Tag Archives: Radiohead

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Song of the Day #5,806: ‘High and Dry’ – Radiohead

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1995…

#4 – The Bends – Radiohead

The most critically celebrated Radiohead album of the 90s is 1997’s OK Computer, and deservedly so. But I’ve always been partial to the band’s sophomore release, The Bends.

This album finds the band in a sweet spot between the straight-forward grunge of their debut Pablo Honey and the more experimental rock of future releases. The songs here are rather conventional but, due to the band’s performance and Thom Yorke’s yearning vocals, they’re extremely emotionally effective.

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Song of the Day #4,514: ‘Go to Sleep’ – Radiohead

Radiohead had a great 90s, with its three albums moving them from Nirvana-wannabe alt-rockers to one of the most acclaimed bands in the world. Their albums The Bends and OK Computer have been hailed as two of the most important alternative albums ever.

The 2000s saw Radiohead embrace their critical darling status by steering their music away from the mainstream and into electronic, art-pop territory. 2000’s Kid A and 2001’s Amnesiac were embraced by critics and called modern rock masterpieces.

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Song of the Day #4,059: ‘The Air That I Breathe’ – Albert Hammond

Here’s a copyright infringement tale that goes a few layers deep, and one I think is a neat illustration of how similar elements can lead to completely different songs.

In 1972, singer-songwriter Albert Hammond released the song ‘The Air That I Breathe’ on his album It Never Rains in Southern California (the title track of which is his best-known hit). He wrote the song, which is embedded below as today’s SOTD, with Mike Hazelwood.

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Song of the Day #3,946: ‘Karma Police’ – Radiohead

Radiohead became eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and was nominated in 2018 before making the cut this year. The band’s inclusion so quickly was a no-brainer given their commercial and critical success, paired with the boundaries they’ve pushed in the industry.

In addition to their wide-ranging sonic experimentation, their 2007 album In Rainbows was the first by a big-name act to be offered under a “pay whatever you want” model (I’m ashamed to admit I paid nothing). That strategy was an early forerunner of the streaming age we’re living in now.

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Song of the Day #3,141: ‘Burn the Witch’ – Radiohead

radiohead_burn_the_witchIf ever a band was made for year-end critics lists, it’s Radiohead. They’ve been releasing albums full of bleeps and bloops to high praise for more than a decade now.

I really loved the Radiohead of The Bends and OK Computer but their appeal pretty much ended for me there (though parts of In Rainbows were listenable). After a five year hiatus, the band released A Moon Shaped Pool last year to (shocked) critical acclaim. It landed at #7 on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop albums poll.

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