Radiohead is the most artistically significant band of the past 20 years, maybe 30 years, and maybe ever. And no band since their old tour mates in R.E.M. has the capacity to divide its fans on the crucial question: What is their best record? You have your Bends crusties, OK Computer hardliners, the Kid A/Amnesiac Damascenes, the In Rainbows generation, et al. Like the elephant in the old Sufi parable, Radiohead feels like a completely different animal depending on which of us blind people is doing the groping. Rather than contribute another essay on the band’s indisputable significance/importance/excellence, we asked some Radiohead freaks to pick the one song that captures the quintessence of the band’s power. SEAN NELSON
“The Tourist,” OK Computer (1997)
“The Tourist” represents some kind of apotheosis for “the grand album finale.” Closing Radiohead’s consensus magnum opus, OK Computer, its languorous pace, wistful mood, restrained guitar pyrotechnics, and tolling glockenspiel (or is it a triangle?) coalesce into something worthy of Pink Floyd circa Atom Heart Mother or Meddle. I’ve never been a fan of Thom Yorke’s neurasthenic whine, but on “The Tourist,” the song’s grandiose arc enables him to strain into his range’s sweet spot. He delivers the lines with the sort of gravity and poignancy that make this listener—someone who respects Radiohead and their music more than he enjoys them—understand what all the fuss is about. Also, the first time I heard “The Tourist” was when a server on whom I was crushing put OK Computer over the bar’s PA, and the song’s dreamy drift and romantic lilt intensified my desire for her. So there’s that, too. DAVE SEGAL