What is the appeal of Radiohead?

If you like the Daily Mail, I think you may also like "Sail to the Moon" and "Pyramid Song," and maybe "Life in a Glass House." Just a guess if you're hunting for similar piano songs from the band.

 

I dont like ed sheeran but millions do . Cant stand jive bunny and mr blobby but millions did . Ive never got the Verve, same with one erection , even biffy clyro . Whatever floats ure boat enjoy dance and howl to the moon ! Btw love radiohead esp on vinyl .

 

It’s hard to choose their best songs, really. Some of them get to you right away from the first listen, the others open slowly in time.

These are examples of "easy" good songs:

Creep, Nice Dream, Karma Police, No Surprises, Nude, House Of Cards, Go Slowly, Sail To The Moon, The Staircase...

But, as we know, Radiohead tend to search for tricky ways of expressing their emotions and I personally thank them for that.

This is one example of such a method — not an "easy" song, but how marvelous the result is:

 

I kinda like OK Computer, otherwise have never been able to connect with these guys.

 

“Daydreaming” is gorgeous; I loved watching them use it to open their show at Arras, France with people gathered in a town square as the sun goes down. Very cool.

 

I think the thing you identify as 'dreariness' is simply their M.O. And I guess fans identify it in some more positive-sounding way themselves. I suppose you have to embrace that essence of 'dreariness' that you hear or give up on it. Personally I'm simply not drawn towards their music. I try it every now and then, but no. I can imagine it appealing to a certain age, gender, cultural background, mindset of an audience though, and I think I'm not stereotyping but a gloomy British male graphic designer work colleague of mine was of that certain age and he was a devout fan. I do think they are a special kind of British thing. There's a kind of dourness of mind about them that you probably need to share to get them. Like enjoying bad weather - another special British trait.

Author Ian Rankin is/was a fan. Maybe there's an additional clue there?

Ian Rankin | OMM | The Observer

Certainly he was very upset with them at one point for not getting his copy of an album in time, or something that very much ired him.

The Quietus | Opinion | Black Sky Thinking | F.O. Computer, By Ian Rankin: Why Radiohead Are Radiodead To Me

One last thought. You cannot compare them with the Smiths, because everything Morrissey sang was at least mostly written with a special (mordant) humour.

 

I'm not crazy about any of their 90's albums. A few good songs in there but I just don't like the way they sound and for whatever reason I'm just kind of put off by that entire era of alternative/indie rock bands. OK Computer is the worst one...that album's popularity still mystifies me.

But Kid-A until now? Awesome. In Rainbows is the best thing they ever did that I've heard (I really need to pick up The King Of Limbs). Hail To The Thief and Moon Shaped Pool are almost as good.

 

I was very anti-grunge and anti-alt rock for most of the 90's, probably because that was my decade for getting into classic rock and progressive rock, but I came around on some of it, and Radiohead stands head and shoulders above them all, if you ask me. The summer of 2005 was when I really got into them, and what a glorious time it was. Fast forward a couple years to the release of In Rainbows, which remains a desert island disc for me, and that is when the band solidified its position as one of my all-time favorites. Such a great band.

 

I think they(& Coldplay) are just awful bands

 

Angry Tubas, another excellent band name!..

 

It's hard for me to imagine how any Radiohead fan who checked out after Kid A wouldn't still love In Rainbows. It's consistently song-oriented, has plenty of guitar on it, and even the Disc 2 cast-offs are terrific. The album's quality stunned me when it came out, because I thought they would never top Ok Computer--that patchy releases like Hail would be the new normal. Now my favorite Radiohead album is a three-way tie between Bends, OKC, and Rainbows... I just can't rank one above the other.

As for Kid A and Amnesiac, I'm in the camp that they should have been one album, notwithstanding the band's insistence that they work on their own. Each feels incomplete to me, and marred by a few dud tracks. Plus the live versions of many of those songs are superior, namely "Like Spinning Plates," the gorgeous piano part of which was completely squashed on Amnesiac.

 

To me In Rainbows is kind of the OK Computer of the next decade and A Moon Shaped Pool is the one the decade after that. They are quite different but they all move into a more song based and/or atmospheric territory compared to the album(s) before.

 

Pool is a slow burn for me. Its treasures are revealed gradually. I sample here and there, then have to put it down for a while. Radiohead are some tricky buggers, but I love them for it.

 

I think both Radiohead and Coldplay are overrated, s;&\ bands. I've never understood what made them so great & certainly not RNRHOF worthy. Not much of a fan of current music, I'm still stuck in the 80s mostly.

 

I think The Bends is their best album and Kid A has a cool atmosphere when I'm in the mood but I've always felt there albums are mediocre

 

Then why are you posting in this thread?

 

I’m still indifferent to Kid A, yet I love Aphex Twin.

 

I was in an airport lounge in Singapore a few years ago, and from the way people were looking it was clear that the person at the next table was famous. I looked and it was Chris Martin of Coldplay. I leaned over and was about to say I had enjoyed their performance at Live 8, when I realized he was too muscular. Turns out it was F-1 race car driver Jensen Button. Turns out that others have actually made the mistake.

F1: Jenson Button mistaken for Coldplay's Chris Martin at Heathrow lounge

 

Coldplay — might be, but certainly NOT Radiohead.

 

Well the poor guy posted the same thing a week ago and nobody answered him. I think he just wants to be involved in the conversation. It’s lonely and boring during a pandemic.

 

I was into The Bends and OK Computer and then just sort of fell out of love with them when they went heavy electronic. That said, I've always appreciated how intentional they are with their sounds and composition - they work hard on their art.

 

Sadness + weirdness + melodies.

That's what makes their music so appealing to me.

 

ellen degenneress>>>>>>>chris martin>>>>>>>>>adoration

like it or not, ellen got a wee bit of power.

 

My son loves them. Perhaps it's the generational difference. I do enjoy a lot of their music. Their great stuff is truly great. But, a lot of their releases, I wonder what the **** are they doing?

 

9. Pablo Honey - generic, but underrated
8. King of Limbs - a half brilliant album
7. A Moon Shaped Pool - beguiling, overrated.
6. Hail to the Thief- brilliant at times, uneven .

5 . Amnesiac - brilliant, a little inconsistent .
4. In Rainbows - brilliant album.
3 . The Bends - near masterpiece .

2. Kid A - masterpiece
1. OK Computer - masterpiece.