You do it to yourself…..
Just – Radiohead (1995, Parlophone Records, Taken from ‘The Bends’)
Points 112
You of course will all recall the marvellous video to ‘Just’. A man can be seen lying on the ground in a street (actually shot behind Liverpool Street Station in London town). Slowly a bunch of people start talking to the man who lying on the pavement. Subtitles appear on the screen displaying the conversation that is taking place between the chap on the ground and the people around him. He refuses to tell them why he is lying on the ground. Meanwhile the band watch the proceedings out of a nearby window.
Eventually the man does explain, but cheekily the subtitles vanish at the same time, but what we do know is that all the other people all suddenly lie down on the ground with the original man and we never find out what was said and the band have never revealed it, in a Guardian interview about six years later, a journalist actually asked them and Thom Yorke said that if he told him “We would all have to lie down on the floor” with a smile and so the debate raged on (the real answer is of course that Piers Morgan was just around the corner, giving away free tickets for his telly programme and most people would rather be pretend to be dead that be on that).
The real star of ‘Just’ is Jonny Greenwood, he wrote most it and said that he wanted to write a song that contained more chord changes that any other Radiohead song (and there is about 94 of them in four minutes), In the video he can be seen going absolutely crazy as Thom does a passable impression of the lovechild of Mick Jagger and Ian Curtis. Jonny’s solo around two minutes in is the exact point when I realise that Radiohead were not just a good band, but they were an astonishing band who made astonishing records.
In 2006, Marc Ronson almost ruined ‘Just’ beyond repair, by covering it on a Radiohead Tribute Album. He then re-recorded it for his inexplicably popular covers albums ‘Version’ in 2008. The vocals on this were sung by Alexander Greenwald from the band Phantom Planet (nope me neither).
Just – Marc Ronson featuring Phantom Planet (2008, RCA Records, Taken from ‘Version’).
Narrowing down the choices as to which Radiohead song made this list was hard work, these were just three of the tracks that were rejected
Creep – Radiohead (1993, Parlophone Records, Taken from ‘Pablo Honey’)
Lucky – Radiohead (1997, Parlophone Records, Taken from ‘Ok Computer’)
Idioteque – Radiohead (2000, Parlophone Records, Taken from ‘Kid A’) – and one day I will get my daughter to review ‘Kid A’.
No Badger Required 
Every now and again (indeed, on a fairly frequent basis), you write something that just has me shaking my head in disbelief that your talents are restricted to this blog. This is one of them.
I don’t know what is more genius….the Piers Morgan thing, the ridiculously accurate description of Thom’s vocal delivery, or the sentence, ‘Radiohead were not just a good band, but they were an astonishing band who made astonishing records.’
Thank You.
This was one I didn’t include in my list and felt bad about it at the time. Really thought, however, it would have placed higher.
Oh, and finally….I bagsy that review of ‘Kid A’ as a guest posting over at TVV.
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This is, indeed, an astonishing record. Sad about its placing in the rundown. It means at least half of my Top 10 didn’t make the actual top 10 or get anywhere near it. For me, The Bends is Radiohead’s best record, though Kid A runs it close in second, and Hail To The Thief is my third (which I know is controversial…)
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