On-Ramp: Radiohead
“Weird” is a fair description of Radiohead. For many casual listeners, this weirdness is an obstacle. For fans of the band, this weirdness is part of the appeal. Time signatures, chord choices and progressions, song structures, and vocal directions challenge the traditional in much of Radiohead’s music. Beyond this, Thom Yorke’s eccentricity both on and off stage, the unique settings in which Radiohead recorded its music, and the far-sighted, almost prophetic movements of their music over time, all elevate the band to a musical tier separate and above the majority of its contemporaries.
“Weird” is a fair description of Radiohead. For many casual listeners, this weirdness is an obstacle. For fans of the band, this weirdness is part of the appeal.
Preparation
A full appreciation of Radiohead is born from a relaxed state. Many of their songs brim with energy, even urgency, but many of the most representative works embrace airiness and openness, filling a pool of ambience up to the ankles, out of which rise power and dissonance. Radiohead is not the only band to sometimes require patience from its listeners. Albums to listen to before this On-Ramp, that foster such a quietness of soul and discipline of ear, include Bon Iver’s 22, A Million; Coldplay’s Ghost Stories; Jhené Aiko’s Souled Out; The xx’s Coexist; and Eric Whitacre’s Light & Gold.
The songs selected highlight a wide range of Radiohead’s work. In Rainbows, OK Computer, and Kid A, which serve as the three pillars of Radiohead appreciation, hold a prominent position in this playlist with songs from these three albums opening the playlist and featured throughout. “Creep,” the song that launched Radiohead’s commercial success although reviled by the band, comes right after this introduction by the pillars as an anchor point for listeners who might not know much else by the band. This is followed by several songs that include mainstream rock elements in guitar riffs, rhythm, chord progression, and aggressive vocals, along with the experimental and eccentric elements. The eccentricity for which Radiohead and Thom Yorke, the lead singer and face of the band, are best known is at its most prominent towards the end of the playlist.
Additional compatible albums to be listened to the same week or day, but not necessarily the same hour as this playlist, include Muse’s The Resistance, which is tonal similar to much of Radiohead’s music, and Smashing Pumpkins’ Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, which is another rock experiment with its roots in the 90’s grunge era.
The Playlist
The goal of this article is to make the band approachable. If the sheer amount of reading below is overwhelming, feel free to listen to the playlist without it and skip to “Next Steps.” If any song is particularly interesting to you, or you’re just eager to find out more about Radiohead, you can find a brief description of each song below.
- Listen on Spotify
- Listen on Apple Music
- 15 Step — In Rainbows
To begin, we have an upbeat tune from In Rainbows. “15 Step” draws its energy from its 5/4 time signature, each measure feeling like it ends just a beat early to Western listeners who have embraced paired bars in 3/4 at least as long as they have been waltzing to it. - Subterranean Homesick Alien — OK Computer
The shift in energy is used to ease the listener into the musical slow-burn present in many Radiohead songs. But the listener does not have to wait long before the track picks up, the music and beat rising, until Thom Yorke cries, “Uptight!” into the microphone. - Idioteque — Kid A
“Idioteque” pushes on with an almost frantic pace, the drums often preempting the beat. Alongside the electronic beat, Yorke’s vocal performance comes across as equal parts panicked and robotic. Lines like “Who’s in the bunker? / Women and children first” and “Ice age coming / Let me hear both sides” give the song an apocalyptic tone. All together, the song gives a sense of technological breakdown and the doom that’s sure to follow. - Creep — Pablo Honey
Since it came out, the members of Radiohead have done little to hide their hatred of the song that sparked their career. Compared to their more recent catalogue, the four-chord progression, relatively predictable melody, melancholy lyrics, and clear structure of verses, a chorus, and a bridge, give “Creep” the dressings of a simple grunge era pop/rock song. Still, the song has persisted, and the appeal is apparent. If it is formulaic, it’s executed well, with ultra-relatable lyrics, audacious stabs on the guitar before the chorus comes in, and just enough edge to provoke an emotional response. At the very least, if not for “Creep” and its mainstream success, Radiohead might have faded into obscurity like many a mid-90’s guitar rock band. - I Am a Wicked Child — Com Lag: 2+2=5
From the underrated Com Lag: 2+2=5 EP, “I Am a Wicked Child” has the groove and edge of a rock classic. Played with restraint, the song takes on an eeriness. What could have simply been rebellious becomes foreboding, threatening, and more powerful because of it. - Paranoid Android — OK Computer
“Paranoid Android” contains so much of what elevates Radiohead above many others in the progressive alternative scene. It begins with Thom Yorke’s haunting crooning over picked minor chords, woven together in a diminished web, that break into aggressive power chords and biting vocals with matching lyrics: “Ambition makes you look pretty ugly / Kicking squealing Gucci little piggy.” It slows to a sleepy (but nightmarish) “Rain down, rain down / Come on rain down on me,” before entering the coda with the same power chords and a wild, almost trash-canned close. Overall, this track melds together driving guitar rock with experimentation, providing both moments to get lost in and moments to rock out to. - Bodysnatchers — In Rainbows
Much of the instrumentation of this song hearkens back to Radiohead’s “guitar rock” days, while its many layers and manic pace push it well out of the bounds of grunge or post-grunge categorization. Recording this song in a single take effectively enhanced the energy already inherent in the song. - My Iron Lung — The Bends
The Bends betrays a small glimpse of the experimentation that would come, nestled in comfortable pop/rock melodies and chord progressions. “My Iron Lung” opens with much the same, verses that fit in perfectly with the post-Nirvana 90’s landscape with its moody melody and clean rock riff with an alt-rock bite. The chorus sweeps this away with unhinged grunge in both the instruments and screamed vocals constricted to the background. - A Wolf at the Door — Hail to the Thief
Perhaps the strangest track on this playlist, from a certainly unique album, “A Wolf at the Door” pushes boundaries of even Radiohead’s sound, with Yorke adopting a spoken word cadence with a violent “big bad wolf” motif over creepy suspended chords. This tension breaks into a chorus led by major chords, though with just as disturbing of a message, making for a powerful musical moment. - The National Anthem — Kid A
Heavily processed vocals, ambient feedback, and jazz horns are grounded in a driving baseline with complementing percussion in this track. The baseline, written by a sixteen-year-old Yorke, form the backbone of the wave of sound that crashes over the listener. The other elements of the songs continually explore wilder heights over the course of the nearly six-minute run-time, while the repetitive riff provides an anchor to the rhythmic and melodic foundation provided in the opening bars. - Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box — Amnesia
The metallic kettle drum simulates banging against the inside of the “crushed tin box” while Yorke pushes against the pressure with “I’m a reasonable man, get off my case,” mixed with the compressed loops and heavily processed vocals, knitting together a scathing reaction to societal pressures, perhaps pressure on Radiohead to release another OK Computer or Pablo Honey, or perhaps a more universally understood frustration. - Burn the Witch — A Moon Shaped Pool
The first single from Radiohead’s most recent album (as of this writing), “Burn the Witch” opens with jaunty strings and the now trademark haunting vocals and moody synths. This creates a balancing act of beauty and anxiety, one with which the band has long been skilled. - Myxomatosis — Hail to the Thief
The synthesizers and vocals have an understated, but still aggressive tone, tension bubbling just under the surface; the percussion sits right at the front of the beat, injecting energy into the track. Alternatively titled “Judge, Jury, and Executioner,” the refrain of “I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied / Don’t know why I feel so skinned alive,” drives home the madness infused in this track. - Exit Music (For a Film) — OK Computer
To avoid being too on-the-nose, this song is not at the very end of the playlist. Based on the fact that it appears not even halfway through OK Computer, it seems the artist’s intent was not for this song to be the ending note of a musical experience. Still, the listener can imagine the final scenes of an unsettling movie unravel to this track. - Lotus Flower — The King Of Limbs
This song ends the playlist to leave the listener with a relatively traditional song structure, while still providing the long introduction, haunting and lyrical vocals, accidental-heavy musicianship, and complex beats even within familiar time signatures Radiohead is now known for. This song has a warm romance to it, making it vulnerable, even tender at times, with just enough dissonance to elevate heart rates.
Next Steps
For future listening, gauge what you responded to the most. Either start with OK Computer or In Rainbows. If tracks like “15 Step”, “Myxomatosis”, and “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Can” were among your favorites, start with In Rainbows. If you liked “Paranoid Android”, “I Am a Wicked Child”, and “My Iron Lung”, then OK Computer would probably be your ideal first album. Kid A is the next essential, while Hail to the Thief is an often forgotten gem of Radiohead’s discography.
- You can listen to and read excerpts from an interesting interview between Thom Yorke and Alec Baldwin.
- Learn more about Radiohead’s feelings towards “Creep”.
- See Thom Yorke’s (in)famous eccentricity during a performance.
- And a pretty excellent performance of “Idioteque”.
- As far as the band’s genius playing out over a long period of time, read about “01 and 10.”
Thank you Will Harvey for your contributions to the formation of this article.
