It’s a little daunting to pick one Radiohead album to write about. I have a special place in my heart for each one, as each seems to encapsulate a certain moment in my life. The stretch from “The Bends” up to “Kid A/Amnesiac” surely impacted my conception of not only the album as a format, but of rock music as a whole. I am very grateful for these records, and have very much enjoyed everything Radiohead has released since, but I don’t want to write about any of these.
Radiohead, like many bands I adore, suffer from a unique “problem:” in fashioning records of concept, many great songs are relegated to b-side status, formerly often only available on expensive import CD singles, now easy enough to download en masse. Radiohead’s b-side output is staggeringly solid, and rather than dive into any one record, here are, in my opinion, the 10 best b-sides Radiohead has released. In some ways, these songs outshine the “proper” albums, and help define Radiohead in ways often overlooked.
10) “Fog” (Amnesiac b-side): It’s easy to see why this didn’t fit either “Kid A” or “Amnesiac,” certainly more whimsical and sparse than either record could really allow. Originally a piano ballad named “Alligators in New York Sewers,” “Fog” drops the piano and builds the tune around mild percussion and bass, with some great guitar lifting up the end. I’ve always felt there is something sweet about this song, a brief moment of pop clarity within Radiohead’s most obtuse period. And, like most great Radiohead songs, it sounds like nothing else in their catalog, but couldn’t be written by any other band.
