backlog

I was reading Bring the Noise, the new Simon Reynolds book, today. There's some interesting material on Radiohead in there. It made me wonder (not for the first time) if I should try to actually get to know them. I mean, I've heard them, it's almost impossible not to, but I have never really given them a chance. I guess it's partly because I was reading a lot of British music press around when Pablo Honey came out and it sounded really dumb so I wrote them off for a while and by the time I could admit they had gotten interesting I was deep into my dual high school obsessions of indie rock and twee pop. Later, they just became one of those things I put off checking out.

Of course, there's a jillion other bands I feel like I need to learn more about. But I think I feel more like I should spend some time on Radiohead because in addition to being influential and being well-liked by many people whose opinion I respect, like other bands, their (reputedly) most important work came out when I was old enough to pay attention, which is a less common characteristic.

There's still lots of other bands I need to go back and investigate, though. If I think about it for too long it starts to freak me out. But it's also nice to know I'm in no danger of running out of promising stuff to listen to. Though I guess that attitude is the reason that I listen to so much more old(er) music than new stuff. Most of the time I'm ok with it but sometimes I wish I had more new bands to get excited about, more people I could go and see when they're here on tour.