Radiohead has released 7 studio albums to date beginning with their 1993 debut Pablo Honey. In my view that debut album is the only Radiohead album that is not absolutely essential. The other 6 have all been excellent albums and their great variation in styles only makes them that much more interesting.

Pablo Honey (1993)

Their debut album is mostly known for "Creep." And at the time many people thought Radiohead would be a "one hit wonder." This was the height of grunge and Radiohead sounded more like a British answer to Nirvana than anything truly original to many people's ears at the time. And while Pablo Honey wasn't particularly original it did have some great songs. "Creep" has certainly worn better than most songs of the period and some of the other songs on the album such as "Blow Out" show signs of their later greatness.

The Bends (1995)

This was a huge step forward for the band. To me it's sort of like Radiohead's Rubber Soul. I know, why does everyone have to be compared to The Beatles? It's just the way it is, and I really do think in a way this comparison works. Of course in others, it does not.

The Bends was a band becoming themselves. And they sounded amazing. One thing that caught me right off with The Bends was the atmospherics of the songs. Certainly that's something the band has continued to explore even further since then.

The albums big rockers "Just" & "My Iron Lung" showcased Jonny Greenwood's unique approach to guitar playing. In my view there's no other modern guitarist who is as interesting. No one else sounds like him. He's a real "mad scientist" and that's just how I like my musicians.

It was the ballads "Fake Plastic Trees" & "High and Dry" that really got the attention of a lot of people. For one they showcased Thom Yorke's incredible voice and for another they were the sorts of melodic songs that anyone can fall in love with. To this day this album and and these songs in particular are highly influential on bands like Coldplay.

OK Computer (1997)

To continue with The Beatles comparison, this is Radiohead's Revolver. They were really pushing the musical envelope with OK Computer. I don't think they expected the hugely positive response it received. It's really quite a weird album in a lot of ways. But it's just so brilliantly done that it's become one of the absolutely essential albums to own for anyone who cares about modern music.

Kid A (2000)

Yes, I've saved the Sgt. Pepper comparison for Kid A. Why? Because Kid A is the album that really holds together as one piece. It's as if everyone thought they hit some sort of limit with OK Computer, but they did not. They broke themselves down and started from scratch and went in an entirely different direction.

Kid A has more detractors than does OK Computer, as it's just not as easy to love for some people, the sort of people who think that music must be based around guitar for it to be good.

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