Music
20 Best Radiohead Songs
Radiohead have a discography full of classic songs — these are their best.
Radiohead have been around for just over 30 years now and they have released nine studio albums; at least one of their albums ranks highly on every list of the greatest albums of all time. The British band's impact on the world is undeniable, so we had to make a list of their best songs.
Whittling down such a varied discography over such a long period of time is a difficult task. But I summoned the strength to pull through the pain and tears simply by being loose with the definition of "best." I went with a mix of fan favorites and critical favorites that matched my own, as well as a few personal picks because I'm greedy. I also had a rule of having at least one song per album, with an emphasis on culturally and musically important tracks.
Still, it wasn't easy. It's also important to note that Radiohead's ninth album, "A Moon Shaped Pool," arrived in May but none of the new songs are included in this list. Radiohead albums provide a lot ot digest, and that requires time, so stay tuned for an evaluation of the new material and how it fits in with the Radiohead we're all already familiar with. For now, here are the 20 best Radiohead songs.
20. "Creep"
We're kickstarting this list with the song that kickstarted Radiohead's career, from their "Pablo Honey" debut. But including "Creep," a song that the band itself loves/hates (but mostly hates), isn't a joke or a concession. Yes, the track was tailor-made for the marketable Gen X category, but Jonny Greenwood's pre-chorus guitar stabs, Thom Yorke's soaring vocals during the bridge, and the lyrical focus on alienation can now be heard as loving precursors to Radiohead's continued experimentation and left-of-center aesthetics. Kinda adorable, really.
19. "True Love Waits"
"True Love Waits" hasn't even been officially released, but it's already considered a classic. That's how obsessed Radiohead fans are. The song also shows Yorke at one of his most lyrically fragile states, so it makes sense that nearly all live performances feature him solo with an ol' six-string. While only a live version has been released so far (on the "I Might Be Wrong" live EP), don't be surprised to hear a recorded version some day.
18. "Just"
Radiohead fans are so accustomed to "Just," from "The Bends" LP, that it's easy to forget (just) how bizarre the song is. Unexpected harmonic shifts, wild dynamics, riffs coming out its ears. But it was Jonny Greenwood's guitar solos that somehow out-weirded them all, sending off one of the most unique and peculiar rock songs of the 1990s. And it has an extraordinary video to match. Watch it below.
17. "Fake Plastic Trees"
You've heard this song before, even if you haven't actually heard *this* song before. "Fake Plastic Trees" was exactly the type of bombastic, overly dramatic, highly marketable song that Radiohead copycats exploited for over a decade. But nothing even comes close to the unique qualities of "Fake Plastic Trees" (qualities that Radiohead's label at one point tried to eliminate). And hey, check out those lyrics; this ain't some sort of run-of-the-mill ballad.
16. "There There"
Radiohead finds their groove on "There There," a track that pays rhythmic homage to Can, driven by toms and crunchy guitar riffs. It's one of the more understated cuts on "Hail to the Thief," but it features one of Yorke's best deliveries of one of his best lines: "Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there." A beautiful truth.
15. "The Tourist"
You won't find "The Tourist" on pretty much any list of this kind, because it's not canonized or "important" in the way that so many Radiohead songs are. But it's on this list because it's a gorgeous track whose slow-motion musicality matches Yorke's plead for "idiot" tourists to "slow down." It's a slightly humorous poetic gesture in the face of an increasingly hyperactive, sped-up world, and it's more relevant with each passing year. BTW this one was written by Jonny Greenwood.
14. "Lotus Flower"
Before the "Hotline Bling" meme, there was the "Lotus Flower" meme. In the song's video, Yorke moves his body in bizarre, hypnotic, sometimes ludicrous ways, inspiring edits and remixes and gifs like Drake. But unlike Drake, it wasn't an intentional marketing ploy to get a #1 hit. In fact, "Lotus Flower" wasn't even released as a single, but it charted anyway, received three Grammy nominations, and went on to become a fan favorite. It also boasted one of Radiohead's most beautiful choruses on an album with barely any of 'em (i.e. "The King of Limbs").
13. "Exit Music (For a Film)"
If you want to show someone how versatile Yorke's voice is, look no further than "Exit Music (For a Film)." The song — originally heard in a different form during the end credits to the"Romeo + Juliet" remake from 1996 — moves from Yorke's rumbling baritone to a bridge section that sees his voice slowly moving up the scale until the song's riveting climax, the distorted bass, pummeling drums, synth pads and guitar complementing his astounding vocal performance. It ends in musical catharsis, fitting for a tragedy.
12. "Pyramid Song"
One of the more touching, conventionally "emotional" tracks to come out of the "Kid A"/"Amnesiac" sessions, "Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's first official single since "OK Computer" (Radiohead didn't release any from "Kid A"). The piano-led song always felt homeless: it was one of the handful of tracks performed before "Kid A" but not released on it; it was oddly placed on "Amnesiac"; and the unconventional time signature produced a feeling of dislocation and uprootedness. But the song is undeniable, about as rapturous as Radiohead has ever been.
11. "Treefingers"
The media's insistence that "Kid A" lacked guitar was always overstated, but it was certainly a surprise to discover that even "Treefingers," the notorious ambient instrumental placed midway through the album, was crafted by Yorke running Ed O'Brien's guitar loops through his sampler. While those weaned on alternative rock had troubles processing its musical vocabulary and textural excavations, the song remains one of Radiohead's most daring tracks, emphasizing space and a physicality best felt rather than simply "heard."
10. "I Will"
One of my top personal favorites, "Like Spinning Plates," doesn't make an appearance on this list, but "I Will" — the backwards version of which laid the foundation for "Like Spinning Plates" — is a nice compromise. The track, originally heard as a rehearsal clip during Grant Gee's "Meeting People Is Easy" documentary, is a short, haunting number, recorded in a stripped-down, reverb-less, harmony-driven version on "Hail to the Thief." The live version is by all accounts superior (even the extended "Hail to the Thief" version is better), but no matter what form it takes, the song shows Yorke's incredible mastery of harmony and melody, especially when in the minor register.
9. "Talk Show Host"
Another track related to the "Romeo + Juliet" remake, but also released as a B-side on the "Street Spirit" single, "Talk Show Host" has long been a fan favorite, even before "OK Computer" dropped in 1997. The song is 20 years old, but its impossible combination of sparse guitar, crawling basslines, and programmatic-like beats sounds so ahead of its time that it'd fit right in on 2011's "The King of Limbs."
8. "Bloom"
Radiohead have a knack for choosing first songs to start their albums, from "You" and "Planet Telex" to "Airbag" and "Everything In Its Right Place." But "Bloom," with its hypnotic textures, complex patterns and unexpected flugelhorn, set a tone for "The King of Limbs" that the rest of the album never quite matched. And as brilliant as it all sounded, it was Colin Greenwood's exceptional bassline that made the track truly stand out, placing it alongside "Airbag," "Talk Show Host" and "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" (among many others) as his shining moments.
7. "Pearly*"
Another incredible B-side among many, "Pearly*" originally appeared on Radiohead's "Airbag" EP, but gained its reputation for its blazing live rendition, which was much more propulsive, energetic, and uninhibited, pushing their rock aesthetic to its most destructive and extreme end. The song's fiery conclusion is preceded by the sole moment of reprieve: a falsetto Yorke over distorted arpeggios, a cleansing after the nasty dissonance and sexual lyrics.
6. "How to Disappear Completely"
"How to Disappear Completely," perhaps the most accessible song on "Kid A," has huge significance for the band. For Yorke, it was deeply personal, the lyrics derived in part from advice that R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe gave him during the "OK Computer" tour to cope with the stress of fame and the drudgery of touring ("I'm not here / This isn't happening"). For Jonny Greenwood, the song's string arrangements helped set off his career in composition, leading to high-profile soundtrack work for directors like Lynne Ramsay and Paul Thomas Anderson. Did I mention how stunning the song is?
5. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Oppresively somber yet downright gorgeous, "Street Spirit" capped off the unexpected curveball that was "The Bends" with undeniable grace. Here, Radiohead's artistry coudln't be questioned anymore, the band's commitment to pushing rock into new areas and us into new ways of feeling made readily apparent. It was this song that helped wipe the slate clean, so to speak, before the mammoth "OK Computer" changed everything for the band and modern rock music.
4. "Kid A"
Like "The Tourist," "Kid A" isn't an immediate fan favorite, but it was the first track we heard that most clearly demarcated a turning point in Radiohead's use of vocals. If one of Yorke's goals was to destroy his voice/persona after "OK Computer," then "Kid A" (the song) was a perfect example. For this song, Yorke read random lyrics drawn from a hat and ran it though the Ondes Martenot (an early electronic instrument) while Jonny Greenwood improvised its melody. It was a true musical experiment, and it resulted in one of the most unique songs in their discography. Even John Mayer does a solid cover of it — think about that for a second.
3. "Nude"
"Nude" was first heard during the tail end of Radiohead's "OK Computer" tour and, like with "I Will," widely so when it appeared in extended form at the end of "Meeting People Is Easy." That epic, organ-laden (and better) version — originally recorded for "OK Computer" — was transformed 10 years later into the dub-inflected, groove-oriented wonder that appears on 2007's "In Rainbows." Similar again to "I Will" and other minor-key tracks of that era — "Exit Music," "Bishop's Robes," "Lucky" — the draw here is Yorke's impeccable grasp of harmony. (Seek the live acoustic version on YouTube for the rawest example.)
2. "Paranoid Android"
Nothing about "Paranoid Android" — the first single off "OK Computer" — makes sense: The chords don't go together. The sections feel jumbled. There's no clear narrative. The melodies are too strange. The choir sounds cut off. The song's too long! But these are also reasons why it's one of Radiohead's best songs. "Paranoid Android" was their first truly original artistic statement, an overt shock to the MTV generation, a towering pop mutation that was and continues to be its own singular beast, sounding like nothing else before or after it.
1. "Idioteque"
Radiohead somehow turned a short sample of experimental computer music (by composer Paul Lansky), into the best song of their career. The track, carried by a violent, blown-out electronic beat, evoked an imagined apocalypse through images of climate change and capitalist exploitation, Yorke not only embodying the fear and disgust and greed and confusion of such a future, but also blending into the noise himself, unceremoniously looped, cut off and failing to properly communicate. With "Idioteque," Radiohead were showing, not telling, and it resulted in one of the most urgent, defining songs of the millennium.
