“Big things have small beginnings.” So says Michael Fassbender’s character in Prometheus. He was referring to a blob of alien goo that would go on to spawn the monster that drives the Alien series, but he just as easily could’ve been talking about Radiohead.
Like that daub of black goo, Radiohead’s origins were inauspicious. The band — consisting throughout its existence of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, electronics), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, various other instruments), Colin Greenwood (bass, synths), Ed O’Brien (guitar, backing vocals), and Phil Selway (drums) — formed in 1985 in the music rehearsal room of their Oxfordshire boys’ school. The band’s awkward original moniker was On A Friday — their usual practice time.
Unlike so many of their contemporaries, On A Friday did not spend years slugging it out in the indie tour circuit before achieving broader success — their path to glory was more in the classic-rock mold. After a university-born hiatus through the late ’80s, On A Friday signed a six-album deal with EMI without ever touring. Pressured by their label, the band changed their name to Radiohead, after a Talking Heads song. A year later, the band recorded a song called “Creep,” and the rest is history.
When most people think of Radiohead now, they think of Radiohead the iconoclasts: the band that resurrected progressive rock with OK Computer, dove headlong into experimental music with Kid A, and precipitated an entirely new business model with In Rainbows. For a high-profile band with so much to lose, Radiohead has historically been relentlessly ambitious. No two of their albums sound alike. (Not even Kid A and Amnesiac — more on that later.)
But Radiohead has achieved their status as one of the last consensus-building rock bands because of their broad populist streak. That populism is musical as well as political. Even at their most challenging and experimental, Radiohead ruthlessly edits their music into catchy, pop-sized chunks. Beneath the swathes of digital gauze and strange sound is a Beatles-style hit machine.
After eight albums, Radiohead may be close to the end of their creative arc. The band has expressed growing (and characteristic!) dissatisfaction with the process of writing and recording albums. Said Yorke during the press cycle for The King Of Limbs: “None of us want to go into that creative hoo-hah of a long-play record again … I mean, it’s just become a real drag.” (Then again, The King Of Limbs concludes with Yorke informing the listener that, ”If you think this is over, then you’re wrong.”)
So now is as good of a time as any to reflect on Radiohead’s catalog. Here are all eight of their full-length albums, analyzed and examined, and ranked from worst to best. If you disagree — and oh, will some of you ever disagree — then feel free to crush my list like a bug in the ground with your comments.
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How many bands out there even have 7-8 albums WORTH ranking and fighting over? Most you’d fight over the top 3, and say screw it to the rest, this is what Radiohead so great, the amazing high quality. And yeah, their guts to totally change from album to album…most other artists who try that trick I wanna choke (cough PJ Harvey cough).
1) OK Computer…name me ONE other album ever made where the first SIX songs each punch you in the face with flawless perfection…i’ll never get over it. THEN you get a mini-break in the middle to get your bearings back, then they give you the knockout punch w/ the last 4 tracks, including the most perfect closing track ever. I think of that album as an amazing book or movie, where you always tear up at the end…cause you want it to keep going.
2) The Bends- I listened to the Bends for a year and never got sick of it, it really grabs you after a few listens through…you don’t even really notice Sulk and Black Star the first few listens, or get the genius of My Iron Lung cause you’re too under the spell of Fake Plastic Trees, The Bends, High and Dry and Street Spirit. And if you think High and Dry has lost it’s taste, either re-watch the awesome video OR even better, the last 20 mins of The Newsroom (episode 1 or 2, can’t remember) where they play High n Dry in the background…it’s amazing and adds a ton of power to the moment. Oh and if you need a reason to cement The Bends at #2, just toss in the MOUNTAIN of A+ b sides they churned out for this album…amazing. Songs that not only would be on anyone else’s album, but 1/2 would be SINGLE worthy.
3) Hail to the Thief. Radiohead was right, a few songs less AND a couple more weeks putting the oldschool RH shine on this album and it would be thought of surely as another masterpiece. The reason this album deserves #3 is because the songs made for flawless/instantly perfect LIVE tracks, and they’re still favorites cause they sound so great…There There, Where I End and You Begin, We Suck Young Blood, 2+2=5, Scatterbrain, Go to Sleep, Myxomatosis, Sit Down Stand Up, AND The Gloaming are all brilliant when you hear them live, and jesus they were at their peak on that tour, FLAWLESS.
4) Kid A. amazing, powerful, way way ahead of it’s time…Muse WISHES they could make an album like this haha. My only beef is it kinda dies off the last 3rd after the amazing first few tracks through Idioteque. (and it’s a couple tracks short of feeling like a full album)
5-7=TIE! The King Of Limbs/Amnesiac/In Rainbows. I really think these 3 albums are pretty much equal. Right now cause it’s ‘freshest’ I like King of Limbs best, i love the edginess of it and even though it’s pretty DJ Thom Yorke-ified, Codex, Lotus Flower and my favorite Separator really bring it some nice soul. And if you add in a few other tracks like someone else did above, Hearing Damage, The Butcher and the other few one-off tracks they’ve released the past year or 2, it really makes for an awesome listening experience.
In Rainbows i’ll always hate and love…overall it’s missing some MEAT, the songs sound way too similar and that is boring, BUT the great songs are still there. All I Need is flawless and powerful, Nude is everyone’s oldschool unreleased favorite from the late 90s and is brilliant even though us oldschool fans like the Hammond Organ version 100x better than the stripped down version, BUT at least they finally recorded it. Weird Fishes is great, sounds amazing live, and Videotape is a classic Thom pretty one.
Then there’s ‘the forgotten album’ Amnesiac. I hardly ever listen to Amnesiac unless i make my own CDR where i mix Kid A tracks with it i must admit, BUT….Spinning Plates will always be a favorite, especially the live version on piano, brilliant:) You and Whose Army is another perfect live track, everyone who’s seen them live knows why haha, cause of mr comedian Yorke using that fish eye lens camera next to his piano to ham it up:) I also loved Crushed Like Sardines live, the live version they sped it up with Colin Greenwood using a nice fuzzy bass, very cool. Dollars and Cents is still cool live, Pyramid Song is def one of the prettiest songs ever, even though it never sounds as good live as on cd ironically…with most the other songs being the reverse. AND then there’s Life in a Glass House, how genius are Radiohead to actually have a dixie band put that classic ‘nawlins’ sound on a song and it actually WORKS?! (MUAH, delicious.)
and of course 8) is Pablo Honey, simply cause it’s Radiohead’s DEMO ALBUM, essentially. They were kids in the studio, no idea how to record, weren’t teamed up with Nigel Godrich yet, Thom was still scared to truly SING. (cough cough JEFF BUCKLEY anyone? everyone knows that story right? RH saw Jeff live in london whilST recording The Bends, and it gave Thom the encouragement to go in THAT NIGHT and record the vocals to Fake Plastic Trees, i LOVE that story…as I still love Jeff Buckley to death). I think someday for a laugh they should re-record this album, cause if it were only recorded better it’d be pretty great, Thinking About You/You, Creep and Stop Whispering are all very good songs, so’s Lurgee…and once again cuz it’s Radiohead, some of their b sides from this time are way better than the album tracks-Stupid Car, Faithless the Wonderboy, Coke Babies, Banana Co and Killer Cars:)
Separator is some good shit
1 Kid A
2
I prefer mine:
1. Ok Computer
2. The Bends
3. Kid A
4. In Rainbows
5. Amnesiac
6. The King Of Limbs
7. Hail To The Thief
8. Pablo Honey
How to Disagree Completely.
In Rainbows was not as game-changing as some of their other albums but it’s the one I listen to and love most which is the only thing that counts. It’s not their most import
You really should be able to delete shit when you’re shaking with excitement for the weekend and accidentally press the wrong button.
In Rainbows is not their most important or game-changing album, but it is the one I listen to most and love the most so therefore it’s their best.
So wait, now that this list exists, is Stereogum over?
I’m sorry but In Rainbows the third worst is some fucked up dispicable shit.
How is it not their best when no better album has ever been recorded by anyone?
There, I said it…
Finding it hard to disagree.
These lists are getting more and more pointless by the week.
omg radiohead isn’t even good. who cares?
you really need to watch this and then tell me what’s up
http://vimeo.com/26637209
Heads up, we all have different opinions about which records are better/worse than others. I thought Michael Nelson did an excellent job a couple weeks ago explaining that these lists are the author’s honest opinions, and that Stereogum does not choose the order just to troll. If you want to explain why you think Pablo Honey is worse than KOL (it’s because King of Limbs is a band trying to sound unlike any other band, Pablo Honey is a band trying to sound like all other bands, in my opinion), that’s great, but I’m getting sick of reading comments to the effect of “Stereogum just wants to piss me off.”
Thanks, scruffy! I should probably tag all of these lists with that explanation/disclaimer. But you know, I think most people, if they’re being honest, understand we’re not trolling them. Sometimes the writer’s opinions hew closer to the consensus, sometimes further from it, but these are ALWAYS totally honest and delivered only by people who have intimate familiarity with — and are passionate about — the catalogs they’re covering. The readers have the same passion, of course. That inevitably leads to some heated arguments in the comments. But as an editor I would never ask a writer to be dishonest about his or her feelings, especially when they would then be subjected to scrutiny and criticism in the comments.
1) Kid A
2) Amnesiac
3) Ok Computer
4) The Bends
5) In Rainbows
6) Hail to the Thief
7) Pablo Honey
8) King of Limbs
I was about to throw a bitch fit with this list, but i guess all the albums have reasons enough to be ranked higher. The only discrepancy here is not ranking Pablo Honey dead last. the rest are all personal choices.
Here’s how I see it. (1-6 could very well be a six-way tie in any given day)
1. Kid A
2. OK Computer
3. In Rainbows
4. Amnesiac
5. The Bends
6. Hail To The Thief
7. The King of Limbs
8. Pablo Honey
1. Kid A
2. OK Computer
3. The Bends
4. Hail to the Thief
5. Amnesiac
6. The King of Limbs
7. In Rainbows
8. Pablo Honey
1. Goblin
2. anything else.
In Rainbows doesn’t have a bad track on it, and features some of Radiohead’s best songwriting, best performances, and best engineering (it’s a great sounding record). Can’t understand how anyone would rate that so low. Meanwhile, Hail To The Thief has great moments, but sounds disjointed on the whole, and like a band not knowing what to do with itself. That one would definitely have benefited from fewer tracks and a shorter running time.
1. Kid A
2. In Rainbows
3. OK Computer
4. The Bends
5. King of Limbs
6. Hail To The Thief
7. Amnesiac
8. Pablo Honey
I wish you guys included Airbag/How Am I Driving? as it really is terrific and you’ve included EPs in these lists in the past.
1. Ok Computer
2. Kid A
3. The Bends
4. Hail to the Thief
5. Amnesiac
6. King of the Limbs
7. In Rainbows
8. Pablo Honey
I swear that Kid A is the most over rated album I have even heard. Kid A better than the Bends? My goodness, that album is mediocre and boring.
Ressurected progressive rock with ok computer?
Uhmmmmm
the bends
kid a
in rainbows
ok computer
the best of
hail to the thief
king of limbs
amnesiac
pablo honey
In Rainbows is way too low on the list. You should really consider including a reader poll with these articles. By reading the comments, it seems like SG got this one wrong. Everybody knows that HTTT, PH and KOL are in the basement, while OKC, KA and IR are in the attic.
Here is my messed up opinion…I had a really hard time ranking 3 through 5 though…oh and I usually listen to Kid A/Amnesiac as one album too.
8.Pablo Honey
7.The Bends
6.OK Computer
5.King of Limbs
4.Hail to the Thief
3.In Rainbows
2. Amnesiac
1. Kid A
kidajoe.wordpress.com
just wanted to say something in support of my personal favorite radiohead song, “life in a glass house,” which i think stands out in their catalog as a classic radiohead song–hauntingly beautiful, paranoid, and veyr catchy–but its use of a brass section sets it apart from most of radiohead’s work. anyway, i thought it at least deserved a mention in the ‘amnesiac’ section of the article so i thought i’d say something
HARDCORE disagree.
My List
8. Pablo Honey
7. Amnesiac
6. Hail to the Theif
5. The Bends
4. King of Limbs
3. OK Computer
2. In Rainbows
1. Kid A
1 In Rainbows
2 Kid A
3 Ok Computer
4 Amnesiac
5 The King of Limbs
6 Hail to the Thief
7 The Bends
8 Pablo Honey
Radiohead has like 2 good songs.
Some lists are better left un-made.
1. kid a
2. the bends
3. ok computer
4. amnesiac
5. in rainbows
6. hail to the thief
– i might be wrong: live
7. the king of limbs
8. pablo honey
(but I like all their albums, and really for me 1.-4. are all pretty much classic albums, 5.-6. are a hair below classic, and the others are still good.)
In Rainbows is the finest thing theyve ever done. I think it was a greater shock than any of the experimental albums, because it was expected by fans they’d make an experimental odd record to follow Hail. They didnt. And made their most accessible album, as close to a Radiohead pop album as we will ever get. Every song on it though, is beautiful. Plus, the pay what you will strategy, and the post reactions to the album as you listen, aspect of it was a ton of fun. Few of their albums seem to fit the season as perfectly as IR does. It just sounds perfect on cold autumn days. Everything about it, the cover art, the sound of it, the excitement of having a mere 10 day lead up, and the feeling you had as you downloaded WASTE’s link and listened for the first time. Was so awesome. For me KOL was a let down in large part, because of the highs they scaled with IR.
I miss October 10 2007. How people were going nuts, that static sound on 15 step. The guitar at 2:07 into Bodysnatchers. The groove on Weird Fishes. The danceability of Reckoner. The bizaare sounds to end Videotape.
Its a perfect album, created by a band who has had many masterpieces
1. Kid A
2. Ok Computer
3. In Rainbows
4. Hail to the Thief
5. The Bend
6. The King of Limbs
7. Amnesiac
8. Pablo Honey
Did I really write this?? ^^^
1. Ok Computer
2. Kid A
3. In Rainbows
4. Hail to the Thief
5. The Bends
6. The King of Limbs
7. Amnesiac
8. Pablo Honey
I still feel like Kid A is the best. I remember when OK Computer came out. Nobody went crazy for it. They especially weren’t saying it was their best album nor their masterpiece, rather, all these sentiments came about when Kid A was released. OK Computer is a good album, but I wouldn’t even put it in my Top 3 Radiohead albums.
Here’s my list:
8) Pablo Honey – A no-brainer, really.
7) The Bends – I acknowledge the amazingness of its layery orchestra of guitars, but it’s personally not my style. I love the album, but gotta place it below the others that are more my pace
6) Amnesiac – A step more experimental than Kid A, but its true potential (and some truly phenomenal songs) are held back by a few missteps. Weirdly enough, the B-sides to this album would’ve placed substantially higher on my list than the album itself, were I to include B-sides
5) Hail to the Thief – It’s a very kinetic and energized album with some killer songs, but it could’ve benefitted from more filtering. A few crap songs break up the momentum and overall focus of the otherwise amazing album.
4) The King of Limbs – I’m consistently floored by the first half of this album. Layer upon layer upon layer up layer etc. The ethereal lightshow and percussive mayhem of their current live set really drives the point home, too. Sadly, the album’s a little too brief though, and the last 3 songs take a markedly different (and, while still good, less interesting) direction.
3) OK Computer – Not much left to say about this that hasn’t been said.
2) In Rainbows – It’s a perfect integration of Radiohead’s more “mass appeal” days of beautiful, very intimate and earthly songs (OK Computer, The Bends) informed by their rhythm experiments of the 2000s.
1) Kid A – As I write this, a ghastly wail emits from my headphones – the bone-chilling terror that is the climax of Morning Bell – as machines sputter and gasp along, tying together all of the panic and sorrow and curiosity and brilliance and simultaneous intimacy/alienation of the album into a neat little bow of musical perfection
If you think “House Of Cards” is bland and boring than why the fck are you writing about music like you understand it, and why the fck should we read your words like they matter? Horrific ordering aside, you’re entire write-up is void from that sentence alone. Buy a pair of headphones rather than listening to albums through your lap-top speakers, you fckn newb.
I think Pablo Honey is a brilliant piece of 90′s alt-rock. Very underrated. Obviously not as good as The Bends, OK Computer or Kid A but way better than Amnesiac, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows or King Of Limbs.
1. Kid A
2. The Bends
3. OK Computer
4. Pablo Honey
5. Amnesiac
6. King Of Limbs
7. In Rainbows
8. Hail To The Thief
1 In Rainbows
2 Amnesiac
3 Kid A
4 Hail to the Thief
5 OK Computer
6 The Bends
7 King of Limbs
8 Pablo Honey
I realize I’m jumping into this really late, but I think it’s such nonsense that The King of Limbs has gotten so much flack. Aside from clearly outdoing Pablo Honey, you could arguably rank it above Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, both of which have plenty of killer songs but don’t work as well as full albums.
1. Kid A
2. OK Cpu
3. The Bends
4. In Rainbows
5. Amnesiac
6. The King of Limbs
7. HTTT
8. Pablo
And I would put the My Iron Lung EP ahead of HTTT too.