Radiohead and the Post-Modern Society: Critical Issues

It is almost inevitable that capitalism will swallow the entire globe in due time. When the world has become a completely corporate networking entity, where does the artist stand? What is the artist's role within a mechanism so disconcerned with aesthetics and meaning? If the only "true" art will be work that defaces corporate symbols and structures, of the utmost destructiveness, then where does a band like Radiohead fit in? A band of artists who support such movements as Free Tibet and other national note-worthy charities, preaching for non-violent and harmless solutions.

Radiohead has been labeled internationally by the media as "the best band in the world", "the saviours of rock'n'roll", and "Pre-millenial Geniuses".Why has Radiohead and its artistic themes received such high critical acclaim from the same institutions it challenges? What does such irony say about the "New Economy" we live in? Do certain people who fuel media and big business really feel the fears Radiohead conveys of their own institutions, and will this music make a quiet stir, or a lasting impression?

A theme in Radiohead's lyrics is that we are culturally, more and more, losing meaning through progress. Dadaism, which Radiohead refers to on their website, was a movement that "dedicated itself to attacking the cultural values which its members believed had led to the world war." If Radiohead's members are like modern day Dadaists, then what are the cultural values that they are attacking and what kind of war did these cultural values lead to?

• Will MP3's be the future in distributing music and eventually phase-out store fronts such as the Wherehouse and Virgin Megastores, distributing the same music for half the price? Why isn't Radiohead taking a stand on the issue of their music being pirated? Radiohead allows their music to be downloaded in a time of violent and angry artists and producers. Radiohead's acceptance, but not over-involvement in the issue, is significant.
• Is it significant that Radiohead was born into and grew up in the beginnings of the post-modernism culture (origin of which is 1960's Europe)? Art and literature reflects social, economic, political issues in society rather than fictional issues. Thinking about Radiohead's web sites, they are far more interested in the political and social issues of modern society than they are about selling their music online. They appear to be a distincly post-modernistic band.