Nirvana weren't the first indie heroes to sign a major label (the Replacements, Tim, 1985), or the first to subsequently hit Number One (R.E.M., Out of Time, 1991), but the Washington trio's sophomore album was the one that forever blurred the lines between pop sheen and DIY pathos. However Artificial Intelligence served as a handy gathering point for some of electronic music's most experimental minds - Aphex Twin, Autechre, Richie Hawtin, Alex Paterson from the Orb - a brainy exercise that spawned what we now know as "intelligent dance music." While AI anticipated the explosive markets for genres like downtempo and trip-hop the blipping, sputtering, ambient worlds of IDM musicians would influence everyone from Radiohead and Björk to Skrillex and Deadmau5. In a world of house and techno driven by dance-floor whims - especially in rave-addled England - Warp Records were driven by the bottom line when they decided to market a "home listening" version of electronic music: Comfortable, older, middle-class types liable to buy an living room record were a more reliable audience for CD sales than trend-chasing kids. Related RecordsĪ seemingly conservative maneuver that turned out to be cutting edge. The album's "pay-what-you-want" offer that allowed diehards, casual fans and curious listeners to put their own value on music was just another step forward in questioning how the music business does business. Ever since In Rainbows arrived in everyone's inbox simultaneously and listeners experienced those torrid first notes of "15 Step" together, many artists have tried to "pull a Radiohead," with Beyoncé and U2 succeeding in delivering their music in a similarly egalitarian manner. The band ended the four-year wait following 2003's Hail to the Thief by announcing simply on their official site, "the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days." With that sentence, Radiohead changed the promotional cycle in the digital age. O K Computer might be Radiohead's best album, and Kid A their most musically innovative, but In Rainbows shook the music industry's very infrastructure.
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