I can’t even listen to Android anymore... my friends overplayed it to death regardless of that, it’s not even a top 3 OKC song for me
Paranoid is my favorite more from a nostalgic and sentimental point of view I suppose. I can still listen to it anytime, Climbing Up The Walls is probably my favorite OKC song these days.
love this writeup always glad to see some Colin and Ed love, their textures are so important to Radiohead's sound
Thank you! Yeah, so many Radiohead reviews focus solely on Thom and Jonny and while they are undoubtedly brilliant, Colin and Ed are essential to the sounds we know and love
I remember the first time I heard "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" and I was like "oh ok Ed is just making a case for my favourite person in Radiohead now" same with Colin on "Nude" really
I'm probably the last person on earth to get round to listening to Radiohead (growing up I always wrongly wrote them off as pretentious without ever listening...), and I think I've listened to OK Computer maybe once or twice but that's it. So last night I listened to Kid A for the first time after reading that awesome feature on this site. And now I fancy going on a bit of a binge. Where do you guys recommend starting? Going through records in order, or are there ones which would be classed as essential listening first before doing a discog run?
Depends how much you want to put into it. I think a full discography run from the beginning obviously allows you to see their progress in sound. Other than that, I'd say delving into The Bends, OKC, Kid A and In Rainbows gives you a great overview. They have other really good records but the three album run of The Bends, OKC and Kid A is essential in terms of their progression, and In Rainbows is their most recent classic. I'd do a full discog run though if I were you.
Given there's so much progression and change in their sound throughout, I did kinda presume a full discog run would be the best and suggested option. But I didn't know if, given some of their records might not be the most immediately "accessible" (Kid A probably a good example of this), a different order would be recommended to kinda get into the band first before tackling the deeper sounds. I also realise there's probably hundreds of essays and articles online talking about exactly this, but it's always easier to just ask and see what worked for other people haha. Thanks for the advice!
If you're committed already, starting at the beginning and going in order is the best way, the growth is exponential between the first 4 and then just fun after. If you need to be convinced you like Radiohead enough to go through with it, on the other hand, In Rainbows, OK Computer, or The Bends is going to be the most accessible. The only downside to going in order is that Pablo Honey is very mediocre, but imo it's a breezy enough listen that it's worth getting out of the way right up front.
I had a weird trajectory where I was always aware of them, and liked some of their songs. Though didn’t dive in til TKOL came out. Don’t recommend starting there lol. Can’t remember which album I checked out next, but they’re such a special band. Kid A is probably my favorite. I always forget to give HTTT more love. Some great stuff on there.
I think In Rainbows was my first album of theirs. Listening to Kid A now to reacquaint myself with it before reading @Mary V ‘s piece!
Man, I never realised what a great song Life in a Glasshouse really is. I wish Radiohead would have experimented with more jazz like they did on that and The National Anthem.