Kid A - Reception

Reception

Kid A received considerable attention, being greeted with strongly positive critical reaction, but it initially alienated some listeners. Novelist Nick Hornby compared Kid A to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, implying that it was an attempt at "commercial suicide" in order to escape from a label contract. He summarised a common source of opposition to the album in a review for The New Yorker, lamenting the change in musical style from The Bends (1995) and OK Computer. In 2001, by contrast, Radiohead appeared on the cover of The Wire, an avant-garde music magazine that usually ignores trends in alternative rock. The band earned a feature interview by Simon Reynolds, championing Kid A and its follow-up, Amnesiac, and dismissing accusations that they lacked originality.

Several American critics gave the album positive reviews, with Spin naming Radiohead "Band of the Year" and USA Today calling Kid A "the most eccentric album ever to debut at No. 1, setting Radiohead apart from an army of lock-stepping pop and rock acts." Robert Christgau gave the album an A−; he wrote, "this is an imaginative, imitative variation on a pop staple: sadness made pretty. Alienated masterpiece nothing- it's dinner music". French publications Les Inrockuptibles and Magic gave Kid A highly favourable reviews. Readers of Les Inrocks also voted it album of the year. However, in the UK, Kid A disappointed and infuriated some critics who expected the band to be "rock saviours". Melody Maker had said months in advance of the album, "If there's one band that promises to return rock to us, it's Radiohead". The album was later given a negative review in the magazine, which ceased publication soon afterwards. NME described the album as "scared to commit itself emotionally", though giving it a 7/10.

Despite the lack of consensus, by the end of 2000 the album was appearing frequently in critics' top ten lists as praise for Radiohead's experimentation appeared to outweigh reservations. In 2001, Kid A received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and for Best Engineered Album, and it won Best Alternative Album. In 2004, the album was ranked number 428 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. However, in the updated version, released in 2012, it was moved up to #67. In 2005, two popular indie music publications, Pitchfork Media and Stylus Magazine, independently named Kid A the best album of the past five years. Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and The Times would all go on to rank Kid A as the greatest album of the 2000s. In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums, In 2006, the album was chosen by TIME as one of the 100 best albums of all time. and NME organised a poll of 40,000 people worldwide who voted for the 100 best albums ever and Kid A was placed at #95 on the list.