Radiohead released their third studio release, OK Computer, in 1997. It was well-received and sold to multiple-levels of platinum all across the world, but was it only half of the experience?
Ten years later, on September 30, 2007, Radiohead announced that in ten days they would be releasing their first album in four years (and without the cover of a label). Ten days later would be 10/10/2007.
Some have connected this attention to the number ten as a binary representations of 10101010. Research notes that OK Computer had a working title of Zeroes and Ones, which would be 01010101 — a perfect binary compliment to 10101010. Fans and conspiracy theorists say that this newer album (In Rainbows) was the second-half of what OK Computer had started ten years prior.
The idea is that you can hear the ending reverberations from OK Computer tracks at the beginning of In Rainbows tracks. Further claim state that if you alternated the tracks on each album (with a small intermission song in the middle), you could actually hear the larger piece of art in its totality.
This concept has been called the Binary Theory, or the better named “TENspiracy.’
The claimed TENspiracy order, courtesy of Puddlegum:
- Airbag (OK Computer)
- 15 Step (In Rainbows)
- Paranoid Android (OK Computer)
- Bodysnatchers (In Rainbows)
- Subterranean Homesick Alien (OK Computer)
- Nude (In Rainbows)
- Exit Music (For A Film) (OK Computer)
- Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (In Rainbows)
- Let Down (OK Computer)
- All I Need (In Rainbows)
- Karma Police (OK Computer)
- Fitter Happier (OK Computer) [intermission song]
- Faust Arp (In Rainbows)
- Electioneering (OK Computer)
- Reckoner (In Rainbows)
- Climbing Up The Walls (OK Computer)
- House Of Cards (In Rainbows)
- No Surprises (OK Computer)
- Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)
- Lucky (OK Computer)
- Videotape (In Rainbows)
- The Tourist (OK Computer)
Was this true? Is this all just coincidence? For most bands and albums, you’d probably say yes — but this is Radiohead we’re talking about. It’s hard to put anything past them.
Thus, I sat down on a mission to form my own opinion, and over the past couple of days have been listening to this TENspiracy album. Further “rules” say that there should be a ten-second crossfade between songs to complete the experience. I listened in two different ways: via the iPhone (which does not support crossfades on songs), and on iTunes (which does). I preferred the non-crossfaded version.
Also, as a bit of a control, I did this same deck-of-cards-shuffling with a couple of other albums: Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy & self-titled album and The Mars Volta’s De-Loused in the Comatorium & The Bedlam in Goliath. Pearl Jam just to see what two random albums sounded like intermingled and The Mars Volta because if there were anyone else that would pull this kind of thing it would be them.
My TENspiracy verdict: more likely than not.
More reading shows that there are themes in some songs carried out by later songs on the other album, but I couldn’t hear any specific connections that seemed mind-blowing. There are mentions of going to sleep in one song and waking up in another, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Yet while I found no concrete evidence that these two albums should be merged into one, abstractly: there’s… something. Something just feels right about the TENspiracy “set list.” Songs don’t seamlessly lead into each other, but the pacing feels better than when playing the albums separately.
In contrast, Pearl Jam’s two albums are much different. Track switches aren’t jarring, but it feels as though I’m swapping back and forth between two albums. I didn’t get that feeling with Radiohead.
As for The Mars Volta: it becomes more evident listening this way that each album is its own concept and they aren’t going after any of these multi-album pieces.
In the end, it’s hard to give this one a definitive yes, but I’m comfortable with a probably. It seems more likely to be planned than coincidence. If you have both albums, try it out — even if you’re not paying close attention to the words and the music as you work.
What do you think? Doesn’t it just seem… right?
