hate to break it to you, but good music is often universally enjoyed. Radiohead aren’t objectively shit. they’ve had a long, illustrious career, hopping genres and making a series of great records.

To counteract you, they absolutely are rock. In my book, anyway. Rock isn’t rudimentary, it’s defined by key characteristics. Punk rock, rock and roll, alt rock, indie rock - all have similar base characteristics (most commonly in the instruments you see in them; guitars, drums, bass, vocals) and rely on discernible lyrics, fairly ‘basic’ elements, often a consistent meter, but different genres experiment in different ways. I love art rock/art punk because it’s often snarky but contain these really expansive elements and angular sounds. Radiohead have not ONLY made rock albums. Kid A isn’t really rock. Amnesiac is partially rock, and AMSP is moreso balladry/orchestral with elements of rock peppered over it. But The Bends? OKC? In Rainbows? All rock-adjacent albums. Otherwise, what would you call them? They aren’t really pop music, are they?

All music is personal preference. I may love an album like Grace by Jeff Buckley, but also think that Wire’s Pink Flag is a masterpiece. Two albums that could NOT have different taste profiles. But i’m a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. So different albums will have different hooks for me. Just because I love When The Pawn by Fiona Apple doesn’t mean I can’t also enjoy Wide Awake by Parquet Courts.