10 Albums With Actual Hidden Messages
1. Two Radiohead Albums Fit Together Perfectly (And Intentionally)
Radiohead are something of an enigma. Right now they're one of the most popular and well-respected bands on the planet but, if you look back through their history, it's a surprise they ever got to that point. For a while they were just another early-nineties grunge knock-off, plucked from obscurity with the success of Creep. All that served to do was make them into a one hit wonder, and yet somehow they managed to beat that rap too with The Bends, which solidified them as one of the more interesting alternative rock bands around - something they went further with on their follow-up concept album OK Computer. Then they ditched all the traditional influence and made a couple of records influenced by electronica, modern classical music and free jazz, and somehow Kid A and Amnesiac ended up being the best things they ever made.
Finally they settled down with the recent releases In Rainbows and King Of Limbs, which seem to coalesce all of their previous sounds into one unified whole - even if they did put out both records themselves, in a wholly unconventional manner, allowing listeners to pay what they wanted for digital downloads. They're an interesting bunch, that group from Oxford who started off as On A Friday (because that's the day of the week they met for band practice), as their evolution, interesting decisions with artwork and music videos, and general prickly relationship with the press will attest to. Weirdest of all, however, are their hidden messages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAos89cuSgQ
Well, not hidden message so much as a hidden puzzle that didn't pay off for almost a decade. OK Computer came out in 1997 and, whilst it mainly saw them playing with the traditional band set up, began their first foray into programmed drums and electronic instruments. In Rainbows came out in 2008 and was much the same, albeit a little more grown up. And those two albums were actually designed to act as a piece. Like, it's all one big album. A theory called "0110" has it that if you mix the records together in sequence - the first track of OK Computer, then the first track of In Rainbows, and so on - they're actually designed to crossfade into each other.
And, as you'll hear above, it totally works. And was totally intentional, as singer Thom Yorke revealed when he mentioned how annoyed he was it took fans to figure out.