In June 2006, David Barker, editor of the 33 1/3 book series, hosted an essay contest for writers under the age of 21. Each book of the series, which has been published by Continuum Books since 2003, uniquely chronicles the story behind a single classic album as told by various writers, artists, and cultural elites. The winner of the contest would receive $250 and have his or her essay published as the twenty-first chapter in the recently released 33 1/3 Greatest Hits, Volume 1, a collection of excerpts from the first twenty books of the series. I wrote about Radiohead's Kid A.

I spent the first two weeks or so of June piecing together something decent. The last two were spent writing from midnight until about 2 or 3 AM every night while blasting the album through my headphones. Finally, I ended up with something I was actually proud of, at which point my own esteemed editor screamed at me, demanding that I rebuild it and make it better and faster than ever before!

So I submitted my sweat-soaked essay, the apple of my loins, this graceful masterpiece over which I had suffered and bled for a fortnight, and I got an Honorable Mention on David Barker's website. DAMMIT. The winning essay was on Phil Ochs’ I Ain’t Marching Anymore. I knew I should have gone folk! Damn you, electronic-tinged modern rock! Damn you!! For a brief moment I feared that I had brought shame upon my family and my clan, until I realized that it was totally cool to have my name on a website. For once.

Radiohead Photos