Radiohead Pablo Honey

Ok, I do KNOW. I do know..I know intellectually it is barely a Radiohead album, I know In Rainbows is superior, I know OK Computer is a meisterwerk of immense proportions. I know some of you might even accept it if I said I dug the Bends, but Pablo Honey as the best Radiohead album would be something that would horrify our Elmo-esque lead singer, Thom, and embarrass even the most rhino-skinned music reviewer. I’m sorry. I can’t help it. That album cover is prime early 90’s kitsch, the opening bars of You on my stereo take me back to cider and parks and festivals, and my long legged Brazilian (Cecilia you are breaking my heart, you gorgeous girl, you) girlfriend kissing me anyway on the street while the butch door-girl of the whatever bar it was tutted at us for some unknown reason. It is pure nostalgia, bottled in a vial of water dipped in Nevermind’s swimming pool, and Everybody Can Play Guitar with a bleach haired Thom jumps right in looking like an albino Kurt. I can’t help it. Of course it the album that has Creep. I was the Creep, forever wondering if my female friends were flirting with me, barely enough bravery to ever find out, because you know..”I’m a creep, I’m a wierdo…” What the hell am I doing here, listening to Pablo Honey, wanting to jump through the screen back into the ’90s when I was not old, no tired, not worn out. I tell you what I am doing, I am having a blast! I am having a throughly good time. It might not be the coolest, not the hippest, not the most experimental, groundbreaking, genius, but it is a perfectly good little indie pop gem, and it deserves more respect than it ever gets. Thom, darling, sweetheart! Make peace with Pablo and throw me a Creepy bone now and again! You all know where to find it, so I won’t bore you all…Instead have our “ersatz Patti” singing with a beautiful Michael Stipe in an ugly skirt at the wonderful Concert for Bangladesh, Thom stealing the show, arms wheeling, yelping the same four words over and over, while Michael looks more and more irritated at not being the clear star. He got a kiss on the cheek for his troubles. It is beautiful.