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whats the meaning? - "Fake Plastic Trees" by radiohead

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  • 29-08-2008 10:57pm
    #1
    whatsamsn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 911 ✭✭✭


    i've heard alot of people have there different takes on this song. Officially its meant to be how the world is fake as the band has said. But heard other takes cause you hear lines like "my fake plastic love" and "if i could be who you wanted"


    just wondering whats peoples take of it on here?


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    #2
    nyarlothothep
    Registered Users Posts: 5,177 ✭✭✭nyarlothothep


    I pretty much take it to be about people who live up to appearances, in doing what is expected of them by society but who are ultimately unhappy with this.


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    #3
    Kold
    Registered Users Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    I think if you put the song in the context of the album, there's recurring themes of unhappiness, apathy, anxiety, aversion to the life that awaits. I like to think of The Bends and OK Computer as twin albums in the sense of that's when Thom hit an all time low. More so with the success of OK Computer, but listening to the Bends it's pretty clear that Thom wouldn't react too well to being a big rock star.

    Fake Plastic Trees to me has always been the stand out track on The Bends along with Black Star. To me it's just a story about fighting inevitability. Thom's explanation about consumerism is pretty much it. Comsumerism and marketing offer us ways out of growing old, of being ugly, of being lonely but they're all empty promises and we buy into them all. Bones following it is a similar theme and the (nice dream) in which Thom sings about his own superficial utopia that becomes shattered by reality, or becomes a nightmare in the same way as There There would in HttT.


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    #4
    MooseJam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,111 ✭✭✭MooseJam


    I heard a few people say it's about the war in Iraq


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    #5
    whatsamsn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 911 ✭✭✭whatsamsn


    i think the story is about a relationship. it being "fake" - obviously the officially meaning by the band, and said above is about the world being fake. But if you take the other songs of the album away and what the band says it sounds like a very unhappy person.

    "She lives with a broken man" - sad.
    "my fake plastic love" - hmmmm.


    I think there is alot of different ways this song could be taken but on the surface it sounds like a man and woman. I only ask cause my best mate is going nuts over this song at the moment. I dragged it out of him that his ex gf is crazy about this song at the moment (i dont know how he knows that but he seems to)

    Hmmm i guess this song is ****ing him up a little listening to it lol.


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    #6
    IanCurtis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,004 ✭✭✭IanCurtis


    I think it's about a woman whose view on life is fake, a mixture of American living-the-dream ideals in a world of debts, corporations and "career women".

    When he sings "if I could be who you want to" i don't think he means it. She wants the image, the reputation, the "dream", but ultimately he is a flawed person, as we all are.

    Let's just say I can relate to it.

    :)

    The Ladies Lounge is full of this stuff. Everyone is insecure to some extent, but this song is about being true to yourself and not becoming fake and plastic.


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    #7
    IanCurtis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,004 ✭✭✭IanCurtis


    MooseJam wrote: »
    I heard a few people say it's about the war in Iraq


    What a wit :rolleyes:


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    #8
    whatsamsn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 911 ✭✭✭whatsamsn


    Its surely not a happy song, right? lol.


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    #9
    RoosterIllusion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 395 ✭✭RoosterIllusion


    It is clearly a song about Christmas.


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    #10
    tech77
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,736 ✭✭✭tech77


    Kold wrote: »
    I think if you put the song in the context of the album, there's recurring themes of unhappiness, apathy, anxiety, aversion to the life that awaits. I like to think of The Bends and OK Computer as twin albums in the sense of that's when Thom hit an all time low. More so with the success of OK Computer, but listening to the Bends it's pretty clear that Thom wouldn't react to well to being a big rock star.

    Fake Plastic Trees to me has always been the stand out track on The Bends along with Black Star. To me it's just a story with about fighting inevitability. Thom's explanation about consumerism is pretty much it. Comsumerism and marketing offer us ways out of growing old, of being ugly, of being lonely but they're all empty promises and we buy into them all. Bones following it is a similar theme and the (nice dream) in which Thom sings about his own shallow utopia that becomes shattered by reality, or becomes a nightmare in the same way as There There would in HttT.

    The video would tie in with the consumerism/fake fulfillment thing alright. Man so many good songs on that album though.
    Love Bones.
    Love Nice Dream.
    FPT might be the standout alright but Bulletproof is stunning as well (love the quiet strumming guitar intro).
    That and Black Star work well back to back.
    Not forgetting the sublime, mesmerising, searingly beautiful Street Spirit.
    Ah fcuk it there all pretty much classics.


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    #11
    Kold
    Registered Users Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    tech77 wrote: »
    The video would tie in with the consumerism/fake fulfillment thing alright. Man so many good songs on that album though.
    Love Bones.
    Love Nice Dream.
    FPT might be the standout alright but Bulletproof is stunning as well (love the quiet strumming guitar intro).
    That and Black Star work well back to back.
    Not forgetting the sublime, mesmerising, searingly beautiful Street Spirit.
    Ah fcuk it there all pretty much classics.

    And to think, it's only their 6th best album. ^_^


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    #12
    tech77
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,736 ✭✭✭tech77


    Kold wrote: »
    And to think, it's only their 6th best album. ^_^

    Says who :)


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    #13
    Kold
    Registered Users Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    tech77 wrote: »
    Says who :)

    An expert. :cool:


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    #14
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    Kold wrote: »
    An expert. :cool:

    well, he or she is way off.

    It's their best album for those of us who don't like semi-standard electronica and crap lyrics (or are their lyrics deliberately bad these days in some sort artsy pose to show the world oh who cares anymore....)


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    #15
    Kold
    Registered Users Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    well, he or she is way off.

    It's their best album for those of us who don't like semi-standard electronica and crap lyrics (or are their lyrics deliberately bad these days in some sort artsy pose to show the world oh who cares anymore....)

    No, no. It's very good. Try not to slander everything you can't seem to appreciate.


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    #16
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    Kold wrote: »
    No, no. It's very good. Try not to slander everything you can't seem to appreciate.

    In your opinion, in my opinion they are boring to listen too, even if they are still amazing live. I just couldn't envisage the series of events that would make me want to listen to any of their new stuff when there so much good stuff out there to listen to.

    But I know this will only end up in the Radiohead cultists losing all reason and trying to have me shot, so I'm leaving it.


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    #17
    Kold
    Registered Users Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    I can't imagine how any of the albums post-The Bends could be considered boring. It's true though, if you don't fancy a band being innovative there are lots of 'alternative but not so alternative' rock groups out there for you. I love the Bends but they got so very much better as time went on. Can't please everyone though. Not aiming to please everyone is so often misconstrued as pretension.


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    #18
    nyarlothothep
    Registered Users Posts: 5,177 ✭✭✭nyarlothothep


    the bends and ok computer are imo their best albums, kid a et al are good but its a different type of music which doesn't appeal to me as much as it can be a very repetitive and its not as dramatic. I actually prefer Pablo Honey in a sense to their post Ok Computer output though for nostalgia reasons. I also don't like the way Yorke changed his vocal style and now persistently sings in this loose warm style which is a bit irritating after a while. He used to have a great voice, operatic at times, now he just mumbles.


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    #19
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 14,714 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    Kold wrote: »
    Try not to slander everything you can't seem to appreciate.
    Kold wrote: »
    I can't imagine how any of the albums post-The Bends could be considered boring. It's true though, if you don't fancy a band being innovative there are lots of 'alternative but not so alternative' rock groups out there for you. I love the Bends but they got so very much better as time went on. Can't please everyone though. Not aiming to please everyone is so often misconstrued as pretension.

    Careful man, you'll get a nosebleed posting like that.


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