Quick question: Anyone else think Radiohead sucks?

September 23, 2026 — 11:00am

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Radiohead has announced its first Australian tour in 15 years, and the response from Radiohead-heads has been deafening. They’re in your office, in your WhatsApp groups, in your home – middle-agers behaving with all the carry-on of Swifties but minus the sense of humour (tell me when the Radiohead forums come up with their version of Gaylor).

You probably all heard their exclamations last week when tickets went on sale for the “lucky” bunch who beat the post-registration culling. “Argh, I’m number 39,870 in the queue, wish me luck!” Bro, you’re 55 years old, show some composure.

As a lifelong obnoxious contrarian, there’s no surer way to make me uninterested in something than millions of people telling me it’s the greatest thing. In the words of Pee-wee (via The Get Up Kids): I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.

The downside is that sometimes I come around to things late, hopelessly out of touch, years after everyone’s moved on. “Hey guys, did you know The Bear is actually great? I don’t think people know how great The Bear is…”

But other times the topic in question is Radiohead, and I remain correct in perpetuity. Because Radiohead is the worst.

I’ve tried to appreciate Radiohead, just because 30 years of critical discourse has told me I’m supposed to. Some of the early stuff’s fine. For all it did to bring the evils of Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Keane to the world, at least The Bends had songs. The way that riff repeats on Black Star? Thumbs up, Jonny and/or Ed.

But revisiting the rest, just to write this piece, was a torture I wouldn’t wish on my nemesis (you know who you are). I would rather listen to literally anything........

© The Sydney Morning Herald