World Of Twist

More than a band, Radiohead is a symbol—an avatar for the idea that rock music can be both genuinely popular and genuinely experimental at the same time.

Capital-A art, scaled up for the arena.

Though not necessarily the first to bridge that gap (Bowie did it; Pink Floyd and The Beatles, too), Radiohead might be the most uncompromising, yanking their listeners into soundworlds so anathema to pop (Krautrock, 20th-century classical, techno, and ambient) that their music almost felt like a dare—or, as one executive at Capitol Records put it during the lead-up to 2000’s Kid A, the job wasn’t to nudge Radiohead toward the center, but bring the center toward them.