I’m a big Radiohead fan, but understand where you’re coming from, so I would suggest the following, to start off with, play the odd track first, listen to that a couple of times, then add an extra track or two, do this over a couple of listening sessions, if you still don’t have a feel for the music, you are not going to enjoy playing the whole album again.
As others have said, we all don’t like the same music, that’s fine, it would be a boring world if all we saw was the same album listings all the time.
Another factor to consider is your mood, not just for Radiohead! But whatever you enjoy listening to, just my two pennies worth.
I have generally been ‘impressed’ by Radiohead but rarely loved their albums and they don’t get played a lot. Same with ‘The Smile’. To me they are albums that you can enjoy technically, or from a production point of view but those aren’t my reasons for listening to music as a rule. I find most of their music to be a bit distant, somehow emotionally sterile and unengaging as a result. That is what keeps them out of my favourites.
Q: Are you a philistine or unsophisticated if you don’t like Radiohead’s The Bends?
A: No—calling someone a “philistine” over not liking The Bends by Radiohead is more about gatekeeping than good taste.
The Bends is widely respected—great songwriting, emotional depth, that mid-90s alt-rock sound—but taste in music is deeply personal. There are plenty of completely reasonable reasons it might not click for you:
You might not like Thom Yorke’s vocal style
The production can feel dated compared to modern sounds
You might prefer their later, more experimental albums like OK Computer or Kid A
Or you just don’t connect with the mood or themes
Liking “critically acclaimed” music isn’t a measure of intelligence or sophistication—it’s just alignment with a certain aesthetic.
Plenty of thoughtful, musically literate people don’t enjoy The Bends, just like others don’t enjoy jazz, classical, or whatever else is considered “high taste.”
If anything, able to say why it doesn’t work for you is more interesting than blindly liking it.
I am with you, Radiohead is a band I have never enjoyed, except for the odd track I hear on the radio. I don’t worry about not liking these bands that everyone is supposed to like and admire. There are plenty of other bands out there that are much better in my admittedly minority opinion.
Sorry but there are zero bands that everyone is supposed to like and admire. Plenty of bands that you can like and admire and they will be different to the ones that other people like and admire. Not sure why people write this sort of stuff
There are albums I heartily dislike by musicians I generally adore, and which are supposed to be masterpieces, if you listen to the critics. Song X by Metheny and Bitches Brew by Miles Davis come to mind.
Then again, I think it was Julie Birchill , who was engaged by NME to enthuse about the Punk movement, but admitted afterwards to hating the music, she was paid to rave about.
I read that OK Computer was the equivalent of Dark Side of The Moon for that generation. So I bought it. Compete bollocks. Weedy vocals . Weedy sounding songs. Glad I’m not of that generation. Respect their stance/politics, but the music is far too thin for me. Good luck to those who like it.
What was that Jerry Garcia line? Our music is kind of like licorice - not everyone likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice?
