10 Best Non-Rock Songs By Rock Artists

Radiohead was poised to be the next great arena rock band of the '90s. Ever since U2 ended up embarrassing themselves in the back half of the decade, these depressive introverts' magnum opus OK Computer made them global superstars, with Thom Yorke being heralded as the next rock god.

Just when you thought something even more rocking was on the rise, Yorke broke out the sequencers and started all over again.

Across its runtime, Kid A was one of the most blunt switch-ups any band could have made, with Idioteque being the most drastic change towards weirdness. Instead of the sad acoustic guitars and solo freakouts of OK Computer, this song relied on a sampler and lyrics that almost sounded disassociated with each other from one bar to the next.

For all its inherent weirdness, this is one of the few times where the quirkiness turned into the song's greatest strength.

While most Radiohead songs sounded depressing already, the cold chill of the electronic noise makes it literally sound like a nuclear winter happening right before your ears.

I mean, the most intense part of the song isn't even with a big buildup, instead opting for Thom's vocal to take over with only a shaker accompaniment. Idioteque may not have fit into a neat box at the time, but creative risks like this is why we're still talking about Radiohead today.