This Isn’t Happening

The Wall Street Journal, Arts & Entertainment Fall 2020 Preview
Jam Base, "Top Music Books of 2020"

"This Isn't Happening not only is an excellent way to revisit Kid A but also a springboard for thinking about the shifting fortunes of rock music, the Internet, and the uneasy century we've been living in for the past 20 years."

"If there was ever an album that deserves a book-length exegesis, it's Kid A, and there's no one better than Steven Hyden to unpack its mythologies and prophecies, and the extraordinary way it appeared to set the stage for the century that followed. This Isn't Happening is a smart, riveting, and dynamic history of a watershed moment for both music and the world."

"Even if you've immersed yourself in Kid A thousands of times, Steven Hyden's passionately argued and kaleidoscopic This Isn't Happening will make you rethink and reimagine Radiohead's most audacious album and its place in cultural history--and history itself."

"Radiohead, music, and culture all stood at a crossroads in the year 2000. With insight and grace, Steven Hyden explores the ways in which the Kid A album pointed toward a future that no one could fully imagine--and captured a moment that, two decades later, we're still trying to comprehend."

"This Isn't Happening is beyond a mere analysis of Kid A. It is a vast and contextual examination of the world, both inside and outside of Radiohead, leading up to and flowing away from the creation of Kid A and its impact on both the band and culture as a whole. Connecting the record to film, politics, current events, and the cultural morass that comprised the final moments of the '90s, Steven Hyden gleefully and with meticulous absurdity dissects, deconstructs, and decodes the first great artistic enigma of the new millennium."

"[Hyden is] one of America's foremost rock critics."

"This Isn't Happening is a foundational text for understanding a difficult, prophetic album, and an addictive read for any fan of Radiohead."

"Hyden provides a thorough primer on the sound of Kid A...But Hyden truly excels at illuminating the context of Kid A, from the prerelease expectations to the oft-rapturous reviews to the music's ultimate legacy."

"With the conversational irreverence of the guy sitting down at the bar, Hyden draws connections to hybrid rock acts like Linkin Park, surreal and misanthropic blockbusters like Fight Club and Vanilla Sky, the internet's transformation from a utopian dream into a dystopian nightmare, and the tragedy on 9/11. For good measure (and fan service), he bookends This Isn't Happening's cultural insights with key Radiohead-related events occurring before and after the album."

"Eminently readable...[and] enthralling"

"[Hyden] writes like the best kind of music fan: informed and inviting...A knowledgeable, earnest, always persuasive testament to a cultural touchstone."