“Best” is completely subjective. One can declare a song to be the best based on any number of criteria, however, my choices tend to be the songs that inspire the greatest emotional response within me.
My answer to this question changes regularly. So I’ll give the Radiohead song that has been #1 for longest on my list. And that song is…
Fake Plastic Trees
I got one of Christopher O’Riley’s Radiohead CDs a while ago - maybe my last birthday - and I just started listening to it in earnest yesterday. Has anybody else here heard Polyethylene? I’ve only heard his version of it, but that’s up there with the most beautiful melodies I’ve heard. I’ll have to see if I can get any of the singles it’s on.
Paranoid Android; I don’t really see how there can be any debating this. It’s about 20X better than any other Radiohead song, and up there in the top 10 rock songs of all time.
Pardon my excessive verbosity for a moment, if you will…
I own everything Radiohead ever released. That includes the impossible-to-get songs from the 10-disc collection of B-sides, as well as all live versions I’ve been able to find listed anywhere (official sites for such things being rare). I’ve memorized every one of those to which I can even partially comprehend the lyrics (Thom does have an interesting singing style, no?), and the instrumentation for each. This is a level of study the intensity of which is matched only by my knowledge of the works of one other group (I ain’t sayin’ it). Call it sad if you must, and you probably must, but at the very least I do believe this qualifies me for the position of “Radiohead fan”. If I’m wrong, let me know.
Now then. Speaking from that position:Creep sucks. My apologies. Not for thinking it sucks, because it does, but for my complete lack of caring about how blasted I’m going to get for saying that it sucks, because it does. It’s simplistic, whiny, discombobulated, wholly uninteresting, and is despised not just by me, but, oddly enough, by the band themselves. That may be because of its elevating them to “pop star” status, which they did not request and (if you believe the interviews) did not want. Then again, it may also be because the song sucks. I tend to favor the latter.
Moving onward…best song Radiohead ever did, in terms of overall song goodness (meaning, best combination of those elements which comprise what I would term a “good song”)? Let Down. My favorite song? Varies, but in general, Dollars and Cents. Song I would most recommend to nonfans? Fake Plastic Trees. Best album? Kid A.
You didn’t ask, but I gave it to you anyway. I’m generous like that. 
Eh. I don’t hate it, but I don’t think it belongs on this list. I do see where you’re coming from.
I find it interesting that the very best part of Creep – the guitar crunches – were apparently Jonny’s attempts to ruin the song.
Creep’s not anywhere near their greatest work, but if you’ve ever seen them perform it… well, let me just say this: at that moment, I don’t care how simplistic the songwriting is, or how cliche the lyrics are… that is one song that works DAMN well live. Thom’s howling during the bridge alone was worth the price of admission.
Anyway, back on topic: I can’t choose just one, either- even from within a single album. My favorite track(s) tend to vary with my mood, and that simply changes too often. That said, here are my consistent favorites (with “Paranoid Android” topping the overall list):
**Pablo Honey: **Lurgee, You
The Bends: Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit (Fade Out)
OK Computer: oh God, every song on this one… ummm… Paranoid Android, Let Down, and Airbag if you forced me to choose.
Kid A: How to Disappear Completely (one of the most beautiful “sad songs” ever written), Motion Picture Soundtrack
Amnesiac: Pyramid Song, You And Whose Army
Hail to the Thief: A Wolf at the Door, There There
I can’t decide, but my favorite from Pablo Honey is one that no one else mentioned, “Stop Whispering”.
Another vote for Paranoid Android.
Well, actually, on their last tour (of which I attended three shows), they performed Creep regularly and even said at one point, “We like this song now.” Creep is by no means the best song in their catalog, but it makes for a good sing-along and that first guitar thrash by Jonny rips through you like a bullet if you’re close enough to the stage. Very powerful.
The song that got me hooked on Radiohead (how hooked? I have a grinning bear logo on my right calf), the song I practically wore out my stereo in college listening to, was Fake Plastic Trees. It is a simply transcendant song, and I totally believe the story that Thom broke down in tears the first time he heard it played back. To this day, I still sort of lose awareness of the outside world when I hear that song, particularly the last two minutes.
So, I’d probably have to pick that for best song. But Paranoid Android, Letdown, Street Spirit (Fade Out), Idioteque, How to Disappear Completely, and 2 + 2 = 5 are all tied for a close no. 2. And like other people who have posted here, often my favorite song (and album) is just the one I’m listening to at the moment.
Really, the answer has to be “Paranoid Android.” Just like the answer to the question “What is Led Zepplin’s single greatest song?” has to be “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s a cliche because it’s true.
I’ve always been partial to “Planet Telex” and “My Iron Lung,” myself. And “I Might Be Wrong” because I’ve got this kickin’ live version from the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands in 2001 on my hard drive which, as far as you know, I acquired through perfectly legal means. Also, the sublime “Subterrainian Homesick Alien” hasn’t been mentioned yet, which probably has the best lyrics Thom York ever wrote. Nor has “Optomistic”, which proves that their best-kept secret is their excellent rythmn section. And what came on my iTunes as I was about to hit post? “The Bends”.
Wow, this is way hard.
I think I just have to pick a few of my favorites, regardless of whether or not I think they are the ‘best’ or most representative of Radiohead’s sound:
Airbag, Sail to the Moon, Karma Police, Idiotheque, Myxomatosis, Fake Plastic Trees
And I have to add Airbag and Polyethylene Pt. 2 to the list, even though both have already been mentioned, because they’re just that good. How the latter of those two didn’t make it onto OK Computer is a mystery to me. I think it’s a better b-side than Talk Show Host, a song that, honestly, I never got why it was such a big deal.
[HIJACK] Right. Except that Led Zeppelin’s best song is “Ramble On” or possibly “The Ocean”. I would even put “Bron Yr Aur” over Stairway. Stairway is Zeppelin’s “Creep”. [/HIJACK]
My pick? Paranoid Android.
As a big Zeppelin fan, I’d have to second that, except I’d put “Achilles’ Last Stand” up there instead of “The Ocean.”
Just
Hijack: Did you catch a pared-down version of Exit Music (for a film) in the Diane Lane/Richard Gere film Unfaithful?
I have to be dull and say “Paranoid Android”, followed closely by “Fake Plastic Trees”.
I’m surprised by the love for “Let Down”; it’s one of my least favorite tracks on OKC.
Paranoid Android for me.
It’s like some sort of battlefield opera. Very menacing but with a black humour. Like a Shakespeare tragedy in the last act.
And you can’t beat the lyrics
When I am king you will be first against the wall
With your opinions which are of no consequence at all…ambition makes you look very ugly