David Gilmour is one of the most unique and influential British musicians of all time and alongside Richard Wright, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, created some of the most acclaimed albums in the history of music. Their work consistently pushed artistic boundaries and remains an inspiration to countless artists around the world.
Although Gilmour was primarily influenced by the artists he grew up listening to, he continued to pay attention to the evolving music scene throughout his career. Over the decades, he has shared his opinions on many successful British bands, including Radiohead.
What is David Gilmour’s opinion on Radiohead
David Gilmour is a fan of Radiohead and even went to see them in London in 2025 during their comeback tour and was spotted by fans. He has been praising the band since the 90s, when he said they were really good and that he was a bigger fan of “The Bends” (1995) when compared to “Ok Computer” (1997). “I’m a fan of Radiohead. They’re really good. Actually, I prefer the one before. What’s that one called? ‘The Bends,’ that’s right,” he told Q magazine in 1999.
When asked if there were any bands who had taken on Pink Floyd‘s “music mantle”, Gilmour mentioned them. “I don’t know about taking the mantle. But there are a lot of people who have tried very hard to move music into a different direction and take it their own way. There’s Radiohead, obviously,” he said in an interview with Billboard in 2006.
However, Gilmour already had stated that he thought Radiohead shouldn’t be compared with Pink Floyd. For him, they deserved to be essentially them and not be compared with other bands. “When people say they hear Pink Floyd in a group like Radiohead, I don’t really see it,” he says. “It must be a burden for those poor boys being referred to as the next Pink Floyd. They deserve to be their own Radiohead.”
David Gilmour continued:
“I think we’ve always stood out in our own category. I wasn’t a big fan of most of what you’d call Progressive Rock. I’m like Groucho Marx: I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me for a member. We’ve always plowed our own lonely furrow. Well, not so lonely, really (laughs) It’s been well worthwhile,” he told Rolling Stone in 2001.
Back then Gilmour said that he believed Radiohead was great and didn’t need Pink Floyd for “their own paths”. According to him, they were creating their “own tradition” as a band.
David Gilmour is a fan of Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood
David Gilmour is a fan and a friend of Radiohead’s guitarist and cofounder Jonny Greenwood and he even posted a photo with him on his social media in 2025. They were both part of the Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Awards and Gilmour was there to receive an award for his contributions to music.
The event happened in July and raised more than £715.000 for Nordoff and Robbins, which is United Kingdom’s largest music therapy charity. It was Jonny who gave him the award on stage. After receiving it, Gilmour said: “My relationship with them goes back 50 years. Thank you to them for this award and for the miraculous work they do, and have done since then.”
Greenwood is a big fan of Gilmour and Pink Floyd, and his brother Colin (Radiohead’s bassist) recalled how Jonny used to make the band watch the famous “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii” because he believed that was how they should record music videos.
“Jonny made us all watch ‘Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii’.(He) said: ‘Now this is how we should do videos’ (he said grinning). I just remember seeing Dave Gilmour sitting on his arse playing guitar and Roger Waters with long greasy hair, sandals and dusty flares, staggers over and picks up this big beater and whacks this gong. Ridiculous,” he told Q magazine in 1997.
Roger Waters said he liked Radiohead but already called Thom Yorke a “prick”
Back in 2002, when asked in an interview with Rolling Stone if he liked Radiohead, Roger Waters praised them and said he really liked “OK Computer” (1997). “My son Harry gave me ‘OK Computer’. I really liked it. I thought it had two or three really great songs on it. Then a friend gave me a newish album with a red thing, I can’t even remember what it was called… Yeah, ‘Amnesiac’. That was beyond me, I have to say. I listened to it once in the car and went, ‘Well, OK, guys. Good, but you’ve left me.’ You know, where’s my Neil Young? Where’s my John Lennon album?’ Roger Waters said.
However, as the decades passed, Roger became increasingly political, often campaigning in support of the causes he defends. During the past years, he has tried to convince many artists not to perform in Israel because of the conflict in Gaza. One of the bands he attempted to discourage from playing there was Radiohead (in 2017), whom he also criticized publicly. After making those negative comments about them, he had a conversation with Thom Yorke and referred to him as “a prick.”
Roger Waters said:
“I wrote a sort of email that went, ‘I’m sorry if you thought I was being confrontational. He wrote back and he said, ‘Normally, people on one side of an argument at least have the decency or the grace or the something to have a conversation.’ So then I wrote him back, and I said, ‘Thom, the people in BDS (the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement) have been trying to have a conversation with you for months!”And so have I!'”
“The guy’s a complete prick! I think he’s damaged. He’s very damaged. He’s obviously very, very deeply insecure. He obviously thinks he’s very bright but he’s not. So he can’t actually have a conversation,” Roger Waters told Abby Martin in 2024. At the time, Yorke said publicly that just because they were playing in a country did not mean they were endorsing its government. He used the United States as an example, explaining that they did not agree with the president’s ideas at the time.