire. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that his new outlook on the band’s interpretation as a post-rock act also includes a distinct differentiation from mainstream rock music. In his discussion of post-rock elements that shape Radiohead’s musical and compositional approach, Reynolds (2001) takes care to point out in which ways the band’s music differs from conventional rock and goes beyond popular music. The term ‘rock music’ is used as a reference or point of comparison that helps to underline Radiohead’s experimental side and to position them amongst the diverse acts covered in the magazine. As this exemplifies, genre terminology does not always appear in journalistic writing with the direct intention to describe a piece of music in greater detail. It can also be used to create a point of

Challenging genre  117 opposition that may serve to distinguish a work from specific musical traditions. While Reynolds’ audience awareness might have stopped him from describing Radiohead with the help of the term ‘avant-garde’ in its literal sense24 it becomes clear that his use of ‘post-rock’ works in a similar fashion to position the band as experimental innovators in the realm of popular music. Only, in talking about post-rock – a genre that Reynolds helped establish – he possesses greater authority and thus allows less space for criticism. It seems that in the Wire-article postrock is not so much used to draw comparisons to the specific genre, but rather in a more literal sense to emphasise the band’s experimental side and their alleged deconstruction or reinvention of rock music. Reynolds utilises the genre to position Radiohead amongst a wide selection of other genres and artists – including musical categories in and outside of popular music. The article shows again that genre usage is context dependent. Definitions can differ significantly if genre is seen from new vantage points and implied meanings can vary even within the work of the same writer. While canonic genre terminology continues to play an important part in Radiohead reception, in the earlier years of the band’s media coverage this kind of classification was often accompanied by more detailed arguments and definitional debates. More recent reviews still feature canonic terminology, but usually do so without much further explanation. This is perhaps due to the fact that in later years a certain knowledge about Radiohead’s music and discussed albums can often be assumed on the parts of readers. It is interesting that early reviews of Radiohead’s music tend to focus on terms associated with rock music, while later articles mostly incorporate terminologies based on electronic and dance music. One example of this is Luke Lewis’ (2011) review of The King of Limbs for NME. Lewis describes The King of Limbs as “Radiohead’s most ambient album to date, with thick layers of echo and reverb creating a watery, dreamlike feel that is further evoked by various marine images – the ocean, lakes and fish – that recur throughout.” While this account of Radiohead’s music is at first glance very descriptive, the explanation of the term ‘ambient’ is also rather concise. Lewis points out specific characteristics in a short and colourful manner but does not discuss the genre or its rules in great detail. The words appear to be very carefully chosen. Lewis’ mention of ambient is sufficient to give readers – who might already have heard the album – an impression of where its sounds come from or help them make sense of them. Lewis describes The King of Limbs as “bracingly avant-garde in places” and inherently experimental. He makes a strong argument saying that despite Radiohead’s roots one might hesitate to describe The King of Limbs as rock. Genre is again used to position the new music against older interpretive standards. The article serves to illustrate a growing awareness of genre terminologies as powerful communicative devices amongst journalists writing about Radiohead. The change in Radiohead’s media reception shows that over the years canonic terminologies are used more deliberately and purposely to make sense of a stylistically diverse and steadily growing oeuvre. There is an increasing awareness of genre functions and reflections on related issues amongst journalists. This complicates the discourse and contributes to its densification. The journalists’

118  Challenging genre knowledge about Radiohead’s relationship with genre and genre-based audience expectations further shapes the ways in which new music is discussed and evaluated. While canonic genre terminology may at first glance appear very clear-cut, it is also one of the most complex forms of musical classification, because it often comes with little specification and is treated as self-evident. Canonic terminologies generally rely on subjective definitional notions and can be used in different ways with varying objectives in mind. Non-canonic terminologies Musical categorisation does not only present a tool for describing music or for positioning new artists in existing canons. The previous discussion has shown that it is also utilised as a means of comparison and, more importantly, differentiation. Looking at Radiohead’s genre reception over the years, there is a great number of instances in which genre terminology is used to provide a contrast and express what the music is not. Reynolds and Marzorati both point out that one might struggle to describe Kid A as a rock album. Rock is thus used as a point of reference to give readers an impression of what the band’s music may have sounded like before and to highlight the ways in which this has changed. In journalistic discourse, this type of musical classification is used very often. To many writers, it might seem easier to approach a discussion of genre by way of an elimination process, rather than making definite statements. While this type of ‘negative genre definition’ leaves more room for speculation and open-ended discussions, distinct genre interpretations on the other hand might be seen as too complex, limited, or even controversial. An example that illuminates this use of categorisation is Nick Hornby’s (2000) review of Kid A for The New Yorker. Hornby addresses the state of pop music at the time and the relationships between artists and listeners. He writes about genre-related audience expectations and comments: What is peculiar about this album is that it denies us the two elements of Radiohead’s music that have made the band so distinctive and enthralling. For the most part, Thom Yorke’s voice is fuzzed and distorted beyond recognition, or else he is not allowed to sing at all; and Jonny Greenwood’s guitar, previously such an inventive treat, has been largely replaced with synths. One explanation may be the band’s enthusiasm for the sort of music it has recently been listening to – Messiaen, apparently, and Charles Mingus, and all sorts of things that don’t sound anything like “Creep.” The result is that there’s no room for anything approaching conventional pop music. Hornby’s words show that there are very specific genre-based expectations in Radiohead reception, which can affect processes of music interpretation and evaluation considerably. His assessment of Radiohead’s music is coloured by his previous knowledge about the band and by related expectations, which serve as a standard against which the new music in his opinion falls short. It is essentially the notion of a more or less established style – a ‘Radiohead genre,’ if you

Challenging genre  119 will – that determines how listeners perceive any supposed genre deviations. For this reason, interpretations of genre are often closely combined with statements about an artist’s back catalogue and musical history. It is rarely the case that music – and genre in particular –is evaluated without any reference points that are established through previous listening experiences. Negative genre interpretations, like the ones described above, therefore often appear at later stages in an artist’s career and function as indicators of stylistic change, transgression or progress.25 They make it possible to detect retrospective tendencies in the genre discourse and in processes of canonisation. It is in moments of generic change that audiences become more aware of their personal perceptions and expectations of artists and discuss how these have changed or become subverted. Negative categorisation often follows processes of generic re-evaluation. Many journalists are prone to assign canonic terminologies in hindsight and to position the new music against them. One aspect that many reviews of Radiohead’s music have in common is the fact that journalists often handle genre in a decidedly careful manner. While a number of articles on Radiohead incorporate very thorough interpretations and arguments, a majority of reviewers utilise genre more sparingly to describe singular aspects or express musical associations in a simple and easy way. This fact is particularly apparent in reviews that deal more openly with the problems of genre interpretation and with transgression. There is accordingly a large number of articles that use various forms of categorisation to discuss generic issues and to give an impression of the music that is descriptive, but also conveniently vague. One way of describing music in this manner is the use of alternative forms of categorisation that avoid canonic genre terminologies. Apart from the negative or exclusive genre definitions described above, there are numerous other forms of alternative categorisation that function as genre replacement terms. Replacement terminology plays a considerable role in the genre discourse on Radiohead and provides a quantitative and methodical counterpart to the uses of canonic terminology. While alternative categorisation is sometimes used as an avoidance technique that keeps interpretations open-ended, it can also appear as a creative means for describing style and evoke genre associations. All non-canonic forms of categorisation serve to emphasise the importance of categorisation, because they show that in spite of their general air of vagueness or evasion categorisation still plays a central role in music discourse. If genre is not mentioned explicitly in the form of canonic terminology, it is implied and referenced in other ways. Since they are not as implicative and self-evident as established genre terms, replacement terms are often more descriptive and explanatory in nature. Depending on the depths to which journalists go in order to avoid referencing canonic genres, alternative categorisation can convey a sense of generic complexity and indicate interpretive difficulties. At the same time, non-canonic terminologies often serve to explain music in a very detailed and fitting manner by coming up with individualised ways of description. Studying the ways in which journalists often avoid canonic classification, one can find a variety of non-canonic forms of musical description in the Radiohead

120  Challenging genre discourse. One example is the use of newly invented genre terms or a new combination of already existing terms. This type of classification often comes with ambiguous implications. While it can indicate an artists’ move away from existing categories  –  in Radiohead’s case maybe towards a more futuristic or experimental approach – it can also be used ironically, may border on absurdity, or serve as a means of concealed criticism. The impressions conveyed through the use of these newly made-up terms can waver between realistic and detailed accounts of the music and slightly mocking caricatures. Some of the more common forms of new genre terminology derive from the addition of different prefixes or suffixes to existing canonic terms. In Radiohead’s media reception one can for example find combined terms like “post shoe-gazing” (Lamacq, 1992), “post triphop” (Hoskyns, 2000), or “post grunge” (Ibid.). There are also combinations of canonic terms with specific adjectives or nouns and, very rarely, completely new and un-referential terms. Newly invented categories that reference existing genres are for instance found in Simon Reynolds’ writings with terms such as “bleak house” (2000a), “glum’n’bass” (2000a), or “death garage” (2000b). These types of descriptions are usually accompanied by further explanations. They often present a useful way of explaining to what extent the music might fit into existing categories and of pointing out where these categories fall short. Other types of made-up terminology are based on specific characteristics. One example of this is the term “art school band” (Vare, 1993) which has become increasingly canonised over time. More detailed and specific for Radiohead’s media reception are expressions such as “1990s depression albums” (Moran, 1995) that is used to place The Bends alongside albums such as the Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible or Nirvana’s In Utero. In a similar way, the description of Radiohead as part of a “miserable male genre” (Considine, 1996) also presents a type of category that is based on the perceived mood of their albums. This shows that it is often very specific, individual, and subjective impressions of an album’s overall tone or subject matter that can affect categorisation significantly. A majority of non-canonic descriptions serves the purpose of explaining the discussed music in greater detail and of emphasising where it departs from established categories. However, one can also find a large number of more absurd expressions that either signify confusion or amplify the extreme perceived novelty of certain works. One example is the description “psychedelic dance music for aliens” (Kara, 2000), that may be read as an expression of puzzlement or as poking fun at the perceived complexity of the music and genre debates as a whole. As a general rule of thumb, often specifically long or slightly contradictive combinations of existing terms and words are used in a less serious manner. Absurd combinatorial terms are often used to express a sense of confusion or dislike in light of musical experimentation and genre transgression. At the same time, they serve to emphasise musical novelty and thus ultimately play into the manifestation of individualised categories such as the ‘Radiohead genre,’ which is in itself a newly invented term without any pre-existing generic reference points.

Challenging genre  121 Similar to the previously discussed word combinations, many reviewers use a more simple form of descriptive terminology in order to position music in relation to existing canons without making any outright genre references. This usually done in one of two ways: firstly, many descriptions rely on the use of adjectives – words such as ‘futuristic’ or ‘experimental’ – to classify new music. While this type of non-canonic categorisation appears frequently in Radiohead’s media reception – and again serves to indicate generic novelty – music journalists generally use a very descriptive language that can be referential of specific historical and social events. This often makes their writings evocative of different styles and can be useful for positioning music in certain contexts without making outright statements about genre. ‘Adjective genres’ are found frequently alongside canonic genre terms and serve to describe music in greater detail or specify how it differs from existing categories. At the same time, this can also serve as a way of avoiding canonic categorisation. A second type of descriptive terminology is ‘noun categories’ or ‘noun combinations.’ They usually serve to describe or establish the status of artists. In Radiohead reception, one can for example find terms such as “mainstream” (Lewis, 1995), “one hit-wonders” (Sullivan,26 1997), or “stadium rock” (Cigarettes, 1993). Many of these categories are well-established forms of classification and description, but they are by no means canonic genres. They do not come with a specific set of rules or refer to a homogenous canon of works. Noun categories therefore often go hand in hand with comparisons to influential and similar artists as a way of further specification. This shows again that noncanonic categories are inherently referential. They often incorporate comparisons and highlight deviations from specific norms. In this regard, they function in a very similar manner to canonic genre terminologies. Allusions to genre and notions of stylistic diversity Canonic and non-canonic genre terminology can go a long way in describing music and establishing a discourse on genre in the music of specific artists. A third and sometimes less obvious way of incorporating notions of genre in journalistic writing is the inclusion of genre allusions or certain genre indicators. While these indicators are not to be confused with non-canonic terminology, they can appear in a very similar way. Journalistic texts often include hints at genre that become apparent through specific word choices and a distinct vocabulary. Whereas ‘adjective genres’ tend to serve as placeholders for genre terms that are not fully formed or as a means of avoiding classification altogether, adjectives that are genre indicators usually point towards specific traditions and reference established categories. Caitlin Moran (1997) for instance describes OK Computer as a “space rock album” in her review for Select. She states that with their new music, Radiohead are “headed into deep space” and points out the album’s “complete unearthliness.” Moran goes on to comment that the music sounds like it was “conceived in a black hole” and “rehearsed in the vacant space between the stars.” Her article makes in this way extensive use of a vocabulary that is deeply evocative of the images and sounds that one might associate with a genre term such as space rock.

122  Challenging genre In a similar way, journalists often refer to specific bands and influences that can be indicative of genre. One example that appears frequently in Radiohead reception is the use of Pink Floyd’s name as a point of comparison or reference to progressive rock. Journalistic discussions of Radiohead’s music often include allusions to specific works by Pink Floyd, associated characteristics, and distinct arguments that indicate a likeness to progressive rock, while refraining from including the actual canonic genre term. Sullivan (1997) for instance points out a number of parallels between OK Computer and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon without ever mentioning progressive rock. It is only the readers’ knowledge about the genre that can lead them to understand the specific implications. In a similar way to progressive rock, most other genres have a range of particularly representative bands at their core and can therefore be referenced by way of association. Bands such as Blur or Oasis are for instance mentioned to hint at britpop, while Nirvana has become representative of grunge. While it may not always be the author’s intention, comparisons to certain artists evoke specific genre associations. Despite a lack of canonic terminologies, it is therefore easy to find genre references in most journalistic texts. Genre generally has a strong presence in music interpretation and analysis, but may often only appear by way of implication. While some of the earlier examples have already indicated an interpretive uncertainty in the face of genre transgression, a final way of genre categorisation that is found in journalistic writing revolves around the very concept of generic complexity. The notions of an inherent stylistic diversity and of music that goes beyond simple genre classification frequently surfaces in genre discourse and in Radiohead’s specific media reception. Numerous journalistic debates about a possible ‘Radiohead genre’ show that there is a general sense of confusion and mixed opinions about how to interpret and conceptualise generically ambiguous or complex music. Furthermore, there are numerous journalistic accounts that explicitly address stylistic diversity, transgression, and generic elusiveness as important elements of style in Radiohead’s oeuvre. Characteristics like these can have a great impact on the interpretation of genre and lead to different attempts at finding alternative forms of categorisation. One such example of a distinct expression of stylistic diversity appears again in the work of Reynolds (2000b). In his review of Kid A for Uncut, he utilises stylistic diversity to highlight different aspects of Radiohead’s music and inherent contrasts: On ‘Everything In Its Right Place,’ the lead vocal is just one strand in a shimmering tapestry of multi-tracked and treated Thom Yorke voice-goo, whose pulse-riffs and rippling patterns simultaneously recall Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom and contemporary avant-electronica outfits like Curd Duca. On ‘Kid A,’ a drastically processed and illegible Yorke vocal nestles amid a honeycomb of tweeting’n’cooing space-critters and enchanting music-box critters – again, the track would be right at home in the world of “glitch techno” labels like Mille Plateaux or Mega. The jacknifing two-step beat that powers ‘Idioteque’ explicitly nods towards contemporary dance, but leeches the joy out a la PiL’s ‘Memories’ or Joy Division’s ‘She’s Lost Control’ – call

Challenging genre  123 it Death Garage. At the opposite extreme, the beat-less ‘Treefingers’  –  a miasma of glistening vapours and twinkling haze – could be an eerie dronescape from Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol II or Eno’s On Land. Reynolds includes a great variety of genre terms. He uses musical influences and comparisons to establish relations to other works. Since most album tracks are described with the help of different genre allusions or reference points, the article gives the impression of a certain generic fragmentation on Kid A. Whereas other reviews of the same album are often more referential of Radiohead’s previous work, Reynolds utilises stylistic diversity to make sense of the new developments. His focus is on Kid A’s inherent generic complexity and combination of different musical traditions. The text highlights the idea of multiple styles. Reynolds utilises genre in order to describe different elements of the album and to explain how they come together. Genre is used in order to communicate certain sets of associations to readers and establish points of reference that serve to position the album in relation to other works. At the same time, the abundance of terms also makes it clear that simple categorisation is not possible. The theme of stylistic diversity is particularly often addressed in Radiohead’s media reception. It presents a popular way of accounting for generic complexity and versatility. In Radiohead discourse discussions about stylistic diversity or elusiveness generally mark important moments of change – after the releases of OK Computer or Kid A, for example. They appear most often when journalists struggle either to build connections to the band’s previous work or to describe the music in simple generic terms. The idea of genre transgression is often addressed in a similar manner. It serves to communicate a departure from musical styles that are common and widespread towards something more experimental and distinct. Allusions to genre transgression present a way of judging the perceived value of music, because in journalistic writing generic novelty is often associated with authenticity and creativity. In the discourse on Radiohead, one can find expressions such as ‘moving on from,’ ‘breaking free of’ or ‘overcoming’ with regard to certain genres. These expressions usually indicate the writer’s opinions on particular musical traditions and lead into evaluations of generic progress. Sullivan (1997) for instance notes how Radiohead overcame their “indie one hit-wonder” status. Discussions of genre transgression often correlate with re-evaluations of previous genre discourses. It is mainly in moments of perceived progress that journalists start to reflect on earlier discourses and reference common strands of interpretation in order to see how the music has changed. Going even further in this regard are some journalists who have abandoned categorisation altogether by saying that Radiohead’s music exists ‘beyond genre.’ In his review for Pitchfork, Brent DiCrescenzo (2000) says the following about Kid A: Even the heralded OK Computer has been nudged down one spot in Valhalla. Kid A makes rock and roll childish. Considerations on its merits as “rock” (i.e. its radio fodder potential, its guitar riffs, and its hooks) are pointless. Comparing this to other albums is like comparing an aquarium to blue

124  Challenging genre construction paper. And not because it’s jazz or fusion or ambient or electronic. Classifications don’t come to mind once deep inside this expansive, hypnotic world. The review is still clearly referential of canonic genres, but it also shows that aspects like musical advancement or development are regarded as adverse to traditional forms of categorisation. While there is sometimes a touch of irony or exaggeration in statements like DiCrescenzo’s, they usually reflect common opinions about genre. According to DiCrescenzo, Kid A cannot only be seen as going beyond a number of established categories, but it also goes beyond the very notion of categorisation. It appears that musical categorisation often holds negative connotations. Many reviewers and fans see it as too restricting. It is in these instances that ideas about stylistic diversity, individualised genre categories, and the abandonment of classification flourish. Genre discourses on Radiohead became especially varied after Kid A and in moments when expectations were subverted. The discussion has shown that different uses of genre play a crucial role in popular music journalism and individual assessments of music can differ greatly. It is particularly the idea of genre change and progress that often propels debates. A study of genre discourses can be helpful for illuminating moments of musical development and experimentation. There is a large variety of different genre uses in Radiohead’s media reception. Genre appears as a way of communicating musical associations to readers and of describing sounds in an easy manner. However, there are also many perceptive and interpretative differences that are responsible for producing contradicting reports and opinions. Since genre terminologies and uses differ amongst writers, looking at media discourses genre scholars have to deal with a complex network of genre interpretations and associative notions that refer to the same piece of music. Comparing different sources in order to get an overview of available interpretations can go a long way in realising the inherent generic complexity of certain musical works. The discussion of Radiohead’s media coverage has made it obvious that this process of genre reflection is also somewhat mirrored in journalistic debates. Talking about genre in the music of Radiohead over the years, journalists moved from simple canonic interpretations to more reflective discussions about genre concepts, transgression, and the manifestation of Radiohead’s personal style. Many also addressed differences in interpretation and re-evaluated previous journalistic accounts. When studying genre in individual musical oeuvres, it is thus very helpful to take note of the ways in which categorisation operates in discourse in order to comprehend how the music may have appeared to audiences at the time of its initial production. By comparing multiple parallel interpretations, one can finally gain a more all-encompassing view of genre and observe how it functions in different contexts.

Notes 1 Back issues of the magazine starting in the 1940s can be viewed online. See American Radio History (n. d.).

Challenging genre  125 2 In the following, a number of specialist terms pertaining to genre are introduced. Their definitions are collected in a glossary at the end of this book. 3 The term ‘value’ underlines the importance of genre authenticity or, by extension, a verisimilitude of genre. For more information on generic verisimilitude, see Neale (2003: 160 f.). 4 Shortened to the more common name NME in further discussions. 5 With the possible exception of previously existing jazz and blues criticism. 6 Articles read for this chapter appeared in publications from the following countries and were partly available as translations: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America. 7 Often articles published in widely distributed American or British magazines are quoted or appear as translations in publications in non-English speaking countries. 8 This predominantly includes articles collected from the music press archive Rock’s Backpages (n. d.) as well as the extensive fan-made websites Citizen Insane (n. d.) and Follow Me Around (n. d.). 9 An overview of all canonic and non-canonic terms that are mentioned in this chapter can be found in the glossary. 10 Other narratives predominantly include issues of lifestyle, behaviour, and biographical notions. 11 Journalistic discussions that challenge past genre discourses on Radiohead are extremely common. For a discussion of why Radiohead are not the ‘new U2,’ see Bresnark (1997). An explanation of how Radiohead overcame the label ‘one-hit wonders’ can be found in Sullivan (1997). 12 For more information on The Beatles’ stylistic progress, see Gendron (2002: 161–224). 13 Notably, this article was written by rock journalist Simon Reynolds, who had previously reviewed Radiohead and addressed issues of stylistic change. 14 However, it should be noted, that newspaper coverage of popular music issues has generally become more frequent in recent years. 15 Although Hornby (2000) does not explicitly mention a ‘classical’ period within Radiohead’s work he, too, discusses the band’s new music in relation to past work, which is positioned as the standard. 16 Radiohead: The Best Of could be purchased as a normal one CD version (including 18 songs) as well as a special edition containing a second CD with 13 songs and a DVD featuring the band’s promotional videos. 17 The list of musicians involved in the remixes mainly consists of electronic artists. Similarly, other artists have released a variety of cover versions of Radiohead songs inspired by different genres such as reggae, jazz or orchestral music. 18 Early on, this notion was also spread by Radiohead’s record company. An article in Fender Frontline reveals that Radiohead’s press kit at the time marketed the band as “the antithesis of rock´n´roll” (Nichols, 1993). 19 The word cloud shows some of the common canonic and non-canonic genre labels, elements, and themes found in Radiohead’s media coverage over the years. It does not claim to be comprehensive or representative. The contents are based on the qualitative analysis of the same number of roughly 2,500 journalistic articles that also served as the main sources for the discussion. The figure does not show how often labelling is actively avoided, which happens almost as much as the depicted instances of labelling occur. 20 As mentioned before, the concept of ‘in-studio composition’ largely goes back to Brian Eno (1979). It was especially Eno’s work with David Byrne and the Talking Heads that influenced Radiohead’s work on Kid A. 21 A dada inspired cut up technique was indeed used by Yorke to generate lyrics for a number of songs contained on Kid A. In Reflections On Kid A (2000: 18: 40 and 20:25) he explains: “[W]hat I tried to do when I [had the writer’s block] was just basically

126  Challenging genre [keeping] all the things that didn’t work […] and cutting them up and putting them in this top hat and pulling them out.” He states that this can be heard on the title track “Kid A” as well as “Everything In Its Right Place,” “The National Anthem,” “Optimistic,” “In Limbo” and “Idioteque” and quite possibly “Morning Bell,” which is not mentioned explicitly, but features similarly fragmented lyrics. 22 To this day, Reynolds (1994; 2004) articles still count amongst the most frequently cited writings on post-rock, which is otherwise rarely discussed in academic literature. 23 This became apparent in subsequent letters to the editors of The Wire. While a number of responses welcomed the band’s inclusion in the magazine, others were more critical and felt that Radiohead did not fit amongst the range of artists normally covered by the publication. See Anon (2001a: 4–8). 24 Translated from French ‘avant-garde’ means ‘fore-guard’ and is often used to describe a general sense of advancement. Avant-garde often stands for the vanguard in certain areas of art, music, theatre, and society as a whole – not to be confused with avantgarde as a category to describe certain groups of composers in modernist and postmodernist art music traditions. See Samson (2001). 25 Again, this retrospective evaluation of music in a negative way points towards the durational mode of journalistic work as indicated by Zelizer (1993). 26 Sullivan (1997) discusses Radiohead’s journey from supposed one hit-wonders to one of the most successful bands of their time.

References American Radio History. (n. d.). Billboard Magazine. Accessed at: http://www. americanradiohistory.com/Billboard-Magazine.htm [27.02.2019]. Anon. (n. d.). Follow Me Around. Accessed at: www.followmearound.com [07.01.2016]. Anon. (2006, August 26). Radiohead. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/ uk/nme/07/pt_2006-08-26_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Anon. (2001a, July). Letters. The Wire. Issue 209. pp. 4–8. Anon. (2001b, June). Radiohead. X-Ray. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/ xfm/05/pt_2001-06_xray.htm [27.02.2019]. Beta, A (2016, May 8). Radiohead’s ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ Album Is a Haunting, Stunning Triumph. Rolling Stone. Accessed at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musicnews/radioheads-a-moon-shaped-pool-album-is-a-haunting-stunning-triumph-63943/ [27.02.2019]. Bourdieu, P. (2005). The Political Field, the Social Science Field, and the Journalistic Field. In: R. Benson and E. Neveu, eds Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 29–47. Bresnark, R. (1997, September 13). Radiohead: Doncaster Dome. Melody Maker. Accessed at: https://citizen.insane.eu/media/uk/mm/03/pt_1997-09-13_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Buckley, D. (2001). Britpop. Grove Music Online. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ gmo/ 9781561592630.article.46596 [27.02.2019]. Cameron, K. (1992, December 19). Radiohead: Smashed!, Islington, London. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radioheadsmashed-islington-london [27.02.2019]. Cavanagh, D. (1997, July). Moonstruck. Q. Issue 130. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/ uk/q/03/pt_1997-07_q.htm [27.02.2019]. Cigarettes, J. (1993, May 22). Guitar Very Much! New Musical Express. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-strangelove-leicesteruniversity [07.01.2016].

Challenging genre  127 Collins, N. (2004). Radiohead: Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail To The Thief. Computer Music Journal. 28(1). Accessed at: http://www.computermusicjournal.org/reviews/28-1/ collins-radiohead.html [27.02.2019]. Coney, B. (2016, May 10). Radiohead Excavate Their Most Vital Release in at Least 15 Years. The Line of Best Fit. Accessed at: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/ albums/radiohead-a-moon-shaped-pool [27.02.2019]. Considine, J. D. (1996, May). Harmony in My Head. Spin. Accessed at: http://citizen insane.eu/s1996-05Spin.htm [07.01.2016]. Dalton, S. (1997, September 13). For Those about to Baroque…. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/nme/03/pt_1997-09-13_nme.htm [27.02. 2019]. Dalton, S. (2001, August). How to Disappear Completely. Uncut. Issue 51. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/uncut/05/pt_2001-08_uncut.htm [27.02.2019]. Dawn, R. (1995, October). Modulation Across the Nation. Alternative Press. Issue 87. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/media/usa/ap/02/pt_1995-10_ap.htm [27.02.2017]. DiCrescenzo, B. (2000, October 2). Radiohead: Kid A. Pitchfork. Accessed at: http:// pitchfork.com/reviews/ albums/6656-kid-a [27.02.2019]. Doyle, T. (1997, June). Party On! Q. Issue 129. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/q/03/pt_1997-06_q.htm [29.02.2019]. Doyle, T. (2008, April). The_Complete_Radiohead. Q. Issue 261. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/ uk/q/07/pt_2008-04_q.htm [27.02.2019]. Eno, B. (1979). The Studio as Compositional Tool. In: C. Cox and D. Warner, eds (2004). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. London, New York: Continuum. pp. 127–130. Farley, C. J. (2000, October 9). Radiohead Reinventing Rock. Time. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/ usa/etc/04/pt_2000-10-09_time.htm [27.02.2019]. Feese, J. (1997, July). Pre-Millenium Homesick Aliens. Wall of Sound. Accessed at: http:// citizeninsane.eu/ s1997-07WallOfSound.htm [07.01.2016]. Gendron, B. (2002). Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press. Gilbert, P. (1996, November). Radiohead. Record Collector. Issue 207. Accessed at: http:// citizeninsane.eu/s1996-11RecordCollector.htm [07.01.2016]. Gudmundsson, G., Lindberg, U., Michelsen, M. and Weisethaunet, H. (2003). Popular Music Criticism. In: J. Shepherd, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1. London: Continuum. pp. 304–308. Harris, J. (1992, May 9). Totally Wireless. Melody Maker. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/mm/ 01/pt_1992-05-09_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Holt, F. (2007). Genre in Popular Music. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press. Hornby, N. (2000, October 30). Beyond the Pale. The New Yorker. Community/ magazine/2000/10/30/beyond-the-pale-3 [27.02.2019]. 76(32). Accessed at: http:// www.newyorker. Hoskyns, B. (2000, October). Exit Music: Can Radiohead Save Rock Music as We (Don’t) Know It? GQ. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/exitmusic-can-radiohead-save-rock-music-as-we-dont-know-it [27.02.2019]. Irvin, J. (2000, October). Boys in the Bubble. Mojo. Issue 83. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/ mojo/04/pt_2000-10_mojo.htm [27.02.2019]. Kara, S. (2000, September). Experimental Creeps. Rip It Up. Issue 275. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/nez/ripitup/pt_2000-09_ripitup.htm [27.02.2019].

128  Challenging genre Kessler, T. (1997, June 7). The Reign in Spain. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/nme/03/pt_1997-06-07_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Lamacq, S. (1992, May 16). Drill EP (Parlophone). Melody Maker. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/mm/01/pt_1992-02-22_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Leonard, M. and Strachan, R. with Ansell, G., Jones, S., Julien, O., Levy, C., Mörken, C. and Yasuda, M. (2003). Music Press. In: J. Shepherd, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1. London: Continuum. pp. 38–42. Lewis, A. (1995, November 11). Rule of Thom. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/nme/02/pt_1995-11-11_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Lewis, L. (2011, February 26). Radiohead–The King of Limbs (XL). New Musical Express. Accessed at: http://www.nme.com/reviews/radiohead/11925 [27.02.2019]. Lowe, S. (2000, August). Praise Be! Q. Issue 167. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/q/04/pt_2000-08_q.htm [27.02.2019]. Lynskey, D. (2011, February). Welcome to the Machine. Q. Issue 295. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/q/08/pt_2011-02_q.htm [27.02.2019]. Marzorati, G. (2000, October 1). The Post-Rock Band. The New York Times. Magazine. Accessed at: http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001001magradiohead.html [27.02.2019]. McCormick, N. (2016, May 11). Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool Album Review: ‘You’ll Love It More With Every Listen’. The Telegraph. Accessed at: https://www.telegraph. co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/radioheads-a-moon-shaped-pool-a-work-of-total-selfassurance/ [27.02.2019]. McLean, C. (2003, May 17). OK, No Computers. Telegraph Magazine. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/telegraph/06/pt_2003-05-17_telegraph.htm [27.02.2019]. Moran, C. (1995, May 19). Carve Their Nayims With Pride. The Times. Accessed at: http:// citizeninsane.eu/ s1995-05-19TheTimes.htm [07.01.2015]. Moran, C. (1997, July). Everything Was Just Fear. Select. Issue 84. Accessed at: https://www. rocksback pages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-everything-was-just-fear [27.02.2019]. Morrison, D. (1995, April). Radiohead: The Bends / Parlophone. Select. Issue 58. Accessed at: https://citizen insane.eu/media/uk/select/02/pt_1995-04_select.htm [27.02.2019]. Munro, R. (1991, December). Unknown Title. Curfew. Accessed at: http://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/etc/ 01/pt_1991-12_curfew.htm [27.02.2019]. Nadler, C. (1993). Stalking the Airwaves. Creem. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/usa/etc/ 01/pt_1993-10_creem.htm [27.02.2019]. Neale, S. (2003). Questions of Genre. In: B. K. Grant, ed. Film Genre Reader III. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 160–184. Negus, K. (1999). Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London: Routledge. Nichols, N. (1993). Creeping into the Limelight. Fender Frontline. Vol. 11. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/ media/usa/etc/01/pt_1993-09_fenderfrontline.htm [27.02.2019]. Paphides, P. (2003, August). Into the Light. Mojo. Issue 117. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/ uk/mojo/06/pt_2003-08_mojo.htm [27.02.2019]. Paphides, P. (1997, November 5). Radio Daze. Time Out. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/ uk/timeout/03/pt_1997-11-05_timeout.htm [27.02.2019]. Petridis, A. (2016, May 8). Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool Review - Something They’ve Never Achieved Before. The Guardian. Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/ global/2016/may/08/radiohead-a-moon-shaped-pool-review [27.02.2019].

Challenging genre  129 Petridis, A. (2011, February 24). Radiohead: The King of Limbs - Review. The Guardian. Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/feb/24/radiohead-king-limbsreview [27.02.2019]. Reflections on Kid A [Documentary] (2000). Directed by R. Hodselmans for VPRO.nl. Accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7-wTWhp5UU [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2004). Post-Rock. In: C. Cox and D. Warner, eds Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. London. pp. 358–361. Reynolds, S. (1994, May). Post-Rock. The Wire. Issue 123. Accessed at: http:// web.archive.org/web/ 20011202075606/http://www.thewire.co.uk/out/1297_4.htm [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2000a, October). Radio Chaos. Spin. Accessed at: http://www. followmearound.com/presscuttings. php?year=2000&cutting=88 [07.01.2016]. Reynolds, S. (2000b, November). Radiohead’s Kid A: Revolution in the Head. Uncut. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radioheads-ikid-airevolution-in-the-head [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2001, July). Walking on Thin Ice. The Wire. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/ uk/etc/05/pt_2001-07_wire.htm [27.02.2019]. Robinson, J. (2003, May 3). It’s Clear and Pretty - But I Think People Won’t Get It. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/nme/06/pt_2003-0503_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Rock’s Backpages. Rock’s Backpages. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com 27.02.2019]. Ross, A. (2011). Orbiting: Radiohead’s Grand Tour. In: A. Ross. Listen to This. London: Fourth Estate pp. 85–101. Samson, J. (2001). Avant Garde. In: Grove Music Online. Accessed at: https://doi. org/10.1093/gmo/ 9781561592630.article.01573 [27.02.2019]. Sandall, R. (2007, October 9). Radiohead’s in Rainbows: First Review. The Telegraph. Accessed at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3668428/ Radioheads-In-Rainbows-first-review.html [27.02.2019]. Sinclair, T. (1997, October). Radiohead Trip. Entertainment Weekly. Accessed at: http:// www.greenplastic.com/ coldstorage/articles/ew3.html [27.02.2019]. Smith, A. (2000, October 1). Sound and Fury. The Observer. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/observer/04/pt_2000-10-01_observer.htm [27.02.2019]. Stubbs, D. (2001, July). Radiohead: Amnesiac (Parlophone)****. Uncut. Accessed at: https://www.rocksback pages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-iamnesiaci-parlophone [27.02.2019]. Sullivan, C. (1997, May). Aching Heads. The Guardian pp. s1997–1905-1xGuardian.htm [07.01.2016]. Accessed at: http://citizeninsane.eu/. Sullivan, C. (1995, March 27). Live: London Forum. The Guardian. Accessed at: http:// citizeninsane.eu/s1995-03-27TheGuardian.htm [07.01.2016]. Sutherland, M. (1995, March 18). Fairy Tale of New Yorke. Melody Maker. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/mm/02/pt_1995-03-18_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Sutherland, M. (1997, May 31). Return of the Mac. Melody Maker. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/media/ uk/mm/03/pt_1997-05-31_mm.htm [27.02.2019]. Toynbee, J. (1993). Policing Bohemia, Pinning up Grunge: The Music Press and Generic Change in British Pop and Rock. Popular Music. 12(3). pp. 289–300.

130  Challenging genre Vare, E. A. (1993, July 15). Review: PJ Harvey; Radiohead. Daily Variety. Accessed at: http://variety.com/1993/ legit/reviews/pj-harveyradiohead-1200432761 [27.02.2019]. Varga, G. (2001, November). Radiohead’s Jazz Frequencies. Jazz Times. Accessed at: http://jazztimes.com/ articles/20174-radiohead-s-jazzfrequencies [27.02.2019]. Weber, M. Citizen Insane. Accessed at: http://www.citizeninsane.eu [27.02.2019]. Williams, S. (1995, March 18). I Rate Myself and Want to Dive. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/nme/02/pt_1995-03-18_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Wolfson, S. (2010, May 22). Jumping the Wave. New Musical Express. pp. 40–41. Zelizer, B. (1993). Journalists as Interpretive Communities. Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 10(3). pp. 219–237.

4

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead

A comparison of genre discourse in scholarship and in music criticism ­highlights important differences in thinking about Radiohead’s music and in popular music aesthetics more generally. It reveals different uses of genre and categorisational choices. Scholarly writing on Radiohead is not limited to specialists in popular music studies, but extends to scholars in fields such as philosophy and sociology. Most of Radiohead’s academic coverage appeared from around 2004. Commissioned monographs by Dai Griffiths and Marvin Lin were published in 2004 and 2006, respectively. A first collection of essays, entitled The Music and Art of Radiohead, was released in 2005. A second collection, Radiohead and Philosophy, followed in 2009. More recently, one could see an increase in peerreviewed journal articles and PhD theses that are concerned with the study of Radiohead’s music. The scholarly literature on Radiohead generally falls between the strictly music-analytical and the sociological. Where genre is addressed, it appears either in analyses of Radiohead’s compositional work or it becomes visible in discussions about their social impact and reception. The aim of this chapter is not to recap how scholars have discussed Radiohead’s music at large, but rather to show how genre exists and runs through their writings on a conscious and subconscious level. In this way, the chapter wants to shed light on the scholarly uses of genre as a tool for analysis and explore the impact of genre in academic writing. At the same time, it also aims to examine the relationship between music critics and academics in order to show how their means of discussing music differ or coincide. Many scholarly accounts have in common their work with media sources. There is rarely an essay or book on Radiohead that does not reference journalistic statements at some point. This is often done with regard to the journalistic genre discourse and Radiohead’s media reception. Journalistic texts often fulfil the function of historical sources and are cited to explain the band’s history. In order to show how journalistic sources affect scholarly writing and perspectives on genre, the discussion pays particular attention to the uses of media texts in academia. While many journalists point out striking contrasts in Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory and emphasise genre transgression, this is often done without much further investigation into the reasons behind the band’s development and with little to no theoretical underpinning. Detailed musical discussions are omitted for

132  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead the sake of keeping articles short, succinct, and comprehensible for a wide readership. Music journalists focus on presenting the music in a way that responds to and shapes genre-based expectations and, by extension, consumer behaviour. Articles usually address questions like: how does the music relate to previous albums? How can Radiohead’s music be described in terms of genre? And, to what extent has this changed over time? At the same time, journalistic discussions are anchored in current contexts and rarely allow for more in-depth analyses of how, for instance, Radiohead utilise genre as a creative and communicational device throughout their career, or how they achieved their own ‘genrefication.’ While journalistic texts are useful sources for an analysis of genre discourses in the media, their study also reveals a lack of analytical detail and can give rise to new genre-related questions. With the academic interest in Radiohead steadily growing, one can draw information from a number of subject-related publications that provide further insight into the genre-centred debates opened up by journalists. The previous discussion has shown that in music journalism, detailed concepts and definitions are relatively hard to come by. They tend to either give way to more historical and function-based approaches to genre-analysis or to debates about artistic backgrounds and the methods of music production. There are of course exceptions: writers like Reynolds (2000a; 2000b; 2001) and Marzorati (2000) have taken care to point out Radiohead’s stylistic intricacies and thus created greater awareness of genre complexities. Others, like Kessler (1997), have raised the question of a ‘Radiohead genre’ and elaborated on this interpretation. While their texts are useful sources for studying not only the uses of genre in music journalism but also the possibility of Radiohead’s own generic category, it is important to bear in mind that many journalists specifically steered clear of very detailed genre discussions or used avoidance techniques. Genre is used to address the novelty of the reviewed music and beginning processes of canonisation, but rarely more. There is almost a sense of fear that surrounds the notion of committing to specific interpretations, lest one might be criticised for it. It is this impression – more so than any specific journalistic account – that shows that genre is an issue in Radiohead’s music that demands a deeper look. It also raises the questions to what extent scholarly texts feature more detailed accounts of genre, whether their uses of genre differ from those in the media, and if there are similar types of avoidance techniques to be found. To shed some light on these issues, the following paragraphs will explore how academic writers conceptualise genre formation, change, and transgression when analysing Radiohead and discuss how notions of genre are communicated and compared to those found amongst other audience groups and especially journalists.

The scholarly discourse on Radiohead Since the first academic studies of Radiohead’s music appeared in the early 2000s, the band’s music has become the subject of a constantly growing academic discourse that has so far focused on many different facets of their work reaching from

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  133 musical and stylistic analyses to philosophical debates. The publication formats vary from commissioned monographs, peer-reviewed journal articles, and noncommissioned pieces to doctoral theses. Most writings differ in terms of length, area of study, specific research focus, and methodology. Genre is often included as a way of either positioning Radiohead’s music in existing canons or explaining the band’s specific musical intricacies and inner working mechanisms. Looking at the academic discourse on Radiohead it should be noted that many writers follow a similar structure with regard to the ways in which genre is presented. Even short essays tend to include overviews of the band’s recording history and media reception and commonly address genre issues that relate to their specific topics. It is interesting that many publications reflect on Radiohead’s generic development in a comparable manner to the majority of music journalists. Academic writings on Radiohead display similar stages of genre reception that mirror the different strands and eras of Radiohead reception in music journalism. Notably, academic genre interpretations of Radiohead albums are even more consistent and conforming than journalistic texts that often put an individual spin on matters. While Radiohead’s early albums up to and including OK Computer are mainly discussed in rock terms – with specific attention to the role of guitars – Kid A and Amnesiac are seen as a break with the band’s previous style and a move towards electronic music. Later albums are often considered as ambivalent works that reflect traditional rock sounds but also show an inherent and technical experimentalism. There are naturally more writings about Radiohead’s earlier work – and on the supposed periods of change that are associated with OK Computer and Kid A – but more recent texts have also taken Radiohead’s newest albums into account and continue to reference stylistic issues. While a majority of journalistic texts were published in direct response to the release of new albums or singles, academic writings often maintain a temporal distance from the discussed content and tend to regard the music from a retrospective point of view. This fosters a sense of analytical distance that is upheld within academic texts and that distinguishes these writings from the often more subjective and personal accounts to be found in music journalism. Following from this, it can be said that the use of genre in academia generally derives from a more strategic point of view and introduces theoretical groundings. While music journalists are more likely to express individual opinions on genre spontaneously, academics work with detailed argumentative structures and reference genre in the process. Academic uses of genre are therefore decidedly technical and thought-through. Meanwhile, their motivations and specific uses of genre vocabulary remain to be discussed. The boundaries between different audience groups can often overlap. Academics can also be journalists or fans and vice versa. Writing about new methodologies in fan research, Adrienne Evans and Mafalda Stasi (2014: 14 f.) address this issue and discuss the concept of the ‘aca-fan’ – a person who is part of both the academic world and the fan base of a specific artist. Evans and Stasi highlight the possibilities of self-reflective research and auto-ethnography as major advantages of this personal status that challenges notions of both academic

134  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead and fandom identities but also facilitates processes of communication between these two groups. While the study of academic genre discourses can benefit from considering writers as both scholars and fans, an expanded awareness that also takes into account any possible journalistic backgrounds and influences is useful to illustrate the differences and similarities amongst genre audiences. Since the majority of academic texts included in this chapter refrain from taking selfreflective approaches,1 it is important to bear in mind that audience identities can still overlap and academic accounts on genre may reflect issues already raised in fandom or music journalism. The discussion will therefore pay specific attention to the ways in which academic texts reference and address other audience groups in their writings. Considering Radiohead’s overall stylistic progression, it is noteworthy that academics texts generally tend to reference the same developmental stages that were often discussed by music journalists. They also use a similar range of genre terminologies. A majority of academic texts initially classify Radiohead as a rock band,2 but also address a supposed shift from rock to electronic music later on. The previous chapter has shown that a similar line of argumentation is equally popular in music journalism and often coincides with discussions about Radiohead’s musical particularities and notions of genre transgression. In academic writing, references to genre progress have a prominent place and can lead to more detailed analyses. They also foster attempts to conceptualise Radiohead’s individual style generically. This is often done with the aim to explain the band’s development over time and to discuss their impact on popular music as a whole. While the popularity of a proposed genre shift amongst academics further emphasises its significance in Radiohead discourse, the general consensus amongst academics and journalists about Radiohead’s stylistic progress also serves to affirm the analytic strength of music journalists as a collective and the value of their texts as sources for popular music studies. Since music analysts usually focus on prominent issues in musical canons, a recurring interest in specific topics can emphasise the relevance of certain characteristics in the music of specific artists. In this regard, Radiohead’s proposed generic shift and transgressive tendencies appear as defining elements that are reflected on in the analytical approaches of different listener groups and their discourses on genre. Journalists utilise genre and methods of musical categorisation in various ways that have shaped the analysis and presentation of Radiohead’s music significantly. The previous discussion on journalistic uses of genre has not only served to highlight the working mechanisms of music criticism in general, but also shown how processes of genre interpretation function on an individual level. With the increasing digitalisation of the popular music press, it becomes possible to base results on a considerable number of discursive sources. A study of academic genre discourses necessarily works with a distinctly smaller selection of sources and therefore does not provide a comparable breadth of information. However, since academic discussions often go into greater analytical detail, their study can put more emphasis on the thought processes behind individual terminological choices and provide a contrast as well as a means of comparison to the study of journalistic

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  135 source material. In light of this, the following paragraphs provide an overview of genre usage in academic discussions of Radiohead and pay specific attention to the question of how academic uses of genre compare to or differ from the genre functionalities discussed with regard to music journalism. Canonic terminologies and the ‘Radiohead genre’ As a popular means of categorisation, canonic genre terminology plays as much of a role in academic writings on Radiohead as it does in music journalism. Both groups tend to utilise genre terminologies in similar ways in the Radiohead discourse, and generally pay great attention to the topics of genre change and transgression. Genre is predominantly used to position new music in existing musical canons and – particularly in the case of journalists – to provide readers with a sense of familiarity and a range of specific associations. It essentially appears as an analytical tool that guides argumentations and provides boundaries. A clear majority of academic discussions start out by positioning Radiohead as a rock band and go into more or less detail about the specifics behind their interpretations. In his essay “Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop,” Mark Greif (2009: 17) for instance leads with the statement that Radiohead belong to the category of rock music. He defines the genre mainly according to its lyrical themes. Greif describes rock as a category that strives for freedom from constraints and that is inherently defined by an underlying sense of rebellion. At the same time, he points out that for a genre that “celebrated individual liberation [rock music] required increasing regimentation and coordination” (Ibid.: 21). This statement shows that rock can often appear as a genre that is defined by its inherent contradictions and that incorporates elements that do not always add up or go hand in hand. In this regard, it is perhaps less surprising that Greif also notes the aspects of Radiohead’s music that do not fit into his initial rock concept. He states that even though one of Radiohead’s lyrical themes “may still be freedom, their technique involves the invocation – not of the feeling of freedom – but of unending low-level fear” (Ibid.: 17). Greif discusses Radiohead’s underlying lyrical themes in great detail and his interpretation of genre is predominantly based on the topics found in Radiohead songs. While he addresses other genre elements such as instrumentation and references stylistic progress, it is notable that his first attempt at creating a basic frame for his discussion of rock relies largely on the genre’s subject matter and motivations. This might be due to the overarching theme of the essay, which is largely concerned with creating a philosophical approach for the study of popular music and less with musicological subject matters. Greif sets out to discuss the reasons why popular music – and Radiohead’s music in particular – works in the ways that it does. He theorises that popular music allows its listeners to draw upon certain feelings that have been experienced in the past. The meaning of rock music according to him thus relies on the “insistence on finding ways to retain the thoughts and feelings that a larger power should have extinguished” (Ibid.: 29). Greif states that in this context Radiohead’s music creates a sense of “impersonal defiance” that fosters feelings of personal withdrawal and scepticism (Ibid.: 31 f.).

136  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead His writings show that the academic discourse on genre is not limited to musicological debates. It can move from discussions of musical and lyrical themes into general – in this case philosophical – arguments about the importance of genre uses in musical and social contexts. Academic debates about genre often lead with immediate impressions of genre, before moving on to more complicated genre-related matters. In writings on Radiohead, canonic terminologies are often specifically mentioned for the purpose of problematising the issue of genre and discussing its overall relevance. A study of academic genre discourses can therefore bring up specific issues that music journalism might miss or include more detailed arguments. There are various academic publications that position Radiohead’s music in a similar manner to Greif. In his essay “Deforming Rock: Radiohead’s Plunge into the Sonic Continuum,” Mark B. N. Hansen (2005: 118 f.) describes Radiohead as a rock band – an interpretation that is evident by his choice of title alone. He discusses Radiohead’s stylistic trajectory and makes use of subgenres like post-rock to specify the nature of their music at particular points in time, in this case after the release of OK Computer. He discusses the generic relevance of specific musical elements like the role of the voice and instruments that now supposedly appear in what he terms a “post-rock mode” (Ibid.: 127). It is notable that Hansen’s interest soon shifts from a mere description of genre features towards a discussion of generic change and its effects on Radiohead’s music. Hansen’s main line of argumentation is that Radiohead have shifted from their roots in rock music, but also appropriated and transformed the genre on an individual level. He contrasts genre change against the proposition that over time Radiohead’s music has featured an underlying continuity. Hansen references Simon Reynolds’ (2001) discussion of Amnesiac. He explains his notion of a supposed “plunge into the sonic continuum” (Ibid.: 136) – which essentially deals with the band’s changing uses of guitars and voice – as a consequence of what Reynolds describes as a process of “self-deconstruction” (cited in Hansen, 2005: 131). Hansen ultimately utilises the concept of genre in order to propose a solution for the continuity-problems in Radiohead’s music posed by the loss of what he describes as the “vococentrism of western music” (Ibid.: 136) and the effects of digitalisation on genre progress. The essay challenges the often noted rock versus techno divide in Radiohead reception and Hansen proposes that the band has instead extended their repertoire to move back and forth between or even combine both worlds. As this shows, academic texts often utilise canonic terminologies in order to lead into more extensive discussions on the conceptualisation or problematisation of genre-related issues. While Hansen does not specifically address the matter of a ‘Radiohead genre,’ his essay is one example in a long list of academic writings that use genre terminology to open up discussions about the individual characteristics and stylistic peculiarities that define Radiohead’s music and that distinguish the band from other artists. In his essay “Radiohead and Some Questions about Music,” Edward Slowik (2009) for instance reflects on a number of issues surrounding the questions of what music is and how we experience it. In doing so, he positions

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  137 Radiohead as a rock band and discusses their changing musical and stylistic characteristics. He states that Pablo Honey and The Bends have “limited crossover appeal to other styles” but describes OK Computer as an “increasingly more complex and experimental” album that indicates a stylistic transition (Ibid.: 42 f.). Kid A and Amnesiac are discussed as crucial markers of change and signs of Radiohead’s increasing stylistic diversity. While Slowik emphasises Radiohead’s roots in rock music, he states that “[t]he music just sounds different from rock” (Ibid.). He goes on to discuss Hail to the Thief as an album that combines traditional rock approaches with new elements in Radiohead’s music that appeared on Kid A. It is interesting that Slowik’s arguments generally build on the understanding of Radiohead as a rock band. Even with the noted generic changes, the concept of rock appears throughout the discussion as a standard point of reference against which he assesses the band’s stylistic trajectory. While Slowik points out Radiohead’s increasing use of new stylistic components, he examines these changes in light of the band’s previous generic groundings. He makes a point of not only highlighting the increasing tendency towards genre transgression, but also notes a growing interest from genre audiences outside of rock music – like for instance classical music or jazz fans (Ibid. 42 f.). Slowik’s writings thus show that canonic genre terminology plays a substantial part in setting up musical norms and noting transgressions in musical oeuvres and canons. There is a common tendency amongst academics and journalists to identify Radiohead as a rock band based on their early work and stick to this interpretation even in light of changing genre discourses and debates of transgression. The study of genre discourses in academia specifically highlights the fact that genre identities of certain bands or artists are not always interchangeable with generic readings of their individual albums or songs. It is therefore possible at any time for Radiohead and other artists to have two different genre identities: a core identity like the title ‘rock band,’ which spans Radiohead’s career as a whole, as well as different time- and album-bound generic readings, that appear spontaneously and show the extent of the band’s stylistic progress when compared to their core identity. While canonic genre terminologies appear frequently in academic writings on Radiohead, it is notable that genre categories and core identities often form part of academic publication titles. They further tend to appear early on in written texts in expositions. The increasing use of genre-related essay or book titles not only shows the growing interest in the study of popular music genres amongst academics, but also indicates the importance of the topic for approaching different musical issues and debates on a general level. Similar to Hansen’s earlier discussed essay that establishes Radiohead’s rock influence and a genre-theme in its title, Matthew Lampert’s (2009) essay “Why a Rock Band in a Desolate Time?” calls to attention and questions Radiohead’s generic position. Lampert discusses Radiohead’s development and addresses changing themes in the band’s music in order to explain a perceived break between OK Computer and Kid A (Ibid.: 203 ff.). His perspective is largely affected by a philosophical background and his genre concept relies mainly on ideological notions and creative concepts. He mentions for instance nihilism as one of the

138  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead defining elements of grunge (Ibid.: 210 f.). While he does not make great use of genre terminology, his arguments are guided by the question of why Radiohead remain as a rock band in the time of their existence. His conclusion positions the concept of a rock band as a very purpose-oriented model. One of Radiohead’s defining characteristics – and one of their reasons to exist as a rock group – is, according to Lampert, to create awareness and remain aware of their own alienation. This aspect, in his opinion, is particularly relevant after the release of Kid A, which addresses the theme of alienation more actively.3 Lampert’s discussion thus gives weight to the fact that genre does not solely exist on a technical level as a way of describing music or individual styles and creating distinctions. It can also be defined according to its wider purposes that serve to explain the actions and motivations of musicians and audience groups. Discussions about genre transgression have an important place in the academic genre discourse on Radiohead and often lead to debates about individual style. For this reason, they tend to address the possibility of a ‘Radiohead genre’ in a comparable manner to many music journalists. In his doctoral thesis “Coding OK Computer: Categorization and Characterization of Disruptive Harmonic and Rhythmic Events in Rock Music,” Nathaniel Emerson Adam (2011: 23) states that it is “not only difficult to articulate the characteristics of technical surfacelevel problems in the music of Radiohead, or album-level themes and problems, it is apparently difficult to articulately categorize their music at all.” To explain this statement further he includes a chart of musical categories  –  prepared by graphic designer Jamie Gurnell – that positions Radiohead albums and songs in relation to the categories indie, alt-rock, psychedelic, jazz, ambient, electronic, and folk. Interestingly, the chart also includes ‘Radiohead’ as a separate category (pictured in Adam, 2011: 12). While the graphic is not based on academic analysis, Adam states that it “reveals the overwhelming effect Radiohead’s music can have on a listener, amateur or scholar, through its resistance to definition” (Ibid.: 23). Stylistic diversity is one of the main factors that complicates the discussion of typical Radiohead features, but it also fosters debates. Adam thinks it difficult to find a “unifying stylistic signature” in Radiohead’s work, but attempts to circumvent this problem by focusing on the music itself rather than Radiohead’s compositional process and listener expectations (Ibid.: 15 f.). Adam’s approach is guided by the methods of grounded theory and Schenkerian music analysis and does not specifically focus on works in the area of genre theory. Rather than asking how Radiohead’s music can be integrated in the world of popular music genre, Adam focuses on the individual intricacies and characteristics in Radiohead’s work. He proposes that Radiohead (as a collective composer) has accumulated for themselves this distinctive musical language through their use of disruptive melodic figuration, harmony, and rhythm, by drawing from a musical palette that is characterized by a problematic relationship with mainstream conventions and expectations. (Ibid.: 19)

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  139 His discussion shows that attempts to identify characteristic features in Radiohead’s work can lead to an increasing awareness of generic issues. This often results in debates about Radiohead’s personal style and the question of whether it can be defined with the help of its own genre terminology. Academics mainly use canonic terminologies to describe musical components that shape listener expectations and as a result often attempt to conceptualise Radiohead’s music generically – even if this is done in opposition to existing genres or classification as a whole. It is notable that canonic genres function as the musical standard in academic discourse. Their discussion creates awareness of deviations from an established norm that can affect future debates. While the discussion of Adam’s work has emphasised the fact that Radiohead’s individual style is often discussed as a result of the genre debate, Allan F. Moore and Anwar Ibrahim’s (2005) essay “‘Sounds Like Teen Spirit’: Identifying Radiohead’s Idiolect” sheds further light on this issue by discussing the impact of Radiohead’s stylistic progression in regard to a specific idiolect that characterises the band. Moore and Ibrahim establish Radiohead’s inherent stylistic diversity after the release of OK Computer and proceed to debate whether one can find a specific musical or compositional language in the band’s work that links the individual albums and stays consistent in the face of constant generic change (Ibid.: 139 ff.). They conclude that such an idiolect mainly exists in terms of a structure that is upheld and that shapes the ways in which songs are composed. However, they also take care to point out that the concept of unpredictability appears as Radiohead’s only real constant, which results in an emphasis on “difference and juxtaposition over similarity and unity” (Ibid.: 152). While this statement again highlights the band’s tendency to subvert expectations  –  also mentioned by Adam – it places emphasis on an ambiguity that is inherent to Radiohead’s individual style and highlights transgressive tendencies. Notions of genre transgression and interpretive ambiguity often appear in close correlation in Radiohead discourse and they are mutually influential. Moore and Ibrahim’s essay brings up interesting points when it comes to genre semantics. The authors take care to emphasise generic change through a change of their language. They argue that the release of Amnesiac not only introduced a new sound but also brought about a change in terms of musical structures by replacing the notion of “songs” with “pieces” (Ibid.: 139). This use of language underlines the changes of style in a substantial way by introducing a new terminology that has generic connotations that are often associated with classical music. Moore and Ibrahim further state that Radiohead’s work on Kid A challenges the very notion of the word “song” (Ibid.: 145). Both examples show that the mere use of generically laden words can have very specific implications in the context of genre discourse and signify changes on a small and sometimes subconscious level. The essay proceeds to treat genre language in a very distinguished manner. While Moore and Ibrahim state that Pablo Honey should be heard as a “response to the Seattlebased ‘grunge’ rock movement that crossed into the musical mainstream in late 1991,” (Ibid.: 141) the statement serves as much to associate Radiohead with grunge as it does to distance them from it. By formulating this genre reference as

140  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead a response to the music rather than a part of the genre itself, the authors emphasise the role of Radiohead’s musical influences as well as the specific impact of grunge on their music without explicitly positioning the band as part of the genre. There is a difference between genre associations or influences and generic belonging that is especially apparent in the academic discourse. The essay proceeds to discuss Radiohead’s music as “progressive” in terms of individual development (Ibid.: 152), but refrains from describing the band as progressive rock. This brings up another important point about the uses of genre-related language: while certain genre terminologies have become canonised over time, they can appear out of context, have different connotations, and are often subject to different readings. It is therefore important to bear in mind that semantic choices always affect the ways in which genre is presented in discussions. Returning to the subject of Radiohead’s musical language and idiolect, in his book Everything In Its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead, Brad Osborn (2017) makes an important point about the intricacy of individualised artistic expressions of style. He states that the notion of an idiolect can even surpass Radiohead’s stylistic identity as a band and appears as the product of the individual creative characters of different band members (Ibid.: 10). Osborn analyses Radiohead’s music post-OK Computer in extensive detail and finds that the band’s idiolect in later years is amongst other things marked by a growing distance between listener expectations and reality that shapes the creation of meaning significantly (Ibid.: 13 f.). While he carefully explains this distance in musical terms, it is crucial to note that stylistic progress thus also takes place on a conceptual level. It exists almost exclusively in relation to its consumers and is reflected by them. This ultimately explains the inherent difference between the meaning of Radiohead’s idiolect and the notion of a distinct ‘Radiohead genre.’ While Radiohead’s specific idiolect exists as the result of their collective musical endeavours, the idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ is the product of audience reflections on this idiolect. Non-canonic terminologies and journalistic impacts The discussion has shown that academic authors utilise canonic terminologies in various ways to describe Radiohead and tend to move from simple processes of categorisation into more complex debates about genre-related issues. While academic uses of established genre terminologies are generally comparable to those, found in music journalism, it is interesting to consider to what extent alternative forms of categorisation feature in these texts. Journalists often express musical novelty and complexity with the help of replacement terminologies. In doing so, they aim either to emphasise novel attributes and isolate the music from existing canons or to create points of reference to specific works. While academics work more often with canonic terminologies, they also tend to describe Radiohead’s music in greater detail and consequently employ a wider range of genre descriptors. For this reason, descriptive genre terminologies  –  and adjective genres in particular  –  appear frequently in academic writings on Radiohead and often accompany canonic genre interpretations. They are used as a means of specifying

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  141 details in an already complex canonic interpretation and present a useful way of showing where Radiohead’s music deviates from the established norm. In his essay “To(rt)uring the Minotaur: Radiohead, Pop, Unnatural Couplings, and Mainstream Subversion,” Greg Hainge (2005) uses canonic terminology to establish Radiohead’s supposed shift from rock to electronic music. He also uses a form of negative terminology by saying that both Kid A and Amnesiac do not follow traditional pop conventions. Hainge states that although Radiohead are technically part of the rock mainstream, they subvert common rock expectations and are thus inherently experimental (Ibid.: 62 ff. and 72 ff.). In the process, he compares Radiohead’s alternative credibility to their supposed mainstream roots and concludes that Kid A presents the “marriage between the mainstream and avant-garde experimentation” (Ibid.: 84). Looking back at the journalistic discourse on Radiohead, it is very interesting that Hainge’s thoughts reflect on an inherent dichotomy in Radiohead’s music that was also noted by many journalists. Similar to writers like Munro (1991) who described Radiohead as a “pop group” but also as slightly “weird,” Hainge’s words emphasise a contrast in Radiohead’s work between a grounding in mainstream traditions and an increasing interest in musical experimentalism. While Hainge refers to various journalistic texts and is surely aware of past genre discourses, his take on Radiohead’s generic transgression and complexity is shaped by individual selective genre uses. At the end, ‘avant-garde’ surpasses experimental and mainstream is a way of measuring commonality in pop and rock music. Academic and journalist authors thus not only tend to utilise replacement terminologies in comparable ways, they also highlight similar underlying issues and themes in Radiohead’s music. At the same time, their specific word choices can differ and academic texts may often carry more conceptual undertones as ways of finding and analysing deeper generic meaning. In his essay, George A. Reisch (2009) asks: “Is Radiohead the Pink Floyd of the Twenty-First Century?” He compares the two bands and discusses to what extent they fulfil similar roles in popular music at different points in time. As the discussion of journalistic discourses has shown, the association of Radiohead with Pink Floyd can have specific genre-related connotations. Mentioning musical influences can evoke notions of genre and affect the ways in which the discussed music is perceived. While Pink Floyd is often associated with progressive rock, it is interesting that throughout his article Reisch utilises the terms “prog-rock” and “space-rock to explain how Radiohead’s association with Pink Floyd might be understood (Ibid.: 4). His use of replacement terminology thus leads from the musical association with specific artists over generic implications towards a discourse on existing generic categories. Reisch’s discussion serves to illuminate issues of temporal relations in genre discourses and shows that in different instances genre relies on and is evaluated according to the time of its release. As the title of Reisch’s essay underlines musical references – in this case, the music of Pink Floyd as seen from a temporal distance – can be utilised in a comparable manner to canonic genre terms to define and categorise music based on certain sets of characteristics. This way of discussing music not only underlines certain

142  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead traditions that are upheld by a line of artists, but it also emphasises the specific position of Radiohead amongst its peers. While Reisch’s way of discussing the band’s music through musical associations points out the influence of the past, it also presents a differentiation by presenting Radiohead as a twenty-first-century band. Ultimately, the discussion serves to show how canon-building processes might affect genre debates – an issue that calls for future research. While the uses of non-canonic terminologies in journalism provide unique insights into the ways in which genre is evaluated, many journalists invent completely new terminologies or offer new readings of existing terms. These types of genre discourses are also found in academia. New terminologies and readings are mainly used to present the music and genre analysis in a different light or to put a new spin on the discussion of specific underlying themes. In his essay “Public Schoolboy Music: Debating Radiohead,” Dai Griffiths (2005) discusses Radiohead’s music in relation to the band’s public school background and proposes “public schoolboy music” as an appropriate category to describe their work. Griffiths emphasises how certain themes in Radiohead’s music – like the topic of alienation – might derive from the band’s personal educational background (Ibid.: 162 f.). While he goes on to focus on the stylistic properties and themes that characterise Radiohead in this manner, the way in which genre is constructed based on these issues is interesting. Griffiths asks “what the musical material refers to or means, where it comes from, and what the whole idea of being in music, let alone pop music, means or amounts to” (Ibid.). He elaborates: you have to push deeper to see the public school background really start to tell, less the external world of public issues, further into the heartland of the musical material. My guess is that, almost as a special consequence of the band members’ schooling, they have a profound sense of being cut off from the rest of ordinary society, ordinary only to mean public-service-dependent, and that this was manifest as super-awareness, both in content and feeling, of late twentieth-century alienation. (Ibid.) While Griffiths goes on to describe musical details associated with Radiohead’s music that might derive from this background  –  specific rhythmic, harmonic, or structural elements  –  he also emphasises the band’s ever-growing concern with technology, musically as well as thematically (Ibid.: 163 ff.). The sense of alienation or even isolation described above serves to characterise the genre and underlines its inherent struggle. As Griffiths states by way of conclusion, the very “purpose of public schoolboy music […] is that we could all do without it” (Ibid.: 167). The proposed category thus emerges in a functional manner. Similar to other descriptive terminologies, the term “public schoolboy music” defines the band by referring to one overarching characteristic that is explained as being representative of their work. Radiohead’s music is discussed in terms of its social background and cultural components that affect its sound, themes, and composition. The term “public schoolboy music” is both a descriptive account of

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  143 genre and a new category that precisely describes Radiohead’s music by referring to the band’s educational background. Griffiths’ writings show that – much like music journalism – academic genre discourse can include the construction of new genres. However, while journalists often invent new categories either as a form of evasion or to make a name for themselves, academic discussions can include more detailed explanations and new genre constructs mainly appear to illuminate a general theme or argument. In her book and former PhD thesis Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely Marianne, Tatom Letts (2010) addresses the topic of a disappearing subject on Kid A and Amnesiac and introduces the notion of a resistant concept album. According to Tatom Letts this category stretch[es] the parameters of the traditionally defined concept album (a clearly articulated narrative, characters, or a musical/lyrical theme) while still conveying some kind of concept beyond a single sequence of organized tracks over the course of an album. (Ibid.: 25) While the category of concept albums forms part of the more descriptive types of replacement terminologies discussed earlier, it is notable that Tatom Letts’ take on the existing term equally functions as the construction of a new category. Based on the proposition that the existing subject on Kid A self-destructs halfway through the album and is revived on Amnesiac, Tatom Letts reconstructs the album’s identity with the help of the existing concept album terminology and presents her personal take on these conventions by introducing the new category (Ibid.: 26). While the “resistant concept album” clearly relies on the idea of concept albums in general, it is shaped by the thematic and musical characteristics Tatom Letts finds in Radiohead’s work and presents a way of understanding these features in terms of genre. She states: Treating Radiohead’s Kid A (2000) as a resistant concept album can help make sense of an otherwise baffling musical work. This analysis is, of course, only one way of viewing the album. Its very resistance to the conventional rock genre opens it up to a variety of interpretations. (Ibid.) With this statement, Tatom Letts unintentionally underlines what also becomes obvious from studying different audience discourses on genre in the music of Radiohead. The analysis of different readings of Radiohead’s music can be extremely useful for achieving a better understanding of the methods and arguments that affect categorisation and for developing a more informed perspective on genre. Tatom Letts combines both genre-theoretical and musicological methods. It is her awareness of genre and generic difference that allows her to describe Radiohead’s music in more precise terms. While she uses canonic terms to describe individual albums, Tatom Letts adopts the idea of concept albums to

144  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead consider how Radiohead can be understood in these terms and to what extent the music deviates from the established terminology towards a new variation of it. Genre thus bridges the gap between traditional analysis and the adaptation of new analytical means. Genre discourse affects academia in similar ways as it does music journalism. Academic genre uses often add more elaborate and theoretically grounded arguments to the debate. Writing about Radiohead, academics make use of a similar range of genre terminologies that also appear in journalistic sources. At the same time, they often go on to discuss underlying concepts in the music in greater detail. In this way, specific themes and issues in Radiohead’s music are discussed in terms of their generic meaning. Music journalism features surprisingly often in scholarly discourse, where it is used to explore popular public opinions and debates. The academic discourse on Radiohead includes various references to the journalistic discourse. It often incorporates quotations that are used to strengthen specific arguments about genre or addresses more controversial statements by journalists that may open up new debates. Some academic writers briefly reflect on the developments of Radiohead reception in music journalism over time. On a different note, the inclusion of media texts can serve to close the gap between academia and the general public. It highlights the role of many academics as part of a general fandom that looks towards journalists for new information. Bearing this in mind, it is important to note that recent news about bands such as Radiohead – including interviews – predominantly appear in the media. Therefore, at least in this regard, popular music studies is somewhat reliant on journalistic sources. The discussion has shown that different audience discourses on genre – journalistic and academic  –  can be inherently interactive and often cover similar thematic issues. Academics and journalists use genre in comparable ways, but also do so to varying extents. Discussions in both discursive spheres characteristically circle around issues of transgression, individual genre formation, and the question of whether Radiohead’s music can be seen as a product of its time and place. While music journalism often discusses the music from a more immediate perspective, the study of academic texts emphasises a more retrospective and distanced point of view. Besides a common tendency to discuss genre in more analytical terms, academic authors often move from more individual debates of genre in Radiohead’s music to general discussions about genre as a concept. In doing so, they usually follow specific theoretical frameworks that are generally absent and maybe even unnecessary in music journalism. As a final thought, this discrepancy presents a crucial argument for a combined study of different types of audience discourses on genre. While both journalistic and academic discussions tend to address similar issues in comparable terms, they often do so by applying different methodologies. Their analysis cannot only serve to highlight the flexibility of genre interpretations of Radiohead’s music, but also emphasise the varying purposes of genre uses amongst different audience groups. This variance shows how genre discourse is shaped by socio-cultural circumstances  –  including the individual backgrounds of its many participants.

Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead  145

Notes 1 The academic literature on Radiohead includes very few auto-ethnographic approaches. While there are some exceptions like Paul Lansky’s (2005) essay “My Radiohead Adventure” – which addresses Lansky’s interactions with the band and their use of his music – they do not focus on genre in particular. 2 One should note the difference between an affiliation with rock music and the classification as a ‘rock band.’ Both can have different implications. The term ‘rock band,’ for instance, is often concerned with issues of identity and might therefore still be applied even in the face of stylistic change and progression. 3 Lampert utilises a number of philosophical approaches to frame this subject area, in particular Heidegger’s theories about ‘inauthenticity.’ His main aim and question mirrors the question by German philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin “And why poets in a desolate time?” See Lampert (2009: 211 and 218 f).

References Adam, N. E. (2011). Coding OK Computer: Categorization and Characterization of Disruptive Harmonic and Rhythmic Events in Rock Music. Doctoral Thesis. University of Michigan. Accessed at: http://deepblue.lib. umich.edu/bitstream/ handle/2027.42/86444/neadam_1.pdf [27.02.2019]. Evans, A. and Stasi, M. (2014). Desperately Seeking Methodology: New Directions in Fan Studies Research. Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. 11(2). pp. 4–23. Greif, M. (2009). Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop. In: B. W. Forbes and G. A. Reisch, eds Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive. Chicago, La Salle: Open Court. pp. 15–32. Griffiths, D. (2005). Public Schoolboy Music: Debating Radiohead. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 159–167. Hainge, G. (2005). To(rt)uring the Minotaur: Radiohead, Pop, Unnatural Couplings, and Mainstream Subversion. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 62–84. Hansen, M. B. N. (2005). Deforming Rock: Radiohead’s Plunge into the Sonic Continuum. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 118–138. Ibrahim, A. and Moore, A. F. (2005). Sounds Like Teen Spirit: Identifying Radiohead’s Idiolect. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 139–158. Kessler, T. (1997, June 7). The Reign in Spain. New Musical Express. Accessed at: https:// citizeninsane.eu/ media/uk/nme/03/pt_1997-06-07_nme.htm [27.02.2019]. Lampert, M. (2009). Why a Rock Band in a Desolate Time? In: B. W. Forbes and G. A. Reisch, eds Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive. Chicago, La Salle: Open Court. pp. 203–220. Lansky, P. (2005). My Radiohead Adventure. In: J. Tate, ed. The Music and Art of Radiohead. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. pp. 168–176. Marzorati, G. (2000, October 1). The Post-Rock Band. The New York Times Magazine. Accessed at: http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001001magradiohead.html [27.02.2019]. Munro, R. (1991, December). Unknown Title. Curfew. Accessed at: http://citizeninsane. eu/media/uk/etc/01/pt_1991-12_curfew.htm [27.02.2019]. Osborn, B. (2017). Everything in Its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead. New York: Oxford University Press.

146  Scholarly perspectives on Radiohead Reisch, G. A. (2009). Is Radiohead the Pink Floyd of the Twenty-First Century? In: B. W. Forbes and G. A. Reisch, eds Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive. Chicago, La Salle: Open Court. pp. 3–14. Reynolds, S. (2000a, October). Radio Chaos. Spin. Accessed at: http://www. followmearound.com/presscuttings. Accessed at: http://www.followmearound.com/ presscuttings.php?year=2000&cutting=88 [07.01.2016]. Reynolds, S. (2000b, November). Radiohead’s Kid A: Revolution in the Head. Uncut. Accessed at: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radioheads-ikid-airevolution-in-the-head [27.02.2019]. Reynolds, S. (2001, July). Walking on Thin Ice. The Wire. Accessed at: https://citizeninsane. eu/media/ uk/etc/05/pt_2001-07_wire.htm [27.02.2019]. Slowik, E. (2009). Radiohead and Some Questions about Music. In: B. W. Forbes and G. A. Reisch, eds Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive. Chicago, La Salle: Open Court. pp. 41–52. Tatom Letts, M. (2010). Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

5

Genre online Wider audience and fan perspectives

The study of popular music genres benefits from integrating various analytical views. By comparing different accounts on genre, one can develop a more discerning perspective on the subject matter. Journalistic texts are useful sources for an ongoing genre discourse that is easily accessible and particularly varied. By contrast, academic studies often present more detailed insights into music-analytical matters and thus display slightly different uses of genre. Functionalities of genre are highly dependent on the specific purposes of writing and on individual positions. The question thus remains to what extent genre discourse is shaped by the type of audience group in which it takes place. While both journalistic and academic discourses are affected by the intention of conveying new knowledge, they also portray commercial interests to varying degrees. Wider audience groups and fans in particular present a further sizable part of the compound listener community. Personal interests and spontaneity shape their discussions of Radiohead’s music. Music fans often express very diverse opinions and they rarely have commercial goals in mind. For this reason, gaining insight into wider audience discourses can be extremely useful for developing an understanding of genre reception and its working mechanisms on a larger scale. With the continued rise of online culture, most audience discussions on Radiohead now take place online. Online audience discourses provide useful sources for popular music scholars. They are easily accessible, specifically active, and interactive. The following paragraphs therefore take a closer look at online discourses on Radiohead and on their uses of genre. The chapter presents a consolidation of sorts that considers the means of genre discourse analysis in the digital age. Reflecting on previous results the discussion aims to show how genre permeates various areas of music reception in different ways. It also proposes methodological ideas for dealing with online and new media sources. While the previous chapters have shown how genre affects working processes in the music press, they have also emphasised the relations between music journalism and academia and highlighted the fact that both areas can interact or overlap. In the same way that academics can be journalists and vice versa, both journalists and academics can be fans and form part of an online fandom. Bearing Evans and Stasi’s (2014: 4ff.) concept of the “aca-fan” as well as personal experience in mind, it is not far-fetched to say that academic interests often arise

148  Genre online out of personal interests. It is important to be aware of the fact that a study of genre reception cannot always make clear distinctions between different audience groups. Journalism, academia, and fandom are not mutually exclusive. At best, one should treat each field as a loose grouping of people with similar interests and objectives in relation to their chosen subject matter that may display a certain self-awareness in regard to their own position and purpose in discourse. Of all audience groups mentioned in this book, online fans are the largest and most diverse group to produce genre discourses. While personal backgrounds may differ, it is very likely that both journalists and academics are also – privately or publicly – active participants in the general audience discourse online that mainly takes place on message boards and social media platforms. This makes online audiences difficult to gauge and their discussions more fast-paced and immediate. They challenge, but also reflect, journalistic and academic discourses on genre – often directly in comment sections. Online discourses on genre are characterised by their great variety of interpretations and this sometimes makes it difficult to identify common narratives and themes. While the question of authorship in journalistic and academic texts is easily answered, online discourses often appear anonymously and names are only revealed by choice. Writing about ethnographic research in online contexts, Robert V. Kozinets (2010: 70) states that this anonymity or pseudonymity has a liberating effect on presentations of identity, related behaviours, and expressions of opinion. It is hence important to consider the impact anonymity might have on the content, tone, and manner of online discourses on music. Kozinet further explains that online commentary and expressions of identity can be particularly revealing in terms of consumers’ true opinions or intentions. Consequently, online discourses are affected by a number of issues that directly emerge from the privacy and obscurity they afford. Unlike journalists, who have to respond to the criticism of editors and readers, anonymous web users have the advantage of being able to comment on specific subject matters without having to worry about the nature of their opinions or making statements that could be damaging to their name and status. For this reason, online discourses tend to generate a greater variety of responses ranging from detailed arguments to spontaneous commentary and from positive commentary to explicitly negative statements. While certain online reviews and comments concerned with the nature of specific musical works can resemble academic or journalistic debates, others might show a specific lack of expertise and present more immediate and less thought-out reactions. The degree of truthfulness and honesty in web commentary varies and the intent of evaluations is not always clear. One factor that affects the presentation of online content is the issue of constructing a (generally temporary) web identity (Kozinets, 2010: 10). This way the author’s wish to appear in a certain way, for instance knowledgeable and intelligent, can have a considerable impact on the presentation and manner of description, the analysis, and evaluation of content. In other cases, phenomena such as ‘trolling’ can factor into the discussion of content on platforms that foster more dynamic discussions amongst web users.1 Since online audiences are less bound to straight-forward modes of expression – unlike

Genre online  149 many journalists and academics – aspects such as irony, sarcasm, and cynicism can have a greater effect on the ways in which opinions are presented. While the concept of anonymity seems to allow for greater freedom of expression and a more diverse range of opinions, it is also the relative obscurity of web audiences that causes issues during the course of online research. The truthfulness of presented opinions can often be difficult to judge. Kozinets states that the internet is a “medium [that] makes it complicated to see the messenger” and it is not always clear who one is communicating with online (2010: 10 and 70). It is especially this lack of knowledge about the context in which statements emerge that can complicate or compromise the analysis of comments. Online audiences are inherently diverse and guided by different intentions. Their communications are often shaped by misunderstandings. While academic and journalistic texts emerge in pre-mediated contexts and adhere to certain conventions, styles, and formats, they also present purpose-oriented approaches to musical discussion. They can for instance provide guidance for consumers or present new analytical insights. Online audiences are less often bound by rules and agendas. Instead, their discussions are shaped by the very fact that they do not have to meet specific standards set by editors or publishers in order for them to appear online. For this reason, one can often find a larger variety in terms of stated opinions and modes of expression.2 Comparing online statements thus presents a challenge in terms of understanding and judging the reasoning and intent of individual online participants in order to decide to what extent they might serve as useful source material for a study of online audiences. Additionally, it is useful to consider the possibility that – despite a steady increase of online participants – it is only specific types of people that choose to comment online or that are able to do so.3 For these reasons, a study involving online audiences necessarily needs to operate under the assumption that the audience groups featured in the analysis of web content do not present an accurate representation of all web users but merely afford a closer look at one specific part of them.

Methodology and ethical concerns The discussion of genre in online audience discourses on Radiohead is based on a study of source material taken from two substantial online platforms: YouTube and Amazon.4 While the aim of this book is not to deliver quantitative results but rather a qualitative content analysis, the discussion of online audience discourses needs to be comparable – if perhaps only in numbers – to the analysis of journalistic viewpoints on genre in order to give insight into important similarities and differences. It thus works with a similarly wide range of online sources that emerged under comparable conditions to many journalistic reviews and that provide an equally varied array of opinions. The choice of web content is partly due to the popularity of the chosen websites and their specifically large number of users. Both Amazon and YouTube offer a wide range of commentary on individual Radiohead songs and albums. A combined and comparative analysis of these comments on both sites can offer interesting insights into the larger audience

150  Genre online reception of Radiohead’s music. Opinions are presented in different styles and formats. While Amazon reviews tend to be reminiscent of journalistic reviewing styles, YouTube comments are short, succinct, but also increasingly interactive. A look at both websites can therefore inform about the ways in which the dynamics of online discourses affect the presentation of opinions. The uses of genre in online discourses on Radiohead change over time in correspondence with Radiohead’s stylistic progress. Their composite structure, content, and development thus resemble music journalism to some degree. While the analysis of Amazon contributions also mirrors the study of journalistic content insofar that it focuses on English-speaking reviews  –  contributing towards the comparability of both analyses – the YouTube commentary is multi-lingual and comments in languages other than English were taken into consideration. The analysis of Amazon content is based on a study of roughly 1,700 reviews composed of a varied number of reviews for each album.5 The changing numbers of reviews for each album indicate that audience members pay varying amounts of attention to different albums. It is especially Kid A and OK Computer that appear to be the subjects of a more active discourse. This development of audience interests is telling and reminiscent of Radiohead’s journalistic reception. Based on this first overview of sources, a smaller number of reviews – approximately 150 – were chosen to be analysed in greater detail due to their specific mention of genre. In them, one can find individualised but also widespread uses of genre. YouTube commentary provides supporting evidence for the relevance of genre in online contexts and offers insights into the uses of genre in a more fast-paced and interactive environment. The YouTube comments included here are taken from the official music videos for Radiohead’s singles and thus correspond to the album reflections found on Amazon. This makes it possible to trace the trajectory of the band’s stylistic development on both sites.6 While most YouTube videos feature varying numbers of comments, the analysis focuses on an approximate number of 300 comments per video for practical reasons. They are used to either draw comparisons with or contest existing Amazon content. On a general level, it is important to consider that web-sources need to be approached very carefully in order to protect online participants and their privacy. A study of online discourses usually comes with a number of issues, primarily regarding the question of whether any type of content and commentary posted on the internet can be treated in a way comparable to content published in the corporate print and online media or in book format.7 One issue affecting the free use of online content for academic purposes is the correct assessment of the perceived online privacy level of non-professional web audiences. While many contributors to the online discourse may be aware of the wide reach and traceability of their comments, this is not always the case. As a general rule of thumb, larger platforms such as Amazon and YouTube also imply a wider visibility than for instance username- and password-protected communities, message boards, or mailing lists. This is also one of the reasons why these sites have been chosen as main sources.8 Since the traceability of the chosen content can provide issues in terms of privacy, the discussion refrains from featuring direct links to any quotations

Genre online  151 to ensure the anonymity of web users. Instead, all explicit references include a link to the domain and the reviewed work the discussed commentary pertains to. For the most part, the book also chooses paraphrases and general statements over direct quotations. A further ethical concern is the extent to which researchers interfere in online discussions to generate the sought after content. While the process of actively generating results would necessitate further ethical considerations – specifically the question of whether researchers need to identify themselves as such  –  this chapter exclusively works with pre-existing content. An analysis of these found sources is useful because it is comparable to the journalistic and academic content discussed earlier, which is equally pre-existent. Consequently, a close look at the online commentary on genre serves to paint a more accurate picture of how online audiences discuss and evaluate genre in Radiohead’s music – unaffected by the intent and purpose of academic research.

Online writing conventions and temporal constraints Temporality has a considerable impact on genre reception online. While journalistic debates often appear as immediate reactions to the release of new musical material and mainly reflect on past events for special occasions, online audience commentary is inherently shaped by the concept of ‘retrospection.’ Retrospection, in this context, means the process of looking at the past or evaluating past music from current standpoints. It can go hand in hand with a distinct awareness of the time that has passed – for example in the case of nostalgia – but this temporal distance is rarely addressed in the online audience discourse on Radiohead. A temporal distance to the discussed subject matter is also common in academic discourse, but online discussions combine less analytical styles of writing with more pronounced retrospective points of view. There is also, very simply, a much bigger number of retrospective accounts to be found online. The launch of Amazon. com in 1995 provided music audiences with a new platform to discuss their views and opinions.9 By this point, Radiohead had already released their first two studio albums, and it should be noted that the reviews included here only go back as far as 1999 with the majority being written in more recent years. It is specifically for this reason that one can detect a distinct shift in the ways in which Radiohead’s music is discussed and evaluated. Amazon reviews of Pablo Honey, The Bends, and OK Computer are exclusively retrospective and often trace Radiohead’s stylistic progress in light of what was yet to come. Reviews for later albums show a divide between more immediate or time-bound comments and retrospective debates that often emerge in reaction to the release of new albums. YouTube was launched in 2005 and is thus considerably younger than Amazon is. It is also more likely to feature a larger number of retrospective comments on more Radiohead songs. While the nature of online reviews can therefore make it difficult to compare online audience perspectives with the positions of academics and journalists, online reviews provide great insight into the many ways in which genre reception changes and evolves over time amongst wider audience groups.

152  Genre online Retrospection is a defining characteristic that guides web audiences and affects how opinions are formed. As an inherent part of web discussions, retrospective points of view can have a considerable impact on the different modes of musical description and evaluation found online. Retrospection is for instance reflected in more frequent expressions of nostalgia, references to past times, and personal memories that often accompany more general reviews and comments. This is especially often the case with YouTube comments on earlier Radiohead songs that tend to feature temporal references. The 1990s are for instance described as a time with better music – but also in terms of more personal memories. On Amazon, this personal component often appears in the form of individual concert reviews. Meanwhile, recent reviews feature more immediate modes of expression and resemble journalistic debates. Online perspectives on Radiohead are particularly varied and often distinctly personal. They highlight the fact that they are subjective and individualised, rather than trying to hide it. While both journalists and academics are bound by specific style conventions that shape the ways in which discussions and arguments are presented, online audiences are free to experiment. They are less affected by the necessity to adhere to specific formats and writing styles. The manner in which web audiences discuss genre in Radiohead’s music tends to waver between accounts based on personal memories and journalistically inspired review formats. The type of online commentary is often determined by the chosen platform on which it is published. It is not surprising that YouTube – a website that features mostly short comments and active discussions – is a useful source for subjectively tinged commentary and personal tales. Meanwhile, journalistically inspired review styles are more often found on Amazon. While they can resemble professional and established music review styles, they also include reflections on personal memories. Since Amazon specifically asks for ‘customer reviews’ attention is actively drawn to the format of discussion, which implies that reviewers might want to adhere to certain stylistic conventions. By comparison, YouTube comments are often created for a different purpose and either look to draw attention or present a less composed type of personal critique. At the same time, they also include debates about the identification of genre in Radiohead’s music and use categorisation in a similar manner to the often more detailed Amazon reviews. Bearing this in mind, it appears that on a simple definitional level online audiences tend to position Radiohead’s music in a similar way to journalists and academics by discussing generic roots and progress. It is clear that online debates are often affected by other types of publications and conventions that were established offline. However, a closer look at the content of online discussions also reveals that reviews and comments are equally shaped by the conditions of the online discourse – its fast-moving nature and instability – and by individual listening contexts. Online commentary thus appears as an independent format that builds on previously established conventions and outside influences. It is also highly personalised and follows specific guidelines that may vary across platforms but that are nonetheless shaped by common principles.

Genre online  153 Personalisation has a significant impact on the appearance of online expressions of opinion. While journalistic and academic texts are often created for specific purposes, online audience commentary does not always follow in the same path. The listening circumstances amongst these three groups may differ but it can be assumed that online audiences in particular encounter the discussed music in various ways and contexts. All subsequent interpretations are therefore dependent on personal objectives and affected by aspects like retrospection, previous knowledge, and expectations as well as concentration levels and the listening time invested. Online commentary often displays particular styles that are shaped by these conditions and features a number of traits that result from the inherent diversity of online audiences and the perceived freedom of expression that the internet affords. While web users tend to make use of offline writing conventions, they have also created their own reviewing styles and formats. A large number of reviews and comments manage to incorporate personal memories and meanings. A main example of this is the nostalgic recounting of concert experiences that often accompany discussions of music and that are often found in online discussions of Radiohead’s work. People also frequently describe their first encounters with Radiohead’s music. Expressions of genre are thus shaped by a re-telling of memories. By extension, genre definitions that appear in online discourse are particularly varied and often based on personal genre ideologies. As a result, online uses of genre terminologies vary greatly. Online discourses present insight into a complex and multifaceted concept of genre. They portray genre ideals that are more diverse than those found in music journalism or academia because they are less bound by shared conventions. Individualisation does not only affect the content of online commentary, but also the ways in which it is presented. Audience discussions often feature more colloquial styles of expression and follow stream-of-consciousness structures that place emphasis on personal perspectives. In a similar way, the use of a first-person narrator often serves to draw a clear distinction between web users and other listener groups, because it stresses the peculiarity of the discussed content. At first glance, this can point towards a dissociation amongst web-users and raise the question to what extent one is able to find shared discourses amongst this varied group of people. It is therefore important to note that despite the web users’ tendency to distinguish themselves from each other, online discourses still often share a considerable number of traits and narratives that affect – and in turn, are affected by  –  their uses of genre. Shared discourses evolve through genre discussion, but they also guide the development of categorisation processes as will be shown later on. A further possible reason for the audience members’ leaning towards personalisation is the common aim to present unpopular or unusual opinions in a less generalising and decidedly more careful manner in order to avoid large conflicts or backlash. While online anonymity can often contribute towards the freedom of expression and a specific variety in terms of what is said throughout the genre discourse, it is also the cause of more frequent and severe forms of counter-arguments or attacks. For this reason, a crucial characteristic that shapes online discussions might be the common discrepancy between a possibility to

154  Genre online express oneself freely and the fear of instant critique that affects individual online participants in very different ways. As a further characteristic element of online commentary formats, affective styles of writing can shape the presentation of content significantly. Both Amazon reviews and YouTube comments display similar tendencies to discuss the music in a variety of specifically emotive manners. The discourse on genre is therefore usually shaped by the audience’s tone of discussion and can for instance appear rather enthusiastic or even polemic. This is because individual web users who make the decision to discuss a piece of music online often do so for specific reasons based on personal interests and motivations. While online commentary can be positive or negative, it is rarely neutral and thus often displays a degree of emotional involvement that informs the manner in which opinions are expressed. One example is the frequent use of caps lock style phrases or sentences that emphasise particular points in the discussion. This usually includes aspects that the writer is specifically passionate about and often concerns Radiohead’s status. Emotive expressions such as the ones expressed through caps lock feature frequently in online discourse. They appear in combination with argumentative structures of discussion and are used to convey opinions more insistently. The use of superlatives is equally common and again underlines a distinct tendency to present and discuss music in an emotive and often subjective manner. While many online reviews tend to mimic journalistic review styles and succeed to varying degrees, the writing styles of online audiences are inherently varied. They are shaped by individual tastes and abilities, and by previous knowledge. Compared to Amazon reviews comment sections on platforms such as YouTube feature shorter and more focused insights, but rarely proceed to deliver concise arguments. They often focus on specific genre-related issues and are thus useful for gauging the extent of genre discourse in an otherwise open-ended and topic-less online discussion. Amazon reviews generally place greater emphasis on detailed evaluations and appear in formats that reflect academic and journalistic styles of debate. Online discourses on Radiohead often feature personal elements, more detailed argumentative structures than many other artist discourses, and place specific emphasis on detailed discussions of individual songs. The latter aspect presents a fragmentation of sorts in the discussion of genre in online reviews. Online audience reviews often tend to list songs from specific albums, that are then discusses individually in stylistic terms. Instead of applying genre to an album as a whole, perceived stylistic diversity – rather than overall genre transgression – is expressed in this way. It appears that online audiences favour references to stylistic diversity over the general concept of transgression, partly because the former requires less theoretical explanation and can be conveniently vague. Combined generic descriptions of individual songs often take the place of overarching genre interpretations in album reviews. Due to the large number of individual interpretations that are not subject to editing processes, there is a wider range of canonic genre terminologies in online discourses on Radiohead. While music journalists frequently place Radiohead in rock- or pop-related categories and refer to specific subgenres, online audiences are more daring in terms

Genre online  155 of categorical choices for individual songs. They have their own ways of dealing with generic complexity that distinguish them from journalists and academics to some degree. Audience interpretations are often informed by genre-based expectations and by the authors’ individual degree of previous knowledge. The knowledge about an artist’s musical history as well as presumptions and speculations about new music can affect the ways in which evaluative standards are created. These aspects are often at the centre of debates about new albums or songs and foster a comparative mode of interpretation that usually refers back to previously encountered works by the same artist. Online audience reviews of Radiohead’s earlier albums, for instance, include more references to how expectations are met, while later albums such as OK Computer or Kid A are often seen to divert these expectations. Amnesiac is sometimes solely discussed in light of Kid A. The King of Limbs is surprisingly often described as a rock album based on Radiohead’s previous affiliation with the genre even if its songs are described as anything but rock music. Meanwhile, A Moon Shaped Pool completely divides listeners. It is described either as a typical example of Radiohead’s supposed brand of rock music, or as definitely not rock.10 While music journalists do make use of similar knowledgeand expectation-based standards, online discourses tend to go into greater detail and are furthermore shaped by retrospective modes of description. Evaluative standards are as much based on a knowledge about Radiohead’s previous music as they are informed by the specific knowledge about what was yet to come. Online audiences are in a position to compare forwards and backwards in time and thus approach the discussed content from a more informed, but also biased, point of view. In consequence, online reviews and comments on Radiohead’s early work are often informed by later events. While journalists for instance used terms like one-hit-wonders to describe Radiohead’s early music, it is notable that this sort of description almost never appears in online discussions – unless it is to reflect on past Radiohead reception in the music press.

Specialist genre audiences and processes of canon-building Since online discussions of genre in Radiohead’s music are highly personalised, writers often focus on the question how new albums fit into their individual conception of Radiohead’s style. Online audiences display a high degree of selfawareness and tend to reflect on the reasoning behind their expectations as well as their own position in relation to the music. Personal affiliations with specific genres and the proclamation thereof play an important role in the online discourse. They affect how music is presented generically in a way that one would rarely be able to find in journalism or academia. By stating their affiliations with established genres or fandoms, audience members often seek to distinguish themselves from other discourse participants. At the same time, they also give direction to people with similar tastes and position the music in light of their personal experiences. Comparing reviews of Radiohead’s later albums to their earlier work, it is apparent that the band’s web audience has become more diversified in terms

156  Genre online of their genre affiliations. Individual audience members identify themselves as fans of genres such as rock, jazz, electronica, hip hop, or classical music. This underlines an increasing stylistic diversity in the Radiohead’s work and their cross-generic appeal. Audience affiliations with certain genres are often specifically mentioned for the purpose of emphasising genre diversity. Many audience members underline their personal interest in Radiohead’s music despite the fact that they usually would not count themselves amongst the group of listeners it might be aimed at. There are many statements that go like this: ‘Even as a fan of [specific genre] I like listening to Radiohead.’ These types of comments do not only include genre affiliations, but they also define the music by way of exclusion thus mirroring the negative genre definitions discussed in Chapter three. At the same time, the mention of generic affiliations shows if and when expectations are subverted. This fact is particularly prominent after the release of Kid A, which was often met with confusion. It is at the point of perceived generic change that audiences assess their own position in relation to the music and re-evaluate the genre they had previously assigned to an artist. In the case of Kid A’s online reception, this resulted in debates regarding the band’s position as a rock band and led to discussions about whether the newly released music could still be considered as such.11 In online discourse, the concept of ‘canon-building’ presents another form of categorisation that is slightly evasive and that describes music in a genre-transcending manner. Instead of utilising canonic terminologies, the idea of canon-building places the music into categories that position it in relation to other works and that are not always genre bound. Terms such as ‘masterpiece’ or ‘classic’ are examples of such categories that refrain from making clear generic statements. Both terms appear regularly in Radiohead reception on Amazon and YouTube – especially in retrospective discussions of OK Computer and Kid A. Similarly, the term ‘artwork’ or ‘art’ in general as a description for specific albums is common in the online discourse on Radiohead and serves to emphasise the band’s status. The process of canon-building often seeks either to judge the discussed music or to highlight its overall value and authenticity in relation to other works. Since canon-building frequently makes use of canonic genre terms and attaches value judgements  –  the category ‘best rock group’ is one example  –  the concepts of canon-building and generic categorisation often intersect or overlap. In online audience discussions of Radiohead’s music, one can find a large variety of these terminologies and canon-building increases considerably after OK Computer. This interestingly coincides with a trend in the music press of printing best-of lists and thus contributing to canon-building processes. Radiohead’s albums have frequently featured on such lists. OK Computer was famously voted best album of all time by Q-readers in 1997. Therefore, it is not too far-fetched an assumption that online discussions reflect popular offline trends and opinions expressed in the music press. It should be noted that canon-building factors more heavily in online discussions than in journalistic discourse and it is distinctly affective. Canon-building processes distinguish online audiences from journalists and academics. Canon-building appears as the most influential form of categorisation

Genre online  157 online alongside canonic terminologies, which specifically underlines the importance of value judgements in online discourses on genre.

Canonic terminologies and stages of the discourse While the previous discussion has shown that online discourses can differ from journalistic and academic debates in various ways, it is interesting to note that over the years Radiohead’s online reception developed in a manner comparable to offline discussions and often features similar narratives. The online discourse moves from individual canonic interpretations of the band’s earlier albums towards a discourse on genre that mostly emerges with OK Computer. As opposed to music journalism, this development does not occur simultaneously with Radiohead’s album releases, but retrospectively. This suggests that the development of a meta-discourse is not only due to the album’s temporal placement, but also to its content. There are many reflections on previous strands of the genre discourse – online and offline – amongst online audiences, that often apply a critical perspective. While the offline discourse on genre in Radiohead’s music evolves over time and is shaped by the band’s own development, online comments on the same issues are not bound by temporal restrictions. They often fluctuate between simpler forms of discussion, actual genre discourse and meta-reflections in the course of a few sentences. While journalistic discussions of genre in Radiohead’s music evolve in a linear fashion and often parallel to the music, online audience discourses tend to go through similar developments in a much shorter time frame. Retrospective online comments often include several stages of genre ­discussion – usually linked to specific albums – in very close proximity. An online review might for instance start with the interpretation of Pablo Honey or The Bends as rock albums and proceed to look at OK Computer or Kid A for a more detailed discussion of generic issues in Radiohead’s work leading into a meta-discourse on genre. This discourse can feature reflections on associated debates in music journalism, academic texts, and other audience comments. Online commentary is not bound to a particular time or album. It is therefore inherently shaped by the fact that it does not feature the developmental levels of genre reception that occur for instance in the music press. While older commentary might feature less of a meta-discourse on generic issues, this is outweighed by the fact that a considerable number of online comments on Radiohead albums and songs were written in more recent years. They usually include a mixture of different modes and levels of discussion – canonic interpretations as well as meta-discourse and so on – that equally appear in reviews for all albums. Online commentary is consequently less linear than offline discourse. It can appear more complex and fast moving because it usually reflects on both past and future events. While Radiohead’s online reception has over time become more widespread and diverse, it also deals with specific narratives and shared discourses that are comparable to offline discussions. Online commentary includes distinct reception stages that categorise albums in a similar manner to music journalism with the help of canonic terminologies. Different from offline journalism, these reception stages

158  Genre online do not only appear over time, but can become apparent within the same review. The stages of canonic interpretation are usually at the core of online reviews or comments and often evolve into common strands of interpretation. Shared discourses on genre develop from common interpretations and are equally present in online contexts as they are offline. As a main element of online commentary, they usually provide an underlying structure for discussions. Specific narratives often fulfil a similar function and are equally present in Radiohead’s online reception. They are often based on common ideas that are then adopted into online discourse and shaped by it. One example of this is the emphasis of a dichotomy between experimental and popular elements in Radiohead’s music. Another is the band member’s off- and on-stage behaviour and the question of how it affects their generic positioning. Both types of discussions can be found at various stages of Radiohead’s career and in reference to all albums. While narratives are not always focused on generic issues, they usually reflect aspects of categorisation to some extent and can appear in genre argumentations. The online discourse on genre in the music of Radiohead is varied and complex. So are the different uses of genre and categorisation amongst online audiences. In a similar way to music, journalism, and academia, online discussions feature canonic terminologies as common forms of categorisation – often in new or slightly altered ways. The choice of terminology can be affected by retrospective points of view. In online discourse, the evaluation of Radiohead’s earlier albums and songs is often exclusively retrospective. A large number of these discussions focus on a general stylistic development and thus foster debates about stylistic change and diversity. Radiohead’s rock influences are a common thread that runs through most of the web commentary. Online audiences display a general tendency to utilise well-known and established genre terms, but also to improvise. Well-known canonic terms mostly appear without further explanation and can indicate a vagueness or reluctance to make use of lesser-known terms that could potentially lead to criticism and foster long debates. A look at Radiohead’s online reception shows that when it comes to canonic terminologies, web audiences tend to favour common and simple types such as meta-genres. Discussions often revolve around a small number of genre traits that are then used to position Radiohead’s music within well-known musical traditions. One example is the interpretation of Radiohead’s early music as guitar rock – often solely based on the band’s extensive use of the instrument.12 While the online discourse can thus appear quite simple and direct, it is important to note that this use of genre is defining for the otherwise fast-paced and often implicative online context. Since online discussions are generally less formulaic, aspects such as background knowledge about Radiohead’s history or the expertise in a specific genre are often implied or presupposed. The fact that online discourse makes little use of more distinguished canonic terms or subgenres is one of its most telling features. It positions the online discourse as a way of communication that can be very accessible but also generalising. At the same time, it is noteworthy that complex interpretations are often only implied or alluded to in discussions. Consequently, some shared discourses may

Genre online  159 be obscured. While OK Computer may for instance only be described as a rock album, further discussion often hints at generic nuances by mentioning musical influences or specific sounds. Several Amazon reviewers mention experimental rock nuances, a likeness to Pink Floyd, and comparisons to classical composition styles in their reviews of OK Computer (see Amazon EU SARL, ©1996-2019b). These types of discussion often imply a complex genre understanding that uses canonic terminology as an umbrella term to provide structure and meaning to the rest of the discussion. In this context, a shared discourse on diversity and transgression is only addressed by evoking specific genre-related associations, but less often discussed in a more explicit fashion. In this way, online discussions often feature implied or obscured arguments that present a form of common knowledge and by extension an implied shared discourse. While both journalism and academia make use of the same range of canonic terminology that also appears in online discourse, the latter is clearly distinguished by the ways in which these terms are used. Since web audiences tend to work with a smaller range of canonic terminologies, this necessarily limits the ways in which the music can be described and interpreted. While it might appear that this way of discussing genre is not always conducive to highlighting aspects of stylistic change and diversity, that are often present in offline discourse, it is the ways in which these terms are used that truly define the online discourse and that serve to present a more all-encompassing view of how Radiohead’s music is perceived and evaluated. One of the main attributes of the online discourse on Radiohead is the fact that – despite its lack of more nuanced canonic terminologies – it is incredibly detailed in its descriptions. The uses of canonic terminology are strategic and appear as ways of gauging how the music works generically and to what extent it is formed by different generic traits. When discussing Radiohead, web audiences make use of a range of canonic terms that span from rock to electronica – a contrast that is mostly presented as a gradual development  –  but that also includes elements of jazz and classical music. While this development is mirrored offline, it is interesting to note that in online commentary canonic terms often appear altered and are used in their adjective- or verb-format. It is particularly this ‘adjectification’ of canonic terms that contributes towards the presentation of musical content in a diversified manner. While Radiohead’s early albums may initially be described as part of the rock spectrum and with the help of more general subcategories such as grunge, indie, or alternative, many online discussions incorporate generic nuances in the form of genre adjectives. This means that they use adjective forms of existing canonic terms – descriptions such as “jazzy,” “funky,” “punk-esque,” or even “shoegazy” (see Amazon EU SARL, ©1996–2019a; ©1996–2019b; ©1996–2019c). At the same time, ‘verbifications’ – expression such as ‘to rock’ or ‘to jazz it up’ – can be even more problematic, because they have become very generalised and are by no means restricted to be used in association with their individual genre counterparts. While these uses of terminology can have the effect of making genre associations appear less definite and thus less criticisable, the easy-going manner in which different instances of ‘adjectification’ and ‘verbification’ often occur and are thrown

160  Genre online together in online discourse contributes to the presentation of Radiohead’s music as generically complex and diverse. In a similar manner, combinatory genres consisting of several canonic terms – for example, “industrial grunge rock”  –  and the combination of canonic terms with evaluative adjectives – such as “aggressive rock” – are often found in online discourse (see Amazon EU SARL, ©1996–2019b; ©1996–2019d). The content of online discussions is thus presented in a distinctly diversified manner. It is also affected by processes of genre fragmentation that result in the description of individual songs with the help of various canonic terms that appear in different forms. While this might indicate a vagueness of genre interpretations and an uncertainty regarding the generic positioning of Radiohead’s work as a whole, it also points towards a need for precision that favours the accurate description of individual songs over generalisations. Web audiences often employ train of thought styles of writing. The online discourse on genre can therefore appear very detailed, but also evasive. Due to their creative uses of common genre terms in different grammatical forms, online audiences thus present aspects of stylistic change and transgression in a less prominent but nonetheless individual and specific manner that is shaped by the very conditions of the online environment. The earlier discussion of journalistic discourses has shown that over time journalists have invented new terminologies in order to make sense of stylistic change in Radiohead’s work. While new categories usually evolved as purposeoriented modes of description that helped to strengthen the journalist’s individual status and place within the music press, they have also played a considerable part in positioning Radiohead’s music as something close to a generic novelty that goes beyond existing categories. With this in mind, it is interesting to note that new genre terminologies rarely appear in the context of online discussions.13 The fact that online discourses on genre in Radiohead’s music predominantly revolve around existing categories suggests that audiences are not only less concerned with distinguishing themselves amongst their peers, but also prefer to utilise terminologies that are easily comprehensible and widely known. This can explain the variations of canonic genre forms in online discourse that allow for more diverse and creative ways of describing genre without completely moving away from existing categories. As mentioned before, online audiences generally work with a similar range of canonic terms that are also used in offline discourse. On both Amazon and YouTube, Radiohead’s earlier albums and songs are frequently described with the help of canonic terminologies that fall within the wider rock spectrum – alternative, indie, grunge, britpop, and so on. Meanwhile, Radiohead’s music after Kid A is discussed with the help of more diverse terminologies that range from rock to electronica. This also includes allusions to categories such as avant-garde or art music, that are somewhat removed from popular music. In online discourse, genre terms are generally used rather freely and – while definitions may vary – it is notable that rules and characteristics are rarely discussed. More so than journalistic discourse, the online discourse shows that each writer has individually formed views on specific genres. While a general consensus is present in the form of basic rules, personal understandings of genre vary

Genre online  161 considerably. Nevertheless, the different stages of Radiohead reception that appear in online contexts mirror common journalistic and academic strands of reception with regard to the uses of canonic terminologies. Given the retrospective nature of online discussions, it is interesting that web audiences apply the same canonic terminologies to specific albums at different points in time. Despite the temporal distance that some of these writers might have to the reviewed work, they often continue to describe the music in similar terms as others have done before them. Alternatively, they may also discuss these terminologies in a more critical manner. As this indicates, retrospective canonic interpretations are not crucially affected by the audience’s knowledge of what was yet to come. Instead, they may be affected by already existing discourses. Despite the fact that knowledge about Radiohead’s future work can shape the form of online commentary and the ways in which general stylistic tendencies are discussed, it has little impact on individual album interpretations. This observation emphasises the consistency of genre reception stages amongst online and offline Radiohead audiences as well as the significance and reach of shared genre discourses in general.

Non-canonic terminologies Online and offline discourses on genre have several similarities. They work for instance with similar terminologies and apply categorisation as a tool for making sense of complex musical developments. While listener groups in online and offline contexts consistently use canonic genre terminologies, the implementations of these terms differ depending on the specific user groups. It is then not surprising that the evasion or circumvention of canon terminologies with replacement terminologies – that factor heavily in academic and journalistic discourse – also appears in online commentary. One of the most common forms of genre evasion in offline discourse is the use of adjective genres or noun categories that seek to define the music in more descriptive, but nonetheless vague terms. As opposed to music journalists who often make use of a similar range of adjective terminologies – terms such as ‘experimental’ or ‘mainstream,’ and so on – it is interesting to note that online audiences generally use less established and often affective categories. There is a wide range of descriptive terminologies to be found in online debates and these are generally less canonised. Examples of this are expressions such as ‘angsty,’ ‘weird,’ or ‘arty’ music, but also ‘millennial,’ ‘minimalist,’ or ‘post-modern.’ In many cases, these descriptions are mentioned with reference to similar acts that fall under the same banner. Some of the terms are not very music specific, which might not only be the result of non-professional authorship, but in the case of Radiohead’s online reception a conscious or subconscious attempt to explain the band as a product of their specific time. Web users generally place great emphasis on a link between the discussed music and the time and place of its release. Descriptions of Radiohead’s music as ‘90s music’ are extremely common and widespread – especially on YouTube. Even though retrospection does not significantly change the processes of canonic genre appellation for each album, one can nevertheless observe a greater

162  Genre online temporal awareness amongst online audiences writing about past music. This also includes more displays of nostalgia. Reviews tend to describe Radiohead as distinctly British. While there are a number of allusions to the genre britpop, the term ‘British’ appears on its own as a descriptor for a certain style of UK rock music whose rules are not further specified. At the same time, Radiohead’s overall sound and stylistic progress is often described in a generalising manner. Terms such as ‘melodic,’ ‘harmonic,’ or ‘haunting’ are very common and appear in combination with canonic terms. Similar to music, journalism genre is also hinted at through references to musical influences and in this regard online audiences and journalists tend to discuss similar works. Both journalists and online audiences often focus on a range of musical influences and sounds that are then compared to specific Radiohead albums. Referring to Radiohead’s early work one can find mentions of Nirvana, U2, and the Pixies. Meanwhile, reviews of Ok Computer frequently discuss Pink Floyd. Especially in later years, the discussed genre influences are more diverse and feature components from both rock and electronic music. A greater range of musical references is the result of an attempt to account for and explain transgressive tendencies in Radiohead’s work. Certain compositional techniques are mentioned with a similar purpose in mind. At the same time, online discourses can also include one-off mentions of less-referenced artists that are the product of individualised interpretations. While journalists often refer to the ways in which Radiohead’s music is affected by the band’s influences, online discussions pay equal attention to Radiohead’s own impact on future musicians. Online audiences highlight a number of musical traits – singing styles, instrumentation, and overall sound – that are representative of Radiohead and that have affected other artists. These types of discussions again indicate an awareness of or allusion to a distinct ‘Radiohead genre,’ which consequently forms part of the online discourse. Radiohead’s music presents a stylistic norm, against which new similar artists are compared. While negative genre terminologies appear in a similar capacity as they do in offline discourse, negative adjective genres – descriptions such as “not immediate” (see Amazon EU SARL, ©1996– 2019e) – are common in reviews of Radiohead’s later albums. They often imply a sense of confusion on the side of online audience members that is based on a diversion of genre-based expectations. Another important aspect that affects online discussions of Radiohead’s music is the interpretation of specific albums as concept albums. The first time this type of category is used in online discourse is in reviews and comments on OK Computer. While the term is rarely discussed in great depth, it is often used to describe specific albums independently from other genre works to position them in a category of their own. OK Computer marks a point of change in online reception and a move away from established terminologies towards a growing interest in Radiohead’s individual style and progress. Discussions are centred around the interpretation of Radiohead’s current music in comparison to past and potential future works. There is a very pronounced focus on Radiohead’s general stylistic development, increasingly transgressive tendencies, and indefinability. On the one hand, this is the result of a growing complexity of stylistic components in

Genre online  163 the band’s music, that is increasingly difficult to define with the help of established or replacement genre terminologies. On the other hand, this development emphasises the presence and significance of a ‘Radiohead genre’ concept in discussions – even if commenters rarely go into more interpretive detail other than stating the fact of Radiohead’s supposed generic independence. While the understanding of such a category may be very fluid, it affects online discourses to such an extent that the use of other genre terminologies notably decreases from album to album.

A few words about fan message boards Until this point, the analysis of online content has purposely refrained from talking about genre discourses on online message boards, which can present another great source of information for studying audience conceptions of genre. From an ethical point of view, the use of existing or generated information found on password- and username-protected message boards can be questionable without attaining the explicit permissions of discourse participants. Nevertheless, presenting a general overview of information and discursive action can suffice to give insight into genre evaluation processes while preserving the anonymity of online contributors and websites. In Radiohead’s case, there is a variety of online discussions and message boards devoted solely to the band. The participants often speculate about or assess new albums and in the process address issues of genre. As opposed to the comments on YouTube and Amazon, message boards often include more interaction and appear more spontaneous in nature. They mirror active offline discussions and can thus be useful to understand the communication processes amongst more involved fans of Radiohead’s music. Discussions often revolve around the elementary question of how Radiohead’s music can be categorised. This usually leads into a discourse on stylistic diversity, transgression, and evasiveness. A common train of thought amongst different message board users is the conviction that Radiohead can (or should) not be categorised. This opinion is either based on the idea that Radiohead’s music is too multifaceted and therefore referential of various genres or else presents something that is completely novel and unprecedented. The latter assumption, of course, also suggests a way of romanticising the band’s music that is often found amongst devoted music fans. At the same time, it is notable that message board discussions of Radiohead’s music often feature a high degree in technical music knowledge, detailed analytical discussions, and opinions that are founded on mostly well-worded and extended argumentations. Considering the expressed opinions about genre, message board discussions do not stray far from the general genre discourse on Radiohead. They utilise a similar range of terminologies that are also found on YouTube and Amazon and incorporate a variety of genre forms, mainly relying on established canon terms and at times non-canonic replacement terms. While a study of message boards thus serves to extend the analysis of online genre discourses, it does not necessarily add anything new in terms of terminologies that do not

164  Genre online also appear in other sources. It is notable, however, that discussions of genre on message boards are often more concentrated, detailed, and rich in content. In this way, a short study of these sources serves to draw out strands of generic perception and interpretation that often appear more dispersed and less in-depth in other online sources. Message board discussions thus contribute to the discourse on Radiohead’s musical development and also feature conceptualisations of a ‘Radiohead genre.’ As this shows one can easily find shared genre discourses on very different online platforms, even if the manner of discussion is dependent on individual conventions.

The ‘Radiohead genre’ and notions of transgression The discussion thus far has shown that retrospection and the temporal dispersion of online commentary significantly affect the ways in which shared discourses develop online. Genre interpretations of specific works usually remain consistent over time, which serves to emphasise the stability of common genre perceptions and the longevity of genre reception stages. Since journalistic opinions evolved in a mostly linear fashion alongside Radiohead’s own stylistic progress, the study of online commentary can show that a lack of this temporal parallel does not affect the shared discourse in a distinctly notable way. Different stages of genre reception are equally present in online discourse as they are offline and can appear even more consistent. It is interesting to note that from an early point online discussions pay less attention to individual genre interpretations and rather focus on Radiohead’s generic progress and issues of genre transgression. The online commentary on Radiohead is shaped by the presence of meta-discourses that address the ways in which other online contributors have discussed Radiohead’s music in terms of genre in the past and the issues this presents. At the same time, canonic genre discourses online generally follow a clear trajectory that describes Radiohead’s move from rock to electronica. Since web audiences often work with very popular canonic terms and meta-genres, a study of online discourses is helpful for identifying a mainstream-informed consensus amongst all audience groups and for noting possible similarities and differences to journalists and academics in this regard. A study of online discourses thus proves a useful method for reviewing and reassessing the results of all previous discourse analyses. It is apparent, for instance, that the move from rock into electronic music presents one of the most popular narratives in the genre discourse on Radiohead. It is discussed amongst large audience groups online, but it is also one of the defining themes that permeate more specialised genre discourses on Radiohead in journalism and academia. While web audiences generally apply genre terminologies in a more immediate fashion than most journalists and academics, a look at online commentary puts the results found during a study of offline discourses into a new perspective. The general move from personalised interpretations to shared genre discourses in online commentary is accompanied by a move from canonic interpretations towards a discussion of stylistic diversity, transgression, and generic change that

Genre online  165 is especially persistent in the commentary on OK Computer and Kid A. There are many allusions to the growing generic complexity of Radiohead’s work and stylistic diversity and transgression quickly evolve into main themes of the genre discourse online. Web audiences often appear to search for a common denominator in Radiohead’s work and reviews revolve around the issue of what distinguishes Radiohead’s music from other artists. A popular opinion is that Radiohead’s music simply does not fit into existing categories any longer and that it defies categorisation. At the same time, a large number of discussions allude to a move from rock towards electronic music, which grounds the discussions of progress and diversity in a stylistically changing but none the less inherently popular generic field. As mentioned in the discussion of music journalism, the genre debate on Radiohead has often incorporated a dichotomy of experimental elements and popular styles. A similar theme persistently appears in online discourse: canonic terminologies are frequently mentioned alongside issues of categorisation and generic complexity. In this way, the concept of innovation presents a contrast to notions of stylistic consistency, but at the same time does not appear without it. While online audiences often highlight the ways in which Radiohead’s style changes and develops from album to album, they also emphasise the thought that the band always manages to retain recognisable and characteristic elements in their overall sound. This understanding links wider online audiences to participants of the music press. In both cases, notions of a ‘Radiohead genre’ rely on this two-part perception of Radiohead’s music. In online discourse, they appear consistently throughout Radiohead’s reception – partly as a result of the temporal and retrospective conditions of the discussions – and shape the ways in which the music is described and categorised. The earliest explicit mention of a ‘Radiohead genre’ in the reviewed online debates appears in an Amazon review of The Bends. The discussion focuses on Radiohead’s stylistic diversity and progress as the core of their personal style (see Amazon EU SARL, ©1996–2019d). It is often mentioned that Radiohead manage to adopt a specific style and ‘make it their own,’ but online audiences also highlight the fact that the band is generally hard to categorise. While YouTube comments are more concerned with typical elements in Radiohead’s music – such as the voice or instrumentation  –  the concise nature of most comments puts a limit to more detailed discussions of the subject. By contrast, message board audiences and Amazon reviews discuss the possibility of a ‘Radiohead genre’ in more detail. Since there is a strong tendency to discuss Radiohead’s music in individualised generic terms within online discussions, discussions about a ‘Radiohead genre’ exceed journalistic debates on the topic in numbers. It is sometimes a reluctance to commit to specific canonic interpretations or the focus on Radiohead’s stylistic diversity and impact on future bands that foster these debates. With the release of Kid A audience members especially took note of stylistic progress in Radiohead’s music, but many maintained that the music was also tied to the band’s previous work through unchanging characteristic features. These not only served to place Radiohead within canonic categories, but also formed the base for conceptualisations of a ‘Radiohead genre.’ The mentioned

166  Genre online characteristic elements, for instance, include the singing style and voice – even when electronically processed – the use of guitars, and Radiohead’s experimentation with electronic effects. Overall, the notion of a ‘Radiohead genre’ in online discourse thus developed in a similar way to music journalism. While journalistic discussions of such a category are often more detailed, online audience discussions on the same topic appear considerably more frequently. For this reason, they provide useful insight into different ways in which Radiohead’s music can be interpreted as a distinct musical category and show to what extent these views present the foundation for a shared discourse. Most music journalists place the development of a ‘Radiohead genre’ at the point of change between OK Computer and Kid A. While they identify the dichotomy between Radiohead’s generic progress and simultaneous stylistic consistency as one of the band’s defining elements, the extent of journalistic discourse on Radiohead’s music as a distinct generic category is mostly limited to this discussion. Online debates often go further and it is interestingly around the time of Hail to the Thief that one can observe the beginning of a shared discourse on the development of a ‘Radiohead genre.’ Reviews of the album often focus on the notion of Hail to the Thief as a display of stylistic hybridity that is comprised of the different sounds and styles of Radiohead’s previous albums. This discussion is frequently accompanied by an equally engaged debate about alternative interpretations like a possible return to more basic rock music or a slow but continuous move into the world of electronica. In online discourse, the idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ thus goes hand in hand with canonic genre roots – both interpretations are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. While Radiohead’s music is often interpreted as a distinct category in its own right, it is also always associated with more established canonic terms that define the origins and overall development of this category. In this way, the potential ‘Radiohead genre’ is embedded with more generic meaning, but also put into perspective as a category that is not entirely independent or as novel as some people suggest. In online debates, the discourse on a ‘Radiohead genre’ moves alongside more traditional genre notions and is grounded on existing traditions that affect the ways in which a new personalised category comes into existence. In this way, Radiohead’s online reception clearly displays a move from individual canonic interpretations over evasive terminologies towards a discussion of stylistic change and progression that soon led to the formation of a new category based on a hybridity of previous styles. Due to the temporal conditions of the online discourse, this development often occurs within the same commentary or at least in close proximity. Starting with Hail to the Thief, the genre discourse does not only address specific musical influences  –  which can further point towards a solidification of a potential ‘Radiohead genre’ – but also Radiohead’s own status as influential artists. With the reviews and comments on In Rainbows, the online discourse on Radiohead’s stylistic hybridity becomes increasingly more detailed. It is at this point in time that web audiences also begin to express more genre-based expectations, that often refer back to the perceived amalgamation of previous styles and hence the discourse on a ‘Radiohead genre.’ In the music

Genre online  167 press, In Rainbows sparked many debates about music distribution and signalled Radiohead’s move into online retail. In online discourse, the album is often discussed as a moment of arrival. There are fewer debates about Radiohead’s generic interpretation and instead a greater focus on the exploration of their personal style. With all of this in mind, it becomes apparent that the notion of a ‘Radiohead genre’ in online discourse approximately appears at the same time as the beginning discussions on Radiohead’s inner generic complexity. Notions of stylistic diversity and transgression, a certain moment of maturing, or even the move beyond existing categories affect online discussions on genre in Radiohead’s music and foster debates about the development of a distinct personal style. At the same time, there are debates about canonic interpretations, such as the move from rock into electronic music, as well as more abstract discussions like the notion of stylistic complexity versus commercial appeal. Online debates can be incredibly fast paced and incorporate discussions about many albums from a retrospective point of view. But at the same time, they also take their time in pointing out a potential ‘Radiohead genre,’ which is seen as more of Radiohead’s coming into their own than creating a category that has to hold up to other genres. Rather than OK Computer or Kid A, Hail to the Thief marks the point in time when these debates start to occur more often. As such, the concept of a ‘Radiohead genre’ is developed in a mostly linear fashion starting with the notion of stylistic change and progress and ending with Radiohead’s inner-musical hybridity and particular brand of genre transgression that relies on an amalgamation of their own previous works and styles. The online reception of more recent albums such as The King of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool shows that although Radiohead are generally described in terms of their inherent generic complexity, audience members generally tend to identify the group as a rock band. In this way, the online discourse on genre in Radiohead’s music has reached a shared conclusion, namely the unspoken agreement, that even in spite of their distinct stylistic tendencies that move beyond genres, Radiohead are essentially a group that arose from rock traditions and that will always be shaped by this fact. This development also serves to underline the consolidation of a ‘Radiohead genre:’ while online audiences agree that Radiohead are at their core a rock band, this does not bind them to specific canonic interpretations. Rather, it allows for various discussions of how Radiohead have moved beyond the genre and continue to evade the concept of traditional categorisation. By way of conclusion, it can be said that the analysis of online discourses presents a useful method for studying and understanding popular music genres and their inherent complexities. Online discourses often appear varied and complex and do not always include detailed arguments. Nevertheless, they often present shared opinions more clearly than journalists or academics and are increasingly interactive. They are often more spontaneous, immediate, and fast paced than other discourses. A study of online discourses is thus useful to consolidate what has already been shown in music journalism: uses of genre are similar amongst

168  Genre online different audience groups, but always shaped by the nature of individual listening contexts and by the audiences’ medium and manner of expression. While the study of music journalism has displayed distinct reception stages and delivered useful insights into shared discourses in journalistic contexts, online audiences often appear to be even more in tune with each other and generally less competitive. The strong inter-audience communication allows for more engaged discussions of genre and the further solidification of specific shared discourses that are also found in offline environments. For this reason, the study of online sources – in addition to offline discourses – cannot only be useful to provide insight into the different uses of genre in a web context, but also helps to achieve a more extensive and all-encompassing view of Radiohead’s wider audience reception in terms of generic complexity and transgression. New information can be gained on the ways in which shared discourses develop under different temporal conditions and are shaped by the online environment. This opens up new perspectives on the functionality of genre concepts and notions of transgression under quickly changing and less standardised circumstances. Online discourse analysis thus presents a crucial tool for understanding the ways in which complex notions of genre are dealt with in more communal and interactive, but also distinctly versatile and personalised contexts.

Notes 1 The term ‘trolling’ describes patterns of behaviour in certain web users, whose main intention is to disrupt and disturb online discussions or act in a provoking manner. For more on the topic, see Donath (1999: 27–58). 2 As mentioned before, Rockwell (2012: 372 ff.) points out that this is also due to the fast-paced nature of the online discourse. 3 The website Internet World Stats shows that in June 2018 roughly 55% of the world population were able to access the internet. Of this number, 49% were located in Asia, 16.8% in Europe, 11% in Africa, 10.4% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 8.2% in North America, 3.9% in the Middle East, and 0.7% in Oceania and Australia. By contrast, the percentage of people per continent with access to the internet (penetration in % of population) ranges from 95% in North America, over 85.2% in Europe, 68.9% in Oceania and Australia, 71.8% in South America, 61.1% in Central America, 47.5% in the Caribbean, 64.5% in the Middle East, 49% in Asia, and 35.2% in Africa. For more information, see Miniwatts Marketing Group (©2019). 4 While Youtube.com features international commentary, Amazon.co.uk was chosen as a source over Amazon.com because it is the main online distributer of Radiohead albums released in Radiohead’s home country and on their original record label. The platform serves as a useful source for review texts in English that can be read comparatively. Despite the fact that texts from the US domain Amazon.com were viewed in preparation for this chapter, these review sections are extremely expansive and thus more difficult to navigate. If one wanted to study Amazon.com texts or other expansive review sections, it is therefore useful to set a time limit in regard to the appearance dates of individual contributions. This study, by contrast, refrains from working with time limits. 5 The reviews were posted either in response to the physical versions of each album or to the downloadable versions. 6 While the YouTube videos included in this study are mostly official Radiohead videos, individual URLs are not cited due to ethical reasons.

Genre online  169 7 While the field of online research is still young, studies of online content appear more and more often. One of the main problems of clearing up the ethical concerns for a study like this is that in most cases researchers use the internet to generate their own research responses rather than for gathering ethnographic data through observation. Since this study works with already existing content, it does so under the premise that online contributors remain anonymous and untraceable. Nathan Hesselink’s (2013) essay “Radiohead’s ‘Pyramid Song:’ Ambiguity, Rhythm, and Participation” presents an interesting example of a similar methodological approach. He also makes use of YouTube commentary, but includes online pseudonyms and links to the videos. Overall, approaches to a study of online content still vary greatly and can certainly benefit from future research. 8 Nevertheless, it is notable that both platforms feature a mixture of real names and pseudonyms and hence privacy may vary. On both YouTube and Amazon, users are responsible for ensuring their personal degree of privacy by constructing their online identity accordingly. 9 The British version, Amazon.co.uk, had its launch in 1998. 10 As Rockwell (2012: 372 ff.) has shown, these tensions in the genre discourse often benefit the development of genre and lead to a renegotiation of rules. In Radiohead’s individual case, this results in an ongoing negotiation of generic meaning. 11 In many cases, these discussions focus on defining rock as a category, which is not an easy feat. They also hold implications for each authors’ previous understanding of Radiohead’s music in terms of genre. 12 Due to the different format of online comments and the presence of review stages, examples of this may appear in online reviews for all albums. By contrast, the journalistic interpretation of Radiohead’s music as ‘rock’ or ‘guitar rock’ is mostly found in discussions of earlier albums. 13 Indeed, the source material studied for this chapter only features new combinations of existing terms as discussed previously, but completely refrains from including new terminologies.

References Amazon EU SARL (2019a). Customer Reviews: Radiohead–Amnesiac. Accessed at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amnesiac-Radiohead/productreviews/B01DPSNIY8/ ref=cm_cr_dp_d_ show:all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews [27.02.2019]. Amazon EU SARL (2019b). Customer Reviews: Radiohead–OK Computer. Accessed at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/OK-Computer-Radiohead/productreviews/B01DPSNU78/ ref=cm_cr_dp_d_ show:all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews [27.02.2019]. Amazon EU SARL (2019c). Customer Reviews: Radiohead–Pablo Honey. Accessed at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pablo-Honey-Radiohead/productreviews/B000002UR7/ ref=cm_cr_dp_d_ show:all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews [27.02.2019]. Amazon EU SARL (2019d). Customer Reviews: Radiohead–The Bends. Accessed at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bends-Radiohead/productreviews/B01DPSN0VY/ref=cm_ cr_dp_d_show:all_btm ?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews [27.02.2019]. Amazon EU SARL (2019e). Customer Reviews: Radiohead–The King of Limbs. Accessed at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Limbs-Radiohead/productreviews/B01F0ME98G/ ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show:all _btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews [27.02.2019]. Donath, J. S. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. In: P. Kollock and M. A. Smith, eds Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge. pp. 29–59. Evans, A. and Stasi, M. (2014). Desperately Seeking Methodology: New Directions in Fan Studies Research. Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. 11(2). pp. 4–23.

170  Genre online Hesselink, N. D. (2013). Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”: Ambiguity, Rhythm, and Participation. Music Theory Online. 19(1). Accessed at: http://mtosmt.org/issues/ mto.13.19.1/ mto.13.19.1.hesselink.html [27.02.2019]. Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Los Angeles, London: SAGE. Miniwatts Marketing Group. Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics. Accessed at: http://www.internetworldstats.com [27.02.2019]. Rockwell, J. (2012). What Is Bluegrass Anyway? Category Formation, Debate and the Framing of Musical Genre. Popular Music. 31(3). pp. 363–381.

Conclusion

On 8 May 2016, the day A Moon Shaped Pool was released, an image surfaced on several social media websites with the title “Radiohead New Album Fan Reaction Bingo.”1 The image is a chart that lists several possible reactions to the new album predicting and parodying the types of first reactions that the artist might consider typical of Radiohead fans. While the intention of the image was surely a humorous one, it paints an interesting critical picture of the types of audience expectations that one might witness in reaction to new musical material from a band that has such a long and intriguing history of genre subversion. The bingo card contains optional reactions that range from exaggerated praise to social critique in a predominantly ironic manner. The artwork pokes fun at those types of reactions that can come across as pseudo-intellectual and over-eager. However, in doing so it also includes interesting references to past Radiohead discourses. There are questions like “where is the guitars at?” and statements like “they haven’t been good since 2003/2002/2000/1998/1995.” At the same time, the reactions include (again, mostly ironic and purposely overdone) references to Radiohead’s supposed futurism, compositional artistry, emotional expressiveness, comparisons to classical music, social and environmental engagements, ranking lists, and extensive praise wrapped in abstract metaphors. Even though the chart may have been intended as more of a self-ironic criticism, it is surprisingly accurate and in tune with a lot of the reactions to genre in Radiohead’s work that the past chapters have brought forward. There is not one single common reaction, but rather an evasion of genre that runs through all discourse and specific ways of expression that have been established over time. The image underlines the self-awareness of many Radiohead fans and their awareness of the genre discourse. It shows that the discourse on Radiohead is so rich that even types of reactions to new music have been canonised, but there is still a remaining sense of vagueness when it comes to determining genre. This ultimately brings back the central question asked at the beginning of this study: what remains of genre in light of its transgression? A short recap of all findings shall tie together the answers and theoretical ideas developed throughout this book for a study of genre transgression in individual musical oeuvres.

172 Conclusion A central aim of this book was to deliver a study of generic diversity and transgression in Radiohead’s work that looks at both the music itself as well as its wider reception. In Chapter one, theoretical approaches from various disciplines were introduced and considered with regard to their usefulness for a study of popular music reception. The extended look at genre theory and history showed that academic discussions of popular music genres first appeared during medieval times and thus even precede the emergence of popular music studies as a discipline. As an academic field that combines elements from many other disciplines, popular music studies can benefit from the knowledge and implications of genre theories in other related fields. In the context of this book, a focus on film genre theory proved especially helpful in generating ideas for a study of popular music genres and the inherent immediacy of related processes of signification and perception amongst its audiences. It also served to underline the variability of genre expectations and hence the importance of considering genre from different standpoints. A flexible concept of genre emerged, that not only accommodates notions of musical hybridity and transgression, but also different readings. By providing the theoretical underpinnings for further discussions of genre texts and discourses, Chapter one thus created a basis for an evolving methodology for genre study that pays particular attention to instances of generic complexity. While the main purpose of Chapter two was to show how Radiohead’s music can be analysed and described generically, it also set out to test new methodological ideas revolving around the concept of genre immediacy. Based on the iconographic genre analysis that is popular amongst film scholars, an analytical approach was developed to highlight important generic elements in a musical text that can serve as immediate signifiers of genre in different listening contexts. Due to its succinct and adjustable manner, the analysis of genre immediacy provides a simple and quick way into music genre analysis. It can easily be paired with other means of analysis and serves as a useful basis for assessing and evaluating genre discourses. The methodology can also be adapted into other generic contexts or transferred to non-generic analytical processes and provide guidance for introductory assessments of musical texts. The chapter has further shown how Radiohead’s music can be discussed generically. There are various elements in Radiohead’s music, that hold strong implications for the band’s generic positioning: a use or lack of guitars; a growing instrumentation and use of effects; Thom Yorke’s vocal timbre, range, intonation, and changing singing styles; lyrical themes of self-deprecation, alienation, an overcoming of self-doubt, cultural and literary references, and specific word and grammar choices; a growing interest in studio composition and technologies; and lastly the band’s evolving interactions during live performances. At the same time, all resulting interpretations of genre in Radiohead’s work are always dependent on individual understandings of genre and on the changes the band undergoes over time. While Radiohead’s affiliation with one specific genre would therefore defy the purpose of this study, there is reason to take specific note of the many instances of stylistic diversity, transgression, and change in Radiohead’s work.

Conclusion 

173

Chapter three has focused on the question of how genre can be analysed through a study of journalistic discourses. Over the years, Radiohead have been described with the help of a large range of genres and most prominently in terms of a perceived shift from rock music towards electronica. The chapter has focused on the problems of classification and addressed generic complexities in Radiohead’s musical oeuvre. It has shown that genre is a purpose-oriented way of describing music that can appear in various forms. Generic classification is guided by specific objectives that arise from the writing context and that build on personal circumstances. Uses of genre therefore differ greatly. A range of new terminologies was introduced – most importantly, the differentiation between canonic and noncanonic genres that is useful to distinguish between socially established genre terminologies and alternative forms of categorisation. The discussion has shed light on a number of non-canonic uses of genre such as negative terminologies, adjective genres, and genre allusions that have not received much academic attention thus far. The chapter has also introduced the idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ – a category that helps distinguish Radiohead from other artists in terms of style and status – and with it the concept of ‘genrefication.’ By comparing the results of the journalistic discourse analysis to a discussion of scholarly uses of genre, Chapter four went on to draw out the differences between both audience groups and thus emphasised the variability of the genre discourse. Academics display their own ways of accounting for genre that are shaped by their individual working conditions, environments, and also by the impact of journalistic source material. With this in mind, it becomes clear that an analysis of popular music genres not only benefits from a study of discursive sources, it also needs to pay attention to the nature of these sources and discuss the origins of differing opinions. While the discussions in Chapter three and four have primarily dealt with traditional offline discourses on genre, Chapter five has tested the reach and boundaries of discourse analysis by focusing on online audiences and their views on genre. The chapter has shown that uses of genre in audience discourses are highly dependent on the ways in which the discourse is produced. By looking at web discussions, one is quickly able to see that debates often depend on the specific conditions of the environment in which they arise. This not only includes conditions that are based on the medium of expression – the use of a constructed online identity for instance – but also aspects like a temporal distance to the discussed work or the access to a breadth of information and hence background knowledge. At the same time, it has become apparent that online discourses feature uses of genre and interpretations of Radiohead’s music that also appear in offline discourses. There are allusions to the journalistic discourse and similar narratives in reference to Radiohead’s work. In this way, online discourses are inherently shaped by the influence of offline discourses, but they are also characterised by their own writing styles and formats. An analysis of discourses can thus benefit from alternative views and should include diverse sources in order to present contrasts in opinion and emphasise popular interpretational strands. The analyses of genre in musical texts and discourses are mutually beneficial when it comes to studying genre in individual musical oeuvres. Without a

174 Conclusion text-based study of genre, one would hardly be able to judge the value of individual discursive sources. Meanwhile, without looking at genre discourses it would be difficult to reflect on different uses of genre and to understand individual manifestations of genre in all their inherent complexity. At the core of this book lies therefore the proposition that a study of popular music genre and individual transgression can greatly benefit from utilising combined and interdisciplinary means of analysis. At the same time, the book has also made a case for viewing genre as a multi-dimensional and fluid construct, that incorporates and thrives on a multiplicity of parallel meanings. Notions of genre in particular musical oeuvres are rarely one dimensional, but rather consist of multiple components and contain several interpretive options. By approaching genre from two or more methodological and thematic angles, one can therefore gain more detailed and distinguished insights into specific musical oeuvres and into genre as a fluid and complex construct. A discussion of different discursive sources serves to highlight common strands of interpretation and popular opinions. In Radiohead’s case, issues of stylistic diversity, transgression, and change are main themes of the genre discourse. Additionally, the notion of a ‘Radiohead genre’ and hence an increasing ‘genrefication’ is a crucial point of discussion. Studying different discursive sources one is able to trace the developments of these common interpretations. In particular, one can take note of the fact that shared strands of discussion tend to evolve into shared conclusions about specific topics. The idea of a ‘Radiohead genre’ is for instance often conceptualised in similar ways. Furthermore, journalists often position Radiohead’s stylistic break at the same point in time, namely between the release of OK Computer and Kid A, and tend to speak of a move from rock into electronica. A study of genre discourses therefore serves to identify a general consensus in discussions and amongst audience groups that reflects shared opinions. The discussion of genre discourses has not only served to describe Radiohead’s music and different uses of categorisation, but also allowed for conclusions about the working mechanisms of different audience groups. The writings of journalists, academics, and wider online audiences all serve to highlight different sides of generic meaning, because they utilise categorisation in specific characteristic ways. Journalistic writing can vary between vague descriptions and very detailed analytical accounts. It features a large range of genre uses and thus displays particularly innovative processes of categorisation. Academic accounts, by contrast, tend to favour more traditional modes of music and genre analysis, but often result in new innovative and theoretically grounded interpretations. Genre categories mainly present a way of positioning Radiohead’s music in wider canons but also serve to create distinctions. Academic writers tend to refer to journalistic sources, which makes a combined study of both types of discourses particularly interesting. In comparison, online discourses can be either extremely individualised or surprisingly unified. In the latter case, it becomes very easy to detect shared strands of opinions. Moreover, a study of discursive sources deriving from different audience groups can highlight different listener perspectives on genre and the relations between genre discourse and personal circumstance.

Conclusion 

175

As the different perspectives on Radiohead presented in this book have shown, the band’s music is generically complex and prone to genre transgression. While the text-based discussion has highlighted different generic elements in the band’s work that can be interpreted as markers of Radiohead’s personal style, it has also shown that any interpretation in terms of genre is highly context dependent. The most prominent themes in Radiohead’s work are not only stylistic elements such as Thom Yorke’s voice, the use of guitars or lack thereof, and an increasing interest in studio composition amongst others, but rather the many instances of stylistic diversity and transgression that characterise the Radiohead’s oeuvre. While specific elements in Radiohead’s music may change or evolve over time, the band’s play with genre and musical boundaries is ever present. A look at Radiohead reception confirms that genre transgression and change are highly debated and thus of particular value for understanding Radiohead’s music. Radiohead discourse establishes genre not so much as an independent collection of specific musical traits, but rather as a combination of overarching themes that are based on the changing of individual and collective style characteristics. It is this notion in particular that also powers the continuing theorisation about a ‘Radiohead genre’ that often appears to be more concept than actual category. The notion is exclusive rather than definitive. While it builds on Radiohead’s individual characteristics and combination of styles, it also relies on their ‘otherness’ as a defining trait. In this way, Radiohead have almost moved beyond genre by rejecting certain musical tropes, by transgressing others, and by creating an amalgamation of styles that is often too intricate or unconventional to be considered anything but unusual by their specific audience groups. As a final remark, it remains to be said that the methodologies and results presented here will certainly benefit from any future research on popular music genres and on Radiohead. New research on genre historiography and canonbuilding processes presents one such area of interest. As genres are perceived and defined differently at different points in time, more research on the developmental stages of genre and on the roles of famous genre participants could be of further interest. On a more strategic level, future research on genre discourses could also benefit from a focus on other discursive sources – and perhaps newly emerging online contexts – that would have exceeded the extent and purpose of this study. Additionally, a study of popular music genres and online discourses would certainly benefit from further work in the area of online research. While Radiohead have yet to release a follow-up album to A Moon Shaped Pool, rumours of new recordings appear more frequently as this book nears completion. A study of any type of new material would without a doubt present interesting new insights and could contribute towards a consolidation or advancement of the proposed methods. Tracing Radiohead’s future developments and reception thus promises to be an exciting prospect that could not only highlight generic changes at a later stage in Radiohead’s career, but also shed light on what follows after ‘genrefication.’

176 Conclusion

Note 1 The image was predominantly distributed on the social media platforms Tumblr and Reddit and is therefore presumably fan-made. It can be accessed via the image hosting service Imgur, see Anon (2016).

Reference Anon. (2016, May 8). Radiohead New Album Fan Reaction Bingo Card [Imgur]. Accessed at: https://imgur.com/r/musicpics/NMTjNtA [08.05.2016].

Appendix

a. Select discography Demo recordings: On A Friday Demo, 1986. On A Friday Demo, 1988. Union Street Demo, 1990. Manic Hedgehog Demo, 1991. Radiohead: Pablo Honey: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (1993). The Bends: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (1995). OK Computer: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (1997). Kid A: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (2000). Amnesiac: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (2001). I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, EMI 2001. Hail to the Thief: Collector’s Edition (2 CDs + DVD), EMI 2009 (2003). In Rainbows, XL Recordings 2007. The Best Of (2 CDs), Parlophone 2008. The King of Limbs, XL Recordings 2011. TKOL RMX 1234567, XL Recordings 2011. A Moon Shaped Pool, XL Recordings 2016. Solo work: Jonny Greenwood, Bodysong, Parlophone 2003. Jonny Greenwood, There Will Be Blood, Nonesuch 2007. Jonny Greenwood, Norwegian Wood, Nonesuch 2011. Jonny Greenwood, The Master, Nonesuch 2012.

178 Appendix Jonny Greenwood, Inherent Vice, Nonesuch 2014. Jonny Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur, Junun, Nonesuch 2015. Jonny Greenwood, You Were Never Really Here, Pias/Invada Records 2017. Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread, Nonesuch 2017. Philip Selway, Familial, Bella Union 2010. Philip Selway, Weatherhouse, Bella Union 2014. Philip Selway, Let Me Go, Pias/Bella Union 2017. Thom Yorke, The Eraser, XL Recordings 2006. Thom Yorke, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, Self-released 2014. Thom Yorke, Suspiria, XL Recordings 2018. Atoms for Peace, Amok, XL Recordings 2013.

b. Glossary of terms Adjectification – The use of established genre terms in adjective form, for instance ‘grungy.’ Usually, this descriptive form is intentionally vague. (See also: Verbification.) Adjective genre – An adjective used as a descriptive generic category, that sometimes appears in a judging manner, for instance ‘futuristic.’ (See also: Noun combination.) Anti-discourse  –  A line of discussion that refers to specific strands of (genre) reception and that attempts to challenge or contradict them. Anti-labelling – A manner of categorisation that often emerges from anti-discourse. Works are categorised by disputing established ways of description. Canonic – Socially established generic categories that are characterised by specific rules and characteristics and that are usually associated with a canon of representative works, for instance ‘rock’ or ‘punk.’ (See also: Non-canonic.) Canon-building – A process of categorisation that places music in relation to other works. Not to be confused with generic canonisation, canon-building means the process of establishing connections amongst generically disparate works. This can happen in combination with established genres – like the category of ‘rock classics’ – or individually – like in the case of ‘masterpieces.’ Genrefication – A process of generic formation and independence referring to the work of one specific artist or band. Genre Portrait – A magazine or newspaper article that introduces a genre. This often includes a discussion of rules, characteristics, associated artists or influences. Meta-discourse  –  A (self-)reflective discussion and awareness of specific issues  –  in this case the topic of genre and change in the music of Radiohead – in discursive action, that focuses on general narratives rather than specific instances. Negative genre interpretation – A way of describing music by rejecting specific generic associations. Non-canonic – New and made up categories that are not yet socially established and often used to avoid canonic genre descriptions, for instance ‘death garage’ (Reynolds, 2000). (See also: Canonic.)

Appendix  179 Noun combination – Combinations of nouns used as descriptive generic categories that often appear in a judging manner, for instance ‘one-hit wonders.’ (See also: Adjective genre.) Retrospection – The evaluation or re-evaluation of an artist’s work, in light of a knowledge about previous or future recordings. This often appears in online discourses that are shaped by a temporal distance between the release date of albums and the reviewing process. (Specialist) genre audiences – Audience groups – experts or participants – of a specific genre that often express their belonging to this genre. Verbification – The use of established genre terms in verb form, for instance ‘to rock.’ Usually, this descriptive form is intentionally vague. (See also: Adjectification.)

Index

“2+2=5” (Radiohead) 13, 60, 70 “15 Step” (Radiohead) 61 Adam, N. E. 138–9 Adams, D. 13 adjectification 159 adjective genres 111, 121, 140, 161, 162, 173 “Airbag” (Radiohead) 68 aleatory composition 69, 125–6n21 “All I Need” (Radiohead) 61 alternative rock 3, 138, 141, 159, 160 Altman, R. 17–18, 24–5 ambient music 1, 46, 66, 114, 117, 124, 138 Amnesiac (Radiohead): artwork of 77; as concept album 143; genre reception of 3, 55, 79, 100, 105, 107, 116, 133, 136, 137, 139, 141, 155; instrumentation on 56, 58–9; lyrics on 56, 69–71; production of 57, 59, 74; stylistic diversity and 103; vocals on 57–9; see also individual songs Anderson, P. T. 78 anti-discourse 99 anti-labelling 99 “Anyone Can Play Guitar” (Radiohead) 67, 77 Aphex Twin 123 Aristotle 5, 16–17 Atoms for Peace 81n19 Atton, C. 35–6 authenticity: audiences and 2, 29–30, 34–5, 48, 74, 86–7; genre and 19, 24, 29–30, 34–5, 92, 113, 123, 125n3, 156; Radiohead and 2, 44, 54, 60, 65, 78, 106–7, 113 avant-garde 1, 68, 103, 116–17, 126n24, 141, 160

The Beatles 101, 115 “The Bends” (Radiohead) 52 The Bends (Radiohead): artwork of 77; dynamics of 64; genre reception of 97, 114, 120, 137, 151, 157, 165; instrumentation on 52, 61, 64; lyrics on 67; production of 73; success of 3, 96; vocals on 51; see also individual songs Beta, A. 108 “Bloom” (Radiohead) 62, 71, 74, 76 blues 15, 50, 86, 125n5 Blur 122 Bourdieu, P. 87–8 Bowie, D. 101 Brackett, D. 10–11, 15, 30–1 Bresnark, R. 125n11 britpop 98, 122, 160, 162 Buckley, D. 98 “Burn The Witch” (Radiohead) 62, 63, 66, 72, 78 Byrne, D. 125n20 Cameron, K. 112–13 canon-building 142, 155–6 Cavanagh, D. 97 chillwave 92–3 Cigarettes, J. 97, 121 classical music: genre and 14–15, 21, 27, 63; Radioheadʼs idiolect and 4, 59, 61–2, 66, 68, 100; reception of Radiohead and 137, 139, 156, 159, 171 ‘classical Radiohead’ 91, 100, 102–3, 125n15 “Climbing Up The Walls” (Radiohead) 53, 65, 68 “Codex” (Radiohead) 62 Collins, N. 103 Coltrane, A. 103 Coney, B. 1, 108

Index  Considine, J. D. 120 “Creep” (Radiohead): compared to “Go To Sleep” (Radiohead) 47; compared to “Treefingers” (Radiohead) 46; dynamic structure of 15, 64; genre and 15, 44–6, 96; guitars on 45, 51–2, 64; instrumentation of 45; lyrics of 46, 67; music video for 77; success and reception of 3, 44, 75, 80n2, 91, 96, 102; vocals on 15, 45, 51 Dalton, S. 96, 97 dance music see electronica Dante 13, 69 Danuser, H. 25–6, 38n1 The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) 122 Darwin, C. 17 Davis, M. 103 Dawn, R. 1, 96 “Daydreaming” (Radiohead) 62, 63, 77, 78 Deamer, C. 76 “Decks Dark” (Radiohead) 63 Dee, J. 73 “Desert Island Disk” (Radiohead) 63 Devitt, A. J. 20 DiCrescenzo, B. 1, 123–4 Dinosaur Jr. 73 Divine Comedy 69 “Dollars And Cents” (Radiohead) 59, 69 Donath, J. S. 168n1 Donwood, S. 77 Doyle, T. 1, 96, 97 Dubrow, H. 20 Duca, C. 122 “Electioneering” (Radiohead) 65 electronica: Amnesiac and 58–9, 141; Hail to the Thief and 3, 47, 60, 166; Kid A and 58–9, 73, 141, 160, 174; The King of Limbs and 3, 16, 62, 66, 72, 108; A Moon Shaped Pool and 3–4, 62–3; OK Computer and 65, 162, 174; Radioheadʼs idiolect and 4, 53, 66, 138, 166; reception of Radiohead and 1, 105, 106, 115, 117, 122, 156, 159, 160, 162, 174; TKOL RMX 1234567 and 3, 108, 125n17; versus rock styles in Radioheadʼs work 3, 103, 133–4, 141, 164–7, 173 Eno, B. 3, 7n2, 73, 123, 125n20 Evans, A. 133–4, 147 Everett, W. 47

181

“Everybody Knows” (Radiohead) 50 “Everything In Its Right Place” (Radiohead) 56, 57, 62, 76, 122, 125–6n21 “Exit Music (For A Film)” (Radiohead) 52, 53, 54, 65, 80n11 Fabbri, F. 14, 28–9, 48 “Fake Plastic Trees” (Radiohead) 51, 67 Farley, C. J. 100 “Fat Girl” (Radiohead) 50 “Faust Arp” (Radiohead) 61 Feese, J. 98 “Feral” (Radiohead) 62, 71 “Fitter Happier” (Radiohead) 53, 54, 65, 68, 71 folk 87, 138 Fornäs, J. 34 Fowler, A. 13 “Fragile Friend” (Radiohead) 50, 51 Fricke, D. 1, 58 Frith, S. 29, 47, 81n15 Frow, J. 11–12, 16, 21 “Ful Stop” (Radiohead) 63, 72 Gendron, B. 125n12 genre: audiences and 10, 11, 28, 37, 42, 86, 134, 137, 155–7; authorship and 4, 13, 19, 20, 22, 24, 84–5, 90, 98, 141, 148, 155, 161; development and transformation of 4, 10, 11, 13, 18–21, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 34, 38; expectations and 6, 11–12, 19, 20–3, 27–9, 34, 41, 93, 101, 110–12, 118–19, 132, 153, 155–6, 171–2; functionality of 11–12, 13, 15, 94, 109, 110, 147, 168; hierarchies of 13–16, 26, 27, 30; see also subgenres and metagenres; hybridity and transgression of 2, 10, 12, 16–21, 24, 27, 29, 31–3, 38; iconography and 5, 22–3, 41, 78; immediacy of 2–3, 5, 22–3, 41–4; scenes and 28, 36–7; style versus 13–16; verisimilitude of 48, 65, 113, 125n3 genrefication 102, 132, 173–5 genre portrait 91–3 Gilbert, P. 96 “Girl (In The Purple Dress)” (Radiohead) 50 “Give Up The Ghost” (Radiohead) 62, 72 “Glass Eyes” (Radiohead) 63 “The Gloaming” (Radiohead) 60, 70 Godrich, N. 73, 103 “Go To Sleep” (Radiohead) 47

182 Index Greenwood, C. 3, 58 Greenwood, J.: “2+2=5” and 70; “Creep” and 52; “Everything In Its Right Place” and 76; formation of Radiohead and 3; on genre in Radioheadʼs music 4; “Go To Sleep” and 47; as guitarist 47, 51–2, 55, 58–9, 118; “How To Disappear Completely” and 59; “Idioteque” and 76; Kid A and 58–9; as multi-instrumentalist 50–1, 75–6, 80n3, 81n13; musical training of 3; “The National Anthem” and 59; OK Computer and 55; Ondes Martenot and 58–9, 75; “Optimistic” and 59; performance style and stage persona of 47, 76; on Radioheadʼs recording process 74; sampling and 76; “Treefingers” and 59, 80n3 Greif, M. 135–6 Griffiths, D. 48, 53, 81n14, 131, 142–3 Grocheio, J. de 25–7 grunge: characteristics of 137–8; Pablo Honey and 44–5, 50, 73, 139–40; Radioheadʼs idiolect and 15, 64–5; reception of Radiohead and 3, 96, 114, 120, 122, 159–60 Gudmundsson, G. 41, 86–7, 91 guitar rock 97, 106, 158, 169n12 Gurnell, J. 138 Hail to the Thief (Radiohead): dynamics of 66; genre reception of 3, 106, 137, 166–7; instrumentation on 59–60; lyrics on 70–1; production of 60, 74; ‘Radiohead genre’ and 167; stylistic diversity and 70–1, 166–7; vocals on 60; see also individual songs Hainge, G. 141 Hansen, M. B. N. 136–7 Harris, J. 96 Hawkwind 114 Hesmondhalgh, D. 34–5, 43 Hesselink, N. D. 80n7, 169n7 Hibbett, R. 35 “High & Dry” (Radiohead) 51, 67 hip hop 105, 115, 156 Hodgkinson, J. A. 36–7 Holmes, T. B. 80n12 Holt, F. 9, 12, 30–1, 55, 85 The Holy Bible (Manic Street Preachers) 120 Hopewell, C. 78 Horace 17 Hornby, N. 105, 118, 125n15

Hoskyns, B. 120 “House Of Cards” (Radiohead) 71 “How To Disappear Completely” (Radiohead) 56, 57, 59 “Hunting Bears” (Radiohead) 59 Ibrahim, A. 45, 64, 69, 139 “Identikit” (Radiohead) 63, 72 idiolect: definition of 15; of Radiohead 15, 64, 71, 139–40, 172, 175 “Idioteque” (Radiohead) 56, 57, 59, 74, 76, 122, 125–6n21 indie rock 34–5, 107, 114, 123, 138, 159, 160 “Ingenue” (Atoms for Peace) 81n19 In Rainbows (Radiohead): dynamics of 66; genre reception of 106–7, 166–7; instrumentation on 61; lyrics on 71; release method of 3, 106; vocals on 61; see also individual songs in-studio composition: definition of 7n2, 73, 125n20; Radiohead and 3, 46, 48, 53, 63, 76, 172, 175 In Utero (Nirvana) 120 Irvin, B. 1, 100 “I Will” (Radiohead) 58, 60, 74 jazz: Amnesiac and 58–9; characteristics of 50; forms of musical classification and 15; Kid A and 56, 58, 103, 114; music journalism and 86–7, 103, 112, 125n5; Radioheadʼs idiolect and 4, 125n17, 138; reception of Radiohead and 103, 137, 156, 159 Joy Division 122 Juslin, P. N. 53–4 Kallberg, J. 27–8 Kara, S. 120 “Karma Police” (Radiohead) 68 Kessler, T. 98, 101, 132 “Kid A” (Radiohead) 57, 59, 122, 125–6n21 Kid A (Radiohead): artwork of 77; as concept album 69, 143–4; dynamics of 66; genre reception of 43, 55, 69, 79, 84, 91, 107, 114–15, 118, 122–4, 133, 137, 141, 150, 155–6, 160, 165, 174; instrumentation on 3, 16, 56, 58–9, 63, 74; lyrics on 56–7, 66–9, 71, 138; production of 3, 56–8, 63, 73, 76; ‘Radiohead genre’ and 99–105, 166–7; vocals on 56–8, 63; see also individual songs

Index  The King of Limbs (Radiohead): dynamics of 66; genre reception of 3, 16, 107, 117, 155, 167; instrumentation on 61–2; lyrics on 71–2; production of 62, 74; tour performances of 72, 76; vocals on 62–3; see also individual songs Kolderie, P. Q. 73 Kozinets, R. V. 148–9 Laing, D. 47, 80n4 Lamacq, S. 1, 120 Lampert, M. 137–8, 145n3 Langford, B. 12 Lansky, P. 59, 145n1 Leblanc, L. 77 Leisinger, U. 38n1 “Lemming Trail” (Radiohead) 50 Leonard, M. 86–8 “Let Down” (Radiohead) 53, 60, 65 Lewis, A. 121 Lewis, L. 107, 117 “Life In A Glasshouse” (Radiohead) 59, 70 “Lift” (Radiohead) 77–8 “Like Spinning Plates” (Radiohead) 58, 59, 69, 74, 76 Lin, M. 131 Lindberg, U. 41, 86–7, 91 “Little By Little” (Radiohead) 71 “Lock The Door” (Radiohead) 50 “Lotus Flower” (Radiohead) 62, 71, 77 Lowe, S. 1, 101 “Lucky” (Radiohead) 51, 68 Lynskey, D. 107 Lyttelton, H. 59 Manic Street Preachers 120 Martin, D. 80n1 Marzorati, G. 1, 114–16, 118, 132 McCormick, N. 108 McLean, C. 106 Mega (record label) 122 “Memories” (Public Image Ltd) 122 Messiaen, O. 59, 103, 118 meta-discourse 7, 99, 157, 164 meta-genres 97, 110–11, 113, 158, 164; see also genre hierarchies Michelsen, M. 41, 86–7, 91 “Mild und Leise” (Paul Lansky) 59 Mille Plateaux (record label) 122 Mingus, C. 59, 103, 118 A Moon Shaped Pool (Radiohead): dynamics of 66; genre reception of 1, 108, 155, 167, 171; instrumentation on

183

62–3, 66; lyrics on 72; origin of songs on 3–4, 72; production of 74; vocals on 63; see also individual songs Moore, A. F.: on instrumental layering 80n5; on Radiohead 45, 64, 69, 139; on style versus genre 14–15 Moran, C. 120, 121 Morrison, D. 97 “Mountains (On The Move)” (Radiohead) 50 Munro, R. 1, 110–12, 141 “My Iron Lung” (Radiohead) 52, 64 Nadler, C. 96 “The National Anthem” (Radiohead) 56, 59, 125–6n21 Neale, S. 11–13, 23–4, 81n20, 125n3 negative genre interpretation 105, 118–19, 141, 156, 162, 173 Negus, K. 10, 38n2, 98, 112 Nekola, A. 37 Nichols, N. 125n18 Nirvana 96, 120, 122, 162 noise music 36 nostalgia 98, 151–3, 162 “No Surprises” (Radiohead) 54, 65 noun combination 121 “Nude” (Radiohead) 61 “The Numbers” (Radiohead) 63, 72 Oasis 122 O’Brien, E. 3, 55, 75, 80n3, 80n9 OK Computer (Radiohead): artwork of 75; compared to Pink Floyd 162; as concept album 162; dynamics of 64–6; genre reception of 84, 91, 98–9, 107, 114, 121–3, 133, 136–7, 150–1, 155–7, 159; instrumentation on 53, 55; lyrics on 67–9; production of 53, 65; ‘Radiohead genre’ and 99–105, 166–7; stylistic diversity and 123, 139, 165; success of 3, 97; vocals on 51, 53–4; see also individual songs OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 (Radiohead) 77 Ondes Martenot 57, 59, 60, 75, 80n12, 81n13, 103; see also Greenwood, J. one-hit wonders 96, 99, 125n11, 155 On Land (Brian Eno) 123 online identities 6, 148–9, 151, 153, 163, 168n1 online research ethics 149–51 Orwell, G. 13 Osborn, B. 52, 60, 71, 80n6, 80n7, 140

184 Index Pablo Honey (Radiohead): dynamics of 15, 64; genre reception of 96, 114, 137, 139, 151, 157; instrumentation on 50–1, 64; lyrics on 67; production of 73; success of 3, 44, 96; vocals on 51; see also individual songs “Pakt [Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box]” (Radiohead) 57 Paltridge, B. 33 Paphides, P. 97, 100 Pappademas, A. 74 “Paranoid Android” (Radiohead) 13, 64–5 Parlophone (record label) 106–7 Penderecki, K. 59 Petridis, A. 108 Pink Floyd 7n1, 122, 141, 159, 162 Pixies 64, 73, 162 post-punk 4 post-rock 1, 36–7, 57, 66, 85, 114–17, 126n22, 136 “Present Tense” (Radiohead) 63, 72 progressive rock 1, 7n1, 35, 65, 66, 97–8, 114, 122, 140, 141 “Prove Yourself” (Radiohead) 67 psychedelic rock 120, 138 Public Image Ltd 122 “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” (Radiohead) 57, 59 punk 11, 15, 19, 45, 67, 75, 98, 159 “Pyramid Song” (Radiohead) 13, 69–70, 77, 169n7 Radiohead: The Best Of (Radiohead) 107, 125n16 Radiohead genre 2, 7, 99–105, 118, 122, 132, 136–40, 162–7, 173–5 Randall, M. 50, 55 “Reckoner” (Radiohead) 61 Reflections on Kid A 58, 68, 125–6n21 Reisch, G. A. 7n1, 141–2 Reynolds, S. 1, 43, 85, 96, 103, 105, 114–18, 120, 122–3, 132, 136 Robinson, J. 106 Rockwell, J. 36, 168n2, 169n10 Ross, A. 100, 103 Ryall, T. 22 “Sail To The Moon” (Radiohead) 60, 70 Samson, J. 10, 26 Sandall, R. 106 Seidel, W. 38n1 Selected Ambient Works Vol II (Aphex Twin) 123 Selway, P. 3, 76

Sexton, J. 80n1 “Sheʼs Lost Control” (Joy Division) 122 shoe-gazing 1, 114, 120, 159 Shuker, R. 13, 42 Sinclair, T. 98 “Sit Down. Stand Up” (Radiohead) 60, 70 Slade, S. 73 Slowik, E. 136–7 Smith, A. 100 space rock 121, 141 Spicer, M. 15 Spitzer, M. 54 stadium rock 53, 97, 121 Stasi, M. 133–4, 147 “Stop Whispering” (Radiohead) 51, 64, 67 Strachan, R. 86–8 Stubbs, D. 105 subgenres 13, 85–6, 112, 114, 136, 154, 158; see also genre hierarchies “Subterranean Homesick Alien” (Radiohead) 68 Sullivan, C. 96, 97, 121–3, 125n11, 126n26 Sutherland, M. 97 Talking Heads 51, 125n20 Tate, J. 81n18 Tatom Letts, M. 69, 70, 143 Taylor, S. 33 “There, There” (Radiohead) 60, 70, 77, 78 Thiemel, M. 63–5 “Thinking About You” (Radiohead) 67 Throwing Muses 73 The Tibetan Book of the Dead 69 Timmers, R. 53–4 Tinctoris, J. 26 “Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief” (Radiohead) 63 TKOL RMX 1234567 (Radiohead) 3, 62, 108 “To Be A Brilliant Light” (Radiohead) 51 Todorov, T. 18–19, 21 Toynbee, J. 30, 91 “Treefingers” (Radiohead) 46–7, 57, 59, 66, 71, 80n3, 123 “True Love Waits” (Radiohead) 62, 72 Tzara, T. 115 U2 97, 99, 102, 125n11, 162 Vare, E. A. 120 Varga, G. 103 verbification 159

Index  Washed Out 92 “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” (Radiohead) 61, 71 Weisethaunet, H. 41, 86–7, 91 “Where I End And You Begin” (Radiohead) 60 The Wicker Man 78 Williams, S. 97 “A Wolf At The Door” (Radiohead) 60, 70 Wolfson, S. 92–3 XL Recordings (record label) 106 Yorke, T.: “2+2=5” and 70; 1986 demo recordings and 51; artwork of 77, 81n17; “Creep” and 45–6, 51; “Everything In Its Right Place” and 56, 76; “Exit Music (For A Film)” and 52–4; “Fake Plastic Trees” and 51; “Faust Arp” and 61; “Fitter Happier” and 53; formation of Radiohead and 3; “Fragile Friend” and 51; “Give Up The Ghost” and 62; “High & Dry” and 51; “How To Disappear

185

Completely” and 56; “Idioteque” and 57; “I Will” and 58; “Kid A” and 57; “Let Down” and 53; “Like Spinning Plates” and 58, 76; “Lucky” and 51; “The National Anthem” and 56; “No Surprises” and 54; “Pakt [Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box]” and 57; “Paranoid Android” and 64–5; performance style and stage persona of 75–6, 77–8, 113; “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” and 57; “Pyramid Song” and 69–70; role of the voice and 54, 56, 58, 172; as songwriter 46, 58, 67–73, 125n21; “Stop Whispering” and 51; vocal effects and techniques and 57– 8, 118; vocal timbre and singing style of 3, 15, 43, 51–4, 56, 61–2, 102, 172; “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” and 61; “You And Whose Army?” and 57 “You” (Radiohead) 67 “You And Whose Army?” (Radiohead) 57, 69, 70 Zelizer, B. 89–90, 96, 103, 126n25