The band Daniel Radcliffe thinks should have soundtracked ‘Harry Potter’
When thinking of Daniel Radcliffe, the first thing that springs to mind is Harry Potter. The living embodiment of the ‘boy who lived’, Radcliffe is inseparable from J.K. Rowling’s character thanks to the wildly successful film franchise he starred in, which spawned eight movies between 2001 and 2011. Over the years, Radcliffe has clarified that his relationship with the Harry Potter franchise is complicated and that he is much more than the saviour of the wizarding world that many know him as.
Since then, the English actor has starred in various roles that display the broad scope of his dramatic aptitude in an attempt to consign Potter to his past. He’s undertaken the Beat author Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, featured in the angsty mystery Horns, played Manny in the Daniel’s surreal comedy Swiss Army Man and most recently, starred as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the 2022 biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Radcliffe is much more than Harry Potter, and he’s done a resounding job of showing this.
If it wasn’t already clear, there are many sides to Daniel Radcliffe. When he was 19 and still filming the Harry Potter films, he revealed his great music taste by naming the band he thought should’ve soundtracked the wizarding movies. His pick to have scored the films would have been Oxford’s Radiohead. He asserted that their eclectic sound was perfect for Harry Potter‘s themes and the eponymous character’s intense emotions.
Radcliffe made the comments when speaking to the Daily Record in 2009, as filming on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was underway. “If you asked people what band they associated with Harry Potter, Radiohead wouldn’t be the first that sprang to mind, but funnily enough Radiohead’s albums could soundtrack the films,” he told the publication. “They’re so appropriate to the movies and to Harry’s emotions that it’s almost uncanny.”
Radcliffe then turned his attention to the character’s “very specific type of darkness,” for which he believed Radiohead’s albums OK Computer and Amnesiac were ideal. He then name-checked a pair of other British bands known for their moody sonics. He continued: “Harry’s darkness is a very specific type of darkness and it’s Radiohead’s OK Computer or Amnesiac, and it’s Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible and Hope of the States, The Lost Riots and it’s stuff like that.”
“It’s kind of angry and epic. It’s angry in the sense that your life is beyond your control and you are in the middle of this maelstrom of politics and power,” Radcliffe concluded. “You have no control over that, and that’s where part of Harry’s anger comes from.”
Radiohead soundtracking Harry Potter is an interesting choice, and it’s not too far-fetched, either. Both guitarist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway feature in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as members of the band Weird Sisters.
