OK Computer

***OK Computer*** is an album by the band Radiohead. It was released in 1997. It reached No.1 in the UK Albums Chart. Four singles were released from it. "Paranoid Android" reached No.3 in the UK. "No Surprises" reached No.4. It got good reviews. Pitchfork gave it 10 out of 10.

## Reception

Many music writers and fans loved _OK Computer_. Both English and American writers said the album would be important for a long time, and that the album was new and interesting. It was compared to _Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band_, another famous and important album. In the English press, the album got good reviews in _NME_, _Melody Maker_, _The Guardian_, and _Q_. In North America, _Rolling Stone_, _Spin_, and Pitchfork Media published good reviews. In _The New Yorker_, Alex Ross compared Radiohead's new and artistic music to the more classic rock sounds of Oasis. Ross wrote that "this band has pulled off one of the great art-pop balancing acts in the history of rock."

However, not all critics enjoyed the record. Robert Christgau from _The Village Voice_ called it "arid" art rock.

The album appeared in many 1997 critics' lists and listener polls for best album of the year. Many magazines listed it as the best or second best of the year. It was a nominee for the 1997 Mercury Prize, a prestigious award recognising the best British or Irish album of the year.

Radiohead found it hard to deal with how much people liked _OK Computer_. Some members of the band thought the press loved it too much. The band did not like that their songs were called "art" when they thought their songs were pop music. However, singer Thom Yorke was happy that some people understood his musical goals: "People got all the things, all the textures and the sounds and the atmospheres we were trying to create."

## Personnel

- Radiohead
- Colin Greenwood – bass guitar, bass synthesiser, percussion
- Jonny Greenwood – guitar, keyboards, piano, mellotron, organ, glockenspiel, string arrangements
- Ed O'Brien – guitar, FX, percussion, backing vocals
- Phil Selway – drums, percussion
- Thom Yorke – vocals, guitar, piano, laptop, programming, illustrations

- Additional personnel
- Chris Blair – mastering
- Stanley Donwood – illustrations
- Nigel Godrich – production, engineering
- Nick Ingman – conducting
- Jim Warren – production, engineering

### Weekly charts

|Chart (1997-2017)|Peak position||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Australian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|7|
|Austrian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|13|
|Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)|style="text-align:center;"|1|
|Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)|style="text-align:center;"|3|
|Canadian _RPM_ Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|2|
|Dutch Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|2|
|French Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|3|
|German Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|27|
|Irish Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|2|
|New Zealand Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|1|
|Spanish Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|42|
|Swedish Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|3|
|Swiss Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|40|
|US _Billboard_ 200|style="text-align:center;"|21|

### Singles

|rowspan="2"|Year|rowspan="2"|Song|colspan="6"|Peak positions|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=3|1997|style="text-align:left;"|"Paranoid Android"|3|–|–|29|53|61|
|style="text-align:left;"|"Let Down"|–|29|–|–|–|–|||
|style="text-align:left;"|"Karma Police"|8|14|32|–|–|50|||
|1998|style="text-align:left;"|"No Surprises"|4|–|23|47|–|58||
|colspan="13" style="font-size:8pt;"|"–" denotes releases that did not chart.|||||||||

## Notes

**Footnotes**

**Citations**

## Infobox (album)

- **name**: OK Computer
- **type**: studio
- **artist**: Radiohead
- **border**: yes
- **producer**: Nigel Godrich
- **prev title**: The Bends
- **prev year**: 1995
- **next title**: Airbag / How Am I Driving?
- **next year**: 1998