Talent Is Not Enough

June 2019. Radiohead release MiniDiscs [Hacked], a compilation of demos and rehearsals from the creation of the OK Computer era, one of the greatest albums of the 90s.

If for some reason you haven’t listened to this album or don’t know Radiohead please do. Although I’m not sure if there is still a person - apart from Sheldon Cooper - that doesn’t know who Radiohead is. Two pop culture references in two sentences, not bad for a start!

In these minidiscs, there was a lot of content, which wasn’t really divided into songs or something, but eighteen parts with a total time of sixteen hours. I’ve listened to some of it and then I forgot about since then, but I revisited it in the last month since a youtube account is uploading these minidiscs based on songs which is, you know, a bit easier to listen to.

Both times, I got the same feeling. If you listen to these recordings, you are going to understand two things:

• How talented these guys are.
• How much work they put on these songs to get them to the point we all know from the album.

It was mind-blowing. I always thought that Thom Yorke and the rest of the gang just had some ideas, and effortless made a record. If you listen to these raw recordings, the experimentations and progress of their work is evident.

Success and excellence don’t come easy. You have to work for it.