The Twenty Best Radiohead Songs
June 8th, 2007
After listening to all the Radiohead albums repeatedly over the past few months, these are the songs I marked with a five star rating in iTunes. The order below is chronological, not from best to worst – Creep is not my favorite Radiohead song.
Update: The list doesn’t yet include In Rainbows, Radiohead’s most recent album…
If forced to pick a Top Five, it would be Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Pyramid Song, High And Dry, and Everything In Its Right Place.
To read my full album reviews, check out these links: Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail To The Thief.
1. Creep
What’s good? Here’s my short list:
- One chord progression repeats throughout. It takes some talent to provide enough variety that this isn’t that noticeable.
- The verse melody, with the slight downward arpeggio reminds me of Erasure.
- The middle section where Thom serves up with a unique countermelody in falesetto, foreshadows the unusual melodies found on OK Computer.
- One killer drum fill as Thom opens out into full yell.
- The crunchy guitar noise foreshadows the guitar experimentation shown on future albums.
- The whole thing evokes a mood of alienation and loneliness, soon to be synonymous with Radiohead.
2. High And Dry
From the gently syncopated drums of the verse to the comfortable vocal melody, this song is perfection. I can’t think of a single thing amiss here, except the falsetto may not be to everyone’s taste, and this song and the next have basically provided a sound for Coldplay to spend their entire career exploring.
3. Fake Plastic Trees
Another perfect song that builds decently – I appreciate its sincerity. There’s a simple organ lick also reminds me of Elvis Costello’s King of America.
4. Just
This song is incredible. It’s equally varied and exciting as the crazy parts of Paranoid Android. Things are taken to a high level with a guitar lick that rises up to a shivering high note (capable of bursting through eardrums), followed by a second coda broadcast like a telegraph bursting into a phone-booth.
5. My Iron Lung
I think this song was written in response to the unexpected chart success of Creep, which pushed the band into the spotlight, but led to the unflattering description of Radiohead as the “British Nirvana”. The “iron lung” of this song refers to a career-sustaining one hit wonder, while also fitting in nicely with Radiohead’s subject matter of life sustaining, dehumanizing technology. But I mention Nirvana as I assume it’s the reason for the brain-crushing middle section that I believe is meant as parody and homage simultaneously. That said, it still sounds cool, with some good contrast between sections.
6. Airbag
We start with a meandering, epic guitar lick, supported by some extremely compressed drums. During the verse there’s a droning guitar, an off-beat bass, and a persistent drum beat. Every part is unique, and progressively more interesting sonic jewels are ladled on. During the second verse, an effected guitar moans in the background, adding some exquisite bends at the end of vocal phrases. Following that is a strange instrumental section where this background guitar gains the focus. Next, the drums get some attention with some out of control effects sprouting off of it like fractal ferns. Finally, the meandering, epic guitar lick returns, cutting through the haze like a spotlight, and crashing onto a major sixth chord. The song establishes a sense of experimentation in a wide open space.
7. Paranoid Android
I could devote a whole post to this one song. If Airbag wasn’t enough, this song seals Radiohead’s place in history. The first section highlights my favorite thing about Radiohead: an unusual chord progression that makes you think, how can there be a vocal melody for that? And Thom delivers, finding a hook laden melody that arcs, and finding unusual high notes to highlight. As he sings, “What’s this?” a spooky android voice and spooky, chiming guitars join in.
During the instrumental the song gains some energy, with a simply stunning bass guitar run. Full guitars join in, a cool drum fill, as Thom’s voice soars to a hight note over the same spinning chords. Then the lead guitar jumps all over everything like a happy gopher.
The song then separates out into another section, that introduces a new, complicated chord progression, mostly sinking into a deep hole as it transverses several keys. The magic is that Thom again finds a hook-laden melody in all of this “rain, rain down on me, from a great height”. It’s a hymn to heaven while sinking into hell. But it doesn’t stop there. A counter-melody appears behind the lead vocal, ending with God’s children.
Suddenly, we’re back in an earlier section with climactic guitar jumping all over everything, but with an added effect designed to slash through an ear drum, plus a shaker for good measure. Better and better, it finally crashes into silence.
8. Exit Music (For A Film)
This music stars out with just acoustic guitar and voice, but then opens up to a fuzzy bass guitar and some scary noises. When the lead vocal hits its heights, the music goes sweetly nuts. I love the contrast and build from the song’s beginning to that point. There’s also a sweet suspended note in the keyboards.
9. Karma Police
A perfect song. The initial acoustic guitar chords reminds me of XTC’s Dear God. The chord progression is quite long and intricate. What’s stunning is the melody Thom develops over it, upon first hearing is surprising yet fits perfectly. The middle part (this is what you get) with the piano reminds me of The Beatles’ Sexy Sadie. After two go-rounds with this cool progression, we enter a coda section, inspired by the chords but containing yet another melody that fits perfectly. Variations on “I lost myself” waft over the chords, repeated like a mantra. The active ascending bass line provides an interesting contrast and support. A distorted, delayed echo spins over everything and destroys the song, bit-reducing it into nothing. It’s stunning stuff, and I’d dare say only a step removed from The Beatles’ A Day In The Life.
10. No Surprises
This song is about being asleep, and the open guitar tone matches well with xylophone chimes, evoking a child’s lullaby. The major chord progression and pleasant melody are not unlike what one might hear on The Bends but there’s a sickly sarcastic tone, of a pleasant suburban place where nothing goes on – an advancement of that album’s sound. In this hermetically sealed, man made paradise where nothing ever changes – you may as well be dead, or totally zoned out on sedatives.
11. Lucky
This song is rather “cowboy,” with a similar dynamic variety as Exit Music. What I enjoy is the synergy between Thom’s voice singing “pull me out of the air crash” and the lead guitar bends whining out a counter melody. After two goes around, there’s a syncopated guitar-based bridge that builds to a final chorus, leaving us literally, “standing on the edge,” unresolved.
12. Everything In Its Right Place
This is an awesome, expansive song, with some tasteful computer effects, morphing the lead vocal into loops. Over a keyboard drone, I essentially see it as a distillation, and a direct descendant of Planet Telex and Airbag. The vocal melody is essentially centered on two notes: one the high elation of “everything” and the other on the “right place” and the “lemon” lines. The second section starting at 2:16 is stuck on the lower note, and repeats incessantly until a final release at 2:51, where the voice quickly fades away, leaving the keyboard to drone on alone. That this tension and release occurs around what I consider to be essentially two notes is pretty darned cool.
13. Optimistic
This is one of my favorite songs from the last three albums. The first section has a haunting falsetto melody. The verse vocals mimic the rhythm of the guitar. But on “try the best you can” the guitars move into an ascending melodic line that’s quite stunning. But my favorite part comes at 1:31 where the guitar and a hollow keyboard double up on a lick which continues on through the second verse. At 2:37 the song opens up with an additional rhythm. Then on 4:24 we get those choice drum fills I love, beneath the opening falsetto melody. As an added bonus, there’s a different version of the tune that takes us out.
14. In Limbo
This song has a circling, pulsing rhythm that is instantly memorable. In this pea soup, melodies have been miraculously located. There’s also a neat hook on the phrase “living in a fantasy.”
15. Morning Bell
These electronic drums are less eardrum damaging, and of course the major chords on “release me” are perfection, especially with the ascending bass line. It’s a kinder version of the tension and resolution of Everything In Its Right Place. There’s another version of this song on Amnesiac and I prefer this one.
16. Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
There’s some delicious phasing as the clanking loop doesn’t always line up with the timing of the keyboard part or the drum machine. The vocal melody mimics the keyboard part, speaking of disillusionment and years of boredom. I’m guessing the sardines are commuters riding a cramped MUNI bus to work.
17. Pyramid Song
I had a strange out of sorts feeling once, while listening to this masterpiece. The ascending piano chords are in an odd meter that only finds a regular rhythm when drums arrive. As on OK Computer, the vocal part finds an envious melody perfectly suited to the odd chord progression. At 1:54 strings mimic the vocal melody as some fascinating slow motion drums enter. I also enjoy moments at 2:52 and 3:25 where the strings repeat the high vocal part and then settle into the pulsing rhythm of the piano.
18. 2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)
A good opener, with an energy recalling the last three albums, specifically Paranoid Android.
19. Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury & Executioner)
One of my favorites on the album. I love the strange, staggered fuzzy lick, the odd drop out of the music, and spooky droning noises sprinkled over everything. The drum part alternates between two patterns as the lick repeats. It seems concern a cat spreading a disease of fame-induced claustrophobia.
20. Scatterbrain (As Dead As Leaves)
I love this song. It has a slightly askew, oddly timed chord progression, in which a beautiful vocal melody is somehow found.
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I love the work you put into this list, but I wonder if you would have listed the same 20 songs a few days after posting. I'm guessing not. For true Radiohead fans, the favorites are always changing. With that said, however, I can't think of a time that Wolf at the Door wouldn't have made my top 20.
these are all great lists.. here's mine in no specific order:
Exit Music (for a film)
Paranoid Android
2+2=5
A Wolf At The Door
Creep (Acoustic version)
Kid A
Where I End And You Begin
How To Disappear Completely
Rabbit In Your Headlights (although this isnt really a radiohead song… thom yorke sings it!)
Talk Show Host
Street Spirit
Permanent Daylight
The National Anthem
Everything In Its Right Place
Sit Down, Stand Up
Sail to the Moon
Backdrifts
Reckoner
Palo Alto
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
lol i dont know which band i like better though, radiohead or muse. (PLEASE i dont mean to start a radiohead vs muse debate here.) they both have really distinct and genius styles.. and they're all incredible at what they do. i know that radiohead came first and muse used radiohead as one of their influences.. if anyone here hasn't really gotten into muse, you guys should give them a try! both radiohead and muse have very beautiful and intense styles.
If i had to pick one song it would be “street spirit” it sends to a place i think i know,but ultimately don't,and i feel good
i love all of these songs, before i was familiar with their music i listened to them to get used to radiohead & loved them all. after knowing these songs you're used to their style enough to really appreciate the rest. and i think “in rainbows” is pure gold, the music on it is amazing even though many bands can't seem to match up their later cds with the classics… it's awesome. overall, i love packt like sardines in a crushd tin box (or however it's abbreviated) and jigsaw falling into place. i heard that one at a restaurant once and freaked out, it was great.
these songs are great for learning radiohead's style and becoming familiar with the band. i put these on my ipod when i didn't know them very well, but my dad had their entire collection, and i loved all of it. “in rainbows” is also pure genius, i love jigsaw falling into place. one time i heard it at a restaurant and freaked out, it was great and already my favorite song so i loved hearing it there.
other than that, one that i love is packt like sardines in a crushd tin box, bodysnatchers, and a million more. they really are one of the best bands for building up songs nicely. and i love muse to, i wouldn't say there has to be a radiohead vs. muse debate because though they're comparable, they have distinct styles and a lot of fans would like both bands. it's all good 
malisimo
Just one question. How can you rate the top ten Radiohead songs? And secondly why would you only buy particular songs from Itunes? Each of their albums are meant to be listened to from start to finish. After listening to each album starting with Pablo Honey and all the way through In Rainbows you really notice what this band has accomplished. A few of the lists that I read basically name all of their songs and the other list was a collection of the singles they released on the radio. There was not much thinking involved in those lists. Anyways I am not trying to be a snob. If you are going to buy their music, purchase the album and listen to the album the way the musicians intended you to hear the songs. There are also a lot of great B-Sides that were not listed in the lists. I did not even see Bishop's Robes in any of the list. One on their best tracks. Do your homework and you will be rewarded with one of the greatest bands of our times.
Creep…? Is one of the songs from RH wich seems like it has nothing to do with theyr genre… Btw where the hell is Street Spirit (Fadeout) ?!
You put High and Dry on your list? One of their weakest efforts… They were forced into doing it by EMI…
O_O
I love High and Dry. I've been listening to Radiohead for less than a month, but I've heard just about everything besides Amnesiac and In Rainbows, and High and Dry is one of my favorites. It's one of their more emotional songs in my opinion.
I dunno. How do you rate this. I can only mention the five songs that I have had a most serious love affair with over the years (and I mean that quite literally). This is a very exclusive list, and I guess other circumstances might have led to me picking other songs:
Street spirit
Lucky
I might be wrong
Living in a glass house
Nude
For some reason I always rated Amnesiac as their best album.
Sail to the Moon – one of my favs – Anyone see them at Victoria park, was a bit dissapointed by the venue and sound, much better in smaller venue – tho when they did the v festival that fooking rocked.
Songs that shook me by radiohead and still do to this day:
Fake Plastic Trees
Just
Bulletproof
Nice Dream
Paranoid Android
Exit Music
Let Down
Fitter Happier
All of Kid A except for tracks 5,6 and 7(By far kid A is Radioheads Magnum Opus for me) *Motion Picture Soundtrack is there most emotional song of all time and just downright beautiful
…Amnesiac as well is great as an album but in the middle gets a bit less amazing
From Hail to the Thief: Sit Down. Stand Up.
We suck Young Blood
Go to Sleep
A wolf at the door
In Rainbows: Amazing albums but if forced to pick favorites, Bodysnatchers, All I Need, House of Cards, Nude
and then some….i used this guide to dl some good radiohead songs and im blown away by the accuracy of the description
outstanding!!
my favorite is fake plastic trees
idk why ive always liked it
(No Order)
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Karma Police
Wolf At My Door
You And Who Army?
15 Steps
2+2=5
High And Dry
Reckoner
Bodysnatchers
Fake Plastic Trees
No How To Disappear Completely?
…
fail.
how about climbing up the walls?
I think you're missing quite a few, for e.g: Palo Alto, Talk Show Host, There There, How To Disappear Completely, The National Anthem
All i need. What an under rated song!!!!!!! everyone should listen to it again i think and just think about the lyrics meaning.
Its ridiculous!
Okay, people need to chill. This is just one persons opinion. We all have our favorites, none of our lists are going to be EXACTLY the same. I think the bottom line here is that you cannot pick just twenty of the best Radiohead songs. It needs to be more like fifty.
no one can decide what's best, i guess? in order to make the perfect list we should put all radiohead's songs without any order… nothing's places first and nothing places last
ya right, last flowers is absolutely breath-taking
WoW all of these songs in the list are awesome, but I'm shocked and suprised to not seen these two songs at your list too.
Jigsaw falling into place
Wolf at the door
These two songs are amazing……They're up to bar with paranoid android for my taste, have fun
my list changes frequently, but i'll post anyway, no pablo honey and no the bends (sorry):
1. climbing up the walls
2. pyramid song
3. paranoid android
4. there there
5. exit music (for a film)
6. you and whose army?
7. reckoner
8. i might be wrong
9. let down
10. how to disappear completely
11. a wolf at the door
12. the national anthem
13. house of cards
14. go to sleep
15. lucky
16. all i need
17. life in a glasshouse
18. motion picture soundtrack
19. cuttooth
20. 2+2=5
21. packt like sardines in a crushd tin box
22. sail to the moon
23. i am a wicked child
24. like spinning plates
25. last flowers
I alwez thot written reviews of music is shit…how can you descryb Music?? U jst gotta hear it…
My friend…thank you for proving me so ridiculously wrong….so accurate…brilliant piece of write up
This article actually made me discover and convert to Radiohead
Your crazy if you don't think OK Computer isn't number one. Whether or not it's their most famous almbum is irrelevant you can try to be coy and original with that list but it is one of the best albums of all time. Not one song on the album isn't beautiful.
I live listening to these genius , these are the best songs for when you smoke some pot
No order of course, cause these are master pieces , art is not a competition.
Paranoid Android
Reckoner
To me, these are the most beautiful and complex songs from the fucking universe.
Weird fishes
15 Step
Knives out
2+2 = 5
Bodysnatchers
Where i end and you begin
In limbo
Go slowly (from the basement)
There There
The national Anthem
How to dissapear completely
Mixomatosis
Optimistic
Nude
All i need
Lucky
Really? No Nude or Idioteque? Great list, but when you leave off instant classics like those? FAIL!
Radiohead are so fucking special. I wish I was special.
No, Creep isn't one of their best songs, but for the brilliance of the lyrics if nothing else, it deserves to make their top 20.
My top 20 (the hardest thing i've ever had to do; I could easily make a top 100):
1. Paraniod Android
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. Karma Police
4. How to disappear completely
5. Exit Music (for a film)
6. Let Down
7. Reckoner
8. Just
9. Talk Show Host
10. Idioteque
11. There There
12. All I Need
13. No Surprises
14. Lucky
15. Street Spirit (fade out)
16. 15 Step
17. All I Need
18. Nude
19. Airbag
20. Creep
In my opinion they've only ever gone wrong twice.
1. High and Dry
2. Black Star
i love radiohead..<3 my favorite song is “house of cards”!
Ill hop on the bandwagon and make my own top ten:
1.Let Down
2.Paranoid Android
3.Fake Plastic Trees
4.Life in a Glass House
5. Motion Picture Soundtrack
6.Pyramid Song
7. Jigsaw Falling into Place
8. There, There
9. Street Spirit
10.A Wolf at the Door
Album Ranking:
1.OK Computer
2.Kid A
3.Amnesiac
4.In Rainbows
5.The Bends
6.Hail to the Thief
7. Pablo Honey
Take it for what is worth, but this is from someone who is obsessed with Radiohead
I'm obsessed too, nlferts, so I know you meant to include Talk Show Host (any live version) on your list (f EMI for releasing such a pansy-ass studio version on best of). Thanks, though, for giving props to Wolf. Most people say that Paranoid Android sealed Radiohead's place in history. I somewhat agree, but Wolf proves that they can take any genre and make it their own — without really trying.
good work mate..this surely sums up the great works of radiohead.. but” everything in its right place” is not at its right place… deserves a place in top 5
you haven't done justice to paranoid android….it is easily no.1.
creep??youv'e got to be kidding me…
I like the list, except you are forgetting 2 Radiohead staples. Idioteque and Street Spirit have to be in the top 20.
i can't believe no one mentioned polyethylene……………
I thouroughly enjoyed your description of the tracks, especially the writing for Paranoid Android. It interests me to see what other people make of and take from Radiohead's music.
Everytime I think I have a favorite, it changes after a few days. At present, I'm liking Like Spinning Plates (live) (I love how Thom has to announce the song to the audience at the beginning), but I just read someone mentioning Electioneering, and I have to say that while I agree it's never been my favorite, there's something about the rawness of that song that gets me going.
In my opinion tis is the best paylist
pyramid song
exit music ( for a film)
creep
paranoid android
optimistic
reckoner
jigsaw falling into place
idioteque
kid A
house of cards
karma police
the national anthem
you and whose army?
no surprises
15 step
go to sleep
2+2=5
the tourist
high and dry
my iron lung
morning bell
sail to the moon
life in glasshouse
Let Down
Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury & Executioner)
lucky
Nude
street spirit
fake plastic trees
airbag
and many other songs