Text 1: Radiohead- "Idioteque"
Rhetorical Situation/ Exigence
Radiohead is a rock band from the UK who came together in the late 1990's. Although many of their songs revolve around loves, losses, depression and anger, Radiohead came out with quite a few songs directed at past wars and problems in society to help them stand out from other bands. "Idioteque" is an example of Radiohead bringing in past wars and social issues to set them apart. In October of 1962, the United States underwent a confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on the terms of an almost nuclear war. This put great stress on the United States causing safety precautions to skyrocket; Schools began performing "bomb drills" as regularly as they practiced fire drills, only the bomb drills were taken to the extreme. People were even building nuclear bunkers in their backyards because they were so scared of the Cold War's nuclear missiles. Many scientists also believed that an nuclear explosion would cool the earth into a "Nuclear Winter". The UK also used the political technique of 'scaremongering' to scare their voters into a change during the 21st century.
I really liked your analysis I think you did a very good job describing what caused Radiohead to write this particular song. It might be interesting to think about why this song is so popular today since it discusses something that happened a few decades ago. Good Job!!
ReplyDeleteI also liked your analysis of the rhetorical situation, i feel like i could clearly visualize what was going on at the time. It would be cool to find out if the song had any effect or influence of the coming times in regards to decreasing these things. Also, what was the public perception of this song? Was it supported? Any bash?
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job giving the reader the background of this song and why Radiohead wrote this. I thought the rhetorical analysis was great and liked the explanation of how "idioteque" related to Radiohead's style of music.
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