Albums by this artist

It is mighty difficult not to feel depressed at the conclusion of "Meeting People Is Easy," Grant Gee's film about a year in the life of Radiohead. The English quintet grabbed listeners by the ears with its 1997 magnum opus OK Computer, a diverse and thought-provoking art-rock masterpiece. Indeed, critics went to town on the record, offering a myriad of interpretations for its structurally bizarre and lyrically disturbing content.

Radiohead were certainly famous before the record came out, having scored (to singer Thom Yorke's apparent dread) a surprise U.S. hit in 1993 with "Creep" and returning the favor in 1995 with another smash single, "High And Dry." But nothing could have prepared the band for the ceaseless wave of interviews and appearances that followed the summer 1997 release of OK Computer, and "Meeting People Is Easy" quickly invalidates the axiom that serves as its film's title. For this band, nothing is easy.

At first, Radiohead seems to be fine with all the scrutiny, laughing off silly questions ("Does this record have anything to do with Genesis?," one reporter asks. "No, no.. we hate progressive rock," Yorke asserts) and making little jokes. Yorke looks out onto the 40,000 screaming fans at the Glastonbury Festival and later describes it as "not a human feeling" -- the first time he was truly aware, and proud, of his band's impact on listeners. But he claims that everything that happened after Glastonbury was "a let down," and we see Yorke gradually turn inward, hiding in the dressing room to avoid after-show chats and sitting for photo sessions in a lavatory. Yorke's four bandmates aren't spared from the interview workload either, but clearly they aren't as tortured by their fame as their sullen frontman. Yorke's nadir comes when he can't even complete a simple promo for an awards show, throwing the "script" to the ground and asking that one of the others finish it for him.

In reality the only time the band seems even remotely cheery is when it's onstage, rocking out to OK Computer standouts like "Paranoid Android" and "Airbag" or testing out some new material during soundchecks. But "Meeting People Is Easy" goes too thin on concert footage -- Radiohead is a solid, if unspectacular, live band -- and seems too preoccupied with portraying Yorke as the frail frontman to whom nobody can properly relate. Some of these episodes are humorous, like when he goes to a New York City nightclub but is turned away because the doorman doesn't know who he is. Still, one can only feel sorry for Yorke for so long. After all, this is a guy who starts rambling about global economic theory during an interview with a Japanese journalist. Why should reporters walk on eggshells with a someone who helped create one of the decade's most compelling albums?

On one hand, a movie that exposes Yorke's tortured outlook to the world can only fuel the singer's personal issues with his own celebrity. On the other, the film delivers frank proof that it takes a special individual to shoulder the expectations and adulation of millions of fans. If only Yorke would realize that nobody cares what he says offstage. He, of all people, must know that it's the music that does the real talking.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"