It’s
hard to put into words what Radiohead means to Matt and me, but I thought I’d
try…
In
the Beginning
Our love affair with the band started fairly
early for both of us. For me, I was in seventh grade. My science lab partner,
Maria—then, Matyjaszewska; now, Mendoski (funny, she was married a day before
we just saw Radiohead in DC)—gave me a tape copy of Pablo Honey, which I played out so quickly that the album was one
of the first I purchased when I owned my first CD player. After that, Radiohead
didn’t have a sophomore slump and obviously didn’t fail to please with OK Computer. For Matt, he cites driving
around in his car in high school, listening to classics like “Creep” and “Karma
Police,” influenced him to buy The Bends.
For both of us, our college years and the
release of Kid A cemented what would
become a lifelong love affair with the band. I remember the first time I
listened to Kid A (October 2000), I
just didn’t “get” it. It was such a huge departure from their “sound,” and an
innovative foray into what was not just a complete change in their identity,
but a huge step for electronic music as a whole. But, as with many great
concepts, the more I listened, the more I heard and absorbed and learned. By
Christmastime, I was on the cusp of falling head over heels for the album. That
winter break, home from college, my parents were renovating the attic. I stayed
in one small room, on a mattress on the floor, with a space heater, a suitcase,
and a stereo. Those nights, lying in a quiet, empty corner of the attic,
listening to the album over and over and over again, I finally got it. Matt,
ever the obsessive music nut himself, got caught up in the national interest
for OK Computer that eventually led
him to fall in love with Kid A as
well.
Amnesiac
and Hail to the
Thief brought us evidence of the band’s near demise, Yorke’s battle with
severe depression, a divided fan base, and a sense that Radiohead had come to
an impasse in their collectively differing visions for the band’s future. I
consider Amnesiac to be the
quintessential B-sides from Kid A (incidentally, props to a certain redheaded Rob for buying me Amnesiac for my 21st birthday);
and, Hail to the Thief as an emptying
of the coffer that was necessary for the albums to come.
The
Story of Us
For those of you who don’t know our story, I
offer to briefest version I can summon:
- We met in August 1999, totally randomly, in
front of Kohl Hall at Bowling Green State University.
- We quickly became friends, and even worked
together as third-shift night guards at Kohl Hall.
- I got my BFA in May 2003, and Matt moved in
with me that fall to finish his final semester of undergrad studies.
- In the spring of 2005, Matt moved to Arizona;
while, in the fall of 2004, I started grad school at BGSU.
- In between my two years of grad school, during
the summer of 2005, I took a legendary, 40-day roadtrip, during which I visited
Matt for a week-long respite from driving.
- I loved the southwest so much, that I went
back January 2006 for another weekend visit with Matt.
- Nearing the end of grad school, I decided a
change of scenery was in order, so I visited Matt in July 2006 after graduating
to interview for jobs and scope out an apartment.
- I moved to Arizona in August 2006. By
December, Matt and I started down the path of becoming more than just friends.
Blurring
the Lines
Four long years after the release of Hail to the Thief, Radiohead released In Rainbows. I readily participated in
the controversial “pay what you want” online download; Matt waited to first
listen to the album with me, then, true to form, wanted to buy the actual
artwork and liner notes. I immediately loved the album. One day, on our way to
see The Darjeerling Limited (we also
share a love of Wes Anderson movies), I played In Rainbows for Matt. It was around this same time that, after a
long and tumultuous 2007, we also finally started officially dating. For this
reason, the album resonated
with both of us. We both cite the song “House of Cards” as a particularly
powerful track:
“I don't wanna be your friend
I just wanna be your lover
No matter how it ends
No matter how it starts
Forget about your house of cards
And I'll do mine”
In addition to In Rainbows, Matt and I spent a lot of nights listening to Kid A – this is “our” album in so many
ways.
Radiohead toured In Rainbows during the summer of 2008. With much of our
relationship still in limbo and undefined, Matt decided to accompany me to
Sandy Pond for a whirlwind vacation. We flew a red-eye on a Wednesday, followed
by Matt meeting pretty much my entire extended family, followed by a breakneck
roadtrip to Toronto to see Radiohead, followed by a simply magical week
together.
Seeing Radiohead in Toronto not only put
stars in our eyes for the band, but also for each other. That fall, we moved in
together. 2009 and much of 2010 was a rocky road for our relationship, as the
transition from friends to partners was rough on both of us. Add in the growing
dissatisfaction we both had for our respective jobs, and the result nearly
squashed our romance. However, after a some unintentional time apart (I travel
almost six weeks straight through May and June for work), a month-long
celebration of my 30th birthday, and my back surgery, Matt found himself on one
knee, proposing to me.
These
Days
In February 2011, Radiohead released The King of Limbs. We first listened to TKOL in our living room in Phoenix and,
after our great escape from the desert that March, it came to define the spring
leading up to our wedding. In the minutes before our wedding ceremony, we
played a few tracks from Christopher O’Reilly’s True Love Waits, a brilliant interpretation of Radiohead classics
arranged for piano. At our reception, we, along with some surprised fans and
unsuspecting romantics, danced to “House of Cards.” And, as you might guess,
we’ve played a number of Radiohead albums in utero for the Mini.
When Radiohead announced a TKOL tour, it naturally made sense that
we would go...even though I was pregnant and we knew the concert would take
place a mere five weeks before my due date. With the help of Mr. Christian Bloomfield--best friend, best
man, best everything extraordinaire--and a total of five laptops, we procured
tickets to see Radiohead on June 3 in Washington, DC. From the moment the
tickets came in the mail, we virtually held our breath and knocked on wood,
evening banning all discussion of the said event.
This past weekend, we traveled to DC for our
“babymoon.” We spent some time at the Udvar-Hazy Center;
stayed at the historic Morrison-Clark
Inn; ate a fantastic Greek mezze dinner at Zaytinya
and an equally delicious Chinese dim sum dinner at Ping Pong;
and, saw Radiohead for the second time. We drastically underestimated how
emotionally draining the concert would be—the months of anticipation, the
anxiety over potentially missing the show due to an early baby, and the simple
excitement of seeing our favorite band—as we spent two hours in a state of
awe-struck, goosebump-covered, euphoria, followed by sheer exhaustion and a comedown
of sorts.
The show marked the end of another chapter of
story together. We agreed that it is the end of an era – that the concert
marked the end of the first incredible chapter of our friendship, romance and
future, both with each other and with Radiohead. Sure, our near fanatical love
of the band may seem crazy to some of you but, as I’ve tried to illuminate
here, it’s not without a good cause and a rich history.
I’ve often thought that if I could love
anything half as much as Thom Yorke clearly loves music, then I’d be the
happiest woman alive. Well, I do…Matt Cooper…and I am. Now I really
get it.
