HIDDEN STUFF
Welcome to my favourite section.
This is where you can find almost all the hidden stuff from the Radiohead
albums and booklets. If you find anything thats not posted here, please send
me an email.
OK COMPUTER:
There are some phrases such as 'Injektilo', 'Simbolo', 'Dangera Najbar-Ajo', and 'Malvenkemo' in the OK Computer sleeves.
These are in another language called Esperanto. This is the first international language, created by a Polish doctor,
Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof (late 19th century). Zamenhof believed speaking a universal
language would be beneficial and easier for everyone.
Injektilo = Syringe
Simbolo = Symbol
Dangera Najabar-Ajo = Dangerous Neighbourhood
NOTE: Esparanto actually means "hope", perhaps suggesting that all is not yet lost. This
is echoed in the album, in the way all the songs convey a strange optimism in their misery.
In the OK Computer sleeves, on page 4, if you turn the book to the right, at the bottom of the page, it starts to say "in time square in nuclear fallout..."; the same things it says on the back of the book under the list of the songs which reads:
in time square
in nuclear fallout
reflective clothing
in his personal space
On page 4 (and also the last page), there's some greek writing, as translated it reads:
don't throw unnecessary objects in the sea. protect the clean sea. it's for your health and your childrens'.
There's a strong possibility that the numbers on the back of OK Computer (18576397) stand for the exact time that the album was finished (note the arrow pointing up to the tracks). So:
1857 = 18:57 = 6:57 p.m.
6 = the 6th
3 = March
97 = 1997
And there you go. OK Computer was completed on March 6th, 1997 at 6:57 p.m.
Notice that all the lyrics to songs in Ok Computer are written in a mess and only the lyrics of Fitter Happier are in order, just like the meaning of it; that only machines and robots are orderly and neat.
Religious words on page 12 next to the family:
jesus saves
god is love
again virgin
raise hell
gay is good
On the last page of the booklet, above "people with birdlike faces", it says 'bulletproof' and 'street spirit'.
On page 4, right next to the sitting man and woman, it says (turn the booklet sideways), 'immerse your soul in love'. Although some of it has been scribbled out.
The second to last page, there's a picture of a skyline, and it looks like "the city of the future" or Palo Alto.
In the OK Computer sleeves, on Page 3 (opposite the sitting man and woman), there is a circuit diagram in the middle of the page. This circuit represents part of the circuitry in a certain model of Sony Radio Alarm Clocks. This is consistent with the message on the first page, mentioning an alarm clock.
On the third to last page on the OK computer sleeves, there are faint pictures and labels of "ship", "escalator", "helicopter" and "aeroplane". ie. Transport. On the cover is a picture of a motorway. Also on the second page, the taking off and landing - perhaps a link with the words of "Let down"?
On the second to last page in OK Computer sleeves, where the top left corner says "surface", under the injektilo* sign, there are instructions to make/ingredients to a McDonalds Hamburger.
In the OK Computer sleeves, on page two, opposite the man and woman sitting, under the maid with the big paint brush it reads; "wallpaper needs care, consult a book on decorating..."
If you look at the end credits in the OK Computer sleeves, you'll notice this: "sample from flight of the condor used with permission". This 'sample' is actually the background voice in Fitter Happier, which repeats the following phrase:
This is the Panic Office,
Section 917 (nine seventeen) may have been hit.
Activate the following procedure.
The fat smiley on the last page is taken from a "Cheetos" paper.
The Airbag code (1421421) must be a hint of "the meaning of the universe is 42" in one of Douglas Adams' books where the 1 is the repeating question "what is the meaning of the universe?".
The code for "No Surprises" repeat the letters C, M and O like it says "carbon monoxide".
On the second page of OK Computer, the statue of Jesus Christ is found at the mormon visitors center of Salt Lake City, Utah, right next to the building where the mormon (LDS) tabernacle choir performs.
Open up the ok computer cd case and pull out the cd. Look on the side where it says 'RADIOHEAD ok computer' and you'll see the following:
While Thom sings the "what's there?" part in Paranoid Android, the same computer voice from fitter happier can be heard saying this:
I may be paranoid, but I am no android.
Thom starts laughing during Electioneering; right after the second part of the chorus. If you listen closely you can hear it.
The words "get me outta here" is sung three times in the background. You can hear it during the last chorus of "no alarms and no suprises". Alternatively it could be the word "let" instead of "get".
There are Czech voices in the beginning of A Reminder. It is in a subway station and the lady is saying, "Finish the entrances and exits. The doors are closing... The next stop is 'Jiriho z Dodebrad'." The phrase
"the doors are closing" could be a reference to "your life is ending" since the song is about getting old.
Almost all the quotes that Radiohead puts in albums, sleeves, etc. are from self-help books, of which Thom picked up while on tour. He also picked up a book about changing your identity called 'How to disappear completely and never be found.'
The words "vota idiota" (on a polaroid on the back of the 'No Surprises' single sleeve) means "vote you idiot" in Spanish and Italian.
Article about the numbers on the Airbag/How am I driving EP cover:
"Just like Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny," Radiohead's new album, the EP Airbag/How Am I Driving?, is probably driving phone operators batty. The number 1426148550 (dialed from the States as 011-44-1-426-148-550) is given on the EP cover (and by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who jokes in concert that it is the number to call to report bad drivers). Well, it's actually a working number, and the voice on the other end, which simply says, "Hello?," sounds exactly like Yorke's. (Even his publicist thinks so). Fans can even leave a message, but we're not quite sure yet who will get the message. Maybe the band plans to use the confused callers' messages on a future recording?"
The fat man that chops himself in the "Paranoid Android" video really looks like Benjamin (BB) Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. In the video, this man is sitting in a circle of people with flags, that looks like voting in the UN and BB was the represent for Israel in the UN. Also when he chops himself and sinking in the sea, it could be a hint that BB failed (as most of the people in Israel thinks) with being a prime minister and now he must ask for help from other prime ministers or presidents such as Bill Clinton.
For anyone who may not have noticed: The back cover of 7 Television Commercials also appears on the front cover. (In the background - it's just well scribbled over).
THE BENDS:
Thom have often said that Fake Plastic Trees is about Canary Wharf (which Thom drew a picture of for the sleeve of The Bends). Canary Wharf is a block of offices in London.
It was built in the eighties and is the tallest office block in England.
It used to be busy and prosperous, but now it is completely empty. Presumably it's put next to Fake Plastic Trees
because the song is also about how the eighties was such a money-hungry period in time and many people now feel
disillusioned by it.
Unfold the whole cover booklet so that the part that says Radiohead and The Bends (cover page) is at the bottom. On the first and second strips, a figure is drawn... It says 'a wingless angel' going up the side of his body and 'with a handful of crumpled stars' next to his left hand.
For those of you who can't understand what Thom shouts at the end of Just, he repeats this over and over:
Why do you do it to yourself?
You stupid man.
In the beginning of The Bends, you can hear a marching band play with the conductor saying, "Bring it up, bring it up!" or "Keep it up, keep it up!" This was recorded by Thom outside his hotel window in Phoenix, AZ.
PABLO HONEY:
Near the end of "How Do You?" there is the Pablo Honey skit from the Jerky Boys in the background.
If you turn the back of the Pablo Honey cd sideways, you can see that the whole picture is just
a streetscape inside of a man (that looks like Jesus) lying on a mattress. Also, the pics of the band in the sleeves show them standing inside an empty pool.
Comments? Corrections? Email me.
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