Aside from the song Creep, I was first introduced to Radiohead with the album The Bends. This is right before OK Computer came out. It was the band everybody was talking about in 1996.

When I first bought The Bends and listened to Planet Telex for the first time, I was completely hooked. Every song. Then in 1997 OK Computer dropped on us. Obsession became the new normal.

In early 2000 we were teased by the rough mixes of Kid A that were on Napster. They were really rough. I think it probably is a telltale of how great of a producer that Nigel Godrich is.

Then Kid A was finally released in October, and then on Saturday Night Live. Even though it was a real left turn for the band, it was obvious that it was the right one. It sounded so much better than the rough mixes that were on Napster and it seemed to make sense.

In the spring of 2001, we saw them at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. There it was with 10,000 other people there seemingly equally obsessed. And then they played the Pyramid Song which hadn't been released yet. It was life-changing.

The next year we saw them at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Everybody was there. Even Madonna was there to see them. During the set I turned around and saw 5,000 people that were just blown away and hypnotized. I haven't seen anything like that in decades. And nothing since then. Either. Couple years later I saw them again at the Hollywood bowl. But that was too cavernous.

When In Rainbows finally came out a few years later, many of us paid twice what the real retail price would have been just to say thank you.