Dissect - Radiohead Song Draft

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

The Ringer's Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan join Cole to draft their favorite Radiohead songs. Each of them must choose one song from every studio album, plus one wild card pick from the band's b-sides for a total of 10 songs each. Shop Dissect Season 11 Merch. Follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Host/EP: Cole Cuchna Audio Editing: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennacy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And together we host The Big Picture, The Ringers Film Podcast for new releases, career retrospectives, director interviews, movie drafts, top fives, and so much more. Twice a week, we break down the latest releases,

argue about whether movies are doomed, and debate our modern film canon. Listen to The Big Picture on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome everyone to a special episode of Dysect. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. On today's show, we are conducting a radiohead song draft,

in which myself and my two guests will each draft a team of our favorite radiohead songs across their entire discography. Joining us for today's draft are two masters of this entirely made-up format and two of my biggest favorite podcasters in the world. We have the host of the Big Picture podcast and the Ringers Head of Content, Sean Fennacy. Sean, what's up, man? Hey, Cole. And we also have the host of the Watch podcast and the Ringers editorial director, Chris Ryan. How's it going, man? What's up, Cole?

Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks for joining me. I'm very, very, very excited about this episode. I'm going to explain the rules of the draft in a moment, but I wanted to ask you guys a few questions first. I know you guys are both big radiohead fans, but I don't know exactly where that fandom started. So I'm curious to know if there was a song, an album, a moment, a live show.

What got you into the band? And what do they kind of mean to your life at this point? Sean, we can start with you. I was going to say age before beauty. Are you sure you want me to go first? Well, mine is probably later than Chris's because I was not present for Pablo Honey or the Ben's. I certainly had heard creep, but did not associate it with a band that I cared about. And so I think I want to say it was the paranoid Android video that got me emotionally connected to Radiohead.

And for a long time, I found myself wondering why paranoid Android was my favorite song, would everybody seem to be like lapping me in sophistication? Because that was my entry point, really, to connecting with the band and then discovering OK computer and then going back and buying the bends. And then going back and buying Pablo Honey and wondering why it sucked. And, you know, having that journey through the discography. And then I was fortunate enough to kind of be entering the world of music criticism, I guess, for lack of a better word, as the band was fully realizing its creative potential. But I miss the first two. Yeah.

What about you? I think that if I'm being honest, the way that I was introduced to this band, was obviously through creep. Pablo Honey, at least in Philadelphia, was something of a dollar bin, like UCD, like staple. So you would see a lot, and I kind of considered them, I think to the extent that I understood this term back then,

a one-hit wonder. But I remember pretty clearly in the spring-ish of 95 senior year of high school when the fake plastic trees video started going into rotation. And, you know, obviously an amazing video, and the shopping cart, it's a great move. I do that sometimes at Gelson's just to,

just to freak people out. We do that with my daughter and you. I push two cards. My wife pushes one, and I push the other. That song in particular, I remember being like, this feels like way deeper and more important than just like a cool alternative nation,

120 minutes, BuzzBidden single. And it turns out that was the case. And that record, you know, obviously blows up. And then my relationship with the band itself, was really solidified when, okay, computer came out, and I still remember the first notes of airbag

and be like, well, this is the best band in the world. Right. What about you, Cole? Yeah, I mean, I'm later than both of you. I didn't discover them until kid A. I had written them off as, I heard, obviously, I heard creep a thousand times, and I just kind of associated them with creep for years.

I had people in my life telling me to listen to this amazing band. I was into, I mean, at that time in, like, high school, I was deep into my, into my collection of no limit records CDs. For sure. I think I had about 30. Radiohead, I have Silk the Shocker to listen to you. And then I got into like pop punk, like Blink 182, and I just kind of missed it.

And I had kind of just written them off and I thought I had them figured out. Someone showed me Kid A. I can't remember. I wish I could remember the moment I heard Kid A for the first time. But that album blew my mind. It was right place, right time as well because I was what? maybe I was 20 at the time when I heard it. I was really getting like creatively with my own music.

I was really kind of finding myself with books and movies and it just came at the perfect time. I have such vivid memories of specifically listening to Kid A on these long road trips that me and my friends would take spontaneously, where it was kind of a tradition where we would drive to the beach and we would leave at like 11 p.m. at night. and we would wait until we hit the freeway and we'd press play on everything in its rice place and it would soundtrack our night drive to the beach and I just have associations with freedom of youth and exploring and discovering myself

and from then on you know I kind of followed them in real time and I of course went back to okay computer the bends etc not really connecting still with those records as much as kid A and post kid A but obviously recognizing their greatness from that point. But I think one of the interesting things about this exercise was we all got to kind of holistically look at their catalog, which at this point seems more or less complete.

We might get one more album, it sounds like, maybe. You never know with them. But for the most part, I think we have a kind of a grip on their discography. So I'm curious to know some of your guys' thoughts as you were kind of revisiting it for this exercise. And if there was like an album maybe that resonated with. with you more now than maybe it did previously? Well, as far as going back through the discography

and going back through the catalog, I, when people ask me like, oh, what are your favorite bands? It's rare that I would be like radiohead, you know, that that would be like a personal kind of like choice for me. And I don't know why, because when I go back through their discography, I think I remember where I was in my life

when this record came out. Almost every one of these records has only expanded in meaning and depth to me as the years have gone by. I don't think they've really made a bad record. They've made records that maybe aren't as good as other radio had records, but there's no absolute swing and a miss

like in their entire catalog. And if I had to pick one that, I'm really not trying to blow smoke cold, but if I have to pick one that's been kind of exploding for me, it's been in rainbows because I've been listening to the pod. And, you know, like I think

the level of care you put into the pot and the level of detail you applied into your analysis of these songs made me go back to not only emotionally where I was when in rainbows came out and the amazing moment that was of like this record's coming out and you can just pay a dollar for it and there's another CD with it that you can get or another download that you can get of more songs all of these things felt really novel at the time but also just like my relationship to those songs and how you know you start out and you have three favorites and then over the years you get three different favorites

and over the years it's three different favorites and then there's no skips on it and it's just such a it's such an amazing piece and it's only been sort of my appreciation is like grown by listening to dissect the season. Great Sean. Crystal my answer. I was thinking about this

while we were preparing. With films every time a new film comes out from an artist I care about after I see it I start to think about what does it mean to their legacy as a filmmaker and what are they trying to communicate by making the choice to make that movie, probably to an unhealthy degree. And at a certain point, with music, I stopped thinking about that. And particularly with bands, I stopped

thinking about that. I think in part because I was getting a little bit bored by the narrative of Radiohead as like a fearlessly experimental, but yet somehow still commercial band that was always, that had a kind of mathematical sense of greatness that was always trying to upend its own genius by trying something new. and I felt like I'd heard that story like three or four album cycles in a row and got bored. And so I just stopped reading anything about Radiohead. I didn't stop listening. I've been in tune to every album release cycle and spent a lot of time with the records. In Rainbows is probably the 21st century album of theirs that I have gone back to the most,

but I will just fully echo what Chris said. Like you have spent so much time and effort clarifying both technique and where the band was at this time. in the series that I have such a deep appreciation for what they were attempting to do with this record now that one, you now have to do this for every radio record, congratulations. We'll talk about that. And two, it just makes the songs more enjoyable.

Have fun with King of Limbs, dog. So I would say in rainbows, too. I mean, I have, you know, they all kind of expand over time. And to me, the, like, let it rip one is the bends where I just put it on and I'm just like, this is just fucking rocks. Like, I just play this from, my kid. Like, I can play it when I'm alone, like, writing late at night. I can play it in the

morning when I first wake up. Like, it's kind of a perfect pop rock album. But in rainbows is the one that I feel like has a really swirling depth to it right now. Is there a, um, what you said about directors? Is there a director comp that you might compare? Yeah, Kubrick. Oh, fuck. Okay. Yeah. I'll take that. That's my favorite director of all time. Well, it's like the technical master who only made 10 movies. Right. Who makes you wait. Who's mysterious. Who doesn't do a lot of press. who kind of shifts between genre, but there's always something ineffably them inside the thing. So yeah, that feels easy, right?

Beautiful. Would you agree? I was going to say Justin Lynn, but yeah, Cooper works. Amazing. All right, well, let's jump into the draft. Explain the rules for the listeners here. Each of us are going to draft a total of 10 songs.

We must each select one song from each Radiohead studio album, plus one wild card song selected from their B-Sides, EP, singles, basically any song that does not appear on a full-length EP. There is one small twist, though. Each of us have the option of using what I'm calling a bypass card, which allows you to bypass selecting a song from one album and exchange for a second song from another album. So, for example, I could bypass selecting a song from King of Limbs and exchange for a second song on OK computer.

The bypass card is optional and can only be used once. makes sense. En genius little invention here. Cool. I really like this and I can't wait to see how different people use it. I wonder if we'll all bypass the same record. My gut is that we will. This is a major innovation that I will be stealing. So I want to thank you for the creation and I'm happy to walk away with the copyright because it's just a really, really good idea. It's Spotify, Ringer IP maybe. We're all in a family together. Yeah, exactly. Well, it's interesting though too because philosophically, it's like, do you want the purity of a complete list, right? Or do you want to bypass what I think maybe we're all going to bypass, which is why I kind of came up with this

concept. Maybe someone will surprise us. We'll see. Okay. So to determine the draft order, I'm going to go ahead and volunteer to take the third position. You guys are my guest. So I'll take third position. Are we sure third position isn't a great place to be in? Is it the best place possible to be? There's some debate. There's some debate. There's some debate. draft strategy wise. Okay. Well, I think the debate is really whether or not second or third is best. I tend to think third is better than second.

But nobody likes first? No, first usually is the winner. Because there's often, now, at least in movie drafting terms, I have not drafted songs before, actually. In movie drafting terms, there's always like one totemic release from a given year or genre or artist's career. Do you feel like in Radiohead's case, there's one song that is the song? Like, that's a good question. It's like, without, I want to get to the draft, Cole, so I don't want to distract you. But like, is there a dark night on this in this catalog?

With songs, I mean, if it was, I think, well, actually, even if it was albums, I think it would, it wouldn't be that, actually. I think the collection is so strong. I have one, there's actually just one song on here that I really, really want. And I was surprised about how many other songs I was willing to let go because, In exchange for that, there was another great song on the album. So I had no problem giving up my favorite song from most albums. So how about I'll do my little trivia thing that I was going to do for you guys. And whoever wins could pick their spot, whether that be first or third.

Okay. So the hint here is, and you guys can shout your number at any time, I'm going to pick a number zero through 10 in my head. And whoever gets closest to the number will get to select their draft order. the hint is this well it's not really it's heavily the number is heavily associated with in rainbows and you guys get shot whenever

five seven the answer was 10 uh do you guys know that about the 10 spiracy around in rainbows you mentioned it in the series yeah um okay so it was released on October 10th 10 10 they posted 10 blog posts

and lead up to the album it was announced 10 days before it was released There's 10 songs on the album. There's 10 letters in rainbows. And so everything about this album is associated with the number 10. And then there's this theory that it connects back to OK Computer, which is also a 10-letter title with the same structure. That's original title was zeros and ones, so the opposite of 10,

all accumulating into this mega album, I guess, where have you guys heard of this? No. No. Okay. So you're supposed to play the tracks from OK, computer and in rainbows in alternating order. And apparently, the conspiracy is that they did this intentionally and that they compliment each other. Man, eat your fucking hard out, Taylor Swift.

Come on. You kidding me? I can't wait to drive home and do this. Yeah. It's also funny that you're saying that because, like, I was just listening to your record her episode and Tom's like, I don't know what these words are about. Like, you think he's sitting there piecing together with the 10thpiracy. Well, that's the other reason why the Kubrick comparison is apt, right? If you see in 337, for example, there, the, the desperation to

understand the intention of, you know, things that don't actually matter is the true, like, scope of psychotic fandom and radio had elicist that kind of fandom. I am a happy member of that club. I've obsessed about over Eyes Wide Shot probably more than any other movie or album, even that I do on Dysect. That's actually, the premise of Dysect started with Eyes Wide Shut. Maybe that's a story for another podcast. But my obsession with art and getting to the bottom of mysteries started with Eyes Wide Shut. That sounds like a podcast you should make. Yeah, I would listen to Cole's exploration of Eyes Wide Shut. Dyset. I'm a multi-part podcast. Oh my God. I don't know. I'm listening. Say no more. I'm hard as rock.

Okay, so Chris was technically closer with seven. So I go first. Okay. So you want, do you want first? Yeah, I'll go first. I'll go first. I'm going to take my favorite radio song. So I'm going to take my kid A song. It's Idiotek. This one is probably the one I've listened to the most.

It's the one that kind of ripples with new layers. One of the things that's been so cool about listening to the season you just made, Cole, is like you've emphasized how Radiohead promotes active listening and how Radiohead records are eminently relistenable because you hear different things. And I feel like I'm still hearing different things in Idiotac, just in the programming, in the sort of subliminal, almost background vocals that they do,

especially in the beginning of the song and in the end of the song with Tom's voice and, I assume Ed's voice, but I'm not sure. And this was, when Kidd A came out, I remember feeling so, not frustrated, but I needed skeleton key songs in Kidae because this is a kind of music that I didn't really listen to a lot of IDM.

I didn't really listen to a lot of avant-garde classical and all the sort of new influences that they were bringing to their sound. And I needed something that had a kind of quintessential radio head, melancholic but beautiful melody and that's where I found it in Idiotec and I just think it's one of the most gorgeous songs

I've ever heard and I'm happy to have it first I will go on the record to say that is my favorite drumbeat of all time I think it's yeah the sounds of those drums on ediotech are fucking amazing and Johnny built those from scratch so there you have it what a genius yeah I have a very vivid memory of hearing that song

I want to say it was in the summer of 2001. I might have told you this already, Cole. I think that they played Liberty Island in the touring run. So in front of the Statue of Liberty, they played this song at 9 p.m. Wow. And at the like the conclusive moment of the set, like the sort of the climactic moment of their set.

Because this song wasn't like the single, it wasn't even like the third single. But it's become like their, it's kind of the song on the album. shows wins and stuff yeah it's interesting that it has evolved into that i think it was so bracing for people at the outset because of what you were describing that it's like you can feel the like german house and autakura and all the you know the influences in that in that record but um that's not my favorite song on the album though i'm wondering though like should we do a kid a run like what happens here so chris takes

one it's a big one there's a couple of other big ones on kid a what's my strategy here is it to go kid a to get in front of you cold that you don't take one for me or do i feel comfortable knowing that there's a third one, or what if a bypass is used on a record and then I lose my opportunity at Kid A? I love the game. What if I'm playing my own Ten Spiracy and I'm about to assemble the actual best Radiohead 10 song? You might be. I don't have a favorite Radiohead song, which is a challenge of this draft. There's not one thing that I immediately know I want to do. I came in and I wrote down two, four, six, seven songs from Kid A that I could potentially draft because that's how much I love this record.

Is Kidae your guys' favorite record? I think it's in rainbows now. Oh, wow. Okay. I still think it's computer. But, but yes. Those are my three children. Okay, computer is kind of in the like volume two hard knock life zone for me. I can't hear those songs anymore.

Yeah. You know, like I love it. It's perfect. It changed my life. That might have been the same, they might have come out in the same year. Yeah. But.

97? Right? Yeah. Yeah. And it like probably changed like my taste. in some profound ways, but I also can't. I think I'm going to go...

This is a bad pick, but I'm doing it. I'm taking a head to disappear completely. Whoa. Which... That is... Okay. Is it... I'm a little bit mad.

Did I get you? I got you. That's the one you wanted? It wasn't the kill shot, but it's fucking close. You're winged. Yeah. He winged you.

Wow. Okay, that's exciting. So I'm late to this. Like many people, I think I heard the National Anthem or everything in its right place as you talked about Cole, and I was like,

These songs are, this is redefining what modern rock and roll is. And I bought that hookline and sinker. I listened to those songs over and over and over again. I love them. I thought about them. I couldn't get my head around at EdioTech when I first heard it. I couldn't get into that stuff. But optimistic and those other two, I was like, this band still rocks in a new way.

This is like our Emerson Lake and Palmer, but they're cool. And as I've gotten older, I've been drawn more towards these kind of mournful ballads that they've And over the years you talked about this and in Rambos too in the kind of second half of that record. And how to disappear completely also feels like a signal to me of where Johnny is going with score composition. It's his breakthrough moment. It's a breakthrough orchestral moment. Yes. And so it's like a song I could listen to every day.

So that's my first pick. It is one of the most haunting songs. I mean, the backstory behind it is pretty. I mean, he wrote it while on the OK computer tour, just feeling completely out of sorts. Apparently, the chorus was what Michael Stipe from R.M. told him when he was having these kind of mental health breakdowns. You know, that was the advice that he gave him. Just a powerful song. I mean, the rare guitar song on Kid A. or Amnesiac, because it was written early.

But the way they develop it is everything. those strings well particularly it might be actually the first instance of Johnny blending the Owens Martinot which is like the early synthesized analog synthesizer with the orchestral strings

which is a kind of quintessential radiohead trademark at this point I love this song and like I said yeah Johnny's orchestration is just out of this world and he I mean like that was like his

first stab at orchestration and to do that is just fucking phenomenal. It's kind of chosen one like you're a LeBron James for a reason kind of stuff. You know, like you just, he was born to do it. Yeah. Okay, so my pick. You get two. Yeah. Okay.

So the one I really wanted, I kind of spilled the beans with my, my origin story with Radiohead, but it's everything in its right place. It's hard for, it's such a subjective pick for me, but it's also a beloved song by Radiohead. apparently it was the first song that so when when he was transitioning from okay computer and abandoning guitar and strictly writing on piano

this was the first song that he wrote on piano ever which is just like okay and apparently he apparently he wrote a pyramid song in the same week as the second song he ever wrote on piano it's just the opening is so iconic

and what it symbolizes and music history, I think, is extremely important. Radiohead, obviously, being heralded as the best rock band alive in the late 90s, to completely shift away from that. To start Kid A with a purely electronic song with no drums, three of the five members don't even appear on the song. It's such a statement.

It's released in the year 2000. I think it symbolizes this transition from guitar music to, electronic-based music that would kind of play out through the 21st century. So I think historically, personally, it hits everything that I look for in music. And it's just a beautiful, gorgeous song. So everything in its right place. That was the one that I really, really wanted. So I'm glad I got it.

I almost took this and I didn't. But I wanted to ask you, have you seen the film The Creator? Cool. Is that the like sci-fi? movie that just came out recently? I have, I can't say I have. There's a, like, a ride of the Volckeries. Let's, let's fire up the chopper moment set to everything in its right place in the movie, which on the one hand, I thought was the stupidest thing of all time. And on the other hand, I was like, this is cinema to me. This is also like, if you and I made a movie, we would be

like, let's have choppers fly into everything. It is. It's the most like brain dead, blunt session a concept ever that some guy followed through with on an $80 million movie, but also it kind of rules. Yeah. this i mean doesn't that song work with essentially you could put it anywhere and it would kind of work yeah yeah you could like some guy making coffee in the morning right yeah yeah everything in this coffee is in its place sinka yeah okay so next up what album so we had a kid a run yeah we all just picked from kid a wow okay yeah maybe that's one that does that linger the most that album in your mind well hearing cole talk about it i mean he obviously had a different experience with it as like more

of like almost like socially. I remember that record in tandem really with Stankonia as these two records that in my lifetime I was like, is this what it felt like when like Beatles put records out? Like when you're like, is everything in the world

about to change because of these two albums? And there was definitely this meeting of popular interest by like lots of people loving these bands and critical writing about it and thought being put into dissecting what they were doing and understanding what these two groups were doing, that felt like, man, we are really at the, like, this is the vortex of like, this is why I love

music is to just be in this moment where, you know, bombs over Baghdad and everything in its right place are playing all the time everywhere I go, which is also, you know, says a lot about how it felt to be in New York at that time. But you have a cultural discourse around popular music was very different. Yeah. You could have like a front page New York Times arts piece. about these two albums and what they mean about the for the future. You know, like that's kind of what you were signaling too cold, like the year 2000 being a critical time for an album like

this to come out. There were so many fucking think pieces about Kidae. And there were so many conversations about it every day, even though it was in theory a kind of abstract electronic record. How did these records? These records came out the same month? Did Sanconia come out the same month? It came out October 31st, 2000. Oh, wow. Damn, dude. It's a great, great shout by you. Sometimes the world is good. Yeah. It's been 23 years since we had a good time. Beautiful. Okay, so I think I'm going in the same sphere because amnesiac was, uh, written at the same

time as kid A, they just split it up. You're a maniac. You're going with an amnesiac song? I got to go pyramid song. I mean, come on. This is one. That's a bold choice. Really?

This is, I mean, one of the greatest songs of all time in my mind. Um, I mean, similar to everything in right, in its right place and just a capturing kind of this ephemeral musical environment, this otherworldly kind of trillions kind of transcendent environment. Like I said, it was written. Tom claims he wrote the song in five minutes, the basis of the piano and the lyrics. He said he was lyrically was inspired by

the circular nature of time. Sure. He was listening to Stephen Hawking at the time. And he'd also seen, I don't know if it was recently, but he had, he'd seen ancient Egyptian art about the underworld. So all the stuff about him sinking underwater and like living in the afterlife and finding his loved ones there was kind of inspired by these two ideas. There's a kind of rhythmic enigma in this song. I'm not sure if you guys

are familiar with it, but it's a it's a heated debate amongst Radiohead scholars, like what the rhythm is and what time signature the song is in. So it gives me everything that I'm looking for in music is, which is technical achievement with kind of emotional accessibility and kind of this kind of profound musical environments. And I just love the refrain. There's nothing to fear and nothing to doubt. You know, there's, there's a lot of these, we talked about this a lot on the, in Rainbow series where, I don't know, generally Tom gets a bad rap about his songs being depressing, but you really get to the heart of a lot of these songs and it has these really beautifully optimistic sentiments. Beautiful song,

Pyramid song. Sean, it's back to you. It's back to me. Okay. There's some kind of cultural recency bias happening with this pick, but I'm going to make it anyway. I'm going with Street Spirit fade out from the Benz. It's on my list. Which is my favorite song on the Ben's. It's been on my mind recently because I had the good fortune to interview Jonathan Glazer, and he

of course directed the video for this song. This is a the son that radio head, I think, cites as their breakthrough, as their kind of like elevation moment where they realize, I think Thomas specifically said, like, this made me remember why I wanted to do this, like why I wanted to be a musician and be a band. And Glazer's video for it is beautiful.

I'm just want to read Glazer's video, filmography quickly. He opens in 1995 with Carmicome of a massive attack and then makes the video for the universal by blur and then makes street spirit. So, he's just, he could have retired. He's the fucking man. then he made under the skin.

He obviously goes on to collaborate. He makes the Carma Police video. He makes that great uncle video. This is the black and white video where they're jumping backwards. They're floating. Yes, there's a kind of zero gravity quality to this video. The song itself, this is the first time. I actually feel this more acutely than on the bends than I do on OK computer,

which is something that is persistent now in all of their records in the 2000s. which is like, I don't know how they got that sound. I don't know what they did to the instrument or to the after effect to the sort of post-production of the song. You know, Cole, you went into great detail about like, you know, the kind of coin scratching and coin strumming that Johnny would do in playing. Like, they have a lot of tricks, studio tricks,

to generate new turns of melody that they have a real knack for. I almost feel like this is, the bends is the last time when they're, willing to just accept the kind of beauty of their natural songwriting. And this might be to like their most beautiful, not their most plaintive, not their most sincere necessarily, but like,

uh, the one that resonates the most for me. So street spirit. Yeah, there's a lot of musical seeds in street spirit that would come to fruition with OK computer too. I feel like, I think they would have developed street spirit differently had it been on OK computer, but all the elements are there.

Um, you know, we hear the kind of the fake street. rings, those haunting guitar arpeggios. It's a beautiful song. It was on my list. And just to chime in, because it's kind of related to the pyramid song thing, you guys know that at the end of the song, what he's belting out there is immerse your soul and love.

So the whole song's about confronting death, super dark fading out, and then, but ending the record and the song on this really positive, beautiful note. Yeah, I love that song. It's also just like an absolute anxiety bomb anti-capitalist creed, you know? Yeah. So it's like a lot of the songs, they, he leans very strongly in that direction over the next 10 years.

In terms of the songs, like the first batch of songs on Pablo Honey are not necessarily about those kinds of ideas. So it feels as significant in that way too. Rows of houses all bearing down on me, you know, it's like I'm trapped in my suburban existence. Yeah. Cole, to your point about the kind of maybe the claustrophobia of the lyrics that then opens out into a very open-hearted plaintive kind of call, the next song I'll pick is Reckoner,

which starts out almost like this... I always imagine the first verse of Reckoners being narrated by almost like a kind of cynical detective or something, like saying you can't take it with you. And then by the end, it's, like, dedicated to all human beings, and it's this, you know, gorgeous sort of crescendo. It's my favorite song on In Rainbow's, which is very tight competition. But I dare say that, like, I could end the draft now and feel very happy that I got. I got the two songs that I got.

These were the two that I wanted coming in. Rekner. Also, not that you would be listening to this without having listened to the In Rainbow's season, but the Reckoner episode is, like, my favorite pot. episode of the of anything this year. It's mind-blowing, like the stuff you do about the drum programming and, and everything in there. It's just such a great pod episode. It wasn't my episode about Fast X. It wasn't your favorite. I'm kind of hurt. It'll be when you go Sola Aquaman too. Just booked my ticket for that one. Yeah. Um, Reckoner is amazing. It was my number two from In Rainbow. It's not my number one. I'm willing to share that. Uh, do I take my number one now or do

I wait. I'm kind of afraid of the In Rainbow's Master right now. Who knows more about In Rainbows than you right now, Cole? Well, Chris kind of just stole my pick, but it's okay. Because he said it was his favorite part of the year, so. Okay. Well, Chris won't think. You got another one, right? Oh, I get

to do the turn here, huh? Yeah. See, I was curious whether you guys felt any kind of pressure to have an eclectic mix in terms of the kinds of Radiohead songs you were picking. Not necessarily, you'd obviously pick ones that you loved, but like whether you wanted to have like one that was a little bit avant-garde

or like interplayed some of the IDM stuff or one that was like a kind of power ballad or one that was a rock song. And I'm having a little bit of that anxiety right now, but since Radiohead is a band about anxiety, I suppose I should just lean into it. So I will go off of OK computer and take letdown. Okay. Okay. Nice big. Now I feel like I have somewhat samey songs here. Wait, that was your number one for okay. It was my number one. for okay. This is my number two. Okay. Um, I feel like I have a little bit of sameness. Um, here. You have a type? I guess I have a type as we're finding out. How would you describe that type? The, the kind of like, beautiful plaintive singer-songwriter that then just gets put into the Voltron machine by like the other guys in the band.

And, and this one is like... But isn't that just radio head? Yeah. And this one is essentially like this gorgeous, proggy version of, of REM that I just really love when they do this and let down, yeah, but like this, this song is astonishing. I think this, I mean, this song encapsulates what they're so good at, which is kind of to your point, where Tom is singing about one thing and music, and it is expressed perfectly musically, meaning that they capture the mood of what he is talking about in the music. And on a technical level, I think this one stands out because the song is all about detachment and dissociation and it's about him like being in traffic and feeling disconnected from

everybody and you know that's kind of symbolically reflected in the music because ed and johnny their guitar riff that sustains throughout most of the song that it begins with uh it's playing in five four time and the rest of the band is playing in four four time so you get this dissociation between the the main harmonic instrument and the rhythm section which i mean you in my mind that it's such the perfect expression of what is being talked about in the song. I love Letdown. It's one of my favorite Radiohead songs ever. Great pick.

Thanks. Okay. So to the spirit of your question, Chris, I've got a kind of like overwhelmingly melodic, kind of gentle rock song in street spirit, right? Sort of anthemic. Like I've kind of almost a power ballad. Yeah. Yeah.

I've got a more. hornful orchestral ballad and had it disappear completely. So I need to let one rip. So I'll let body snatchers rip from Enraibros. Okay. Which is my favorite song on Air Rainbows. It had been reckoned her for a long time. And I added body snatchers, this is embarrassing.

I added body snatchers to a running playlist. And it was very high in the rotation. And so then I just had a year where I just heard body snatchers. every time you ran. 8,000 times. Right. Probably, well,

maybe more accurately, like 112 times, however many times I ran in that given year. And now it's in my blood. And it's interesting because it's like kind of a late period normie pick, I feel like. This is one of their biggest hits of the 21st century.

Chartered really well. Loved your episode about this song. I don't know if it's a song that has like the most emotional meaning to me. But what it does have is like, I feel like Radiohead reclaiming their vitality as a rock band. it's very kind of crunchy and masculine and

scratchy in a good way and a little bit unvarnished and a little bit not overthought and I think actually there are times when I can feel the band in the last couple of albums thinking really hard about how to do something interesting and I like body snatchers as this like unadorned

let's just go. We'll just play a fucking public and mention a limited song. Yes, yes. Like, we'll just let it, let it rock. It's a great running song. It's their fastest song in their entire catalog. Fun fact there. How do you just have, you have a bond mod for every pick?

Like, did you have a sheet? A coal fact? No, I don't. I mean, I know a lot about in Ramos right now at this moment because I've just been entrenched. But so, um, okay, that's a great pick. It's probably, it's actually like, it feels like their last rock song. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. Because King and Lings. Not realizing. Yeah. Moon-shaped pool, there, it lacks a kind of testosterone that, you know, I think we get in a song like body snatchers and jigsaw falling into place, which are their, I would say, their last kind of pure rock songs. Do you prefer the first half or the second half of the album? Of rainbows? Yeah.

Of rainbows? Man, that's an impossible question. Because I like how you identified this, like, delineation. I would say it's a second half I think my favorite no I'd actually I'd have to go with the first half

although my Does all I need go in the first half? Yeah Yes Okay then I'd still say a second half From Faustarp on You guys like Faustarp? Yeah

I appreciate it within the context of the album It's a transitional track right Yeah Yeah yeah I get it I think it works All I need is amazing though Like yeah Beautiful

Heartbreaking song Yeah. A parallel to creep if you get really into the lyrics, actually. That's true. Okay, so I'm on my back-to-back pick, right? So, okay. Okay, I got to go computer. Surprise it took this long to get there.

I was thinking the same thing. I for sure thought you guys were like going to be all about okay computer. Maybe I, uh... That's ages. Yeah, man. I'm going to go paranoid Android for I think probably obvious reasons God fucking damn it Cole

There's really no need to explain I think it's parallel to like a bohemian rap city I don't think it reaches I don't think it reaches the level of a bohemian rap city But it's a It's an epic composed by a very popular band That was still accessible I love the fact that they released it as their first single

As this kind of artistic statement kind of iconic music video that's essentially a three part song that the three songs that they kind of stitched together which is actually how Bohemian Rhapsody was also made do you think about like the great leaps in music or even like art history to go from anything off the bends

to a paranoid android is just like what I mean where did we knew you guys were good but we didn't know you were this good. And this forward looking, I think it has everything you would want from a radio head song. It feels like they really cut, well, you could say that about the whole album, but I mean, this song, if they had had to complete that song and feel something different about themselves, uh, and hopefully instated some kind of confidence because I don't know how you make that song and just don't understand how great you are. Yeah, so for obvious reasons, I'm going paranoid

Android. Is this their longest song? I would have to double check. I'm not sure. Because. At the top of my head. I, like I said,

this was basically my introduction to my interest in the band. It had this very strange animated video that I think is also kind of like a portal into David Lynch and things like that. It was also very resonant

with like the liquid television era of MTV where you were more likely to see Beavis and Butthead a Eon flux. Yeah. You know, the, um, Early Mike Judge stuff.

And some of that stuff, I think, went a long way towards, like, creating the visual iconography of the band the same way, like, roses are for the dead or whatever. Like, you know, it's like this sort of, like, stick figure, but, like, early computer animation stuff felt very much like, these guys are really on their own trip and have, like, a vision for the band that's total. Yeah, kind of childlike, but grotesque. And I remember getting really excited when the video would come on because I'd be like, I get six and a half minutes of radio head right now. It's a very long song. Yeah. And I love the Bohemian Rhapsody comparison. That's dead on.

I'd never thought of it that way. Yeah, brilliant. Okay, so I'm ready for the next pick. Somewhat strategic. I'm going to go off in rainbows. Yeah, brilliant. Okay, so I'm ready for the next pick. I'm going to go off in rainbows, weird fishes.

Okay. So. Not on my list, Cole. Oh, it wasn't. Okay. I thought, okay. This is, I mean, I think my episode, I always loved this song, but my episode on it and just kind of researching, particularly the layered guitars on the song, is just absolutely virtuosic and credible. I think it ends up being five or six guitar layers stacked on top of each other in a way that creates, again, like, in the same way that was the song we just talked about coloring.

the same way that let down is kind of this cinematic score to the themes being talked about. Weird Fish is creates this kind of underwater, undulating kind of texture, watery texture with the guitars, which makes this perfect backdrop to Tom singing about being underwater and hitting bottom. So I love that about it. I think it's a technical achievement. I don't know how they recorded it. It's insane. So I'm going weird fishes from in rainbows.

Okay. Interesting pick. Doesn't really affect my game. Okay. Am I trying to win? Well, like what are we doing? I think you're trying to properly represent yourself as the radio fan that you are. That's like my goal here. And if the people agree with me, so be it.

My first four picks, four picks, three picks. My first three picks very accurately represent my taste. Okay. Now you have to start deviating from it. But yeah, because I'm diseased. No, I was just going to say maybe we're now arriving at albums that aren't your favorites or whatever. No, no. I still have an okay computer pick on the board.

Now, my heart says airbag. My head says Karma Police. Karma Police massive hit. My wife's favorite radio had song. Certainly a song that I think elevated the band to a legendary status in a way that actually paranoid Android, it needed Paranoid Android to come first, but Karma Police, I think, is a song that made them radio out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's not the song I want to listen to the most.

I want to listen to Airbag. Yeah. Because Airbag does what you're describing, which is like it announces that record. It's a great first song. Yeah. It's a great first note, right? Just that. So, and I got a little twist here, too.

I also love electioneering. Not really like the most in vogue radio head song. The most like basic bitch radio head song on that album. But it rocks. But I already took a song in The Rocks in Body Snatchers. So I'm taking Airbag. Good call. Yeah. Good call. Yeah.

This is the best I could do with Letdown and Paranoid Android off the board. It's a great song. I iconic opener. Airbag is a fantastic choice. I remember, you know, being sort of like, I think everybody was like, I think confused by Paranoid Android. And it took, if you were like, I got it on the first run and I see exactly what these guys are doing. I think you're probably lying. Um, but airbag was almost this declaration of purpose when I, when I heard it where I was like, oh, man, this band that I, that I liked from the bends is still here and they can still play this kind of stuff. And it helped me understand the rest of the rest of okay computer, I think. I think this is also the song that helped me to the fact that there was an underworld of Radiohead B sides. Because there was this airbag EP, the how my driving EP, which then I was like, oh, polyethylene parts one and two. Like, what?

What is, and then you felt the band kind of trying to burst out of its, um, the encasement that it was surrounded by with like modern rock radio. You know, they were like, we have more to say. We're pushing out of something. Even though, okay, computer feels like a transgressive statement about technologies incursion on our lifestyle, there's actually different modes of music that we want to make. And we're putting them in these other places. So the airbag was a little bit of a, a gateway. Yeah. to that as well. So that's my pick. So I get two here?

Yeah. Okay. I'll take a Ben's song as well and I'll take, well, I'll take my Ben song. Sean just did OK computer. I'll do Ben's and do high and dry. So there is this quality to the Benz and, you know, Nigel worked on it, but obviously also I think John Leckie helped produce the Benz and he's had a hand in some of the 10 best albums in English music history, like fall records, Stone Roses, XTC.

And there's like a kind of timeless British rock quality to some of the songs on the Ben's that I really, really appreciate. It's kind of a coin toss for me between high and dry and a few others on the Benz. But I actually had a really fun experience recently doing karaoke at a friend's house. and her teenage daughters requested high and dry and it was like it was almost like this language anybody could speak was the way that this song works and the way it builds and even the sentiments

were kind of like amazing and it was I was very happy to see teenagers still love high and dry and yes I'll do I'll do that Has that one gotten a lot of like network television TV placement? I feel like that's a song you hear in the world Yeah, maybe it did. And maybe it had a run. I think those Ben songs, a fair few of them, like, appeared on stuff for a while there.

Here's what I'm seeing. Just on a quick Google. The film, no, the TV series Greek featured high and dry. Okay. The TV series Seventh Heaven. That's probably where I heard of. Yeah. And the series Holly Oaks.

I haven't seen that one. That's a British one, I think. Okay. Interesting. thing. Okay. Friends from college featured high and dry.

How about that? Show you enjoyed? I did enjoy that. I don't remember high and dry from being on it. So I'll do high and dry. Cole, do you have any cool things to say about high and dry beyond? Like, I like it and so does a teenager that I know? Well, good.

I mean, technically, there's a cool text painting thing where he says hi and he sings high. Oh, yeah. Notorously, he hates this, Tom hates this song. He wrote it in college. It feels like it. It does. And so they, I don't think the band's ever really been a fan of it. I think it was almost left.

If I remember correctly, it was almost left off the record. I don't mind it. It's not my favorite on the record. If I'm going that route on the bends, I'd prefer fake plastic trees. But I think I've heard that song too many times and have given myself the dopamine hit of the guitars coming in on fake past trees so many times that high and dry just were. And I can kind of see high and dry being like the best song on Pablo Honey, you know? Yeah. And it does, it doesn't shock me that this is a college song for Tom, but I think I heard it when I was basically in college and it really worked for me.

Beautiful tune. Yeah. If you ever have a chance, look up the early version of it. It's like, it's like a full-on rock song. Oh, okay. Yeah. Distorted guitars. Like, is that available available or is it like a... Because there's a YouTube video of them. Actually, you can actually see them play. Yeah. calling a show. I am going to pick a song now

from an album that I have a complicated relationship in so much. I like the album a lot and don't really want to tattoo any individual songs onto my person. But from Amnesiac, I'm going to pick Knives out. God damn it. That was the next pick.

Okay. And sometimes if you were like, if you were like play a song that is the song you think of when you are asked to just like to show someone what radiohead sounds like, I might play them knives out. Because there's something about the guitar line that feels like quintessentially

radiohead to me. And there's something about the vocals and the, and like the emotional content of it or the emotional performance of the vocals that I feel, for some reason, it is like platonic radiohead to me. It's so funny because I think it's like, this has been cited before and I was reading about it last night.

But this is kind of like their Smith's song. It does, it definitely has some of that, but I think a lot of it's like English rock and roll, you know, with with some overtones of, you know, modernized production. Um, great song. Love this one. I feel like I like this song better. It's, it's definitely not when I go to a lot. It feels like it feels more fitting of the bends than the amnesiac. And I'm always, I feel like, I mean, I tend to like the more experimental stuff and more electronic based stuff. So whenever this comes on, amnesiac, I'm always a little jolted. Um, I love, I love to. I love, I the song, it's a great song, but it always feels a little out of place and a little regressive at this point. It's a little more pop. Yeah. I'm starting to feel like I'm coming off a little bit basic with my picks.

I mean, we're talking about Radiohead. All the songs are great. It's cool girl autumn over here, you know, and I'm just listening knives out. High and dry. Yeah. I was going to pick it, but maybe I guess I'm going to do my amnesia.

You know, I'm not going to do my amnesia. songs, because it'll be there. It'll be there if I need it, because you guys are both taking an amnesiac songs. You're not going back to Amnesiac with a bypass. I know that for sure. Cole, I don't think you're going to do that either. So I'll let it sit. Okay. I'm going Lotus Flower from King of Limbs. Ooh, so we, this is fascinating. So we're not picking the same bypass record. Oh, you're going to bypass King of Limbs. It's in play. What? King of Limbs is good.

I think it's good, but I get to bypass something. King of Limbs has Codex and Lotus Flower. Let me tell you something. Which are in the top 30 for me, radio head songs. If you bypass wildcard, I'm going to, I'm going to kick your ass. Well, we'll see. Okay. We'll see. It honestly depends on what's on the board. I don't have like a deep exegesis about Lotus Flower. I think it's a, I think it's a beautiful record that is more of a vibe than something I spent time thinking about and probably came at a time as I was starting to power down from being a music critic and just becoming a fan. And I still am holding on tightly to the bands that I care about, but I'm not doing the work that I was talking about before,

of like trying to explicate and associate my feelings with what their intentions were. But when I look around at kind of the songs I want to hear from the last 10 or 12 years from the band, Lotus Flowers, the first one that I turned to. So that's my pick. But I don't have,

do you have anything more thoughtful or informed to share Cole? I mean, certainly the most accessible, accessible songs on King of Lymphs, I think. So strategically, I think that's a great pick. Yeah, I mean, I had a great video, You guys remember the, it was like a meme. It was like an early meme of, like a jiff of Tom dancing. Do you remember that one?

Yeah, yeah. It's like an early viral moment. I love that song. It's somewhat straightforward or it sounds straightforward, but there's a lot of technical stuff. I did an episode on it in, on the music and talk show keynotes that I did a couple years ago. The highlight is like that, if you guys remember, the clapping in that song is clapping on, is in a different time signature than what the

song, the rest of the song is. So there's a lot of geeky things that I could talk about, but I won't. It's a great pick, though. Okay, my turn double pick. Okay. I haven't picked anything from Hail to the Thief yet, which is a little bit surprising.

Just looking at that, my friend. And Moon-shaped Pool is still on the board. Let's go Moon-shaped Pool. I'm going to go Daydreaming. the second song one of my favorite this would definitely be in my favorite top 30 list of favorite

radiohead songs of course it's entirely or not entirely produced by Johnny but I tend to find out later of my favorite radiohead songs that Johnny was the origin point of the song not Tom which is somewhat rare but I always tend to love those songs

it's like a this actually might be in the competition for their longest song it features like this kind of just hypnotic, beautiful piano that Johnny wrote and some really, really brilliant orchestration has a great video by P.T. Anderson, I'm not sure if you guys

seen it. Who's that? Where Tom York is like walking through, he enters all these doors that go, like he'll go from a kitchen to like, you know, Wall Street and then he'll enter another door and he's in on an elevator and very abstract and he ends up in like Plato's at the very end, he lays down by the fire. It's a great video. There's a really

some ingenious stuff that I'll resist talking about, but they recorded Moon Shep Pool on tape, and so this allowed them to, on this song, in particular, slow the tape down. And so you get all these weird abstract sounds that you just are impossible to make without having recorded on tape. And there is like a little Easter egg

that I'll just tell listeners about at the very end. Tom is heard singing in reverse. And if you reverse the reverse, it ends up being that he's singing half of my life over and over, half of my life, half of my life. And there's this theory that he's either talking about, so he was 47 years old when he wrote this song, and he had just split up with his partner of 23 years. So the theory that he's talking about, his partner who had died.

year later actually of cancer, spending half his life with her. But it's also the drill EP, their first EP as Radiohead, was released 23 years before. So half his life would be, so either he's talking about his partner or the band as a whole. So kind of Easter era or both. Yeah. So, but a beautiful song, I really, really, really love this song. So second pick. Okay, I think I just have like all slow songs, I think at this point.

I think I might need like a little, maybe a little rock. All right, I'm going to go, let me go Hail to the Thief, which no one has picked from yet. I'm going to go two plus two equals five, the opening track. That was going to be my Hail to the Feet song. Not me. Sorry. Great song. I mean, in some ways it kind of parallels paranoid Android in my mind and that it's like this

suite of three kind of stitched together songs. There's a lot of cool musical things with this one. It's through composed, meaning there's no hook in the same way that a paranoid android has no hook. There's some really cool, really geeky stuff that I love about this song, but it does take you on this kind of

Odyssey. I think one of the things I try to highlight about Radiohead is the way that they are on in Rainbow season is the way that they so masterfully develop songs into the climax and the restraint that they show before the climax to ensure that the climax is really a visceral experience when you get there. And I think this one, I mean, it's like two minutes and like 20 seconds or something of just build up and tension. And so when those drums finally kick in, and you have to also remember historically, you know, this is coming after Kid A and Amnesiac that didn't have a lot of rock music, didn't have

a lot of straightforward drums on. And so the catharsis felt when those, those drums kick in, the acoustic drums, not the electronic drums kicking at the end, uh, always very powerful cathartic experience for me. Um, two plus two equals five.

It's cool like Orwellian theme going on there, very appropriate for Hail to the Thief, which was their, definitely their most political album written, uh, in the wake of the Iraq war and everything. So I'm going two plus two equals five. Okay.

I'm missing Pablo Honey Amnesiac Hail to the Thief and Moonsheapool and B-side. I'm going to Amnesiac I might be wrong. Okay. Which I think is a good midpoint of where they were at as a band at that time.

Not fully experimental, still guitar-driven, but there's something halting and syncopated about the rhythm of the song that is kind of unnerving. and I strongly considered Morning Bill Amnesiac or Life in a Glass House. I feel like I'm the only Life in a Glass House fan. I like Life and Glass House.

It's on my list, yeah. Yeah. Okay, interesting. Maybe I should have gone there because I think it's like, uh, it's an interesting reach in a direction they very rarely go in. You know, that kind of like New Orleans brass sound. I don't think they ever tried anything like that ever again. Well, that's not really kind of national anthem, right?

is like where they start doing stuff like that. Yeah, but that feels like digital. And Life in a Glass House is the rare like analog experiment, I feel like from the band. But I might be wrong as probably the one that I most associate with amnesiac. So, and then, you know, they went on to name that live record after that song.

And I think that song becomes, it's not like a big hit song, but it is emblematic, I think, of the era. So that will be my amnesiac pick. Okay, Chris, you got two. Okay. for Hail of the Thief I'm going to take There, There.

Beautiful. Which is an awesome song live. I guess we haven't really talked about them live very much over the course of this, but basically the entire band plays drums except for the rhythm section, well, except for the bass player and Tom. It's very cool.

And a gorgeous, gorgeous song. And let's make things interesting. Okay, here we go. I'm going to bypass King of Limbs in order to pick National Anthem on Kidd A. Okay.

Again, so I have two Kidae songs and no King of Limbs songs and National Anthem you probably would remember this better than I would. Did they not debut this on Fallon? It was S&L.

S&L. And they had like the full brass band. Right? I don't think it was the debut but they definitely, yeah. They played it. Yeah. I think it might have been the first time I heard. was this and idiotec. Both of them like fucking phenomenal.

But this one was the first song that they played, right? Oh, I'm not sure. I think they played this first. They broke out. And it was like what the fuck is going on. Yeah, they had like a fucking full horn section. And I remember just being like, uh, this is, this is like melting my noodle. So.

Yeah. The album came out October 2nd. I think it was like October 10th. They were playing Saturday a lot. That's crazy. It's so cool. All right. So I'll take, uh, I'll use my bypass and I will take this, this extra.

this extra kid a song. It's funny how the kidd A songs I can hear every single one in my head. I know. Yeah. It really imprinted in a way. I guess going back to that time when you were like,

music was the most important thing in the universe. Yeah, I would just walk around with this in a disc man all day long. Yeah, me too. Okay. You got one more? Do you take your both?

Yeah, you got there and I took a... Is it bypass time for me too? Let's do it. I'm going to bypass Pablo Honey, which I don't care for. The correct choice, yes. I thought about trying to make some case for ripcord,

but I don't really have a case for it. I don't really like it very much. Where to go with the Benz? What to take with the Benz? The Benz has 11 perfect songs. You have, honestly, the carpet's been rolled out for you at the Ben's Mansion, I think.

I think their most touching rock ballad. it is Black Star. So I'll take Black Star. I regret not taking Black Star earlier. Black Star is a great David Bowie song. It's a great walk down the aisle at your wedding song. It's a great, I just broke up with my girlfriend's song. It's a great, great guitar song. Great guitar record. A very mutable kind of radiohead experience with a really soaring chorus, the likes of which they were reluctant to ever pursue again. This is one of my favorites

and is a conventional song but a really, really great radiohead song. So Black Star. Okay, beautiful. Double pick for me. Is that right? Yeah, double pick. Okay, so I have my wild card left.

I have King of Limbs left and the Ben's left. So let me go to the Benz I'm going to go just from the Benz Great fair that was my next Probably probably my favorite guitar Just pure guitar song from Radiohead

I've loved this song since I've ever heard I remember vividly this is actually one of the videos That started my obsession of like What does that mean? Do you guys remember that it's like Kind of cryptic video Where the businessman is like lying down on the road And then everybody lies down, right? Well, yeah, they're all asking him like, why are you lying down?

Why are you lying down? He's not saying. Oh, right. It's like silent film style. Yeah, there's subtitles. And like at the very end, they cut the subtitles and he tells them. He's like, you want to know why? And then cuts out.

We don't get to see why. And then everyone's laying on the ground. I was just like, man, what does that mean? And I did research. And it was one of my very first like dissect moments of just really going down the rabbit hole. The 90s were so awesome, Cole. where we can have just super cool fake Twilight Zone music videos for bands we barely understood. God damn.

We were a proper country. What happened? What happened to Jamie Thraves, the man who directed that video? Where's he at? One of my favorite videos. Didn't he marry someone? He's still directing music videos to this time. Oh, wow.

Okay. This was his first music video. Wow. Wow. That's great. Um, musically, this is another Johnny song.

He wrote this song. Tom said it was Johnny's attempt to fit as many guitar chords in one song as he could. Uh, and the song just rocks. I think, I don't, I don't tend to like when all three members are playing guitars.

Those are not the, the songs that I usually gravitate toward. I like a little of the electronic elements or just more diverse sounds than just three guitars. But this one, it's great. It's my favorite of their of their rock songs. So I'm going just off the bends as my first pick.

And then let's go, I'm just going to go wild card. Interesting. There's so much to choose from. I don't think, I actually don't think you guys would pick this one, maybe. But I've got to go Spector, the lost James Bond song. So they had written this song, they had commissioned to write a James Bond. Spector is the title of the Bond film, right? Yeah, it's the third Daniel Craig one?

The fourth? Fourth. Fourth Daniel Craig one. It was, of course, famously rejected for, and Sam Smith was chosen over Radiohead. But this is one of my favorite Radiohead songs of all time. So interesting. It has everything that I love about Radiohead in this song. Weird rhythms, this weird shuffle rhythm, beautiful.

orchestration, Tom's angelic kind of soaring, high-pitched vocals. It's such a beautiful song. I'm so mad that they didn't use it. I guess I get why they didn't use it. It's a little abstract, a little weird, but it is one of my favorite songs. I should think it showcases everything great about the band. So I got to go Spector. Are you guys familiar with the song? I am. Yes. Although I had forgotten why it was called Spector and why it was not on the album. I like to imagine the alternate James Bond world where Chris Nolan direct Specter and Radiohead does the song? You know

like had they made different the Broccoli made different choices with the Bond franchise? What about the world where Jonathan Glazer directs a James Bond movie? Now you're truly speaking my language. It's weird too because those Sam Mendy's theme songs

are pretty good. Yeah, Skyfall's good. Skyfall. Skyfall's good, yeah. I like the Billy Ish song. Yeah. The Sam Smith song is not good. That's not good. Okay. I'm also going B-Side Wildcard

and I'm taking talk show host. Yeah. Which is their most popular and also in my opinion, their best. And, you know, there are many, many legendary Radiohead released and unreleased B-Side songs that people had desperately been waiting for them to issue.

They did eventually issue one of them on a Moosey Pool, True Love Waits, which people, I felt like fans were waiting like 25 years for them put on a record and complete. talk show host was the most widely available in part because it was remixed and issued on the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, the Bass Leonard song, which I'm sure is where I heard it first. Is that the Nelly Hooper remix or is it just... It's not the remix, but the Nelly Hooper remix, I'm not picking the Nelly Hooper remix, but I listen to that all the time. And it's a time capsule in a moment where trip hop and general rock and roll and like DJ culture were kind of co-elial.

blessing. And so like, if you like to DJ Shadow and Portis head and sneaker pimps and radio head, they all seem to kind of be talking to each other for six months. And I love the tone of this song. And I think it plays in the film when Leo was kind of wandering on the beach aimlessly in the aftermath of seeing Juliet for the first time. It's just a beautiful use of its song. And one of those interesting things were like, the

best bands always have a couple of records that are not on albums. Um, and this, this is my favorite of those. It's a great song. One of the coolest guitar riffs you'll ever hear. It just sounds so cool. Chris? Two picks, you are. Okay, I will go with, um,

I'm gonna go with Burn the Witch off a moon-shaped pool. Yeah, great. Um, which is the, the lost Johnny Greenwood movie theme that I wish had come into a a Paul Thomas Anderson thriller you know Hitchcock thriller is the burn the witch strings at the beginning um and then I really have to make a decision here because you know

I'll just do Pablo honey and um I will take anyone can play guitar which is like a really fun alt rock song off of that and to Cole's point where he does not a big fan of them all bashing away like I am probably a slightly generational difference and and this one is probably my fave off of Pablo Honey. Good pick. Good pick. I am forced to select a song

from a moon-shaped pool and also a song for The Holt of the Thief. Not forced. I like a mooch-pool. I think I guess I, looking at the list, I like Amusha Poole to the Thief more than Hale to the Thief. Is Hale to the Thief their least beloved record? I would say probably King of Lims or Pablo Honey

would probably be... Yeah, I like Hale Thief. A lot of people like Hale of the Thief, I think. But it's, it's, it's, a difficult record. I feel like that was received kind of like at a weird time where people are like, oh, you guys, you guys don't like Bush, no shit. You know, like. Yeah, yeah. I agree. It is, it is framed. And I mean, you talked about that a little bit on the show too, even just around the Kyoto stuff. Um, I figure, what, what song is that, was that inspired by? I forget which in Rainbow's record. The Kyoto stuff? Yeah, where he kind of like, he's like directly

addressing Bush pulling out of the Kyoto. Oh, uh, House of Cards. House of Cards, right, exactly. Okay, so Moonshaypool, I'm going Dex Dark, which I found a, I discovered a newfound appreciation for this song watching the television program Ozark, which concludes its pilot episode with this song. And I was like, I was like, what the fuck is going on with Bateman? Like, is he okay?

Yeah. I actually didn't keep up with Ozark. I finished the first season. I wanted me to recap the entire series for you right now. Just go right now. Start. What happens in seasons two and three? I know Julia Garner gets in the mix there.

They cross a line, Sean. And they can't go back. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough. But I remember thinking, because, you know, at that time, Bateman was Hogan family, arrested development, chuckle buddy. And then when he dropped a radiohead song at the end of the album, and a radiohead song from an album that I probably had not spent a ton of time with

when it was first released. When it was released, I was like, what year was Moon Shepool? 16? 2016, yeah. So we were launching the ringer. I like that you're a script. all this curatorial taste to Jason Bateman and not his music supervisor. Sure.

Jason Bateman is also John Peel. Well, you never know. I'm sure he's... It's the pilot. I'm sure he has a rich music library. You think he's never heard of Radiohead? But I like Dexter quite a bit. And there are other songs on the album that I enjoy, but that's my idiosyncratic pick.

Okay, cool. All right. By final two picks, I think I got to go King and Limbs, Pablo Honey, or Bypass Car. So let me hit King of Limps first. I'm going Bloom, the opening track. I actually genuinely love this song. I think it's a beautiful song. I think it represents the album very well.

Insanely complex, rhythmically just fucking just a jigsaw puzzle. But just a, I love this song. I'm going to go for my second pick. I'm going to bypass. Pablo Honey and I'm going to choose a second song from In Rainbows I'm really glad it's on the board

it's one of my favorite songs of all times it was actually my favorite radio and sang of all time aside from everything in its right place it is nude this song for whatever reason and I don't even really know

how to explain it has just always touched me has always moved me not really so much about what he's saying and just it's just the sonics of it, that reverse string introduction, that beautiful bridge where just the music tapers off and it's just Tom alone belting out those final notes kind of into the ether and then one of my favorite moments and all of music is when the band after that moment comes back in. And it's such a cathartic, emotional experience for me every time.

It's one of the songs that brings tears to my eyes every time I listen for whatever unexplainable reason. It's such a just beautiful song. So for my final pick, I am going to pick nude. Fitting, given the series you've just concluded. I think so, yeah. Okay, very good pick.

I have to take a song from Hail to the Thief. I think I'll do I Will. It's a good one. Which is the most touching song on the album to me. Is it a George Harrison composition? Or is it a Lennon McCartney Beatles song as well? I think

a white album song called I Will, right? I'm not sure. And plaintive, sincere, unadorned, and good. I thought about go to sleep, but I want to end on a heartful note. So I have one last pick. It's just my wild card? Yes. Cole, may I pick something off of Radiohead's 2007 webcast?

Oh, interesting. I'll allow it. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Now, there is something that I would like to do, which is pick the run of songs where they did Headmaster Ritual, Ceremony by New Order, and Unravel by Bjork, and just Radiohead as a covers band. I'm happy to just take ceremony, the cover of ceremony, and just briefly say that this is among the like 10 coolest things I've ever seen in my life because it's 07.

so it wasn't like we were like regularly watching video on the internet and these guys were like we just put out in rainbows I believe that was what it was and we're just like played in rainbows and then played the Smiths and New Order in Bjork and I was like we don't have to do anything YouTube doesn't have to go to the sphere we don't have to you know like we we don't have to have the errors tour we got it 07 these guys play New Order it's a rap if Cole allows it that's a great great call yeah let's do it it's a wild card so yeah i wasn't sure how how wild we could go but you went you went there you went there all right you guys want to recap our lists uh sean go ahead i bypassed

pablo honey so in order chronologically from the bends i selected street spirit fade out and black star from okay computer i selected the opening jam airbag from kid a i chose how to disappear completely from amnesiac i chose a song which is a phrase i would otherwise never utter which as I might be wrong. From hell to the thief, I chose I Will, devastating song. And in rainbows, I chose body snatchers. From King of Limbs, I chose Lotus Flower. From a moon-shaped pool, I got Dex Dark,

and my B-side Wildcard was talk show host. Okay. Solid. I had, from Pablo Honey, anyone can play guitar from the bends, high and dry. From OK computer letdown. From Kid A, I took Idiot Tech first, then bypassed King of Limbs to take National Anthem second off of that album. knives out from Amnesiac.

They're there from Hail to the Thief. Reckoner from In Ramboes. Burn the Witch from Moon-shaped Pool. And then just as a little bit of a curveball from my wildcard, I took their covers from their 2007 in the basement concert. So if I have to pick one there, I'll pick Ceremony, their new order cover.

Beautiful. All right. So I bypassed Pablo Honey. I got Just from the Ben's, paranoid Android from Okay Computer, everything is the right place from Kid A. Pyramid Song from Amnesiac 2 plus 2 equals 5 from Hale to the Thief I have two picks from in rainbows

Weird fishes and nude King of Limbs I have Bloom Moon-shaped pool I have daydreaming and my wild card was Spector Damn I think you won Cole I think I won too but let's bring in Kevin Pooler

as a non-biased review and Kevin, are you there? Yeah. Hey, you guys got me floored, flabbergasted, excited. I got to say I'm a little biased because not only is Cole my boss, but... Technically, Sean's your boss. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, good point. No, honestly, I can't go without things that all three of you picked. So I do have to say, though, everything in its right place, plus pyramid song, plus weird fish and daydreaming. It's going to make me have to go with Cole. Although I respect everything you guys chose, and I definitely rock all three playlists. Beautiful. Thanks, Kevin.

This is going in your file, Kevin. Write me up. All right. Well, thank you guys. I really appreciate you guys. Cole, thank you so much for having us, man. This was really fun. Thank you, Cole.

It was awesome. You did win, but also I won too. Also, the amount of work you put in to that pod, you just did, you probably deserve to win. It's true. It would be funny of me and John came into like, like, hey, like just, just, I like, You guys want to plug anything? Listen to Chris Ryan on the Philly Special pod. It's one of my favorite pods, something I listen to every day.

It's something he's never listened to. Listen to the big picture. It's a great podcast. Great. Cool. Wonderful. Listen to dissect. Yeah.

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