Ranking Radiohead’s 5 Best Album-Openers

Radiohead has always taken their time between releases, prepping their albums in a way that makes it clear the utmost time was taken on finding just the right combination of songs. While individual songs certainly stand out, the band’s albums always flow tremendously well as a whole.

Part of their process no doubt involves making sure just the right song is placed at the beginning of an album. Let’s rank the five instances where Radiohead absolutely nailed it when it comes to kicking off their LPs.

5. “2+2=5” from Hail to the Thief (2003)

Hail to the Thief is somewhat underrated when it comes to its place in the Radiohead canon. Perhaps that’s because there wasn’t any big story behind it, as opposed to, for example, In Rainbows, which featured the band’s radical release strategy. But Hail to the Thief rocks harder than just about any band album save The Bends, and there’s something shaggy and unpredictable about the whole affair that makes it endearing. On top of that, it gets a great jump start with the frenetic “2 + 2 = 5,” which starts gently enough before revving up into a thrilling guitar-fueled rush.

4. “Burn the Witch” from A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

It’s now eight years and counting since the last Radiohead full-length, with no evidence of any new music in the pipeline to end the drought. While we wait impatiently for some news of a reunion, we can take comfort in knowing the quintet was at the absolute top of their game with A Moon Shaped Pool. Much of the material on the record had originated years before, including the high-drama opener “Burn the Witch.” The ELO-like string approach is a touch we hadn’t heard from the band too often before. But Thom Yorke’s lyrics summon up the band’s classic foreboding vibe quite well.

3. “Planet Telex” from The Bends (1995)

They certainly possessed all the hallmarks of a one-hit wonder after “Creep” crept out from their debut album Pablo Honey. It’s amazing how Radiohead was able to transform themselves and find a vibe that was all their own on the second album. And it’s also fascinating how opening song “Planet Telex” captures both their renewed commitment to feral rocking (check out the serrated guitars) and sense of experimentation (the drum loops and effects on the piano). With that opening track off their second album, they were signaling to everyone what was to come for the rest of their career.

2. “Everything in Its Right Place” from Kid A (2000)

After the runaway success of OK Computer, Radiohead easily could have stayed on that path for the rest of their career, and they would have coasted. But in many ways, Kid A turned out to be their defining record, if only because of how vehemently they resisted the urge to repeat themselves. The title for “Everything in Its Right Place” is supremely ironic, because it’s a song where the elements of a rock song are there to a degree, but they’re all skewed and somehow strange. It’s a song that defies easy description, which makes it the perfect introduction to Kid A‘s bewildering charms.

1. “Airbag” from OK Computer (1997)

I am born again, Thom Yorke insists again and again on “Airbag,” the lyrically ambivalent and musically thrilling opener to Radiohead’s 1997 masterpiece OK Computer. Into what kind of world he’s returning is the question he wants us to ponder. The monolithic guitar riff, the drums slashing against the rhythm, the scratching effects, the haughty strings: None of it should work together, but the band and producer Nigel Godrich turn the song into a unified beast trudging across the landscape. An airbag saved my life, Yorke muses, and we can’t tell if he believes that’s a good or a bad thing.

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Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage