Author Topic: Radiohead's OK Computer - No 1 album of all time on RYM (Read 6882 times)

WildRanger · « **on:** February 15, 2018, 02:03:52 PM »

What do you think about OK Computer being the highest-rated album on a site RateYourMusic? It's rated higher than any The Beatles and Led Zeppelin album.
I like that album quite a bit, but it's far from the all-time greatest album. Radiohead are very overrated by critics and RYM users who are probably influenced by critics.

Anyway, top 5 RYM albums:
1.OK Computer - Radiohead
2.Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
3.The Velvet Underground & Nico - Velvet Underground
4.Kid A - Radiohead
5.Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

And Velvet Underground debut album is rated over any The Beatles album? It's really weird.

https://rateyourmusic.com/customchart

Zantera · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2018, 02:05:44 PM »

I don't think it's AS great as the hype, in fact even though I love Radiohead I wouldn't consider it one of their best albums. But it has wide appeal and I can see why a majority of people like it. It's definitely more accessible than Kid A for example.

wolfking · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2018, 02:09:07 PM »

People that aren't Radiohead fans would strongly disagree.

Crow · « **Reply #3 on:** February 15, 2018, 02:15:03 PM »

RYM is a horrible place for getting ratings across genres from because the userbase collectively has a lot of biases but it's mostly decent if you're just looking within genres. OK computer is a 3.5 at best and certainly not the greatest album of all time though

The Walrus · « **Reply #4 on:** February 15, 2018, 02:40:14 PM »

Doesn't matter to me one way or another. I don't like Radiohead, so I don't get why people go gaga for them. To each their own

Stadler · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2018, 03:06:23 PM »

I call bullshit on any poll like that, especially since four albums are by two acts, and it has TWO albums by a band that isn't anywhere near the pantheon of legends like The Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, Sabbath, Dead, Elvis (who, admittedly, is hit or miss on record), Hendrix. I'm referring to bands that literally STARTED a genre, not just took it to a new place. Admittedly, Radiohead is one of the five most overrated bands EVER for me, but still.

Sgt. Pepper? Zeppelin IV? Thriller? Sticky Fingers? American Beauty? C'mon.

pg1067 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 15, 2018, 04:05:15 PM »

Quote from: Stadler on February 15, 2018, 03:06:23 PM

I call bullshit on any poll like that

I concur and also call BS on the thread title. "Highest aggregate rating by a collection of unknown consumers" is hardly the same thing as "No. 1 album of all time."

LCArenas · « **Reply #7 on:** February 15, 2018, 06:01:21 PM »

Well, it's the album that has the best average on a website, that's for sure...

I haven't really made my list of favorite albums of all time, but OK Computer is far from being the best there. Hell, some people may stone me for this but as far as Radiohead albums go I like The Bends more. Also Led Zeppelin IV in #12 is just wrong.

KevShmev · « **Reply #8 on:** February 15, 2018, 07:13:20 PM »

Radiohead is great.

OK Computer is awesome. Would I call it the best album ever or even the best Radiohead album? No, but not a big deal.

Rattlehead · « **Reply #9 on:** February 15, 2018, 07:43:10 PM »

It doesn't surprise me at all, I love the band and it's one of my favorite albums of all time. It's obviously a massively popular album and the average demographic that uses that site is probably on the younger side, so maybe that's why it "beat out" some of the older "classics."

SoundscapeMN · « **Reply #10 on:** February 15, 2018, 08:37:30 PM »

it's been that way for years, perhaps even since the inception of the poll/site.

I don't like Radiohead, but have come to assume on rym

a) their fans will flood the ratings, creating multiple accounts to just uprate Radiohead's albums and avg rating, and downrate the closest album that is rated to it (I'm referring to largely with the Yearly Rankings, 2007 comes to mind especially, there was a notorious list of users doing just that; giving In Rainbows 5-stars, and giving all the other albums in the top 10 or more .5-star).

Objectively though, is OK Computer great? I will give it credit for influencing a lot of other, great artists and albums certainly. But in 50 years I highly question if it'll be seen as favorably as stuff like Sgt Pepper's and The Dark Side of the Moon in wide spread appeal and influence.

I mean having Thom Yorke as the singer alone kills that idea to me (per, I still find the guy cannot sing).

IDontNotDoThings · « **Reply #11 on:** February 15, 2018, 09:55:22 PM »

Quote from: Stadler on February 15, 2018, 03:06:23 PM

I call bullshit on any poll like that, especially since four albums are by two acts, and it has TWO albums by a band that isn't anywhere near the pantheon of legends like The Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, Sabbath, Dead, Elvis (who, admittedly, is hit or miss on record), Hendrix. I'm referring to bands that literally STARTED a genre, not just took it to a new place. Admittedly, Radiohead is one of the five most overrated bands EVER for me, but still.

Sgt. Pepper? Zeppelin IV? Thriller? Sticky Fingers? American Beauty? C'mon.

It's almost like not everyone has the same opinions as you

ChuckSteak · « **Reply #12 on:** February 15, 2018, 10:03:53 PM »

No list of "best of anything" is accurate because it is much too personal and subjective. Even if I was a Radiohead fan, I would find it absurd to put it as the best album ever made. Laughable even.

Sacul · « **Reply #13 on:** February 15, 2018, 10:30:37 PM »

I think, after having used RYM for years now, that OK Computer at #1 is just the result of their demographic, many being folks in their 20s and 30s, probably with a taste for contemporary music of all kinds, not just lovers of the same old albums we all know - has nothing to do with merit of any of them, just what's popular on the charts is what most folks like there. The community is wildly varied and can be pretty toxic, but that's just true of any big site on the internet.

But curious things happen there, like this album that for ages had less than 100 ratings and in the last 2-3 years saw a massive rise in popularity, now having 4,846 ratings and a spot among the top 250 records on the site.

Quote from: SoundscapeMN on February 15, 2018, 08:37:30 PM

a) their fans will flood the ratings, creating multiple accounts to just uprate Radiohead's albums and avg rating, and downrate the closest album that is rated to it (I'm referring to largely with the Yearly Rankings, 2007 comes to mind especially, there was a notorious list of users doing just that; giving In Rainbows 5-stars, and giving all the other albums in the top 10 or more .5-star).

Yet users that have lots of very low scores like that, their 5-stars tend to have less weight than those of normal users, plus RYM has other mechanisms to balance cases like these. Sadly there are still many folks who will just downrate any record even without hearing it, out of memeing or trying to boost another one.

soupytwist · « **Reply #14 on:** February 16, 2018, 04:22:31 AM »

Quote from: SoundscapeMN on February 15, 2018, 08:37:30 PM

Objectively though, is OK Computer great? I will give it credit for influencing a lot of other, great artists and albums certainly. But in 50 years I highly question if it'll be seen as favorably as stuff like Sgt Pepper's and The Dark Side of the Moon in wide spread appeal and influence.

I think it probably will - Representing the 90's I can see OK Computer and Nevermind still hanging round near the top of these type of charts for many years.

Stadler · « **Reply #15 on:** February 16, 2018, 08:07:17 AM »

Quote from: IDontNotDoThings on February 15, 2018, 09:55:22 PM

Quote from: Stadler on February 15, 2018, 03:06:23 PM
I call bullshit on any poll like that, especially since four albums are by two acts, and it has TWO albums by a band that isn't anywhere near the pantheon of legends like The Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, Sabbath, Dead, Elvis (who, admittedly, is hit or miss on record), Hendrix. I'm referring to bands that literally STARTED a genre, not just took it to a new place. Admittedly, Radiohead is one of the five most overrated bands EVER for me, but still.

Sgt. Pepper? Zeppelin IV? Thriller? Sticky Fingers? American Beauty? C'mon.

It's almost like not everyone has the same opinions as you

Fair point, and I'm the first person to argue that "best" is nonsense, unless you establish a specific standard (which is why I call bullshit, because there is no standard for the ratings. See Soundscape's post).

But I'm also not putting MY opinion down on paper. None of those records I named are even in my top 10, and American Beauty wouldn't be in my top 100. But there's a point at which things morph from "subjective" to "objective". If you collected - at random - 100 or 500 polls of "greatest album of all time", I would venture that Sgt. Pepper is in the top five of 95 (or 475) of them. I would bet you that a Beatles album is on 99 (or 495) of them. Are you really calling me out for saying Sgt. Pepper is a legendary album? It influenced Jimi Hendrix for god's sake.

EDIT: And even if you are saying that Sgt. Pepper isn't worthy, Revolver, The White Album, Abbey Road...
EDIT 2: Even if I give you OK Computer, Kid A is on that list as well. Even RADIOHEAD fans are divided on Kid A.

Sacul · « **Reply #16 on:** February 16, 2018, 08:37:22 AM »

Thing is, RateYourMusic is just the result of each person who registered on it scoring their favorite albums, the charts are not curated by a select group of critics or the like, it's the site's algorithm at work. I personally like it because there's way more variety than most "Greatest albums of all time" lists, which seemed too focused on a few genres from many decades ago.

Stadler · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2018, 08:43:51 AM »

Quote from: Sacul on February 16, 2018, 08:37:22 AM

Thing is, RateYourMusic is just the result of each person who registered on it scoring their favorite albums, the charts are not curated by a select group of critics or the like, it's the site's algorithm at work. I personally like it because there's way more variety than most "Greatest albums of all time" lists, which seemed too focused on a few genres from many decades ago.

Am I misunderstanding you? A top five albums list with three bands is "varied"? And one of those bands is a highly polarizing band to boot?

Zantera · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2018, 08:48:52 AM »

I'm with Sacul that you gotta take RYM with a grain of salt too. It was founded in 2000 in a time when Radiohead was THE thing and also in the following years since then they've been a big band for a lot of people growing up/in their teenage years where they probably frequent a site like RYM the most. Not saying that older people don't use the site but I always get the vibe that people in the teenage to late 20s demographic are the ones that care the most about rating music. Just a thought.

Stadler · « **Reply #19 on:** February 16, 2018, 09:01:35 AM »

But even with those caveats... we keep saying "20's and 30's", and while I readily admit to being an old geezer, a codger even, I have kids in that "20's" range, and friends and bandmates in the "30's" range, and not ONE of them listens to Radiohead. They're big, but they're not Floyd big, or U2 big. If we were arguing for "Achtung Baby" as number 1 album of all time, I'd be a lot more inclined to buy into this.

Zantera · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2018, 09:10:34 AM »

Also I don't get calling Radiohead polarizing? I wouldn't say they're any more polarizing than Pink Floyd. As in bands that some people go "eh?" but most people who give their music a chance and listen to some albums will appreciate and like something about it. Every generation will have their classic albums that everyone seems to like or at worst be indifferent about, and OK Computer is pretty much that album of the 90s.

I do think it's silly when several albums by a band shows up in a top5 like that but what is similar about both Radiohead and Pink Floyd is that both have hardcore fans who argue over the best album. With Radiohead you got the rock fans saying OK Computer and the electronic fans saying Kid A, with Pink Floyd I would say realistically 4 albums that most (not all) argue over being the best.

Sacul · « **Reply #21 on:** February 16, 2018, 09:35:31 AM »

Quote from: Stadler on February 16, 2018, 08:43:51 AM

Quote from: Sacul on February 16, 2018, 08:37:22 AM
Thing is, RateYourMusic is just the result of each person who registered on it scoring their favorite albums, the charts are not curated by a select group of critics or the like, it's the site's algorithm at work. I personally like it because there's way more variety than most "Greatest albums of all time" lists, which seemed too focused on a few genres from many decades ago.

Am I misunderstanding you? A top five albums list with three bands is "varied"? And one of those bands is a highly polarizing band to boot?

That's a drop in the sea, look at the whole top 100 and you'll see a rich variety. Sure the top 5 is crowded but does it really matter at all? That's just nitpicking.

I agree with Zantera, Pink Floyd for instance started as a very psychedelic group then evolved with each record, and there's people who argue a lot about their big 4 (and some swear by their debut), those being very different records indeed. Radiohead is no different and I think it's just more likely that the typical user of RYM would tend to like them as a whole rather than just one side of their careers.

Cool Chris · « **Reply #22 on:** February 16, 2018, 11:57:05 AM »

I couldn't name one song by Radiohead.

Zantera · « **Reply #23 on:** February 16, 2018, 02:22:36 PM »

Quote from: Cool Chris on February 16, 2018, 11:57:05 AM

I couldn't name one song by Radiohead.

Thing is, on a progressive metal/rock forum everyone would know Pink Floyd but go out and ask a big group of people anywhere and I bet you a lot of them won't be able to name a PF song either.

Shadow Ninja 2.0 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 16, 2018, 02:33:54 PM »

Radiohead's huge and appeals especially to the hipster crowd, which also comprises most of RYM from what I know. I don't really see why this is surprising, I guess.

Pragmaticcircus · « **Reply #25 on:** February 16, 2018, 03:41:13 PM »

Ok Computer is dull, though exit music is "ok"

The only good album on that top 5, is the Velvet Underground And Nico.

NoseofNicko · « **Reply #26 on:** February 16, 2018, 06:22:10 PM »

Not the best album of all time obviously, but still a fantastic album.

IDontNotDoThings · « **Reply #27 on:** February 16, 2018, 07:36:18 PM »

Quote from: Stadler on February 16, 2018, 08:07:17 AM

Quote from: IDontNotDoThings on February 15, 2018, 09:55:22 PM
Quote from: Stadler on February 15, 2018, 03:06:23 PM
I call bullshit on any poll like that, especially since four albums are by two acts, and it has TWO albums by a band that isn't anywhere near the pantheon of legends like The Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, Sabbath, Dead, Elvis (who, admittedly, is hit or miss on record), Hendrix. I'm referring to bands that literally STARTED a genre, not just took it to a new place. Admittedly, Radiohead is one of the five most overrated bands EVER for me, but still.

Sgt. Pepper? Zeppelin IV? Thriller? Sticky Fingers? American Beauty? C'mon.

It's almost like not everyone has the same opinions as you

Fair point, and I'm the first person to argue that "best" is nonsense, unless you establish a specific standard (which is why I call bullshit, because there is no standard for the ratings. See Soundscape's post).

But I'm also not putting MY opinion down on paper. None of those records I named are even in my top 10, and American Beauty wouldn't be in my top 100. But there's a point at which things morph from "subjective" to "objective". If you collected - at random - 100 or 500 polls of "greatest album of all time", I would venture that Sgt. Pepper is in the top five of 95 (or 475) of them. I would bet you that a Beatles album is on 99 (or 495) of them. Are you really calling me out for saying Sgt. Pepper is a legendary album? It influenced Jimi Hendrix for god's sake.

EDIT: And even if you are saying that Sgt. Pepper isn't worthy, Revolver, The White Album, Abbey Road...
EDIT 2: Even if I give you OK Computer, Kid A is on that list as well. Even RADIOHEAD fans are divided on Kid A.

I guess I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, I doubt RYM charts ever claimed to be an objective measure of quality (& not just an aggregate of several subjective measures of quality). Honestly, I stand by the belief that there's no such thing as objective quality which is why I generally get pretty pissed whenever someone claims their choices as the objective truth. I thought that's what you were doing, but I misunderstood.

I'm not saying OKC should be number 1 on the RYM charts, nor am I saying that anything should take its place, but what I am saying is that there's no reason to be upset about it since at the end of the day (even though objectivities can factor into these decisions), these things aren't inherently based in fact.

Edit: Apologies if my formatting is weird. My thoughts are kind of "all over the place" when it comes to these topics.

The King in Crimson · « **Reply #28 on:** February 17, 2018, 09:53:58 AM »

Not surprising. The Radiohead hipsters are out in full force at RYM, apparently.

Also, it's an aggregate of people's favorite album, namely the most favorite album of people that regularly use RYM. How different do yall imagine the results would be if a similar such aggregate of favorite albums was done here? How many Beatles albums would hit the top five? How about if a similar poll was run at a more expressly metal site or a classic rock site or a hip-hop site? How much would those results be comparable, how would they differ, and how many "generally considered great albums" would make the top five?

TLDR, OK Computer is a great album, it wouldn't make my top five (or ten) of my favorite albums, but I wouldn't bat an eye if someone put it on a list of objectively essential and great albums. It really was a gamechanger and a lot of bands have drawn influence from Radiohead from this time period.

WildRanger · « **Reply #29 on:** February 17, 2018, 11:05:21 AM »

I noticed that out of popular classic rock bands Eagles are rated really low on RYM. It seems RYM users hate Eagles, because they are very commercial and popular.

KevShmev · « **Reply #30 on:** February 17, 2018, 11:16:07 AM »

Yeah, I have noticed that trend, where a lot of people nowadays love to now trash bands that critics used to slam, and slurp the bands that critics love. See: people who think that Pitchfork is great.

Notice that these people almost always love Dylan, Neil Young, Springsteen and Radiohead (4 of the biggest critical darlings ever), and always hate Billy Joel, Eagles, Styx and Van Halen (4 bands critics never liked).

It's weird.

Sacul · « **Reply #31 on:** February 17, 2018, 11:29:19 AM »

I don't know a single person that doesn't think Pitchfork is utter trash

. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Rattlehead · « **Reply #32 on:** February 17, 2018, 08:42:16 PM »

I don't recall Radiohead being associated with this "hipster crowd" until In Rainbows came out. OK Computer is one of their most accessible and straight forward albums for the most part, which to me is anti-hipster

I'm not sure I had even heard of RYM before reading this thread to be honest, so I'm not disagreeing that the site is infested with hipsters. It just seems strange to me that OK Computer would be their album of choice for hipsters to exploit a website just to ensure an album gets a high rating, as someone mentioned earlier

The Walrus · « **Reply #33 on:** February 18, 2018, 03:30:28 PM »

Is RYM really a hipster haven? I just use it to catalog my collection.

Elite · « **Reply #34 on:** February 18, 2018, 03:43:28 PM »

Quote from: Kattoelox on February 18, 2018, 03:30:28 PM

Is RYM really a hipster haven? I just use it to catalog my collection.

Whoch is exactly what the site is for. To catalog and rate your music collection. Who cares what album comes out at the ‘top’? It’s not an objective ‘best album in the world’, just the album with the highest average score among the users of that website.

News: Video of online chat between fans and members of Dream Theater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx8cLlXnHpA&feature=youtu.be (*no chickens were harmed during the filming of this chat)

Author Topic: Radiohead's OK Computer - No 1 album of all time on RYM (Read 6882 times)