Radiohead: 21st Century Masters

“I’ve been listening to a lot of Radiohead lately, but I don’t want to write about them.” I said this on Bluesky the other day, and it’s true! It’s been a decade since the last album, which is a hook. But In Rainbows and OK Computer respectively turn 20 and 30 in 2027, so if I’m lucky enough to be writing album guides here on earth that year (or on the Elysium satellite), that’s when I’ll probably give Radiohead an overview. But damn, I’ve been playing Radiohead a lot lately, particularly the 21st century stuff. Wait...don’t I do playlist posts focusing on an act’s 21st century material? Like the ones I made for AC/DC, Beck and Killing Joke? Hmm…

While I enjoy their ‘90s work (The Bends is my ninth favorite Britpop album!), I think the pride of Oxfordshire came into their own with 2000's Kid A. Their early album-to-album evolution led to critics and cool kids alike to assume Radiohead was a creatively restless act that would unpredictably evolve until combusting. But, by 2011’s The King Of Limbs, it was clear they had really been shaking off overbearing influences and commercial concerns, until reaching a post-punk prog zone where they could wail, rock and toodle in perpetuity. Increasingly with solo projects and spin-offs, but occasionally all together.

OK Computer made millions of jaws drop by being U2 and Pink Floyd at the same time, but later albums more resemble a King Crimson run by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. Or Genesis, if Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett never left, but still went “new wave” (if only Phil Selway albums had Supremes covers and the EWF horns). Maintaining the same line-up for 40 years now, Radiohead has always been five British boarding school chums with varied tastes, eager to make impressive, ambitious music together, like the prog gods of yore. But thanks to the rise of "modern rock," they also wanted it enigmatic and devoid of macho pretense, like REM. The Pink Floyd class at my kid’s School Of Rock met while he had his private drum lesson one semester, the Radiohead class in that slot the next. Though Radiohead helped me belatedly get Floyd, I was delighted by how strikingly nerdy and co-ed the Radiohead class was in comparison. Modern disaffection stripped of booze ‘n‘ blues bravado, and God bless.

Even if preferring 21st century Radiohead to 20th is slightly atypical, it’s still liking Radiohead, a band whose deep cuts get tens of millions of streams. So why would I make a playlist? Well, while three of their last six albums make my Top 400 Albums Of All Time, the other three aren’t even on the shelf. One’s too bloated, another’s too thin, the third is too samey and dour. While the band resented Capitol/EMI releasing 2008’s The Best Of, deleting it from streaming after regaining the rights, I think Radiohead would ironically benefit from a hits compilation.

So here’s my crack at it! Sixteen tracks from their six studio albums with “20xx” in the copyright date, sequenced like a 2LP that would fit on 1CD. Six of these tracks appear on the double-disc version of The Best Of, but I didn’t include every single. Potential audiences for this playlist: people who think Radiohead albums have too many ballads, people who can’t imagine why you’d compare them to Led Zeppelin (“Side 2” is especially for them), people who stopped caring after the ‘90s, people who found them corny in the ‘90s, people who like them ok but don’t get the big deal, people who get the big deal but agree a good compilation would be cool. By focusing on big numbers and a smattering of lesser-known jams, the “rock” aspect of “the last great rock band that mattered” (or is that the Arcade Fire? Greta Van Fleet?) sticks out more. 

Caveat: if you can’t stand Yorke’s moaning mushmouth, I can’t do much about it. This playlist doesn’t transcend Radiohead being Radiohead. It simply brings out the big guns without trying to wedge “Fake Plastic Trees” into the modern dreamscape. I thought about incorporating some non-album singles, outtakes and solo stuff, but I’ll save that for CD2 of the deluxe edition re-release.

Another caveat: while I’m not impressed by Radiohead's handwringing over Israel, I am sympathetic. Living in and/or playing where an unpopular, corrupt tyrant brazenly indulges in genocidal war crimes that tie directly to the nation’s ugly history of manifest destiny? As an American in 2026, I’m soaking in it. And I don’t think pious flirtation with anti-semitism gets one clean. These guys clearly aren’t cool with murderous political policy, or eager to play Sun City. Shitting on them because one member collaborates with musicians in his wife's homeland would feel arbitrary as hell considering my homeland. And here’s my handwringing about Spotify, if you haven’t already seen it. I've also made a YouTube playlist with the same tracks, most represented with live versions. The better to appreciate Radiohead Is A Band, or to stare at Thom, if that's your thing.

Radiohead: 21st Century Masters - Audio/Video Version
(I can't get the YouTube playlist to embed, click the title to see it!)

SIDE 1
1. “2+2=5” (Hail To The Thief, 2003)
2. “Daydreaming” (A Moon Shaped Pool, 2016)
3. “The National Anthem” (Kid A, 2000)
4. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” (In Rainbows, 2007)

SIDE 2
1. “Lotus Flower” (The King Of Limbs, 2011)
2. “I Might Be Wrong” (Amnesiac, 2001)
3. “There, There” (Hail To The Thief, 2003)
4. “Idioteque” (Kid A, 2000)

SIDE 3
1. “Burn The Witch” (A Moon Shaped Pool, 2016)
2. “Bodysnatchers” (In Rainbows, 2007)
3. “Desert Island Disk” (A Moon Shaped Pool, 2016)
4. “Optimistic” (Kid A, 2000)

SIDE 4
1. “Where I End And You Begin” (Hail To The Thief, 2003)
2. “Codex” (The King Of Limbs, 2011)
3. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (In Rainbows, 2007)
4. “Pyramid Song” (Amnesiac, 2001)

If you want to thank me for shining a light on this obscure quintet, send the flowers to anthonyisright at gmail dot com.