Top 10 Best Songs by Radiohead

The song that defined a generation. The soft, ominous verses explode into that overwhelming chorus, introduced by that iconic, hacking guitar stroke by Jonny Greenwood (which actually was trying to ruin the song). Thom Yorke sings the lungs out about feeling like an outsider. "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo." It's the primal scream of anyone who ever felt not good enough. Raw, honest and immortal.

The darkest song they ever made. The guitar arpeggios are hauntingly beautiful. Thom Yorke called it "a tunnel with no light at the end." It's about the inevitability of death. "Immerse your soul in love" is the only hope offered. The music is solemn and stately. A song that makes you quiet and forces reflection.

The Bohemian Rhapsody of the nineties. A six-minute journey with three different parts: a nervous folk intro, an aggressive rock middle section and a heavenly choir outro. The lyrics are a collage of madness and frustration. Jonny Greenwood's guitar solo is angular, atonal and brilliant. It's ambitious, complex and completely unique. A monument of alternative rock.

Written for the closing credits of "Romeo + Juliet." It starts deathly quiet, with only an acoustic guitar and Yorke's voice sounding as if he's in a crypt. Then the fuzz bass kicks in and the song swells into a terrifying climax. "We hope that you choke" is sung with so much venom. It's the ultimate song about escaping suffocation from your family.

The piano riff in the beginning is iconic and Beatlesqueinspired. The song sounds like a warning: watch out, because your actions have consequences. The atmosphere is oppressive and paranoid. The ending, in which the music dissolves into a sea of distorted sounds and feedback, is brilliant. "For a minute there, I lost myself" is a line that resonates with anyone who has ever felt lost.

The opening track of Kid A, the album that changed everything. No guitars, but a compulsive synthesizer loop and distorted voices. It sounds like a computer having a nervous breakdown. The atmosphere is cold, clinical and hypnotic. It marked Radiohead's transformation from rockband to electronic pioneers. Strange, but addictive.

It starts whisper-soft with an acoustic guitar and builds to an emotional outburst. Thom Yorke sings with a fragile voice about the fakeness of consumer society. It's about searching for authenticity in a plastic world. The moment the strings and electric guitars kick in feels like a physical blow. Pure and devastatingly beautiful.

A lullaby for the end of the world. The melody on the glockenspiel is sweet and childlike, but the lyrics are ink-black. It's about the suffocating tedium of modern life and the desire for rest, even the eternal kind. "No alarms and no surprises." The beauty lies in the contrast between peaceful music and desperate message. A bittersweet masterpiece.

One of their most accessible pop songs, from "The Bends." It has a clear, acoustic foundation and a chorus that sticks with you directly. Thom Yorke himself hates this song because he thinks it's "too commercial," but the beauty is undeniable. It's about the emptiness of fame and ambition. "Don't leave me high and dry" sounds like a universal plea not to be forgotten.