Sound Bites: My Top 10 Radiohead Tracks
- Andrew Jamison
- Oct 9
- 6 min read
Discover the 10 tracks from Radiohead Andrew rates above all others.
In the days before online streaming, like most who became teenagers in the early 2000s, Radiohead was a staple of my CD collection. My brother had The Bends and I went on to buy OK Computer. I remember buying a copy of Kid A off of a mate at school, in a clear plastic case with ‘KID A’ scrawled on the front of it in black marker pen. I went home to find the tracks were in the wrong order and some skipped a bit – those were the days, eh? At any rate, as a budding guitarist I was mesmerised by Jonny Greenwood’s playing, and his signature distorted tremolo in songs like Just.
The List
The following list is only my opinion, and reflects my taste in music, which tends towards melody and a good guitar riff in general (you’ll see arpeggios are a feature of the following list), which Radiohead very often deliver in buckets, even in their more recent ‘experimental’ stuff. Even the tracks I’ve picked from Kid A tend to have a catchy rhythm, or memorable refrain or motif, such as Everything in its Right Place. In fact, I’d argue that Radiohead are a band who despite trying to get away from their rock-guitar roots, have never really been able to escape it fully, and it pleases me to see that it resurfaces in an album like In Rainbows, where they seem to embrace it while putting a spin on it. Is that album their best? I wonder. It’s certainly where they, for me, anyway, strike a balance between their ability to write good (dare I say almost beautiful) songs you actually want to listen to while satisfying their progressive, experimental appetite, which must be no mean feat when you have five such clever, skilful and imaginative musicians all vying to stake a claim on the band’s identity. But it’s this tension, between harmony and dissonance which seems to be at the heart of why Radiohead have been such a successful band, and when they walk the line between those two is when their music really seems to take off. Accustomed as I was at that time to easy-listening, jingly jangly Brit Pop, Radiohead presented a challenge to me, but it was a challenge that intrigued me and kept me coming back, particularly Kid A, and I think this is much of the appeal of their music. This is music that repays relistening, just like great poetry.
This is a dreamy, melodic arpeggio with an ethereal sound which lends it a timelessness and subversiveness which fits in with the fish theme. Phil Selway has got to get some credit here for the drums which take on a life of their own - the unsung hero of the band? Perhaps, but, at points of this tune, he really comes to the fore. It’s also a great example of the motif that runs throughout Radiohead’s oeuvre: a Jonny Greenwood arpeggio.
We go from one majestic arpeggio to another with this (in fact I think there are many arpeggios overlaid here), one of the more melancholy of their hits, which has some great high points, showing how Yorke can really hit the high moments when he wants and the track builds and builds, but it’s also built on the foundation of Greenwood’s otherworldly jingle jangle. In their top 5 for me. Colin Greenwood deserves a shout out for the interplay of bass with the electric guitar, too.
I wouldn't go as far as to say this is a floor-filler dance anthem, but it’s got a four-to-the-floor beat which really propels it on its way throughout what should be a long 5 minutes, but in reality is its own little journey. I think it’s a good example of how Radiohead manage to reach a compromise between rock and something more experimental, and more importantly, something listenable.
I wondered at first if it was the Hammond organ used for the iconic riff in this, but after a little digging (well, okay, a Google search) it seems to be the Prophet-5 Synthesiser. Anyway, whatever it is, it sounds great. This is a very simple track which works perfectly and it another one of the more listenable tracks on that album. The opening bars of the keyboards and the repeated vocals are atmospheric to say the least. Is it a chaotic track making a social commentary about the ridiculousness or the modern obsession with appearance and perfection? Yes, I think so, but first and foremost it sounds good.
I went to see Radiohead live (19 May 2003 and you can view the set list here) and they were touring the album this comes from (Hail to the Thief) which pleasingly featured another return to big guitar riffs driven anthems. The gig was in the rather too salubrious setting of the Waterfront Hall where most of the audience were seated – you know the kind of gig I mean. It was a good gig and Fourtet supported them which was interesting. They opened with this and I love it for the balance of the bass drums with the bass at the start and the sinister sustained note from what I think might be a theremin but could be a guitar. Yorke seemed to use a semi-electric acoustic which gave the sound of his guitar a great deep, rough texture. I think the tuning of his guitar was also a bit different from the normal E Standard, maybe a D. “Just cos you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there” has echoes with the chorus of ‘Bones’ from The Bends: ‘You’ve got to feel it in your bones.’ Evidence, I’d say, that Radiohead are more than cold-hearted experimenters and there is a Romantic sensibility at the heart of their music.
Again, they are turning up the ethereal-o-meter with this one, and blending in a bit of a cosmic feel as well courtesy of Jonny Greenwood’s guitar pedals. I’m including this one purely for the big moment at the end of ‘Uptight, uptight, uptiiiiiight.’ When I went to seem them live in Belfast in 2003 they played this song live, and it was the time they’d play it live since 1998 - a pretty special moment.
Those of you who have read some of my previous posts about music know that I love a stripped-back track, as I think it’s amazing what can be done with guitar and human voice alone. Some might this is a bit of maudlin, naval gazing number (and I’d accept that) but I’ve chosen this one for two reasons: 1. It shows another, more tender and warm hearted side to Yorke. 2. It shows that Radiohead can survive without lots of effects and layers. 3. It’s a very lovely, simple chord combination.
The best Radiohead song of all time? It’s got to be in the conversation. It’s definitely the best of Jonny Greenwood’s guitar riffs, undoubtedly. Do you ever wish they wrote more songs like this? I think I do, and I suppose this did in There There and In Rainbows. Watching them live in Belfast in 2003 they had to restart this one halfway through. I can’t remember exactly why, but I loved the honesty and exacting standards it showed. In fact, I often wonder why or how more artists don’t have to do this when playing live? Maybe they just think “sod it” and play on. Well, not Radiohead, and that’s why they have such a loyal fan base.
So, this is the big one. I mean literally, at 6 minutes and 28 seconds it’s not really one you’ll find on the Scott Mills Radio 2 Breakfast Show, but isn’t that the point of radio? To stick two fingers up at the received way of things? Again, there’s something very Romantic about their approach, or maybe it’s modernist, echoing poet Ezra Pound’s demand to ‘make it new’. Is it their best track? Well, for me I think it’s the best example of their musicianship but necessarily their best song. It’s a showcase more than a showstopper, but what a showcase of their virtuosity, particularly Jonny Greenwood’s scintillating guitar playing.
“You’ve got to feel it in your bones” goes the chorus of this belter from The Bends. I've suggested more than once that Radiohead might be undercover Romantics, embracing the world of emotion or ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ as Wordsworth put it so eloquently in his preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800), over intellect, and I do think that they excel when they’re able to balance the two. But, in Bones, it’s all emotion and a wonderful example of what they sound like when they get back to rock’n’roll basics: simple catchy lyrics, big sound, big riff, big chorus, big solo, big hit.
Bonus Tracks
There were some tracks that didn’t make the list – such as National Anthem, Myxamatosis, Planet Telex, The Bends – but it was a tight call. So, I hope you've enjoyed this post, and feel free to leave a comment if you like. You can read more posts like this on my blog.
Andrew Jamison is a poet and teacher. You can read more posts like this on his blog here, or pay for a subscription to access all his previous posts and all new exclusive ones. You can also browse and buy signed, first editions of his poetry here.
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