Want to build a Halloween playlist but need something to fill your need for solid experimental rock? Why not add a few Radiohead songs into the mix? Let’s dive into just a few of Radiohead’s eeriest tracks to add to your Halloween/music snob playlist!
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Climbing Up The Walls”
This is definitely one of Radiohead’s eeriest tracks, mainly because the song is sung by the personification of paranoia itself. In fact, the band behind it even described it as “scary”. And they don’t dish out that descriptor often.
“Climbing Up The Walls” is a string-heavy tune that manages to be very unique and unexpected despite its use of traditional instruments. Jonny Greenwood composed this one with 16 various violins that play their respective parts in alternating quarter tones. Naturally, the result is a pretty terrifying melody coupled with haunting lyrics.
2. “We Suck Young Blood”
The title of this Radiohead track alone is pretty unsettling. Thom Yorke once described this song as the kind of haunting, painful song you’d hear sung by victims on a slave ship, but with a jazzy nightmare break.
While Yorke also said that this song shouldn’t be “taken seriously”, it’s hard to listen to this particular song casually. It’s a relatable track about the current culture’s obsession with youth and how people suck the energy out of one another. “We Suck Young Blood” is creepy, but it’s also one of the biggest downers the band has ever produced.
3. “Kid A”
The whole of Kid A can be eerie at times, but the title track is particularly unnerving. Part of that eerie feel comes from how (intentionally) overprocessed this electronic song is.
Many fans mark this track as Radiohead’s unabashed descent into electronic ambiance, though it’s worth noting that the band was experimenting with electronic soundscapes far before this track and album were released. Thom Yorke’s distorted vocals really get under your skin on this one.
4. “Knives Out”
It’s a song about cannibalism. It doesn’t get much creepier than that! “Knives Out” is, surprisingly, one of the more conventional and listenable songs on Amnesiac, and it charted quite well on the UK charts.
However, one can’t deny that this is a very unsettling song. It is made even more unsettling by the band’s use of The Smiths-inspired guitar riffs.
Photo by Epic Games Publishing
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