Phil Really, Really, Really Dislikes Radiohead

So let's take a minute and reflect on bad decisions we've made in our lives. Um, last night was certainly one of them. Don't get me wrong, getting drunk and watching Ninja Turtles is awesome and I'd do it all the time if I could. But I can't because hangovers during 8 hours of class are awful, wine hangovers even more so. And it's just my luck that the chap next door started hammering something around 8:30 am.

This is a damn noisy apartment complex. The day before, a truck came to pick up one of the dumpsters in our parking lot at 6:30 am. With the beeping when it reverses. It was in reverse for ten minutes. And yes, there are dumpsters in our parking lot which make driving a pain in the ass. I was promised the construction would only be for two or three months, and it's going on six now. Disappointed, much? You bet I am.

And while we're ranting, let's talk about something that's pissed me off for years. Radiohead. Yeah, they're not that awful, but I don't really like their music and people keep shoving it in my face like they're the greatest band ever. I quote my school's message board:

"I dunno man but ummm Kid A is like the most important record of the 90s... if you don't get it you don't get it, hey at least you're not faking it, but don't BASH one of the few REAL artists that actually get "main stream" attention, they are pushing this industry (and sound) forward"

The most important album of the '90s? Even if we forget that Dr. Dre took rap from a niche market and turned it into the highest-grossing genre that it is today, how about the early Green Day albums? They practically birthed modern pop-punk with Dookie. Hell, look what Garth Brooks was able to do with country music! But Radiohead? Come on!

Anyway, what started me down this train of thought was discovering that Radiohead is allowing people to decide how much they want to pay to download their new album. Yeah, you can download it for free if you want to. They're claiming this will revolutionize the industry by allowing fans to decide how much something is worth to them. I could barely restrain myself from laughing when I found out that people are taking this seriously. So I quoted one of the guys from the school message board who was supporting the idea, but even more people said they planned to download it for free. Honestly, the band is just throwing away money by doing this. People who want the album for free would have downloaded it anyway, and the number of people that will pay small amounts for it aren't going to counter the loss they take from people paying less than full CD price. Hello, bad idea much? If they weren't such a popular band already, this idea would pretty much bankrupt them.

Okay, I'm furious. It's time to blow people up in Team Fortress. Peace.