The mystery of the location in Radiohead's OK Computer artwork appears to have been solved
With help from "road geeks", a fan tracked down the interstate junction
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A scrawled, white and turquoise highway is immediately recognisable as the artwork of Radiohead's seminal album OK Computer, but what's not remotely recognisable is the location it depicts.
Until now, that is, as a Radiohead fan has cracked it with help from "road geeks".
Recently released concept art for the album offered a slightly better look at the vista and appeared to confirm it was based on reality as opposed to being a sketch of an invented highway.
Intrigued by this, Redditor u/Jordan117 headed over to AARoads.com where a forum members cracked the case just six hours after the query was posted.
The location depicted is: the eastbound junction of I-84 (a.k.a. the Yankee Expressway) with I-91 in Hartford, Connecticut, just before it crosses the Connecticut River.
"Took about 10 minutes," Mapmikey said. "The middle BGS [Big Green Sign] has a two word control city with just a single letter as the first word. The BGS on the right has a two word city but two actual words. I figured that it was east of the Mississippi because of the (IMO) tight footprint of the interchange.
"So what interstate junctions in the east might fit the that BGS criteria? E Hartford and New Haven.
"I'm pretty decent at puzzles and also have a fair amount of experience taking older road photos and figuring out where they were..."
A Google Earth search showed that the photo would have been taken from a Hilton hotel beside the intersection and, sure enough, the band played near it on 20 August, 1996, shortly before they recorded OK Computer (so they like stayed at the hotel after the show).
The above GIF of the artwork laid over a photo taken from the right angle makes this all but open-and-shut.
"Twenty-year-old mystery: solved," u/Jordan117 wrote. "Now to figure out where the heck that Kid A mountain range is..."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments