Sputnik Music Forums - Bled 2 Deth - Cha Togar m'fhearg gun Dioladh (The Community Thread)

The forking highway on the cover of OK Computer symbolizes the possible paths humanity can take. The path OK Computer relates is one in which the the progress of history as we know it ends in apocalyptic war. The shadowy figure blocking the turn is the "airbag" in civilization's car, or the technological backup system that helped humanity avert total destruction. The "lost child" is the alienated survivor in a world dominated by the machine. The large "X" signifies that escape is forbidden from the "jacknifed juggernaut."

The songs tell the story:

1. Airbag

The titular "airbag" is the machine that saves humanity from total destruction in "the next world war." The machine is born again (reactivated) in a "jackknifed juggernaut," or the ruins of civilization. The "neon sign scrolling up and down" and the "fast German car" signify humanity's desire for automation and efficiency. The "deep sleep of the innocent" is the spiritual oblivion of those held in thrall to the machine. The line "in an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe" introduces the machine's messiah complex, which is given free range in "Paranoid Android."

2. Paranoid Android

This song expresses the machine achieving sentience and all the madness that sentience entails. The feeling of being abandoned (or deactivated): "that's it sir, you're leaving." The thirst for vengeance: "when I am king you will be first against the wall." The cry for salvation: "rain down on me, please." The replicants from Blade Runner could very well sing along.

3. Subterranean Homesick Alien

The last humans live below ground (metaphorically or literally). You "can't smell a thing" because the environment is regulated by the machine. The "cracks in the pavement" are little marks of freedom in the totalitarian edifice. The alien is us, homesick for other worlds because ours is inhospitable.

4. Exit Music (For a Film)

Lovers in a dangerous time. The "father" with his "rules and wisdom" is the machine. "Everlasting peace" is death. 1984.

5. Let Down

The futility of revolt, "crushed like a bug in the ground" but left to dwell in alcoholic oblivion, "clinging to bottles." The "wings" of the bug (in the machine?) still twitch however, at the thought that one day "the floor" or foundation of the prison-society will collapse.

6. Karma Police

The Karma Police are the enforcers of morality. The man who "buzzes like a fridge" and "talks in maths" is experimenting with forbidden sciences. The girl with "the Hitler hairdo" is attempting to organize a fascistic movement to take down the machine. (The machine crashes her party.) After time spent in the Ministry of Love, the reprobate realizes the error of his/her ways: "Phew, for a minute there I lost myself."

7. Fitter Happer

The proper life, as described by the machine. The "moral bank" is connected to the Karma Police, while the comparison of people to pigs goes back to "Paranoid Android."

8. Electioneering

At least "democratic representation" is still alive in the future.

9. Climbing Up The Walls

Big Brother's anthem. You won't see the watchers ("if you get too far you'll only see my reflection") because they're in your head ("open up your skull, I'll be there").

10. No Surpises

Speaks for itself, doesn't it?

11. Lucky

The "lucky" rebel has escaped through the cracks in the pavement. He looks forward to the "glorious day" of revolution, asking to be pulled out of the aircrash of a grounded world.

12. The Tourist

A traveller from an alternate universe visits the world of no surprises. When he gets mad or excited the "sparks" flow. The drones tell him to "slow down." Revolutionaries ("Lucky"), dreamers ("Subterranean Homesick Alien") and lovers ("Exit Music") have succumbed. Dogs are surprised by signs of life.

The album ends with the ping of a microwave. The future is ready. What will it be? The dystopian world of the machine or a world where "sparks" still flow?