Radiohead top 25-year album chart

Radiohead's experimental OK Computer has been named the greatest album of the past quarter century by music fans.

The 1997 release - containing singles such as Paranoid Android and Karma Police - fended off albums by Nirvana and Oasis to top the list of greats.

Radiohead's third album was chosen by readers of Q magazine, who were asked to name the best album released in the past 25 years.

The band also took three other places in the top 30 - compiled to mark 25 years of the magazine - with The Bends at eight, Kid A at 18 and In Rainbows at 23.

OK Computer saw the group, which originally formed in Oxford in 1985, toying with "prog rock"-style suites, in contrast to more straightforward guitar rock they had recorded until then.

The band also used unusual time signatures, including one on the track Let Down in which guitarist Jonny Greenwood is playing in a different time to the rest of his band.

The poll shows the album has had considerable staying power in Q readers' affections. They voted it the finest release of all time 12 years ago.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMAGES OF RADIOHEAD

The list, to be published in the February edition on sale on December 29, sees Nirvana's worldwide hit Nevermind in second place, with Oasis taking the next two positions. Their debut Definitely Maybe was third, while (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was fourth.

U2 also managed a pair of albums in the top 10, with The Joshua Tree at six and Achtung Baby at nine.

In the entire top 250 albums listed by the magazine, U2 have the largest total of releases, while Radiohead have six. Muse and Oasis have five each.

Take That, recently cover stars for Q, were at 240 with Beautiful World and the recently rejoined Robbie Williams has one entry with I've Been Expecting You at 223.

Paul Rees, Q's editor-in-chief, said: "In the 13 years since its release, OK Computer's appeal to Q and its readers has grown exponentially.

"We originally hailed it as a masterpiece and, a rarity this, that isn't an opinion that we've even considered modifying ever since.

"As this readers' poll testifies, our readers see it as the benchmark against which all other album are and continue to judged against in Q's lifetime."