Radiohead has been, since the early 1990s, possibly the most revered alternative-rock Band in the world. New albums are global events, fans dissect lyrics, and critics pour over their collective admiration.

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer… and stranger band. Since their earliest days, Thom Yorke and the band have used their albums to confound the public’s opinion of them.

Today I will be looking at the treasured r a d i o h e a d discography. I’ll be ranking the band’s albums from worst to best.

9. “Pablo Honey” (1993)

“Pablo Honey” is an underrated album. It presents a band interested in all manners of alt-rock tactics, employed many of them to great effect.

The fact that, for a while, Radiohead was viewed as a “one-hit wonder” or a “British Nirvana” seems laughable now. But it took work to get rid of those tags.

Most of that impression is given by the lead single “Creep,” a dynamic rocker and still ranked as one of the definitive songs of 1990s rock.

But Radiohead loved Pixies, U2, and REM too. Songs like “Anyone Can Play Guitar” and “Thinking About You” testify to their influences.

“Pablo Honey” is not a perfect record by any means. The sound would quickly be outgrown. But it’s one of the more interesting rock albums of 1990s alt music.

8. “The King of Limbs” (2011)

“The King of Limbs” finds Radiohead once again trading in classic song structures for sonic soundscapes. For the most part, the results are intriguing.

The band’s reputation would’ve likely played a role. By 2011, a new Radiohead album was near-unanimously waited for as a potential musical revolution.

“The King of Limbs” is not an incendiary reform. However, it contains marvellously clever, strange ideas. It feels like a meditation rather than a statement.

“Lotus Flower” and “Codex” are great pieces of music. And they help show Yorke’s interest in cutting-edge sounds that had not been deemed during the years.

7. “A Moon Shaped Pool” (2016)

In some ways, “A Moon Shaped Pool” feels like the conclusion for which many fans of Radiohead had waited.

For all of their qualities, Radiohead albums like “OK Computer” and “Kid A” had been born out of distrust of the world. There’s little of this here.

The relatively positive tone is all the more surprising, given that many songs are older ideas. “True Love Waits” and “Burn The Witch” are some of the songs reworked here.

The alphabetically-assembled setlist presents a band finally comfortable with their status. Radiohead is still operating on the edge of pop music possibilities. But they’ve done it for so long that they’ve come to be at ease with their sound.

“Daydreaming” and “The Numbers” are additional highlights. They present a band developing a sound that is both challenging and intrinsically part of the fabric of modern rock music.

6. “Hail to The Thief” (2003)

“Hail to The Thief” is a strong release that, for the first time, aims to balance the band’s rock and experimental interests.

The balancing act works fine on most of the 14-song collection. It does just enough to destabilize further some fans’ opinion of the band while offering others the kind of material that they’d long sought.

“2 + 2 = 5” shows that the notorious studio hermits followed the news after all. It’s a song inspired by the U.S. elections.

“There There” is a catchy but haunting song powered by Phil Selway’s primitive drum sound.

“A Wolf at the Door” and “We Suck Young Blood” are further highlights of “Hail to The Thief.”

5. “In Rainbows” (2007)

“In Rainbows” secured Radiohead’s freedom in both business and creative terms. Mostly, it’s a collection of dark, psychedelic rock songs.

Electronic experimentation is still present of course. And Greenwood’s arrangements almost push the songs into jazz territory at times. But make no mistake about it, this is a collection of direct, succinct songs.

“Weird Fishes/Apeggi,” “Jigsaw Falling Into Place,” or “Bodysnatchers” contain some of the best musical ideas that Radiohead has commissioned to tape.

However, it’s far from a compromise for the band. “In Rainbows” became notorious as the first album on which a band allowed purchasing fans to pay what they wanted. Thom Yorke and the band were, once again, greeted as innovators.

They showed that they could view music differently, as well as the industry in which they were active.

4. “Amnesiac” (2001)

“Amnesiac” announced to the world that the Radiohead that could create another “OK Computer” would not ever be returning. Some fans were disappointed, while others saw endless possibilities.

And that’s just it. “Amnesiac” hints at a creative unit that can do anything. They love experimentation, sure. But the results are tidy and easy to appreciate.

Most songs here are outtakes from the “Kid A” album. However, they don’t sound like wholly inferior tracks when put together as a set.

“Knives Out,” with its melodic vocal lines and jazzy guitars, is the closest long-time would get to a classic Radiohead single.

“Pyramid Song,” meanwhile, sounds like an abstraction of the band’s rock style and creates a gloriously ghostly sound.

“You and Whose Army?” hints at Yorke’s increased interest in political issues, and “I Might Be Wrong” is a Radiohead-approved version of the Apocalypse.

3. “Kid A” (2000)

In one of the most famous acts of commercial self-sabotaged, Radiohead released “Kid A” to a world hoping to get “OK Computer 2.” Initial reactions bordered on collective hysteria. However, subsequent appraisal of it has been kind.

“Kid A” is every bit as revolutionary as its predecessor. Like it, the album had been born out of the band’s distaste and boredom with the role that the media had hoisted on them.

Here, Radiohead fully embraces electronic textures. The starting point for songs are dark moods, the use of Pro Tools, and artists like Aphex Twin.

Songs aren’t structured, usually, to reach a towering chorus. Instead, the album welcomes listeners into a post-modern reduction of reality to its basic elements.

That doesn’t;t mean that the album is missing highlights. “Everything In Its Right Place” and “How To Disappear Completely” are electronic-mantra songs.

Meanwhile, “Idioteque,” “Optimistic” and “The National Anthem” show just how exciting electronica Radiohead can be.

As it turns out, this was hardly a career suicide. By 2000 the rock bands with whom Radiohead had fought for control of the charts had all but disappeared. Thom Yorke accidentally predicted the future, and he’s been given credit for it ever since.

2. “The Bends” (1995)

If “Pablo Honey” had some noticeable faults, “The Bends” nearly has none.

While the bands have grown in leaps and bounds, this is also Radiohead’s most approachable release.

A single-heavy record, “The Bends,” helped Radiohead enter the discussion as being one of Britain’s favorite rock bands. However, earning comparisons to Oasis or Blur wouldn’t sit well with the band, and Thom Yorke would soon alter their direction once more.

Legend aside, “The Bends” is the most satisfying album for casual listeners. “High and Dry” and “Fake Plastic Trees” are cleverly structured pop singles.

“Street Spirit (Fade Out)” or “Just” have a similarly appealing nature but also reveal Radiohead as one of the most forward-thinking bands in rock.

Besides all of this, the band proves that there’s more to their musicianship than most Britpop and grunge contemporaries.

In Jonny Greenwood, they have one of the most innovative instrumentalists of his generation. Ed O’Brien and Thom Yorke helped provide a three-pronged guitar attack—meanwhile, Phil Selway and Colin Greenwood function as a highly expressive rhythm section.

Their collective musical chops would prove of help as the band transitioned into ever more complex sonic territory. Still, “The Bends” is nearly top of the Radiohead albums tier list.

1. “OK Computer” (1997)

For many, “OK Computer” is the definitive art-rock record of the 1990s. All of the album’s supporters might have a point. Few mainstream rock bands had attempted anything more ambitious, and fewer still had received near-universal acclaim.

The theme of the album, and the context in which it was made, are as important to understanding “OK Computer” as the songs. Don’t let that dissuade you as it may be the best Radiohead album to start with.

It is an album of severe isolation influenced by Thom Yorke’s increasing feeling of alienation from the world. Where other rock groups may have drowned their sorrows in booze and drugs, Radiohead had poured them into carefully crafted space rock.

For all its weirdness, “OK Computer” is also an approachable record. Radiohead can still construct great pop hooks. Thom Yorke has grown into an excellent singer, and Johnny Greenwood’s guitar lines are memorable.

The haunting “Karma Police” has an almost Beatlesque orchestration. “No Surprises” is beautifully brittle. “Lucky,” “Exit Music (for a Film)”, and “Let Down,” for all of their misanthropic nature, float breezily.

It’s “Paranoid Android” that truly showcases the band’s strength. Built out of scraps of leftover songs, it moves wildly from one idea to another, showcasing Radiohead as the master of a new kind of prog-rock.

“OK Computer” is a highly celebrated, hyped album, part of modern pop culture. Each new listen to it, however, does not disappoint.

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