It's only fitting for an underdog like Radiohead to win this category. It was a packed Venus de Milo that first witnessed songwriter/vocalist Thom Yorke's stage histrionics when Radiohead opened their debut US performance in Boston in the summer of 1993. At that point, all we knew about Yorke was that he was "so fucking special."

On The Bends (Capitol), the English band's sophomore outing, it became apparent that Radiohead were not just a one-album wonder. Pablo Honey, from 1993, with its overplayed hit "Creep" (though still more affecting than TLC's similarly titled hit), was the pop masterpiece that nobody ever heard. The Bends was supposed to be the one that everyone heard. In a perfect world, maybe -- and maybe still, as it slowly continues its four-month climb up the charts. Yorke knows not only how to wrap his falsetto around lavish guitar melodies, but also how to pull back and let the band rip into a passage of lush distortion unadorned by vocals. Radiohead's always been beautiful and ugly at the same time, but it is specifically that quality that allows it to rise above the rabble.

-- Andrew Strickman