Over their nearly 25-year career, Radiohead has written some monumentally depressing songs. Who’s never shed a tear to “Creep,” or mourned a lost crush to “Thinking About You?” But, out of the many depressing songs in the Radiohead canon, which ones are most likely to leave you weeping?
10. “Climbing Up the Walls”
Many Radiohead songs have described one-sided feelings of romantic love, but this song goes deeper, told from the point of view of a stalker who might be homicidal. This is what would happen if the narrators of “Creep” or “There There” completely lost their minds.
Key line: “I am the pick in the ice / do not cry out or hit the alarm / you know we’re friends ’til we die”
9. “Fake Plastic Trees”
One of Radiohead’s best-known songs, this one describes a woman who “lives with a broken man / a cracked polystyrene man” and is stuck in an empty, meaningless life. This song seems to describe a misery that goes undiscussed; someone has abandoned their hopes and dreams, and has resigned themselves to their mediocre, uninspiring life.
Key line: She looks like the real thing / she tastes like the real thing / my fake plastic love”
8. “Bulletproof… I Wish I Was”
This one is fairly self-explanatory. Who hasn’t felt crushed by the weight of their mortality, and wished it wasn’t so easy to be hurt? This was as universal a sentiment as the band ever recorded.
Key line: “Every day / every hour / I wish that I / was bulletproof”
7. “Nude”
Radiohead’s only other top 40 song besides “Creep,” and, like that one, it’s quite gloomy. Much like “No Surprises,” it’s a song describing a world where nothing special happens, and you’re better off not getting your hopes up. Most of Radiohead’s mopier songs came from their early years, but this track from In Rainbows showed that Thom Yorke was still capable of writing songs that left you emotionally devastated.
Key line: “Don’t get any / big ideas / they’re not gonna happen”
6. “Creep”
Yes, we all know this one, but its initial impact is impossible to deny. It’s the perfect soundtrack to that sad, pathetic crush on a girl who wants nothing to do with you. It’s easy to forget about this song when considering Radiohead’s other, more sophisticated work, but it’s held up surprisingly well over the years, and it’s as strong of an ode to awkwardness and self-doubt as you’ll ever hear.
Key line: “You’re so f*cking special / I wish I was special / but I’m a creep”
5. “No Surprises”
This is the sound of someone who is utterly defeated by life, who has given up on gaining any great reward for their existence, and has nothing to hope for other than things not being ruined any more than they already are. Only when too many unpleasant twists and turns have left us cold and desperate do we long for the safety and conformity that our narrator speaks of here.
Key line: “I’ll take a quiet life / with a handshake / some carbon monoxide / and no alarms and no surprises”
4. “Thinking About You”
You may think “Creep” is the saddest song on Pablo Honey, but anyone who’s heard this weeper would beg to differ. The song discusses an ex-girlfriend who has gone on to a better life, while our narrator is “playing with” himself. Thom Yorke probably wouldn’t have written a lyric like that in his later years, but this song is remarkable in its directness.
Key line: “Why should you care / when the other men are far, far better”
3. “Exit Music (For a Film)”
This song was written for the soundtrack to 1996’s Romeo & Juliet, and the lyrics seem to retell the story, describing two lovers who go on the run. Naturally, things don’t seem to go to well. Unlike the original story, we’re not specifically told the fates of our characters here, but the lonely, desperate feeling of the lyrics tell us that the star-crossed lovers Thom Yorke is singing about don’t meet a particularly encouraging fate.
Key line: “Now / we are one / in everlasting peace / we hope that you choke / that you choke”
2. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
It’s a protest song against environmental destruction, but it could just as soon be an ode to personal loneliness and depression. You could argue that the guitar tone that appears throughout this song is sadder than any of the actual lyrics (the same could be said of Weezer’s “Only in Dreams” and the Pixies “Where Is My Mind?”), but it’s hard to listen to this one and not feel utterly miserable either way.
Key line: “Cracked eggs dead birds /scream as they fight for life / I can feel death / can see its beady eyes”
1. “How to Disappear Completely”
A song about being so miserable you just want to escape into the void, into the nothingness, having never been part of this universe to begin with. The quiet acoustic guitar and atmospheric synths do a great job bringing the lonely, desolate lyrics to life. This song makes you feel like you’re floating in space by yourself, as far from humanity as possible.
Key line: “I’m not here / this isn’t happening”
