Radiohead are an English rock band.
Initially formed in Oxfordshire in 1986, the band's lineup, which has remained the same
since their inception, consists of Thom Yorke, Jonny
Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood and
Phil Selway.
Radiohead released their first single, "Creep", in 1992, followed by their debut album Pablo
Honey (1993). Though it was initially unsuccessful, the song became a worldwide hit by the time it was re-issued a year later. Radiohead's popularity in the United Kingdom increased with their second album, The Bends
(1995). The band's dense guitar atmospheres and Yorke's expressive falsetto singing were warmly received by critics and fans alike.[1] Radiohead's third album, OK
Computer (1997), propelled them to greater attention. Featuring an expansive sound and themes of modern
alienation, it was acclaimed worldwide, often being named a landmark record of the
1990s.[2]
The band's next recordings, Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), saw Radiohead reach their peak of global popularity[3] even as their music divided fans and critics.[4] The period marked a change in the band's style, with influences including
experimental electronic music as well as Krautrock,
jazz and modern classical music.[5] Radiohead's shift away from standard rock
songwriting also resulted in greater flexibility, with each member playing a wider range of instruments in the studio and at live
concerts. The band's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), was seen to blend
styles from throughout their career, mixing guitar-driven rock, electronic influences and contemporaneous lyrics.[6]
Radiohead recently released their seventh studio album In Rainbows through their
own website on October 10, 2007 as a digital download for which users may set their own price.[7] The band plan to issue In Rainbows as a standard CD in early
2008.[8]
History
Formation and first years: 1986–1991
Abingdon School, where the band formed.
The members of Radiohead all attended Abingdon School, a boys-only public school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.[9] Yorke and Colin Greenwood were in the same year,
O'Brien and Selway were one year above and Jonny Greenwood two years below. In 1986, they formed the band "On a Friday", the name
referring to the band's usual rehearsal day in the school's music room.[10] On a Friday played their first gig at Oxford's Jericho
Tavern in late 1986.[11] Jonny Greenwood
joined as a keyboard player but soon became the lead guitarist.[10]
Although Phil Selway, Thom Yorke, Colin Greenwood, and Ed O'Brien had left Abingdon by 1987 to attend university, the band
continued to rehearse often on weekends and holidays.[12] In 1991, when all the members except Jonny had completed their university degrees, On a Friday
regrouped, but briefly changed their name to "Shindig." The band recorded demos, including the Manic Hedgehog demo tape, performed live around Oxford and appeared on the cover of a local music
magazine Curfew.[13] Although Oxfordshire and the
Thames Valley had an active indie scene in the
late 1980s and early 1990s, it centred around shoegazing bands such as Ride and Slowdive. On a Friday were never seen as fitting this trend and
later commented that they had missed it by the time they returned from university.[14]
As On a Friday's number of live performances increased, record labels and producers became interested.[12] Chris Hufford, the co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, attended an
early On a Friday concert at the Jericho Tavern.[12] Impressed by the band, he and his partner Bryce Edge produced a demo tape and became On a
Friday's managers. Hufford and Edge remain Radiohead's managers to this day.[12] The band signed a six-album recording contract with EMI in late
1991, following a chance meeting between Colin Greenwood and label representative Keith
Wozencroft at the record shop where Greenwood worked.[12] At the request of the label, the band changed their name to Radiohead, inspired by the title of a
song on Talking Heads' True Stories
album.[12]
Pablo Honey, The Bends and early success: 1992–1995
Drill, Radiohead's debut EP, was
produced by Hufford and Edge at Courtyard Studios and released in March 1992. Its chart
performance was poor, and consequently the band hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, who had previously worked with the
Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., to produce their debut album,
Pablo Honey. The album was recorded in three weeks in an Oxford studio late in
1992.[10]
With the release of the single "Creep" in late 1992, the band began to receive
attention from the British music press, not all of it favourable. The NME described them as "a lily
livered excuse for a rock band,"[15] and the song was not
played on BBC Radio 1 because it was deemed "too depressing".[16] Radiohead released another single, "Anyone Can Play Guitar" in February 1993, followed closely by Pablo Honey later that
month. Neither did well commercially, especially Pablo Honey, which peaked at #32 in the UK[17] and is considered by critics and the band to be their weakest album.[18] A non-album single, "Pop is
Dead", and the last single from Pablo Honey, "Stop Whispering" followed
later that year; both of which also performed poorly commercially.
However, "Creep" unexpectedly built momentum in the United States, spreading from popularity in Israel[19] to a San Francisco college radio station.[12] By the time Radiohead began their first United States tour in early 1993, "Creep" was in heavy
rotation on MTV.[20] The
song rose to #2 on the Billboard modern rock charts and to #7 in the UK singles chart
when rereleased later that year. Radiohead nearly broke up due to the pressure of sudden success as the Pablo Honey
supporting tour extended into its second year.[21] The
album continued to rise in popularity internationally, fuelled by "Creep", which remains Radiohead's largest worldwide
hit.[22] The band later said, however, that the
tour had been a miserable experience because towards its end they were "still playing the same songs that we'd recorded two years
previously...it was almost like being held in a time warp." [23]
After the American tour, Radiohead began work on their second album, hiring veteran Abbey
Road studios producer John Leckie. Tensions were high, as the band felt smothered
both by "Creep"'s success and the mounting expectations for a superior follow-up.[24] According to Leckie, "It was either going to be 'Sulk', 'The Bends', 'Nice
Dream', or 'Just'. We had to give those absolute attention, make them amazing, instant smash hits, number 1 in America. Everyone
was pulling their hair and saying, 'It's not good enough!' We were trying too hard".[25]
Audio samples of Radiohead
The band sought a change of scenery, touring Australasia and the Far East in an attempt
to reduce the pressure. However, confronted again by their new popularity, singer Thom Yorke felt discomfort at being "right at
the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle" he felt he was helping to sell.[4] The 1994 EP My Iron Lung, featuring the single of the same title, was the band's reaction, marking a transition to
the greater depth they aimed for on their second album.[26]
The single was promoted through underground radio stations; it sold better than expected, starting a loyal fan base for the
band.[27] Having developed the other new songs on
tour, Radiohead completed the album in the UK in late 1994, releasing The Bends in May
1995.
The enigmatic music video for Radiohead's 1995 "Just" contributed to the band's popularity throughout the UK.
While the Britpop scene dominated the media's attention, Radiohead finally earned success in
their home country with The Bends.[14] The
album was driven by dense riffs and ethereal atmospheres from the band's three guitarists, as well as greater use of
keyboards than their debut.[10] The singles "Fake Plastic Trees",
"Just", and "High and Dry", featuring Yorke's
expressive falsetto, achieved some chart success. Looking back in 1998, Jonny Greenwood said, "I think the turning point for us
came about nine or 12 months after The Bends was released and it started appearing in people's [best of] polls for the end
of the year. That's when it started to feel like we made the right choice about being a band, I think."[1] Yet major success for the album did not come until the release of the
final single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which hit #5 in the UK, the band's
highest chart position to that point.
In mid-1995, Radiohead toured in support of R.E.M., one of their formative influences
and at the time one of the biggest rock bands in the world.[28] Introducing his opening act, Michael Stipe said,
"Radiohead are so good, they scare me".[29] The buzz
generated by such famous fans, along with a series of distinctive music videos such as
"Just" and "Street Spirit", helped to expand Radiohead's popularity outside the UK.
Drummer Phil Selway said, "When The Bends came out everyone went on about how uncommercial that was. Twelve months
later it was being hailed as a pop classic. The record company were worried there wasn't a single on it- and we ended up with
five top 30 hits from it!"[30] However, while critically
acclaimed, the album and its singles failed to match the worldwide commercial success of "Creep".
OK Computer, fame and critical acclaim: 1996–1998
Yorke said that The Bends succeeded because Radiohead "had to put ourselves into an environment where we felt free to
work. And that's why we [produced] the next [album] ourselves, because the times we most got off on making the last record were
when we were just completely communicating with ourselves, and John Leckie wasn't really saying much, and it was just all
happening".[10]
One new song was already recorded: "Lucky", released as a single to promote
the War Child charity's The Help
Album. Radiohead also contributed two songs to Baz Luhrmann's 1996 adaptation of
Romeo and Juliet, "Talk Show
Host" and "Exit Music (For a Film)". The former was a remix of one of the
B-sides to "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", while the latter was a new song, eventually
included on the band's next album.
With the assistance of audio engineer Nigel
Godrich, their collaborator on "Lucky" and "Talk Show Host," Radiohead produced their next album themselves, beginning
work in early 1996. By July they had recorded four songs with Godrich at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, a converted
apple shed[31] in the countryside near Didcot, Oxfordshire. Having learned from The Bends, they decided to perfect the songs live, touring as an
opening act for Alanis Morissette, before completing the record. The rest of the album
was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's 15th-century mansion, St. Catherine's Court, near Bath.[32] The recording sessions were relaxed, with the band playing at all hours of the day, recording songs
in different rooms, and listening to The Beatles, DJ
Shadow, Ennio Morricone and Miles Davis for
inspiration.[1][10] The album was finished by the end of 1996, and by March 1997, it was
mixed and mastered.
Audio samples of Radiohead
Radiohead released OK Computer in 1997 to widespread critical acclaim.[10] Largely composed of melodic rock songs, the new
record also found Radiohead introducing more uncommon musical elements, experimenting with song structures, ambient noise and electronics.[33] The band
released "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police" and
"No Surprises" as singles, while planned single "Let
Down" had its release cancelled. OK Computer was the band's first #1 UK chart debut, eventually propelling
Radiohead to commercial success in many markets around the world. In the U.S., the album received the band's first
Grammy recognition, an award for Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year.
Yorke admitted that he was "actually amazed it [OK Computer] got the reaction it did. None of us fucking knew any more
whether it was good or bad. What really blew my head off was the fact that people got all the things, all the textures and the
sounds and the atmospheres we were trying to create."[34]
The release of OK Computer was followed by the "Against Demons" world tour. Grant
Gee, the director of the "No Surprises" video, accompanied and filmed the band on their tour. The results were released as
the 1998 "fly on the wall" documentary Meeting People Is Easy. The film portrays the band's disaffection with the music industry and
press that feted them, showing their burnout as they progressed from their first concert dates in mid-1997 to mid-1998, nearly a
year later.[10] During this time the band
released 7 Television Commercials, a compilation of music videos, and
two EPs which compiled B-sides from OK Computer.
Kid A, Amnesiac and a change in sound: 1999–2001
Exhausted by fame and on the verge of burning out following their 1997–1998 world tour, Radiohead were largely inactive during
the rest of 1998. The band's only public performance was at an Amnesty
International concert in Paris,[35] while in 1999
only Yorke and Jonny made an appearance at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in
Amsterdam. Yorke later admitted that during that period the band came close to splitting up, and that he had developed severe
depression: "New Year's Eve [1998] was one of the lowest points of my life... I felt
like I was going fucking crazy. Every time I picked up a guitar I just got the horrors. I would start writing a song, stop after
16 bars, hide it away in a drawer, look at it again, tear it up, destroy it."[5]
In early 1999, Radiohead began work on a follow-up to OK Computer. Although there was no longer any pressure or even a
deadline from their record label, tension during this period was high. The members all had different visions for the band's
future, and Yorke was still experiencing writer's block,[36] influencing him toward a more abstract, fragmented form of songwriting.[5] Eventually, all the members agreed on a new musical
direction, redefining their instrumental roles in the band.[37] For the first time the band recorded without considering live performance, secluding themselves
with producer Nigel Godrich in a series of different studios from Paris to Copenhagen to Gloucester, to their newly completed studio in Oxford. In the process, they
pared 40 newly recorded songs to the 30 which were ultimately released on their subsequent two albums and accompanying
B-sides.[38]
Rather than create a stylistic sequel to OK Computer, Radiohead's new tracks featured a minimalist and textured style with less overt guitar parts. The tracks also featured more diverse
instrumentation, going beyond the traditional rock setup of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards by including the ondes martenot, programmed electronic beats, strings and jazz horns. "The trick is to try and carry on doing things
that interest you, but not turn into some art-rock nonsense just for its own sake", Colin Greenwood said of the recording
sessions,[5] which were completed in April
2000, after nearly 18 months.
Kid A, released on October 2, 2000, was the first of two albums created from these recording sessions. Synthesised, cryptic and claustrophobic, the album stunned the music industry and much of Radiohead's fan
base with its departures from their past work and from pop conventions. Although the band did not release any singles from Kid
A, promos of "Optimistic" and "Idioteque"
received some radio play.[39] Instead of singles, a
series of "blips" or "antivideos" were created by directors Chris Bran and Shynola, together with the band's longtime artistic collaborator Stanley
Donwood, and distributed free over the Internet.[40] Yet Kid A achieved Radiohead's highest worldwide chart placement to
date, debuting at number 1 in many countries, including the United States. Its debut atop the Billboard chart, where OK Computer had peaked at #21, marked a first for the band, though the album
fell off the chart soon after.[41]
Radiohead's sudden commercial success has been variously attributed to hype; to the
availability of the entire album on the Internet file-sharing network Napster a few months
before its release;[42] and to anticipation after OK
Computer.[43]
Jonny Greenwood on
Saturday Night Live in 2000, using a
modular synthesizer,
an instrument that featured heavily in the recording of
Kid A and
Amnesiac.
In early 2001, Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year. Many critics branded Radiohead one of the world's most "important"
bands, and the record gained the band plaudits for courage and innovation.[44] However, Kid A did not inspire universal praise. Jonny Greenwood said, "I think a lot of
writers [critics] expected us to come back with a combination of OK Computer and The Bends. The fact that we didn't
do that means people who got their guitars out have had to put them back into the wardrobe."[45] Others criticised Radiohead for appropriating underground styles of music and unfairly receiving credit. The band's fans were similarly divided;
along with those who were appalled or mystified, there were many who saw Kid A as the band's best work.[46]
On previous tours, Radiohead had performed in large, corporate-sponsored venues, but had expressed their distaste for
them.[47] However, while promoting Kid A, the band
was inspired by Naomi Klein's anti-globalization
book No Logo to mount a tour of Europe in a custom-built tent free of advertising; the
band also performed a mere three concerts in North America, their first performances there in over two years, selling out smaller
theatres.[48] Along with songs from Kid A, the
band used the tour to perform unreleased songs that had been recorded at the same time as Kid A. [49] Having rejected the possibility of a double album before Kid A, Radiohead settled on the release of another album to contain the
remaining material.
Amnesiac, released in June 2001, comprised those additional tracks. Conceived by the
band as a complement to Kid A but also a distinct sequence of songs, Amnesiac saw Radiohead's sound coalesce into a
similar hybrid of electronic music and art rock,
though in contrast to Kid A it featured more direct jazz influence. The piano ballad
"Pyramid Song" was released as Radiohead's first single since 1997, hitting the UK top 5,
and the guitar single "Knives Out" followed. Although criticised for a lack of cohesion and
for being self-indulgent, Amnesiac was critically acclaimed and a commercial success.[50]
After Amnesiac's release, the band embarked on a world tour, visiting North America, Europe and Japan. They staged a
summer mini-festival in Oxford's South Park—their first hometown concert in years—featuring Beck,
Sigur Rós, Supergrass, and Humphrey Lyttelton, who played trumpet on the last track of
Amnesiac, "Life in a Glasshouse". "I Might Be Wrong," initially planned as a third single, expanded into the band's first
and thus far only live record. Released in late 2001, I Might Be Wrong: Live
Recordings featured performances of Kid A and Amnesiac songs from various international concerts, and an
acoustic performance of the previously unreleased "True Love Waits".
Hail to the Thief and a hiatus: 2002–2004
Several months after the Amnesiac tour, Radiohead toured Portugal and
Spain during July and August 2002, using this opportunity to play new songs before an audience of
their fans. The band then completed the album in two weeks in a Los Angeles
studio with Nigel Godrich, with a few additional recordings done later in Oxford. Band
members described the recording process as relaxed, in contrast to the tense Kid A/Amnesiac sessions.[9]
Radiohead released their sixth album, Hail to the Thief, in June 2003. Upon
its release, Hail to the Thief was noted for having a mix of influences from throughout Radiohead's career, combining
guitar rock with an electronic sound and topical lyrics.[6] Although the album received many positive reviews, some critics felt that the band was treading
water creatively rather than continuing the "genre-redefining" trend that OK Computer had begun.[51] Regardless, Hail to the Thief sold more copies in its first week
than its predecessors, Kid A and Amnesiac, though its overall sales to date have not matched those of Kid
A.[52]
Hail to the Thief had more moderate commercial success in the U.S., debuting at #3 on the Billboard chart with the
band's highest first week sales to date, but falling off soon after. The album's lead single, "There There", peaked at #4 in the British charts, while subsequent singles "Go
to Sleep" and "[[2 + 2 = 5 (song)|2+2=5]]" charted at #12 and #15 respectively. "There There", however, was a #1 hit in
Canada, and returned the band to U.S. modern rock radio favour, after several years without
a song on playlists. At the Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Album, Radiohead's fifth straight nomination in that
category. Producer Godrich received the Grammy Award for
Best Engineered Album.
Although Hail to the Thief's title was assumed to be a comment on the controversial 2000 American presidential election, Yorke has denied this, explaining that he
first heard the phrase during a Radio 4 discussion of John Quincy Adams, "who stole the election and who was known as 'The Thief' throughout his
presidency".[9] Yorke explained that the album
was influenced by world events of late 2001 and early 2002, but he also said, "It struck me as the most amazing, powerful
phrase...[but] I feel really strongly that we didn't write an [exclusively] protest record, we didn't write a political
record."[9]
After the release of Hail to the Thief, Radiohead embarked on an international tour, which began with a June 2003
headlining performance at the Glastonbury Festival, and finished in mid-2004 with a
performance at the Coachella Festival. In 2004, the band
released their latest EP COM LAG (2plus2isfive) which compiled most of the
b-sides from Hail to the Thief, fulfilling their contractual obligations to EMI. Following the tour, the band began
writing and rehearsing in their Oxford studio, but soon went on hiatus, as both
