View Full Version : Give me your top 10 Radiohead songs..
Karl K
12 May 2005, 12:11 PM
OK, the critics rave about 'em, many on here love 'em, and in my Genius thread, some folks labeled them as such.
But, frankly, I just don't get it.
They leave me cold, with a kind of "creative formalism" for creative fomalism's sake overlaid by whiny complaints about the dysfunctional world.
But hey, I am willing to be convinced.
So, Radiohead fans, give me your top 10 RH tunes (more or less is of course just fine) and, if you have a moment, why you think they are great. Then I will listen hard, and see if I can come over to the RH world.
I have got the following CDs, a pretty good sampling, I would assume.
--Amnesiac
--Hail to the thief
--Kid A
--I might be wrong
--Pablo Honey
--OK computer
I'll download tunes not on these records if you think they are absolutely indispensable.
bojendyk
12 May 2005, 12:22 PM
I don't love them, but I do like them. My faves:
Pyramid Song (Amnesiac)
I Might Be Wrong (Amnesiac)
Everything in Its Right Place (Kid A)
National Anthem (Kid A)
Airbag (OK: Computer)
Karma Police (OK: Computer)
Electioneering (OK: Computer)
Hail to the Thief (Hail to the Thief)
There There (Hail to the Thief)
Just (The Bends)
Crimen y Castigo
12 May 2005, 12:58 PM
If you own -- and have listened to -- all those albums and still don't get them, then you probably just don't like them. Which I can understand.
The "cold, whiny, dysfunctional" complaint is not a hard one to justify.
But I would counter that if you really want to see what you're missing, instead of listening to folks' ten favorite songs, you listen to "OK Computer," or "Kid A" all the way through, loud and uninterruped. (A difficult chunk of time to find for most working adults, I grant you.)
Because, imho, Radiohead are one of the masters of the album form. Those records are very cohesive and the songs play off each other and mix with each other much better than they would with songs off different albums.
If you still not digging them, you're just not digging them.
And, as Stuart Smalley would say, "That's okay."
655321
12 May 2005, 01:18 PM
--Amnesiac
--Hail to the thief
--Kid A
--I might be wrong
--Pablo Honey
--OK computer
I don't understand the reasoning for this thread if you already have six of thier albums??
Susiem
12 May 2005, 01:31 PM
All of the Bends and
Talk show host ( song from Romeo and Juliette Soundtrack )
Not sure but if you can download the "rabbit in your headlights" video from U.N.K.L.E in which Yorke does the lyrics, I highly recommend that.
English_Gent
12 May 2005, 02:24 PM
Am I right in thinking that Radiohead are quite big in the U.S?
They are old hat in England, most people see it as OK Computer was the last good album and they are now living on past glories.
Karl K
12 May 2005, 02:27 PM
I don't understand the reasoning for this thread if you already have six of thier albums??
Well, I have a lot of music, and I collect, so I've got 'em because, well, they are supposedly one of the best bands going.
Or so the critics tell me.
Karl K
12 May 2005, 02:51 PM
Am I right in thinking that Radiohead are quite big in the U.S?
They are old hat in England, most people see it as OK Computer was the last good album and they are now living on past glories.
Well Hail to the Thief got 4 stars from Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/227498/radiohead?pageid=rs.ArtistDiscography&pageregion=triple1
and on your side of the pond the BBC liked it...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/rockandalt/reviews/radiohead_hail.shtml
yossarian
12 May 2005, 03:30 PM
Well Hail to the Thief got 4 stars from Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/227498/radiohead?pageid=rs.ArtistDiscography&pageregion=triple1
and on your side of the pond the BBC liked it...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/rockandalt/reviews/radiohead_hail.shtml
Music is so tied in to personal taste....little objective about, IMO. Therefore, if you like Radiohead....you like them. If not....eh? They're not for everyone. Doesn't mean they suck.....doesn't mean your tastes suck.
I like Radiohead....for whatever reason they appeal to me.
I hate the Rolling Stones....just don't like'em.....but I recognize that they are for the most part well-regarded (especially for past work) and I don't let my dislike for them get in the way of acknowledging that.
MLS SupaStr3
12 May 2005, 04:05 PM
in no order
1. Paranoid Android
2. Let Down
3. Electioneering
4. Idioteque
5. The Bends
6. Where I End and You Begin
7. I Might Be Wrong
8. Airbag
9. Karma Police
10. Myxamatosis
655321
12 May 2005, 04:07 PM
No Suprises
Knives Out
My Iron Lung
The Bends
Pretty much everything on OK Computer
obie
12 May 2005, 04:09 PM
OK, I'll play along. I love RH, seen them multiple times in concert. It's a bit unfair to pick songs since they tend to structure albums so tightly (that's the biggest reason why they're not available on iTMS), but where's the fun in that?
In chronological order:
-- Just
-- My Iron Lung
-- Karma Police
-- No Surprises
-- Everything In Its Right Place
-- Idioteque
-- Morning Bell (Kid A version)
-- I Might Be Wrong
-- Sit Down. Stand Up.
-- A Punchup At A Wedding.
scaryice
12 May 2005, 04:20 PM
Creep
The Bends
Fake Plastic Trees
Street Spirit
Paranoid Android
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Karma Police
Electioneering
No Surprises
The National Anthem
I haven't really listened to "Hail To The Thief" very much, so I didn't pick any songs from that.
And actually, they've had four straight #1 albums in the UK, while only "Kid A" went to #1 in the USA. See the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead
Crimen y Castigo
12 May 2005, 04:37 PM
I'm glad Creep has been mentioned.
I remember really liking that song and quickly getting sick to freakin death of it. Living in LA, KROQ would play it on the hour even years after its release, pounding it into a state of nothingness.
But then one day, Yorke was in the radio studios for this breakfast thing they would do with an audience, I think. Whatever the reason, he did this version of Creep, just him and a guitar.
And I thought, "Holy Sh!t. That guy's a genius."
655321
12 May 2005, 04:44 PM
I'm glad Creep has been mentioned.
I remember really liking that song and quickly getting sick to freakin death of it. Living in LA, KROQ would play it on the hour even years after its release, pounding it into a state of nothingness.
But then one day, Yorke was in the radio studios for this breakfast thing they would do with an audience, I think. Whatever the reason, he did this version of Creep, just him and a guitar.
And I thought, "Holy Sh!t. That guy's a genius."
When I worked at Bill's Records in Dallas, he was in the store shopping and demanded we take an acoustic version off the stereo or he'd leave (Johnny Greenwood was checking out some of the bootlegs we had). He did the same with a live cover of Nobody Does It Better (which is incredible, btw).
Crimen y Castigo
12 May 2005, 04:50 PM
When I worked at Bill's Records in Dallas, he was in the store shopping and demanded we take an acoustic version off the stereo or he'd leave (Johnny Greenwood was checking out some of the bootlegs we had). He did the same with a live cover of Nobody Does It Better (which is incredible, btw).
Fascinating. Have any guesses as to why?
Because it was a bootleg? i.e. copyright issues?
Or because he likes to keep live things live, in a sort of "only once and you had to be there" way?
Or because he hated the version? Or the song itself?
He does strike me as tad prickly (he said, immediately forwarding this post to the International Society for Epic Understatement as an official entry in the Understatement of the Year Awards).
MikeLastort2
12 May 2005, 04:56 PM
I think Creep is one of the best rock songs ever written.
MLS SupaStr3
12 May 2005, 04:58 PM
I think Creep is one of the best rock songs ever written.
its good but i think paranoid android is much better
655321
12 May 2005, 04:59 PM
Fascinating. Have any guesses as to why?
Because it was a bootleg? i.e. copyright issues?
Or because he likes to keep live things live, in a sort of "only once and you had to be there" way?
Or because he hated the version? Or the song itself?
He does strike me as tad prickly (he said, immediately forwarding this post to the International Society for Epic Understatement as an official entry in the Understatement of the Year Awards).
It seemed like he just didn't wanna hear it. They clearly didn't have any problems at all with us having boots...they were checking them out and talking about "that radio session" or whatever. He just seemed annoyed that it was on.
He was actually pretty nice, although not exceptionally outgoing. Johnny and Collin were as cool as can be. Johnny Greenwood only bought Smiths vinyl (a huge stack of it).