Editing OK Computer (section)

==Legacy==

===Retrospective appraisal===
{{Album ratings
 | title = Retrospective reviews (after 1997)
 | rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
 | rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/ok-computer-mw0000024289|title=OK Computer – Radiohead|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=8 July 2015|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121081725/https://www.allmusic.com/album/ok-computer-mw0000024289|archive-date=21 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
 | rev2 = ''[[The A.V. Club]]''
 | rev2Score = A<ref name="AVClub retrospective"/>
 | rev3 = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
 | rev3Score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.blender.com/guide/new/50809/ok-computer.html|title=Radiohead: OK Computer|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|access-date=6 April 2020|last=Slaughter|first=James|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927055342/http://www.blender.com/guide/new/50809/ok-computer.html|archive-date=27 September 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 | rev4 = ''[[Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|Christgau's Consumer Guide]]''
 | rev4Score = B−<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|year=2000|title=[[Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s]]|publisher=[[St. Martin's Griffin]]|isbn=0312245602|chapter=R|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=R&bk=90|access-date=11 June 2020|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
 | rev5 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
 | rev5Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Radiohead|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]]|edition=5th concise|year=2011|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}</ref>
 | rev6 = ''[[MusicHound]] Rock''
 | rev6Score = 5/5<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Gary|editor-last=Graff|editor-link=Gary Graff|title=[[MusicHound]] Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Schirmer Trade Books|year=1998|edition=2nd|isbn=0825672562|chapter=Radiohead}}</ref>
 | rev7 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
 | rev7Score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Radiohead: OK Computer|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|issue=393|date=January 2019|page=104}}</ref>
 | rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
 | rev8Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{Sfn|Sheffield|2004|p=671}}
 | rev9 = ''[[Slant Magazine]]''
 | rev9Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Slant review"/>
 | rev10 = ''[[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull – on the Web]]''
 | rev10Score = B+<ref name="Hull">{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=15 April 2007|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/notebook/0704.php|title=April 2007 Notebook|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref>
}}

''OK Computer'' has frequently appeared in professional lists of the greatest albums of all time. A number of publications, including ''NME'', ''Melody Maker'', ''[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]'',{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=185}} ''Spin'',<ref name="RJ Smith Spin">{{citation
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bGjsvmNt8UgC&pg=PA123
 | title = 09: Radiohead: ''OK Computer''
 | last = Smith
 | first = RJ
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = September 1999}}</ref> ''Pitchfork'',<ref>
{{cite web
 | last = DiCrescenzo
 | first = Brent
 | url = https://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/10/
 | title = Top 100 Albums of the 1990s
 | magazine = [[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]
 | date = 17 November 2003
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090622023306/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/10/
 | archive-date = 22 June 2009
| url-status = live
}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'',<ref>
{{citation
 |url         = http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1955625_1955759_1956108,00.html
 |title       = OK Computer – The ALL-TIME 100 Albums
 |last        = Tyrangiel
 |first       = Josh
 |author-link = Josh Tyrangiel
 |date        = 2 November 2006
|magazine    = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110731085032/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1955625_1955759_1956108,00.html
 |archive-date = 31 July 2011
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref> ''[[Metro Weekly]]''<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.metroweekly.com/2014/04/50-best-alternative-albums-of-the-90s/
 | title = 50 Best Alternative Albums of the '90s
 | magazine = [[Metro Weekly]]
 | last = Gerard
 | first = Chris
 | date = 4 April 2014
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160221085312/http://www.metroweekly.com/2014/04/50-best-alternative-albums-of-the-90s/
 | archive-date = 21 February 2016}}</ref> and ''[[Slant Magazine]]''<ref>{{cite journal
 | url = https://slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-90s/251/page_10
 | title = Best Albums of the '90s
 | date = 14 February 2011 | journal = [[Slant Magazine]]
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110809110046/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-90s/251/page_10
 | archive-date = 9 August 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref> placed ''OK Computer'' prominently in lists of best albums of the 1990s or of all time. It was voted number 4 in [[Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]'' 3rd Edition (2000). ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked it 42 on its list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] in 2020.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Greene|first=Andy|date=24 September 2020|title=Rolling Stone 500: Radiohead's Futuristic Breakthrough 'OK Computer'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/500-greatest-albums-radiohead-ok-computer-1059469/|access-date=24 September 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> It was previously ranked at 162 in 2003<ref name="rollingstonelist">{{cite magazine
 |url         = https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/ok-computer-radiohead-19691231
 |title       = 162 OK Computer – Radiohead
 |magazine    = [[Rolling Stone]]
 |year        = 2004
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110729151012/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/ok-computer-radiohead-19691231
 |archive-date = 29 July 2011
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref> and 2012.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/radiohead-ok-computer-158139/| year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time| magazine=Rolling Stone| access-date=18 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925171407/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/radiohead-ok-computer-158139/| archive-date=25 September 2019| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, ''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]'' ranked it at 47 in its list of "The 50 best rock albums of all time": "Combining prog with alternative influences, they came up with a style that was supple, subtle and sensuous. This wasn't Pink Floyd for the end of the millennium, it was original, visionary and brilliant [...] An epochal album that called time on the narrow colloquial nostalgia of Britpop, sold millions and turned Radiohead into global angst-rock superstars, ''OK Computer'' is not quite the flawless masterpiece of fond folklore, but it holds up extremely well."<ref>{{cite web |date=12 October 2019 |title=The 50 best rock albums of all time |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-50-best-rock-albums-ever |access-date=11 March 2024 |work=[[Louder Sound]]}}</ref>

Retrospective reviews from [[BBC Music]],<ref name="LUSK">{{cite journal
 | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/wcp2
 | title = Radiohead: OK Computer
 | last = Lusk
 | first = Jon
 | journal = [[BBC Music]]
 | publisher = BBC
 | date = 5 August 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110818094645/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/wcp2
 | archive-date = 18 August 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref> ''[[The A.V. Club]]''<ref name="AVClub retrospective">{{citation
 |last        = Thompson
 |first       = Stephen
 |author-link  = Stephen Thompson (journalist)
 |url         = https://www.avclub.com/radiohead-ok-computer-1798194046
 |title       = Radiohead: OK Computer
 |magazine    = [[The A.V. Club]]
 |date        = 29 March 2002
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629182946/http://www.avclub.com/articles/radiohead-ok-computer,21296/
 |archive-date = 29 June 2011
|url-status     = live
}}</ref> and ''Slant''<ref name="Slant review">{{citation
 | last = Cinquemani
 | first = Sal
 | url = https://slantmagazine.com/music/review/radiohead-ok-computer/1123
 | title = Radiohead: OK Computer
 | magazine = [[Slant Magazine]]
 | date = 27 March 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110809090417/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/radiohead-ok-computer/1123
 | archive-date = 9 August 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref> were favourable. ''Rolling Stone'' gave the album five out of five in the 2004 edition of ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'', with [[Rob Sheffield]] writing: "Radiohead was claiming the high ground abandoned by [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], [[Pearl Jam]], [[U2]], [[R.E.M.]], everybody; and fans around the world loved them for trying too hard at a time when nobody else was even bothering."{{Sfn|Sheffield|2004|p=671}} Christgau said later that "most would rate ''OK Computer'' the apogee of [[postmodern music|pomo]] texture".<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=18 February 2003|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj02.php|title=Party in Hard Times|newspaper=The Village Voice|access-date=25 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026025050/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj02.php|archive-date=26 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, the United States [[National Recording Preservation Board]] selected the album for preservation in the [[National Recording Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]], which designates it as a sound recording that has had significant cultural, historical or aesthetic impact in American life.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/complete-national-recording-registry-listing/|title=Complete National Recording Registry Listing |website=Library of Congress|access-date=15 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309102746/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/complete-national-recording-registry-listing/|archive-date=9 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''The New Yorker'', [[Kevin Dettmar]] of described it as the record that made modern world possible for alternative rock music.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dettmar |first=Kevin |date=20 May 2022 |title=Radiohead's "OK Computer" Turns Twenty-Five |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/radioheads-ok-computer-turns-twenty-five |access-date=12 March 2023 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref>

''OK Computer'' has been cited by some as undeserving of its acclaim. In a poll surveying thousands conducted by [[BBC Radio 6 Music]], ''OK Computer'' was named the sixth-most overrated album.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/overrated/shortlist.shtml
 | title = Most Overrated Album in the World
 | publisher = [[BBC Radio 6 Music]]
 | date = October 2005
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120408035917/http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/overrated/shortlist.shtml
 | archive-date = 8 April 2012
| url-status = live
}}</ref> David H. Green of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' called the album "self-indulgent whingeing" and maintains that the positive critical consensus towards ''OK Computer'' is an indication of "a 20th-century delusion that rock is the bastion of serious commentary on popular music" to the detriment of [[Electronic music|electronic]] and [[dance music]].<ref>{{cite news
 | first = David H.
 | last = Green
 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/5011623/OK-Computer-Box-Set-Not-OK-Computer.html
 | title = OK Computer Box Set: Not OK Computer
 | newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]]
 | date = 18 March 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015073211/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/5011623/OK-Computer-Box-Set-Not-OK-Computer.html
 | archive-date = 15 October 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The album was selected as an entry in "Sacred Cows", an ''NME'' column questioning the critical status of "revered albums", in which Henry Yates said "there's no defiance, gallows humour or chink of light beneath the curtain, just a sense of meek, resigned despondency" and criticised the record as "the moment when Radiohead stopped being 'good' [compared to ''The Bends''] and started being 'important{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite journal
 |first       = Henry
 |last        = Yates
 |url         = http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=140&title=sacred_cows_radiohead_ok_computer&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
 |title       = Sacred Cows – Is Radiohead's 'OK Computer' Overrated?
 |journal    = [[NME]]
 |date        = 3 April 2011
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110711160441/http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=140&title=sacred_cows_radiohead_ok_computer&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
 |archive-date = 11 July 2011
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref> In a ''Spin'' article on the "myth" that "Radiohead Can Do No Wrong", Chris Norris argues that the acclaim for ''OK Computer'' inflated expectations for subsequent Radiohead releases.<ref>{{cite journal
 | first = Chris
 | last = Norris
 | url = https://www.spin.com/2009/11/myth-no-1-radiohead-can-do-no-wrong/?aggr_node=55990
 | title = Myth No. 1: Radiohead Can Do No Wrong
 | journal = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = 9 November 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306145616/http://www.spin.com/2009/11/myth-no-1-radiohead-can-do-no-wrong/?aggr_node=55990
 | archive-date = 6 March 2016
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Christgau felt "the reason the readers of the British magazine ''Q'' absurdly voted ''OK Computer'' the greatest album of the 20th century is that it integrated what was briefly called electronica into rock". Having deemed it "self-regarding" and overrated, he later warmed to the record and found it indicative of Radiohead's cerebral sensibility and "rife with discrete pleasures and surprises".<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=8 July 2003|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/radiohead-03.php|title=No Hope Radio|newspaper=The Village Voice|access-date=25 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325185359/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/radiohead-03.php|archive-date=25 March 2014}}</ref>

===Commentary, interpretation and analysis===
[[File:TonyBlairArmagh1998.jpg|thumb|In interviews after the album's release, Thom Yorke criticised [[Tony Blair]] (''pictured in 1998'') and his [[New Labour]] government – echoing the album's pervasive theme of political disillusionment.]]

''OK Computer'' was recorded in the lead up to the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] and released a month after the victory of [[Tony Blair]]'s [[New Labour]] government. The album was perceived by critics as an expression of dissent and scepticism toward the new government and a reaction against the national mood of optimism. Dorian Lynskey wrote, "On May 1, 1997, Labour supporters toasted their landslide victory to the sound of '[[Things Can Only Get Better (D:Ream song)|Things Can Only Get Better]].' A few weeks later, ''OK Computer'' appeared like [[Banquo]]'s ghost to warn: ''No, things can only get worse''."{{Sfn|Lynskey|2011|pp=496}} According to Amy Britton, the album "showed not everyone was ready to join the party, instead tapping into another feeling felt throughout the UK—pre-millennial angst.&nbsp;... huge corporations were impossible to fight against—this was the world ''OK Computer'' soundtracked, not the wave of British optimism."{{Sfn|Britton|2011|pp=259–261}}

In an interview, Yorke doubted that Blair's policies would differ from the preceding two decades of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government. He said the public reaction to the [[Death of Diana, Princess of Wales|death]] of [[Diana, Princess of Wales|Princess Diana]] was more significant, as a moment when the British public realised "the [[British Royal Family|royals]] had had us by the balls for the last hundred years, as had the media and the state."<ref name="SELECT"/> The band's distaste with the commercialised promotion of ''OK Computer'' reinforced their anti-capitalist politics, which would be further explored on their subsequent releases.{{sfn|Clarke|2010|p=142}}

Critics have compared Radiohead's statements of political dissatisfaction to those of earlier rock bands. [[David Stubbs]] said that, where [[punk rock]] had been a rebellion against a time of deficit and poverty, ''OK Computer'' protested the "mechanistic convenience" of contemporary surplus and excess.<ref name="Under Review">{{Cite AV media
 | date = 10 October 2006
| title = Radiohead: OK Computer – A Classic Album Under Review
 | medium = DVD
 | publisher = Sexy Intellectual}}</ref> Alex Ross said the album "pictured the onslaught of the [[Information Age]] and a young person's panicky embrace of it" and made the band into "the [[poster child|poster boys]] for a certain kind of knowing alienation—as [[Talking Heads]] and R.E.M. had been before."{{Sfn|Ross|2010|p=88}} [[Jon Pareles]] of ''The New York Times'' found precedents in the work of Pink Floyd and [[Madness (band)|Madness]] for Radiohead's concerns "about a culture of numbness, building docile workers and enforced by [[self-help]] regimes and [[antidepressant|anti-depressants]]".<ref name="PARELES">{{cite news
 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/28/arts/miserable-and-loving-it-it-s-just-so-very-good-to-feel-so-very-very-bad.html
 | title = Miserable and Loving It: It's Just So Very Good to Feel So Very, Very Bad
 | last = Pareles
 | first = Jon
 | author-link = Jon Pareles
 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
 | date = 28 August 1997
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090801142435/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/28/arts/miserable-and-loving-it-it-s-just-so-very-good-to-feel-so-very-very-bad.html
 | archive-date = 1 August 2009
| url-status = live}}</ref>

The album's tone has been described as millennial<ref name="Request"/><ref name="UNCUT">{{citation
 | title = Is OK Computer the Greatest Album of the 1990s?
 | date = 1 January 2007 | url = http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/special_features/9209
 | magazine = [[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724124036/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/special_features/9209
 | archive-date = 24 July 2011
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> or [[futurism|futuristic]],<ref name="DWYER">{{citation
 | last = Dwyer
 | first = Michael
 | title = OK Kangaroo
 | date = 14 March 1998
| magazine = [[Melody Maker]]}}</ref> anticipating cultural and political trends. According to ''The A.V. Club'' writer Steven Hyden in the feature "Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation", "Radiohead appeared to be ahead of the curve, forecasting the paranoia, media-driven insanity, and omnipresent sense of impending doom that's subsequently come to characterise everyday life in the 21st century."<ref name="Oasis and Radiohead">{{citation
 |last        = Hyden
 |first       = Steven
 |title       = Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation? Part 8: 1997: The ballad of Oasis and Radiohead
 |date        = 25 January 2011
|url         = https://www.avclub.com/part-8-1997-the-ballad-of-oasis-and-radiohead-1798223989
 |magazine    = [[The A.V. Club]]
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110801232704/http://www.avclub.com/articles/part-8-1997-the-ballad-of-oasis-and-radiohead,50557/
 |archive-date = 1 August 2011
|url-status     = live
}}</ref> In ''[[1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die]]'', [[Tom Moon]] described ''OK Computer'' as a "prescient&nbsp;... [[dystopia]]n essay on the darker implications of technology&nbsp;... oozing [with] a vague sense of dread, and a touch of [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]] foreboding that bears strong resemblance to the constant disquiet of life on [[Homeland Security Advisory System|Security Level Orange]], [[post-9/11]]."{{sfn|Moon|2008|pp=627–628}} [[Chris Martin]] of [[Coldplay]] remarked that, "It would be interesting to see how the world would be different if [[Dick Cheney]] really listened to Radiohead's ''OK Computer''. I think the world would probably improve. That album is fucking brilliant. It changed my life, so why wouldn't it change his?"<ref name="McLEAN">{{citation
 | last = McLean
 | first = Craig
 | title = The importance of being earnest
 | date = 27 May 2005 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/may/28/popandrock.coldplay
 | newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927075558/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/may/28/popandrock.coldplay
 | archive-date = 27 September 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

The album inspired a [[radio drama|radio play]], also titled ''OK Computer'', which was first broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] in 2007. The play, written by [[Joel Horwood]], Chris Perkins, [[Al Smith (playwright)|Al Smith]] and Chris Thorpe, interprets the album into a story about a man who awakens in a Berlin hospital with memory loss and returns to England with doubts that the life he's returned to is his own.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://drownedinsound.com/news/2494978
| title = Radiohead: OK Computer play live on BBC this Friday
| last = Kharas
| first = Kev
| date = 16 October 2007 | magazine = [[Drowned in Sound]]
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114432/http://drownedinsound.com/news/2494978
| archive-date = 4 March 2016}}</ref>
{{clear}}

===Influence===
{{quote box
| align = right
| width = 30%
| quote = A lot of people have taken ''OK Computer'' and said, 'This is the yardstick. If I can attain something half as good, I'm doing pretty well.' But I've never heard anything really derivative of ''OK Computer''—which is interesting, as it shows that what Radiohead were doing was probably even more complicated than it seemed.
| source = —Josh Davis ([[DJ Shadow]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/uncut/07/pt_2007-02_uncut.htm|title=Uncut #117|website=citizeninsane.eu|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>
}}

{{quote box
| align = right
| width = 30%
| quote = The whole sound of it and the emotional experience crossed a lot of boundaries. It tapped into a lot of buried emotions that people hadn't wanted to explore or talk about.
| source = —[[James Lavelle]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGjsvmNt8UgC&pg=PA123|title=SPIN|date=September 1999|language=en}}</ref>
}}

The release of ''OK Computer'' coincided with the decline of [[Britpop]].<ref group="nb">Britpop, which reached its peak popularity in the mid-1990s and was led by bands such as [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], [[Blur (band)|Blur]] and [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]], was typified by nostalgic [[homage (arts)|homage]] to [[British rock]] of the 1960s and 1970s. The genre was a key element of the broader cultural movement [[Cool Britannia]]. Starting in 1997, a number of events marked the end of the genre's heyday; these included Blur spurning the conventional Britpop sound on ''[[Blur (Blur album)|Blur]]'' and Oasis' ''[[Be Here Now (album)|Be Here Now]]'' failing to live up to the expectations of critics and the public. See [[#CITEREFFootman2007|Footman 2007]], pp. 177–178</ref> [[Alexis Petridis]] of ''The Guardian'' called the album "the defining sound of rock's post-Britpop shift".<ref name="Petridis-2023"/> Through ''OK Computer''{{'}}s influence, the dominant UK guitar pop shifted toward an approximation of "Radiohead's paranoid but confessional, slurry but catchy" approach.<ref>{{citation
 | title = The 50 Greatest Bands: 15
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = February 2002}}</ref> Many newer British acts adopted similarly complex, atmospheric arrangements; for example, the post-Britpop band [[Travis (band)|Travis]] worked with Godrich to create the languid pop texture of ''[[The Man Who]]'', which became the fourth best-selling album of 1999 in the UK.<ref>{{citation
 | title = A Marriage Made in Song
 | last = Gulla
 | first = Bob
 | magazine = [[CMJ]] New Music Monthly
 | date = April 2000}}</ref> Some in the British press accused Travis of appropriating Radiohead's sound.<ref>{{citation
 | title = Travis
 | last = Sullivan
 | first = Kate
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = May 2000}}</ref> Steven Hyden of ''AV Club'' said that by 1999, starting with ''The Man Who'', "what Radiohead had created in ''OK Computer'' had already grown much bigger than the band," and that the album went on to influence "a wave of British-rock balladeers that reached its zenith in the '00s".<ref name="Oasis and Radiohead"/>

''OK Computer'' influenced the next generation of British alternative rock bands,<ref group="nb">Specifically, critics have cited the album's influence on Muse, [[Coldplay]], [[Snow Patrol]], [[Keane (band)|Keane]], Travis, [[Doves (band)|Doves]], [[Badly Drawn Boy]], [[Editors (band)|Editors]] and [[Elbow (band)|Elbow]]. See:
* {{citation
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/jun/15/tenyearsofokcomputerandwd
 | last = Aza
 | first = Bharat
 | title = Ten years of OK Computer and what have we got?
 | newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
 | date = 15 June 2007 | archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/60jE5qiBg?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2007/jun/15/tenyearsofokcomputerandw
 | archive-date = 6 August 2011 | url-status = live
 | ref = none
 }}
* {{citation
 | title = The Empire Strikes Back
 | last = Eisenbeis
 | first = Hans
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = July 2001
 | ref = none }}
* {{citation
 | title = Album review: Radiohead Reissues – Collectors Editions
 | date = 8 April 2009 | url = http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/reviews/13013
 | newspaper = [[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]
 | last = Richards
 | first = Sam
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101206061947/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/reviews/13013
 | archive-date = 6 December 2010 | access-date = 29 August 2011 | url-status = live
 | ref = none
 }}</ref> and musicians in a variety of genres have praised it.<ref group="nb">Musicians who have praised the album include [[R.E.M.]] frontman [[Michael Stipe]], former [[The Smiths|Smiths]] guitarist [[Johnny Marr]], DJ Shadow, [[Guns N' Roses]] guitarist [[Slash (musician)|Slash]], [[Manic Street Preachers]] member [[Nicky Wire]], [[The Divine Comedy (band)|The Divine Comedy]] frontman [[Neil Hannon]], [[Mo' Wax]] label owner [[James Lavelle]], [[Sonic Youth]] and [[Gastr del Sol]] member and experimental musician [[Jim O'Rourke (musician)|Jim O'Rourke]], former [[Depeche Mode]] member [[Alan Wilder]] and contemporary composer [[Esa-Pekka Salonen]]. See:
* {{citation
 | first = Chad
 | last = Bidwell
 | title = Jim O'Rourke
 | date = 25 February 1999
| url = http://ink19.com/1999/02/magazine/interviews/jim-orourke-2
 | website = Ink 19
 | access-date = 11 May 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170331030644/http://ink19.com/1999/02/magazine/interviews/jim-orourke-2
 | archive-date = 31 March 2017
| url-status = live
 | ref = none
 }}
* {{citation
 | first = David
 | last = Cavanagh
 | author-link = David Cavanagh
 | title = Communication Breakdown
 | date = February 2007
 | magazine = [[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]
 | ref = none }}
* {{citation
 | title = 09: Radiohead: ''OK Computer''
 | last = Smith
 | first = RJ
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | date = September 1999
 | ref = none }}
* {{citation
 | title = The maestro rocks
 | date = 28 January 2003 | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-28-et-timberg28-story.html
 | newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]]
 | last = Timberg
 | first = Scott
 | access-date = 5 August 2011 | archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/60jEeH0tI?url=http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/28/entertainment/et-timberg28
 | archive-date = 6 August 2011 | url-status = live
 | ref = none
 }}
* {{citation
 | title = Alan Wilder of Recoil & Depeche Mode's 13 Favourite LPs – Page 8
 | date = 9 May 2011 | url = http://thequietus.com/articles/06219-alan-wilder-depeche-mode-favourite-records?page=8
 | magazine = [[The Quietus]]
 | last = Turner
 | first = Luke
 | access-date = 6 September 2011 | archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/61VQGlUlk
 | archive-date = 6 September 2011 | url-status = live
 | ref = none
 }}</ref> [[Bloc Party]]<ref>{{citation
 | title = Introducing Bloc Party
 | date = 4 December 2003
| url = http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/8568-introducing-bloc-party
 | newspaper = [[Drowned in Sound]]
 | last = Nunn
 | first = Adie
 | access-date = 29 July 2011
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110806055102/http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/8568-introducing-bloc-party
 | archive-date = 6 August 2011
| url-status = live
 }}</ref> and [[TV on the Radio]]<ref>{{citation
 | title = TV on the Radio: Coming in Loud and Clear
 | date = 13 April 2007 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200693.html
 | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]
 | last = Harrington
 | first = Richard
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121102102404/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200693.html
 | archive-date = 2 November 2012
| url-status = live
}}</ref> listened to or were influenced by ''OK Computer''; TV on the Radio's debut album was titled ''[[OK Calculator]]'' as a lighthearted tribute.<ref>{{citation
 | title = Tough Questions for TVOTR's Tunde Adebimpe
 | date = 11 April 2011 | url = http://www.spin.com/articles/tough-questions-tvotrs-tunde-adebimpe/
 | magazine = [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]
 | last = Sellers
 | first = John
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111209174537/http://www.spin.com/articles/tough-questions-tvotrs-tunde-adebimpe
 | archive-date = 9 December 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Radiohead described the pervasiveness of bands that "sound like us" as one reason to break with the style of ''OK Computer'' for their next album, ''[[Kid A]]''.<ref>{{citation
 | first = Peter
 | last = Murphy
 | title = How I learned to stop worrying and loathe the bomb
 | date = 11 October 2001 | magazine = [[Hot Press (magazine)|Hot Press]]
 | url = http://www.hotpress.com/archive/1607168.html
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110525145608/http://www.hotpress.com/archive/1607168.html
 | archive-date = 25 May 2011
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Although ''OK Computer''{{'}}s influence on rock is widely acknowledged, several critics believe that its experimental inclination was not authentically embraced on a wide scale. Footman said the "Radiohead Lite" bands that followed were "missing [''OK Computer''{{'s}}] sonic inventiveness, not to mention the lyrical substance".{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=219}} [[David Cavanagh]] said that most of ''OK Computer''{{'}}s purported mainstream influence more likely stemmed from the ballads on ''The Bends''. According to Cavanagh, "The populist albums of the post-''OK Computer'' era—the [[The Verve|Verve]]'s ''[[Urban Hymns]]'', Travis's ''[[Good Feeling (Travis album)|Good Feeling]]'', [[Stereophonics]]' ''[[Word Gets Around]]'', [[Robbie Williams]]' ''[[Life thru a Lens]]''—effectively closed the door that ''OK Computer''{{'}}s boffin-esque inventiveness had opened."<ref name="CAVANAGH"/> [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] believed that ''OK Computer'' was one of the "fleeting signs that British rock music might [have been] returning to its inventive traditions" in the wake of Britpop's demise.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=369}} While Harris concludes that British rock ultimately developed an "altogether more conservative tendency", he said that with ''OK Computer'' and their subsequent material, Radiohead provided a "clarion call" to fill the void left by Britpop.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=369}} The ''Pitchfork'' journalist Marc Hogan argued that ''OK Computer'' marked an "ending point" for the rock-oriented [[album era]], as its mainstream and critical success remained unmatched by any rock album since.<ref name="Hogan">{{cite magazine|last=Hogan|first=Marc|author-link=Marc Hogan|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/ok-computer-at-20/10038-exit-music-how-radioheads-ok-computer-destroyed-the-art-pop-album-in-order-to-save-it/|title=Exit Music: How Radiohead's OK Computer Destroyed the Art-Pop Album in Order to Save It|magazine=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=11 March 2010|date=20 March 2017}}</ref>

''OK Computer'' triggered a minor revival of progressive rock and ambitious concept albums, with a new wave of prog-influenced bands crediting ''OK Computer'' for enabling their scene to thrive. [[Brandon Curtis]] of [[Secret Machines]] said, "Songs like 'Paranoid Android' made it OK to write music differently, to be more experimental&nbsp;... ''OK Computer'' was important because it reintroduced unconventional writing and song structures."<ref name="progeny">
{{citation
 | first = Matt
 | last = Allen
 | title = Prog's progeny
 | date = 14 June 2007 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/aug/11/popandrock
 | newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100404071217/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/aug/11/popandrock
 | archive-date = 4 April 2010
| url-status = live
}}</ref> [[Steven Wilson]] of [[Porcupine Tree]] said, "I don't think ambition is a dirty word any more. Radiohead were the Trojan Horse in that respect. Here's a band that came from the indie rock tradition that snuck in under the radar when the journalists weren't looking and started making these absurdly ambitious and pretentious—and all the better for it—records."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8266922.stm|title=It's back&nbsp;... Prog rock assaults album charts|work=BBC News|first=Tim|last=Masters|date=23 September 2009|access-date=8 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805093418/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8266922.stm|archive-date=5 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2005, ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' named ''OK Computer'' the tenth-best progressive rock album,<ref name="belfasttelegraph">{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/az-of-progressive-rock-28548926.html|title=A-Z of progressive rock|work=[[Belfast Telegraph]]|first=Jonathan|last=Brown|date=27 July 2010|access-date=5 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105160805/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/az-of-progressive-rock-28548926.html|archive-date=5 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2014 it was voted the 87th-greatest by readers of ''[[Prog (magazine)|Prog]].''<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-100-greatest-prog-albums-of-all-time-100-81 | title= The 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time | work=Louder | author1=Hannah May Kilroy | author2=Jerry Ewing | date=6 August 2014 | access-date=11 March 2024}}</ref>

In 2006, the American reggae band the [[Easy Star All-Stars]] released ''[[Radiodread]]'', a reggae interpretation of ''OK Computer''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tangari |first=Joe |title=Easy Star All-Stars: Radiodread |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9417-radiodread/ |access-date=30 May 2024 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2007, the music blog ''[[Stereogum]]'' released ''OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer'', with covers by artists including [[Vampire Weekend]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lapatine |first=Scott |date=12 March 2015 |title=Stereogum Presents... OKX: A Tribute To OK Computer |url=https://www.stereogum.com/1787251/stereogum-presents-okx-a-tribute-to-ok-computer/columns/theme-week/radiohead-week/ |access-date=30 May 2024 |website=[[Stereogum]] |language=en}}</ref>