“The best band in the world”: Björk’s complicated love of Radiohead
The 1990s gave us some of the most groundbreaking artists of the 20th century, such as Björk and Radiohead, both of whom released their debut albums in 1993. In fact, the decade saw them mirror each other’s release schedules, with Post and The Bends coming out in 1995, before their third albums, Homogenic and OK Computer, which were both era-defining, emerging in 1997.
You can compare Björk and Radiohead’s rise to prominence in many ways. Both started to become more experimental as the years progressed, reaching their experimental peaks as they entered the 2000s. They’ve also taken inspiration from similar artists, like Aphex Twin, incorporating genres like ambient and jazz into their respective sounds. Still, you can hardly say that Björk and Radiohead’s music sounds particularly similar, with the latter sitting more firmly in the alternative rock realm, while Björk exists in a wholly avant-garde world of her own.
There have been several occasions, however, where Björk and Radiohead’s frontman Thom Yorke have collaborated, with Yorke providing backing vocals on ‘I’ve Seen It All’ and ‘Náttúra’. He’s even called Björk’s song ‘Unravel’ from Homogenic one of his all-time favourite pieces of music. “I think it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard,” he once said.
It seems as though both Yorke and Björk have a strong sense of admiration for each other’s work, although, in a 2004 interview with Mojo, the latter revealed that she thinks Yorke is a better musician than his Radiohead bandmates. Although she called them “the best band in the world,” she had many criticisms. She explained that she had recently caught Radiohead live for the first time, and “they were spectacular,” but she kept “wanting to throw the guitars away.”
“There are always these dank guitarists doing the last, ‘No, one more solo please!’ It’s morbid necrophilia to me,” she explained. It seems as though Björk is less impressed by Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood’s guitar contributions to the band, preferring when they work with other instruments, like synthesisers, keys, and, in Greenwood’s case especially, anything from an Ondes Martenot to the harp. “They’re the last people I should be criticising, at least they’re trying. But for me, it’s mostly Thom,” she explained.
While Björk is right in praising Yorke’s incredible musical abilities, it feels wholly unfair to discard everything that the others have contributed to the band. Each member brings something highly valuable to Radiohead, resulting in a discography that contains everything from anthemic rock classics to experimental synth-led pieces. She continued to highlight her admiration for Yorke’s talents, adding, “I don’t know anybody like him, maybe Joni Mitchell, when there’s this depth. It’s like forever. Maybe he needs those guitars to struggle against. To keep those corpses alive!”
It seems like there’s a real kinship between Björk and Yorke, with the latter having admitted that the Icelandic singer has had a significant impact on his approach to music. Listen to songs on Kid A, Radiohead’s first proper foray into electronic-based music, and Björk’s influence is blindingly obvious.
