More about: Radiohead

A rare prime time interview appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2003 has the comic host deride Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood as “gloom mongers” who produce music to soundtrack shots of mass graves and murder. “Well someone’s got to do it!” retorts the singer, enjoying the criticism in a less spikey fashion than you’d expect. 

To the crazy few not enamoured with the band - who formed in 1985 in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and signed to EMI in 1991 - the depressing tag has been a stick to beat them with for three decades now. Despite this, it’s difficult to deny their status as one of the most celebrated bands of all time. 

Nine studio albums into their career, Radiohead have a continually developing body of work, providing us with moments of beauty, abrasive experimentalism and a shoulder to cry on in harder times. The arguments over their best album will go on ‘til the cows come home (of course, the correct answer is Kid A…), but how about the best individual track on the albums themselves? 

With a mix of deep cuts and the painfully obvious, here’s our choices...

‘Creep’ from Pablo Honey (1993)

I know, I know. An obvious start. We couldn’t not have it in here though, right?! ‘Creep’s the one song which sounds completely at odds with the rest of their discography. Radiohead have even become allergic to giving it a live airing over the years. And yet their debut single still stands as the band’s best known and biggest hit (over 1 billion Spotify streams and counting…). Why? Well, the power lies in its slacker rock simplicity and universal theme of romantic self-doubt. 

With Nirvana taking the world by storm in the early 90s, Radiohead provided the UK with its own grunge anthem to hang its hat on. Not that the whole band were proud of what they’d produced: guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s pre-chorus guitar blast was rumoured as his attempt at destruction! The track may still be considered a joke to your hardcore Radiohead fan, but what else were we going to select from their largely forgettable debut?

‘Planet Telex’ from The Bends (1995)

“When I was at college it was The Pixies and REM that changed my life…” admits Thom Yorke during a performance on an official 2004 Coachella festival film. As the Californian desert crowd roar their approval, the softly spoken frontman turns to the band’s guitarist for the next song choice: “it’s up to you Jonny…”. Right on cue, he launches into the heavily reverbed guitar intro of The Bends opener ‘Planet Telex’. I remember watching this as a teenager and the hairs on the back of my neck instantly rising, then blown away as the rest of the band crash into play. Thom’s crackly opening vocals of “you can force it but it will not come” soon steal the show – as it so often does!

From this moment on, it would remain my favourite on Radiohead’s sophomore release - a far more interesting and accomplished record than their debut. The Bends does feature some of their best work: the singalong acoustic hit ‘High and Dry’, the vulnerable tearjerker ‘Bullet Proof…I Wish I Was’ (whale noises and all) and the seemingly chirpy anti-‘Creep’ anthem ‘My Iron Lung’. The curtain raiser hits us like no other, Thom Yorke reminding us how “everyone is broken / everything is broken”. And how about that closing solo? Perfection.

‘Let Down’ from OK Computer (1997)

One of the most noticeable aspects of the acclaim towards Radiohead’s seminal 1997 record (to many their career highpoint which covers themes of modern alienation, technology and consumerism) is how the album tracks feel seriously underrated. Take OK Computer’s spacey-anxious third track ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’ (a play on Bob Dylan’s 165 hit ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’): a stunning early album highpoint. Whilst ninth track ‘Climbing Up the Walls’ stuns in its creepiness: an eerie and haunting five minute experience inspired by Thom’s old job in a mental hospital – the closing screams by the vocalist briefly transport you into a cold sweat and a horror movie.

Lately, it’s been difficult not to root for ‘Let Down’ as the album’s best. The mood and feel of the guitar work fit the theme perfectly. As Thom sings the song’s chorus (“Let down and hanging around / Crushed like a bug in the ground”), you wouldn’t be judged if you were overcome with emotion and caught holding onto a disappointing memory of your own. In the past year, the song has featured during poignant moments on the soundtrack of Netflix’ After Life and Disney Plus’ The Bear, sounding as fresh and relevant today as back in the ‘90s.

‘Idioteque’ from Kid A (2000)

What’s left to say about Kid A that hasn’t already been said? Radiohead’s fourth studio album is a marmite album. Many of those who loved their guitar based first three records were quick to jump ship, marking it as pretentious noise (they’re wrong, of course). But looking back, such a move was hardly a massive surprise. The writing had been on the wall with OK Computer, itself a departure from The Bends. Instead we have to ignore the haters on this one. Kid A is the Oxfordshire band’s masterpiece, their best album bar none (there, I said it). The record features a stunning collection of tracks, mostly electronic in nature and uses loops, samples and increased ambience.

Picking a best track is the toughest job of this feature. Those hairs are firmly raised with curtain raiser ‘Everything In Its Right Place’, whilst ‘How to Disappear Completely’, ‘In Limbo’ and ‘Optimistic’ capture a sense of existential dread like nothing else. Pushed into a corner, ‘Idioteque’ comes out on top. Set to chaotic and emotional electronica, Thom’s lyrics speak paranoia, nuclear holocausts and the fear of global warming. The biggest departure from their ‘90s anthems has Radiohead at their most compelling. 

‘Pyramid Song’ From Amnesiac (2001)

Recorded during the same sessions as Kid A, Radiohead doubled down on their left field approach with another abrasive and experimental record eight months later. Amnesiac is a solid piece of work which has a reputation for not hitting the same heights of their 2000 masterpiece – in fairness its impact wasn’t quite as significant. Despite this, there’s a forgotten gem waiting to be heard.  Honourable mentions to ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Like Spinning Plates’, but there’s one track which steals the show.

Watching Top of the Pops one Friday evening in 2001 as a musically clueless 13 year old, my first exposure to Radiohead was a performance of lead single ‘Pyramid Song’ - their first single release since 1998’s ‘No Surprises’. Used to watching teen pop tunes not taken too seriously, the quality was lost on the core audience of which I was part of (honestly, I didn’t get the appeal at all…). Twenty years of maturing later and the dreary complaints your writer initially had have been replaced by compliments for its stunning darkness and beauty. ‘Pyramid Song’ is an underappreciated epic. What begins as a sombre ballad, throws together flavour and intricacy, Thom’s vocals adding an air of moving mystery. The majority won’t get it, but for those who did this is magical stuff. 

‘Where I End and You Begin’ from Hail to the Thief (2003)

Now for a relatively obscure track. Definitely underappreciated. After the experimentalism of their previous two records, Hail to the Thief saw Radiohead approach a more back to basics, guitar based approach. Many of the lyrics were also inspired by the political events at the time. With another number one album under their belt, they headlined Glastonbury for the second time in 2003 and gave a healthy airing to tracks from their latest. 

But it would be a lie to claim Hail to the Thief isn’t anything but one of their worst records. Whilst many critics at the time claimed it showcased a return to form, in reality it was a bloated bag of work - a couple of peak Radiohead songs (‘2+2=5’. ‘Sit Down. Stand Up’) flooded by forgettable filler (‘A Wolf At the Door’, ‘A Punch Up at a Wedding’, ‘I Will’). It just isn’t worth revisiting ahead of any others. Having said that, there’s one track which stands from the crowd though. The haunting bass-driven ‘Where I End and You Begin’ feels like it belongs more on Kid A than this record. Thom Yorke’s vocals here project despair like no one else. Absolutely stunning: proper chills hearing this for the first time and, well, every other time since!

‘House of Cards’ from In Rainbows (2007)

After a four and half year dry spell, Radiohead suddenly dropped In Rainbows in October 2007. Their self-released seventh studio album appeared revolutionary, available to purchase as a pay as you want download (for the record: as a student at the time, I parted £4 of my hard earned cash to own it…). This new model didn’t go down well with everyone (notably Lily Allen and Oasis). The critics claimed they were setting a dangerous precedent and even devaluing album releases as a whole. More and more mud continued to be flung, threatening to overshadow the music itself. Which, of course, featured ten tracks of utter beauty and excellence. 

Today, In Rainbows stands as a top tier Radiohead album. It was later nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and won the coveted Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. Also nominated in the latter award ceremony – for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Music Video, no less - was eighth track ‘House of Cards’. “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover” croons Thom Yorke in the song’s opening line, and the rest follows suit in its groove-filled desire. Lets be honest, you’d never have associated the band as sex symbols before, but Radiohead had never sounded this sexy before. 

‘Separator’ from King of Limbs (2011)

Even writing about this period in Radiohead’s career is a chore. My first thought when reminded of their 2011 album King of Limbs is how underwhelming this period was for them. First preview single ‘Lotus Flower’ was remembered more for Thom Yorke’s unconventional - and memeable -  dance moves than the music the band were playing. The song itself is most generously described as a slow burner, a phrase you could easily apply to the rest of the album as a whole: a less accessible effort requiring patience to get into. You wouldn’t have been blamed for not returning.

Their eighth studio album isn’t necessarily a bad record, it just misses a heavy spark of many of the previous mentioned. At eight tracks, King Of Limbs was also their shortest to date, flying through without much incident. This is until the final track, of course. ‘Separator’ has warmth running through its veins. A subtle drum loop carries the track, before opening up to become a dreamy, atmospheric delight. Thom’s closing refrain of “wake me up /wake me up” is one we don’t want to wake up from. The saving grace from Radiohead’s least memorable record.

‘Burn the Witch’ from A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

Similar to In Rainbows, Radiohead dropped their ninth studio album in 2016 with minimal fuss and promotion. They were so worn out by the process they initially didn’t give any interviews in the run up to its release date. But this far into their career they didn’t exactly need to. A Moon Shaped Pool went down an absolute storm, the band changing up their sound again to include more strings and orchestrations. One particular highlight was the emotional final track itself, ‘True Love Waits’ which had been a live favourite since 1995. Re-recorded as a piano ballad, it held added poignancy due to Thom Yorke’s split from wife Rachel Owens. She passed a few months later which would later add to sadness of the song.

However, it was track opener ‘Burn the Witch’ which set the bar for A Moon Shaped Pool to a ridiculous level. It sounded like nothing else the band had ever produced. The track was also used as the first preview single: its eerie, choppy strings and anti-group think lyricism (“Stay in the shadows / Cheer at the gallows”) leaving quite the unsettling impact. Even more so with the sinister Trumpton inspired music video. A stunning comeback from a stunning band who, at this stage in their career, were ageing like a fine wine. And this is one of the many reasons I love them. 

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More about: Radiohead