Comments on: Where Murakami Ends and Radiohead Begins: A Comparative Study

By: Samuel S

Samuel S — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:07:50 +0000

May I offer a belated thankyou to all those who have left comments above – your feedback is much appreciated.
Obviously this article could do with some updating: there’s a new Radiohead album to contend with and a couple of Murakami books. Much more could be said, of this I am certain.
Unfortunately I am too busy to be able to manage this task at present. In the meantime, however, I must draw your attention to comments made by Murakami in October 2008 (as transcribed here: http://www.themillionsblog.com/2008/10/haruki-murakami-in-berkeley.html )

Regarding his favourite music, Murakami said: “I listen to classical music in the morning, jazz in the evening. I listen to rock when I’m driving. I like Radiohead [big round of applause]. I like REM, Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Thom Yorke is a reader of mine. He’s in Tokyo now, and he wanted to meet me, but I had to be here. It’s a huge sacrifice for me…”

Strong proof that Yorke continues to rate Murakami’s art highly, and vice versa. A great pity they never met.

By: gotdalife

gotdalife — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:22:14 +0000

dIs artIcLe suxx! radiohead r0xx0r!

And there’s my impression of an idiot. Honestly, wonderful work. I’ve never heard of Murakami, but I’m a big fan of Radiohead. Reading this makes me want to search Amazon for a Murakami book.

I applaud you for having the guts to actually dissect Radiohead’s music (there’s gotta be at least a dozen layers of skin on it, not to mention a few layers of flesh and bone). I’ve spent some time in the past writing music reviews/articles, but I’ve never had the patience to go as in-depth as you have on this piece. Kudos!

By: EmmVeeKay

EmmVeeKay — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:06:18 +0000

I’m not exactly a Radiohead afficionado, but I certainly enjoy their music. I can’t attest to know much about them, but I really enjoyed and appreciated this article. I’ve always loved the way Murakami has peppered his works with pop-culture and manages to use it as a means of furthering the narrative of his stories. Y’know, I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading this. It was well worth handing a paper in late for.

By: I got it all on videotape « Enjoy the Silence

I got it all on videotape « Enjoy the Silence — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:54:48 +0000

[...] Robert, care este acum “chief of finding cool things on the internet”, mi-a dat asta intr-o seara. Desigur, Murakami si Radiohead in acelasi eseu ar putea sa arunce universul in neant, [...]

By: a.

a. — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:46:47 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this essay. Partly because I was reading it while sitting on a bench on what was probably the second real spring day (feeling the warmth of the sun is a pleasure you tend to crave during the long winters here in Finland), partly because I found it really interesting, and as far from being pretentious as possible. Whenever I’ll write a piece of academic writing (which is in fact what I should be doing right now…), I want to convey this casual – dare I say “free” – spirit.

I don’t really know Radiohead. OK Computer is indeed one of my favourite records, and I listened to Hail to the Thief and Kid A a couple of times, but still I don’t feel I have ever really got into them deeply, the way you do with a book. But after having read this essay, now I just feel like going home and putting on Kid A again.

My two favourite novels by Murakami are The Wind-up bird chronicle and Kafka on the shore, and this is where I actually turn back to the essay and hope to contribute something relevant – if only my thought on his world and his – well – optimism; I’m not sure what the crucial difference between “Romantic” and “romantic” is here, but I agree that he is indeed one, deeply and passionately romantic that is, at least in these two novels, while being a realist at the same time. And this is why it’s so powerful and engaging, in my view; in the end you have to be a realist because you have to pay the rent and feed the cat, but it’s good to know that there is another world where the Noborus are fought – and beaten – by humble heroes like Toru; and it’s good to know that you only have to open Murakami’s books to get lost in this world.

Big words, and I’m not sure if they make too much sense either. Thanks still for this play of thoughts.

By: amylola

amylola — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 03:38:35 +0000

i thought i should get back on here and say that i HAVE read the entire article now. i loved it. i shared it with my students, to show them two things: how to write about literature by comparing it to something that is not literature; and how to structure an essay using sub-headings. great lesson for high schoolers. a couple of students were quite excited at the idea of using their favorite music to talk about literature. now, they just have to think about how to do it with Italo Calvino’s “if on a winter’s night a traveler” …..

By: amylola

amylola — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 01:05:10 +0000

amazing. my favorite author and my favorite band, together at last! i haven’t read the entire article yet (it’s longer than i thought!). however, i am a high school english teacher and i am going to show my students this, and encourage them to make their own connections between books and music. thank you so much for posting it. and perhaps i will comment more when i read the entire thing.