Things to dislike about Kid A:
1. Very pretentious.
2. The lyrics sound like they were drawn out of a hat. And that's because they were. Which is a pretty pretentious way of coming up with lyrics.
3. "Fodder for the animals / Living on Animal Farm." That's a coherent lyric, I guess. But aren't Orwell references in rock songs kind of passe? Like, leave that shit to Roger Waters.
4. Very few of the songs resemble traditional rock and roll, even traditional art rock. There are few things you could describe as "choruses." One of those things goes "I'm not here / This isn't happening." Which, like, you're a rock star, get over your shit.
5. It's hard to dance to. I suppose you can jump around to "Idioteque" the way Thom Yorke does. But even that requires you to be pretty weird.
6. If the album is indeed a concept record, then it is a maddeningly vague one. Because, again, the lyrics were drawn out of a hat. The frozen landscapes on the cover have some folks saying the record is about the apocalypse. And that might be true. But if that is the case, then how come Thom is so concerned about the goddamn furniture on "Morning Bell"? Like, the fucking world is ending, man! Ice Age coming, Ice Age coming. He's probably talking about the movie Ice Age.
7. Where are the guitars?
8. Where are the hooks?
9. Guitar hooks? Nowhere!
10. I guess the band was kind of embarrassed by how fun and rocking OK Computer was/is. They seemed determine to make a record that didn't rock at all. Though I guess some it rocks. "Optimistic" has that heavy riff. "The National Anthem," too, with that bassline that doesn't change at all.
11. Very repetitive. "Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. In its right place." Did you really need four everythings to make that clear?
12, "Treefingers" isn't all that great.
