Since this is my blog and I can write about whatever the hell I want to write about and because the 1st Amendment supports me, I'm going to write about my favorite band. Radiohead. I remember when I first laid ears on Radiohead my sophomore year in high school. I think I stole The Bends from my older sister's cd collection, put it into my Discman (What? It was the 90's), waited for sleep and that's all it took. I was a Radiohead addict and could not be stopped (think Tiger and skanks). Love at first listen. My love only deepened with each new album. Every time they come out with a new album, believe me when I say it is my Christmas. Just like you never know what is going to be under the tree (actually in my case I always know. Pink everything because my mom always forgets I hate pink), I never know what to expect from a Radiohead album.The list of reasons why I love them is an endless one but I admire them for there genuine, authentic originality. There is no band out there like them and there never will be. Try all you want Muse, but you got nothing on Radiohead. I'll never quite get why people don't like Radiohead but I understand, to each his own. I just will eternally feel bad for those closed minded m effers. No judgement. Recently, I doled out a challenge to myself, mostly so I could have an excuse to listen to Radiohead excessively and not feel guilty for neglecting other music. The challenge was this: Pick one song off of each Radiohead album that is my absolute, hands down favorite. I was overly excited for my self assigned task and thought it would be a breeze. A breeze it was not. I apparently had forgotten that majority of songs on any given Radiohead album are all my favorites. Boy, was my face red. After listening to a lot of Radiohead for the past two weeks, and I mean a lot, I think these are my favorite Radiohead songs off of their respective albums. One song per album just like the directions said. And a runner up because, god damn it, this was hard.
Runner Up - "Thinking About You"
Did you really expect anything else? It is my duty as a Radiohead fan to make sure this gets on the list. This song single handedly put Radiohead on the map so thank you, "Creep." I can't imagine what would have happened if this single wasn't on this album because let's all be honest adults here, this album is, uh, not that good. I feel like a mother admitting her child is ugly but this album sounds like they all just picked up guitars for the first time just to see what would happen. If this single didn't exist, would Radiohead still be around? Jesus, just saying that almost made me pass out. "Creep" is cleary the "fuckin' special" one here.
Runner Up - "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
I fought with myself a lot with this pick. I love so many other records on this release but for some reason I always come back to this. It probably is directly related to the fact that I simply love sad songs. I think it's the lyrics on this one that really get me though. "I keep falling over, I keep passing out when I see a face like you." Really, Thom Yorke? You're killing me the way you dropped that line. He may as well just take my heart out and put it on a cutting board.
Runner Up - "Lucky"
This was impossible and unfair. Seriously, who thought of this stupid "challenge" anyway? I don't wanna play anymore. This is undoubtedly a tie. "Let Down" is one of the most beautiful songs that has ever entered my ears. The melody is so hopeful but when you listen to the lyrics it's just the opposite. The song makes me happy, and then it makes me sad, and then it makes me happy and so on and so fourth. It's like an abusive relationship that I can't get out of. Show me one person that does not like this song, and I will show you someone without a soul.
"Paranoid Android" is an anthem and possibly one of the best musical pieces to come out of the 90's. Haha, the 90's. Every time I think of that as from the 90's, I am shocked. Radiohead was light years ahead of anyone else in the world when they created this. If my memory serves me correctly, this song came out in 2021. It sounds like it is from the future. If I ever had to sum Radiohead up in one song so that someone could get a taste of what they are about, I would show them this. "Paranoid Android" is everything you need to know about Radiohead in about six minutes.
Runner Up - "Everything In It's Right Place"
This song is cool. I don't know what they did to Thom's voice to make it sound like that, but I'm glad they did it. This album was a huge shift in Radiohead's "typical" style and I applaud them for going outside of the box (that they were never really even in). I love that they are experimenting with all different sounds, sounds that are not familiar to the average listener's ear and yet the song is still catchy. At some points in the song it sounds like a UFO is coming to land on earth. If this is the music they listen to on another planet, take this earthling away on your UFO.
Runner Up - "Pyramid Song"
Sometimes you just get a feeling about a song and you can't really explain it. I have that going on with "Knives Out." My ears like it, more so than the other tracks on the album. I think they [my ears] enjoy the two guitars playing separate melodies throughout the record. The guitars in combination with Thom's voice dominate the song and really made it stand out to me. It's definitely not the lyrics that make this one my favorite as I have no idea what it is about. It just gives me a feeling.
Probably the most untraditional sounding Radiohead song, "Wolf at the Door" is by far my favorite from this album. I love that Thom basically is talking during the verses which in turn makes the chorus catch your ear. The chorus is a beautiful melody on its own and that is all the song needs. This is another great example of me not knowing what the song means at all but loving it for the feeling it gives me. Thom's voice has the power to make me feel emotions even if I have no idea what he's talking about.
Runner Up - "Reckoner"
How cool is Radiohead for this jam? This is the most laid back song I think they've ever done and it fits them well. It's so sparse, repetitive and simple. All things that sound like they would be negative but these are the things that make it the stand out track to me. They're Radiohead. They can write a song with the simplest guitar riff ever and make it an awesome song.
Radiohead 4 Life.
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