“Subterranean Homesick Alien” by Radiohead

Tucked into OK Computer in 1997, "Subterranean Homesick Alien" takes its title from Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and its point of view from a poem Thom Yorke wrote in college, picturing himself as an alien studying the human race. Another spark came when Yorke hit a bird on the drive home. It began as "Uptight", a folky acoustic piece for Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, with Greenwood writing the intro, chorus and outro and Yorke the verses.

By the time Radiohead and Nigel Godrich produced it, the song was floating on electric keyboards meant to conjure Miles Davis's Bitches Brew: Yorke on Fender Rhodes, Greenwood's guitar run through effects pedals, glockenspiel and Mellotron glinting at the edges, and Philip Selway's drums keeping the whole thing just barely earthbound.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.