Radiohead Quiz: Guess the Song & Test Your Trivia

A Radiohead quiz turns on a question casual fans never expect: is this even a guitar band? Guess the Radiohead song from the guitar hits 'Creep', 'Karma Police', 'Fake Plastic Trees' and 'High and Dry', then test your trivia on the Kid A turn to synths and loops, where 'Idioteque' and 'The National Anthem' throw anyone waiting for a riff. Thom Yorke's falsetto ties 'No Surprises' to 'Pyramid Song'. Cross the OK Computer peak and the In Rainbows blend to see how well you really know Radiohead.

Main genreRock (alternative rock, art rock)

ActiveSince 1985 (1990s, 2000s)

Best-known songs to guessCreep, Karma Police, No Surprises, Fake Plastic Trees, Paranoid Android

Deep cuts fans missWeird Fishes/Arpeggi, Reckoner, Pyramid Song, Nude, Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Eras in the quiz90s guitar rock (The Bends, OK Computer), the Kid A electronic turn, the In Rainbows blend

MembersThom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway

Signature tellThom Yorke's falsetto; Jonny Greenwood's guitar and ondes Martenot

Related artistsColdplay, David Bowie, Nirvana

Quiz difficultyGentle on the singles, tough once the guitars vanish

Start your solo quiz

Name as many tracks as you can from short audio clips. The faster you answer, the more you score.

10 questions4 answers each

Guess the Radiohead Song: Guitars or Machines

The guitar tracks are the giveaways here: a clear riff, a big chorus, a hook you can hum. Save your doubt for the programmed songs, where the usual Radiohead signposts disappear.

Creep

Karma Police

No Surprises

Fake Plastic Trees

Paranoid Android

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Reckoner

Pyramid Song

Radiohead Trivia: Behind the Reinventions

A few details separate the people who know the band from the people who know the songs: a name borrowed from Talking Heads, a record fans priced themselves, a guitarist scoring Hollywood films.

✦For Kid A in 2000, Radiohead largely set aside guitars for synthesizers, a drum machine and the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument Jonny Greenwood plays on stage.

✦The five members met at Abingdon School near Oxford and first played as On a Friday, taking the name Radiohead from a Talking Heads song.

✦In 2007 the band put out 'In Rainbows' as a pay-what-you-want download, letting listeners set their own price before any shop had it.

✦'Paranoid Android' runs past six minutes and moves through three separate sections, which is why it is often likened to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

✦Jonny Greenwood scored the films 'There Will Be Blood' and 'The Power of the Dog', and the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

How Well Do You Know Radiohead's Two Eras?

Work through the band in four tiers. The guitar anthems come first, then the electronic tracks that fool people, the buried album cuts, and finally the falsetto that names a song when nothing else will.

The guitar hits everyone gets right

Begin with the radio songs. 'Creep', 'Karma Police', 'No Surprises', 'Fake Plastic Trees' and 'High and Dry' are guitar-driven and instantly Radiohead, the ones most players name before the first verse ends. If a clip has a clear riff and a big chorus, it usually lives here.

The electronic turn that fools people

Kid A and Amnesiac are where the guessing gets hard. 'Everything in Its Right Place', 'Idioteque', 'The National Anthem' and 'Pyramid Song' swap guitars for synths, loops and the ondes Martenot. Anyone waiting for a rock riff freezes, because these tracks sound almost nothing like 'Creep'.

The album cuts that sort out superfans

Past the singles, the album cuts decide the winners: the guitar arpeggios of 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi', the loping 'Reckoner', the fragile 'Nude', the closing 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)' and the shape-shifting '2+2=5'. Call one of these correctly and you are well into superfan territory.

The Thom Yorke voice as your one clue

When the instruments give nothing away, the voice does. Thom Yorke's high, wavering falsetto ties 'No Surprises' to 'Pyramid Song', and it is often the fastest way to call a track. His work with Atoms for Peace and the solo album 'The Eraser' are the outliers a deep round slips in.

Radiohead Quiz FAQ

What makes the Radiohead quiz tricky?

The band changed its own sound. The early songs are guitar rock, but the Kid A and Amnesiac tracks run on synths and loops, so the hardest question is often whether you are even hearing the same band.

Which Radiohead songs should you expect?

You will hear the guitar hits, 'Creep', 'Karma Police', 'Paranoid Android' and 'No Surprises', next to electronic-era cuts like 'Idioteque' and 'Everything in Its Right Place' that sort the die-hards from the rest.

How do you recognize a Radiohead song fast?

Listen for Thom Yorke's high falsetto. When the arrangement gives nothing away, from a short clip the voice is usually the quickest tell, from 'No Surprises' to 'Pyramid Song'.

Can you score a perfect round on Radiohead?

A perfect round needs the electronic era, not just the singles. If you can place 'Idioteque' or 'The National Anthem' the moment they start, you are in rare company.

Who is in Radiohead and where are they from?

Radiohead is Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. The same five have played together since 1985, when they met at school in Abingdon near Oxford, England.

Is the Radiohead quiz free?

Yes. Radiohead quizzes are free, run in your browser, and need no account or Spotify login. Pick a mode and start playing.

📚 Sources & methodology

Sources consulted

Wikipedia · AllMusic · Pitchfork · Billboard · Songtrivia editorial team.

Our methodology

Each topic is curated by a Quiz Master with category expertise. Selection crosses cultural impact, chart performance, recognition potential and era variety.