Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer predicted modern anxieties and pulled British rock away from Britpop

pop & funWikipedia1997 · Oxfordshire and Bath, England

Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer predicted modern anxieties and pulled British rock away from Britpop

the gist

OK Computer is Radiohead's third studio album, released in May 1997 and recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in a rehearsal space and an old mansion. Its lyrics describe a dystopian world of consumerism, social alienation, technological anxiety and political corruption. The band moved away from the guitar-led style of their previous album, The Bends, using unusual techniques such as natural reverberation and very few overdubs. EMI had doubted that it would sell, but it reached number one in the UK and was certified five-times platinum there. It sold at least 7.8 million copies worldwide and helped shift British rock toward melancholic, atmospheric alternative music.

so what

The album is often cited as one of the greatest of its era, and its mood is widely described as prescient about 21st-century life. It changed the direction of British rock in the late 1990s.

fun fact

In 2014 the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗