In the years following its release , '' Kid A '' attracted acclaim . In 2005 , '' Pitchfork '' wrote that '' Kid A '' had " challenged and confounded " Radiohead 's audience , and that it had " transformed into an intellectual symbol of sorts ... Owning it became ' getting it ' ; getting it became ' anointing it ' . " In 2015 , Rob Sheffield of '' Rolling Stone '' likened Radiohead 's change to style to Bob Dylan 's controversial move to rock music , writing : " There ’s no controversy over '' Kid A '' any more ... Nobody admits now they hated '' Kid A '' at the time ... Nobody wants to be the clod who did n't get it . " He described '' Kid A '' as the " defining moment in the Radiohead legend " . In a 2011 '' Guardian '' article about his critical '' Melody Maker '' review , Beaumont wrote that though his opinion had not changed , " '' Kid A '' status as a cultural cornerstone has proved me , if not wrong , then very much in the minority ... People whose opinions I trust claim it to be their favourite album ever . " However , in 2014 , Brice Ezell of PopMatters wrote that '' Kid A '' is " more fun to think and write about than it is to actually listen to " and " far less compelling representation of the band 's talents than '' The Bends '' and '' OK Computer '' " . In 2016 , Dorian Lysnkey wrote in the '' Guardian '' : " At times , '' Kid A '' is dull enough to make you fervently wish that they 'd merged the highlights with the best bits of the similarly spotty '' Amnesiac ... '' Yorke had given up on coherent lyrics so one can only guess at what he was worrying about . " Radiohead denied that they had set out to create " difficult " music . Jonny Greenwood argued that the tracks were short and melodic , and suggested that " people basically want their hands held through 12 ' Mull Of Kintyre 's " . Yorke said : " We 're actually trying to communicate but somewhere along the line , we just seemed to piss off a lot of people ... What we 're doing is n't that radical . " Yorke recalled that the band had been " white as a sheet " before early performances on the '' Kid A '' tour , thinking they had been " absolutely trashed " . At the same time , " We were also like , ‘ Come on then , fucking come on then ! ’ There was a sense of a fight to convince people , which was actually really exciting . " He said the band regretted releasing no singles , feeling it meant much of the early judgement of the album came from critics . '' Grantland '' credited '' Kid A '' for pioneering the use of internet to stream and promote music , writing : " For many music fans of a certain age and persuasion , '' Kid A '' was the first album experienced primarily via the internet – it 's where you went to hear it , read the reviews , and argue about whether it was a masterpiece ... Listen early , form an opinion quickly , state it publicly , and move on to the next big record by the official release date . In that way , '' Kid A '' invented modern music culture as we know it . " In his 2005 book '' Killing Yourself to Live '' , critic Chuck Klosterman interpreted '' Kid A '' as a prediction of the September 11 attacks . In 2019 , David Byrne of Talking Heads , one of Radiohead 's formative influences , said : " What was really weird and very encouraging was that '' Kid A '' was popular . It was a hit ! It proved to me that the artistic risk paid off and music fans sometimes are not stupid . " In 2003 , '' Rolling Stone '' ranked '' Kid A '' number 428 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . In its updated 2012 version of the list , '' Rolling Stone '' ranked '' Kid A '' number 67 , the highest-ranking album released that decade , writing that " '' Kid A '' remains the most groundbreaking rock album of the ' 00s " . '' Rolling Stone '' named " Everything in its Right Place " the 24th best song of the decade , describing it as " oddness at its most hummable "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Kid A