Originality and influencing the music of other bands are key ingredients to ensuring that you’re one of the most important bands in history. RADIOHEAD are to modern alternate what Queen was to rock ‘n roll. Their underground godhood is easy to understand but that they touched a mainstream heartbeat to live high on the charts is a more astounding feat.
Ironically, their debut, Pablo Honey, was more well known in my Durban circle of strange rockers in early 1993 than they were in their own UK charts. ‘Creep’ was an obvious anthem to our disillusioned youth, ignoring our fingers that blamed by directing attention to our fears of inadequacy. Here was a Thom Yorke, the lead singer, saying you don’t have to be strong, you can bleed instead. The rest of the CD was grunge, a far cry from the directions they would take for the rest of their releases. But in this genre, ‘Anyone Can Play A Guitar’ is a classic.
The Bends and Ok Computer are goldmines of enjoyable depression with too many highlights to count. They were a marked evolution of the band and a statement that they were out to make music of their choosing without concern for labels or previous successes. As unlikely as it seemed, tracks such as ‘Paranoid Android’ and ‘No Surprises’ climbed in the charts, giving them their icon status. But with RADIOHEAD, the journey was never easy and success never acceptance. Reinvention appeared in the extreme electronica of Kid A and Amnesiac. Overall, less accessible releases yet with patience the intelligence and beauties unfolded. This compilation includes some of those; ‘Idioteque’, ’2+2=5′, ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Pyramid Song’.
29 tracks at a 130 minutes make this a treasure chest. 5 are anthems to the generation but all are recognizable. There will always be bickering of what deserves inclusion on a “best of” but i have only two. Where is ‘Optimistic’? Where are the rarities we have never heard? Outside of that, this is a testament to musical genius.
Right up there with placebo for me.
Placebo has highlights which i certainly dig but in the long run RADIOHEAD is a clear winner for me; more thoughtful, more daring, more emotional.