10 Most Important Rock Albums Of All Time
6. Ok Computer - Radiohead
It's hard to imagine how much of a wasteland the rock landscape was after the grunge wave rose and fell. With the death of Kurt Cobain looming large over the rock world, it seemed that there would be a shroud placed over the rest of the decade as the years went on. Though the first part of the '90s may have been dominated by Nirvana, Radiohead picked up the mantle on Ok Computer.
Inspired by the rapid ascent of technology happening all around him, Thom Yorke guided these English misfits to the top of the rock heap with this album, brandishing songs that felt like experiences on Exit Music For a Film and Lucky. Shacking up for weeks in a castle estate, the material on display here feels both comforting and unsettling at the same time, from the jazzy accentuations of Subterranean Homesick Alien to the skin-crawling menace that comes from Climbing Up the Walls.
Instead of plotting their takeover of the world, Radiohead took the same rock and roll tropes from the classic eras that came before them and weaved together something that just may have helped them point a way towards the future. Even though they would abandon the rock structure altogether with Kid A in the coming years, OK Computer still stands as one of the last great rock records to come out of the 20th century.