10 – ‘Karma Police’ – (from ‘Ok Computer’ / 2000)
In a song review, Allmusic referred to ‘Karma Police’ as ‘haunting, mystifying, and exquisite…one of the cornerstones of one of the greatest albums of the ’90s’.
Although released as the second single from ‘OK Computer’, and became a commercial success, charting at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and number fourteen on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks, the song is most notable known by the music video.
The music video for the song was directed by Jonathan Glazer, previously responsible for Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ clip. The video starts with the camera of an unseen driver, and for seconds, it shows a road through grass illuminated by headlights. A figure is then seen running from the car. In time for the chorus the view shifts back to the back seat, where Thom Yorke now sits, almost mumbling his lyrics.
9 – ‘Optimistic’ – (from ‘Kid A’ / 2000)
A curious fact about ‘Kid A’ is that no singles were released from this album, nevertheless promos of several songs from the album, including ‘Optimistic’, were sent to radio stations.
The airplay that ‘Optimistic’ received made it peak at number 10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, one of only three Radiohead songs – the others being ‘Creep’ and ‘Bodysnatchers’ – to peak in the Top 10 of that chart.
8 – ‘The National Anthem’ – (from ‘Kid A’ / 2000)
According to Colin Greenwood, ‘The National Anthem’ is thought to have been previously attempted at recording sessions in 1994 and 1997, but it was ‘too good to use it as a b-side for OK Computer singles’.
The song has a repetitive bassline ( recorded by Thom Yorke, who wrote the riff at age 16 ), and develops in a direction influenced by jazz composer Charles Mingus.
7 – ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ – (from ‘The Bends’ / 1995)
‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’Â is noted by Thom Yorke as ‘one of [the band’s] saddest songs’ and describes it as ‘the dark tunnel without the light at the end’, ‘Street Spirit’ was released as the band’s ninth single and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, the highest chart position the band achieved until ‘Paranoid Android’, which reached number three in 1997.
The song was inspired by the 1991 novel The Famished Road, written by Ben Okri. The single is also acclaimed for the quality of its B-sides, like for example, ‘Talk Show Host’.
6 – ‘There There’ – ( from ‘Hail to the Thief’ / 2003)
‘There There’ was the first single from ‘Hail to the Thief’, and was released before the album. The song reached number four in the UK Singles Chart and number one in Canada.
Another great video was made for a Radiohead single, this time Thom Yorke enters a forest and finds many creatures involved in human-like activities. He goes from one scene to another, and finally, he arrives at a clearing where a golden jacket hangs from a tree. He puts the jacket on and also a pair of golden shoes hidden inside the tree. When the shoes fall off his feet, his feet turn to tree roots upon touching the ground, followed by the rest of his body which turns into wood. Yorke becomes a tree in which the crows rest on the branches.
5 – ‘Creep’ – ( from ‘Pablo Honey‘ / 1992)
Radiohead, in the beginning, was alienated from this song and no one felt that they could do something better than ‘Creep’ – everybody was wrong! The song was written ‘in a drunken haze’ by Thom Yorke, who thought it was ‘crap’.
The song went Top 40 in the United States when it was released as a single in 1992. In the next year ‘Creep’Â hit the Top 10 in the United Kingdom becoming a worldwide hit.
4 – ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ – ( from ‘The Bends‘ / 1995)
‘Fake Plastic Trees’ marked a turning point in the band’s early career, moving away from the grunge sound of their earlier hit single ‘Creep’.
The song is about an area in east London called Canary Wharf which was landscaped with a lot of artificial plants. Thom Yorke said: ‘Fake Plastic Trees was the product of a joke that wasn’t really a joke, a very lonely, drunken evening and, well, a breakdown of sorts’.
3 – ‘No Surprises’ – ( from ‘Ok Computer’ / 1998)
The third and final single from the group’s 1997 album ‘OK Computer’ reached number four on the UK Singles Chart when released in 1998. The song was written while touring with R.E.M. in 1995.
It is best known by the video that accompanied the song, which featured a single shot of singer Thom Yorke’s head in a plastic bubble filled with water.
2 – ‘Just’ – ( from ‘The Bends’ / 1995)
Although Thom Yorke wrote the song about a narcissistic friend of his, he also says that it was something of a competition between him and Jonny Greenwood to see who could fit the most chords into a song.
The truth is that ‘Just’ is especially notable for Greenwood’s guitar solo – packed into the middle of the group’s most accessible record – it stands among Radiohead’s most guitar-heavy moments.
1 – ‘Paranoid Android‘ – ( from ‘Ok Computer’ / 1997)
‘Paranoid Android’ takes its name from Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
The lyrics from Thom Yorke are based on an encounter in a Los Angeles bar where ‘everyone was out of their minds on coke. The epic finish – an homage to DJ Shadow and The Beatles – boasts one of the band’s best moments in their career.
The track has appeared regularly on lists of the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Its animated music video, directed by Magnus Carlsson, was placed on heavy rotation on MTV, although the network censored portions containing nudity in the US.
