Radiohead Album Overview

Radiohead has recorded seven albums in their career so far. Only their 1993 debut album, Pablo Honey, is not required listening for any true rock fan and even it has it's moments.

Pablo Honey (1993)

Their debut album is mostly known for "Creep." And at the time many people thought Radiohead would be a "one hit wonder." This was the height of grunge and Radiohead sounded more like a British answer to Nirvana than anything truly original to many people's ears at the time. And while Pablo Honey wasn't particularly original it did have some great songs. "Creep" has certainly worn better than most songs of the period and some of the other songs on the album such as "Blow Out" show signs of their later greatness.

The Bends (1995)

This was a huge step forward for the band. To me it's sort of like Radiohead's Rubber Soul. I know, why does everyone have to be compared to The Beatles? It's just the way it is, and I really do think in a way this comparison works. Of course in others, it does not.

The Bends was a band becoming themselves. And they sounded amazing. One thing that caught me right off with The Bends was the atmospherics of the songs. Certainly that's something the band has continued to explore even further since then.

The albums big rockers "Just" & "My Iron Lung" showcased Jonny Greenwood's unique approach to guitar playing. In my view there's no other modern guitarist who is as interesting. No one else sounds like him. He's a real "mad scientist" and that's just how I like my musicians.

It was the ballads "Fake Plastic Trees" & "High and Dry" that really got the attention of a lot of people. For one they showcased Thom Yorke's incredible voice and for another they were the sorts of melodic songs that anyone can fall in love with. To this day this album and and these songs in particular are highly influential on bands like Coldplay.

OK Computer (1997)

To continue with The Beatles comparison, this is Radiohead's Revolver. They were really pushing the envelope with OK Computer. I don't think they expected the hugely positive response it received. It's really quite a weird album in a lot of ways. But it's just so brilliantly done that it's become one of the absolutely essential albums to own for anyone who cares about modern music.

Kid A (2000)

Yes, I've saved the Sgt. Pepper comparison for Kid A. Why? Because Kid A is the album that really holds together as one piece. It's as if everyone thought they hit some sort of limit with OK Computer, but they did not. They broke themselves down and started from scratch and went in an entirely different direction.

Certainly Kid A has more detractors than does OK Computer, it's not as easy to love for some folks, but for me it's just as good, if not better.

Amnesiac (2001)

Too often it's considered a collection of Kid A b-sides. It's really not that at all. A song as great as "Pyramid Song" is definitely not a b-side! I believe these are the songs that just didn't fit well on Kid A so they became Amnesiac. And that's the sort of thing that's hard for those who have to rank everything as better or worse than something else to understand. This isn't sports, it's art. It's not about what's "best," it's about what says what you want to say. What works together to make some sort of cohesive whole.

Hail to the Thief (2003)

Admittedly not quite as strong as the albums that came before it (or the one that has come since) but it still really has a ton of great music on it. I'm not quite sure even why I don't like it as much as Kid A and In Rainbows, but I just don't. It's an awesome album, but something about it isn't quite totally perfect. Hard to put my finger on. Still probably the best album of 2003.

In Rainbows (2007)

Definitely the best album of 2007. In Rainbows is a perfect album. It's absolutely astonishing to me that Radiohead is still working at this kind of level for as long as they've been making music together. They are still the best band in the world, and honestly no one else is even coming that close to them.

The "flavors of the week" that Pitchfork and the like try to force feed us just don't match up. I mean, Arcade Fire? Are you kidding me?

Marvin J. Markus is a contributor to the Music By Day music blog which often features stories on Radiohead. If you want to be as awesome as Johnny Greenwood on the guitar you'll probaly want to start out now with Jamorama guitar lessons .

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