Top 10 Radiohead Songs
Radiohead. When I began listening to their music seriously around 2019, during my first year at university, I was very impressed. In my alternative rock binge that included acts such as Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, Grunge’s big four, and a revisiting of Britpop and Britpop adjacent acts, Radiohead rose as my favourite among them - so much so that I wrote not one, but two articles on them for the Boar newspaper (they will be linked as and when appropriate throughout the article). The acclaimed act consisting of lead vocalist Thom Yorke, lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, rhythm guitarist Ed O’Brien, bassist Colin Greenwood, and drummer Phil Selway, hailing from Oxford, England pushed pop music to its limits during their prime from the mid-ninties to the late noughties.
Releasing seminal LPs such as OK Computer and Kid A, as well as beautiful albums such as In Rainbows and The Bends, has garnered love, respect, and admiration from critics and fans alike, which is no mean feat. Being a fan of their music, and knowing a lot of fans of their music (my mate Daniel literally suggested I do this article!), it’s only just that I do a top 10 list of their best songs.
I won’t lie, relistening to their music and compiling this list wasn’t easy - in part because their music is hardly easy listening (though it’s easier to listen to when you’re possessed by a melancholic spirit). Also, the band has a very, very good catalogue. So much so, that I’m including some honourable mentions: ‘How to Disappear Completely’, ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’, ‘Reckoner’, ‘Lift’, ‘Bodysnatchers’, ‘Planet Telex’, and ‘Karma Police’. Onward we trudge.
10: ‘Life in a Glasshouse’ - Amnesiac (2001)
We have Peaky Blinders to thank for this one. Admittedly, Radiohead’s first outing post their celebrated, experimental project Kid A isn’t to write home about. I’ll chalk that down to creative fatigue (the tracks were recorded and reworked during the Kid A sessions), but the closer ‘Life in a Glasshouse’ is a bright spot for sure. When I heard this song whilst Tommy Shelby’s family was getting arrested in Blinders’ season three’s closing episode, it was chilling. There’s a great melodrama to the song thanks to the piano section and Humphrey Lyttelton’s jazz section. If you ever wanted to hear Radiohead most successful foray into jazz, this is it.
9: ‘Burn the Witch’ - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
When A Moon Shaped Pool was released after their (for lack of a better word) strange LP A King of Limbs in 2016, Radiohead’s legacy as one of the most significant bands in pop history was undeniable. Shaped Pool produced in the wake of Yorke’s wife passing away from cancer, has the band exploring their familiar tendency towards sentimentality and melancholy in a more mature fashion. Lead single and opener ‘Burn the Witch’, has Radiohead shroud their customary laconic lyrics in a haunting, melodic, and unrelenting sound. When it was released, it was a sound of a legendary band back in business.
8: ‘2+2 = 5’ - Hail to the Thief (2003)
When I listened to Hail to the Thief a few years ago, it didn’t hit for me. I dare say the years post Kid A for the band were the wilderness before the release of their fabulous album In Rainbows in 2007. Nonetheless, the opener, ‘2+2=5’, is tremendous. A nod to Orwell (1984) and Dante (Inferno) in this one: a song that has great insight into how we so often fail to enact the change we want to see in the world and our denial of that. The wall of sound at the track’s climax, in hindsight, foreshadows the soundscapes and textures that would make their next LP so delightful.
7: ‘Optimistic’ - Kid A (2000)
Now we’re entering vintage Radiohead territory. ‘Optimistic’ is next and it’s probably the most straightforward rock song on Kid A. The band’s trademark neuroses has a real fluidity to it, it has a real infectious chorus, and Selway’s drumming is real gutteral - a wonderful contrast to Yorke’s higher pitched wails. Despite its grim depiction of the economic landscape and society at large, the music is groovy, tight, and rounded off with real professionalism: the ending is really classy indeed. The band sure did the best they could on this one.
6: ‘Jigsaw Falling into Place’ - In Rainbows (2007)
Speaking of fluidity, In Rainbows has so many great songs because the band decided to have a more lax, more organic approach to their songwriting. ‘Jigsaw Falling into Place’ is Radiohead at their most groovy. I love it. It swells to such a fulfilling climax that you’d want to play the song again, and again, and again, and (you guessed it) again. The gentle harmonies that accompany the crisp instrumental is beautiful - it encapsulates the whole LP in that sense, In Rainbows is a truly beautiful album with beautiful songs, and ‘Jigsaw’ is among the best of them.
5: ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ - The Bends (1995)
As I wrote four years ago, The Bends was when Radiohead truly debuted. The vision of the band was realised in fine fashion, and the final single off their sophomore album, ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ is a real beauty. It was their first top five single, and it was well-deserved: the haunting guitar arpeggios from O’Brien sets the tone and the track unfolds beautifully like a flower blooming in Spring out of the darkness of the Winter months. It’s a fitting closer to not only a dark album, but to the first chapter of the band’s storied career.
4: ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ - The Bends (1995)
In the same article, I wrote that ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ is the band’s best ever ballad, and I stand by it. The sentiment may border on sophomoric, but the band’s performance is amazing. The band effectively recontextualise the 70s arena rock sound with their flavour of alt-rock. Yorke’s vocals are immense, and the way the song builds to such an emphatic conclusion is masterful. It gets brownie points for its cute music video too.
3: ‘Paranoid Android’ - OK Computer (1997)
I was so tempted to put this at number one, but there are a couple more songs I like more, and it would’ve been obvious. Nevertheless, the debut single for Radiohead’s opus OK Computer is simply brilliant. An alt-rock take on the progressive rock genre, ‘Paranoid Android’ is genius. It’s a journey through a troubled mind of one who’s making their way through the hell of modernity. The grooves and textures that are laced throughout are marvellous: the band’s live performance of the song really shows this, which I highly recommend.
2: ‘All I Need’ - In Rainbows (2007)
My favourite song off their beautiful In Rainbows has to be ‘All I Need’. I remember hearing this song on a Vsauce video about a decade ago, but I never fully exposed myself to it until years later. Thank God I have because it really is mesmerising. A glorious love song that bursts with joy and angst in equal measure by the end. Have a listen.
1: ‘No Surprises’ - OK Computer (1997)
Yeah, ‘No Surprises’ takes top spot. In accepting the many grim realities of adulthood recently, ‘No Surpises’ has taken on a greater significance for me than previously. It’s a devastatingly gorgeous portrayal of the tragic mundanity that occurs in ordinary life. The Pet Sounds-inspired soundscape excellently sugars the brutal pill of the lyrics that have Pink Floyd levels of honesty. It’s truly majestic.