Radiohead: Difference between revisions

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Oxfordshire, initially formed by school friends in 1985. Radiohead's first single "Creep", a song from their debut album Pablo Honey (1993), became an unexpected worldwide hit, at first branding Radiohead a one-hit wonder. However, the band caught on at home in the UK with their second album, The Bends (1995), earning fans with their dense guitar atmospheres and frontman Thom Yorke's expressive singing, often in falsetto. Radiohead's third album OK Computer (1997) propelled them to greater attention. Popular for its expansive sound and themes of modern alienation, it was acclaimed by critics as a landmark record of the 1990s.

Radiohead's original influences were alternative rock and post-punk bands such as R.E.M., The Smiths, Pixies, Magazine and Joy Division. With their albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), the band reached their peak global popularity even as their music became less conventional, turning towards influences in electronic music, experimental jazz and avant garde classical, ranging from Autechre and Can to Charles Mingus and Olivier Messiaen. Their latest album Hail to the Thief (2003) was also inspired by Neil Young and The Beatles, and was noted for its mix of guitars, electronic atmospheres and topical lyrics.

Although the band's recent albums have polarised listeners, Radiohead have often been praised as among the most creative musical groups of their era, drawing crowds to their concerts and influencing artists in many genres. Radiohead have enjoyed surprising commercial success for a band of "outsiders" but are seen by some to have maintained a spirit of musical and political independence despite recording for EMI, a major label. Radiohead are currently without a label, and are working on their seventh studio album, expected for release sometime in 2007.

Band members

• Thom Yorke – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, electronic programming
• Jonny Greenwood – lead guitar, keyboard, ondes martenot, analogue systems, string arrangements, various
• Ed O'Brien – guitar, backing vocals, effects, percussion
• Colin Greenwood – bass, synthesizers, sampler
• Phil Selway – drums, percussion

See sections Changing roles, Close collaborators and Solo work for more information.

History

(1985-1991) Formation and first years

Radiohead were initially formed in the mid-1980s at the Abingdon School, a boys-only public school located just outside the city of Oxford which all the bandmembers attended. They began practicing in the school's music room, which led to the formation of their first band On a Friday, so named because of their customary rehearsal date. The band played their first gig in September 1986, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern. Jonny was the youngest member, and played harmonica until he could persuade the others to allow him on guitar. However, he soon developed into the band's lead guitar player. On a Friday's early lineup was flexible, at one point including several girls on saxophone.

When the five band members left Oxford to attend university they temporarily paused activity in On a Friday, continuing to practice on holiday breaks, always planning to return to the band. After four years of inactivity in which all the members (except Jonny) finished their degrees, On a Friday began releasing demos (i.e. the Manic Hedgehog Demo) and performing live again in 1991. Their popularity in the region reached the point of their appearing on the cover of Curfew, a local music magazine. Though Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley had an active independent music scene in the late 80s and early 90s, it centred around shoegazing bands like Ride and Slowdive. Radiohead was not seen to fit into this trend, and commented that they had missed it when they returned from university.

As On a Friday's live bookings increased, record labels began to show interest in them. Eventually, the group signed a six-album recording contract with EMI, thanks to a chance meeting with a label representative in the record shop where Colin Greenwood worked. At the behest of the label, the band changed their name to Radiohead, after the title of a song on Talking Heads' True Stories album.

(1992-1995) Pablo Honey and The Bends

Radiohead's debut EP was produced by their managers Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, who both remain the band's managers to this day. However, shortly after releasing the Drill EP in March 1992, the band hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, known for their work with the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., to produce their first album. Radiohead's first album was recorded in three weeks in an Oxford studio in autumn 1992.

With the advance release of the single "Creep" in late 1992, the band began to receive interest from the British music press, not all of it favourable. One journalist called them "a lily livered excuse for a rock band," and the single was not played on Radio 1 for allegedly being "too depressing". The band subsequently released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1993. They began touring America, released the irreverent stand-alone single "Pop Is Dead" and then nearly broke up over the pressure of sudden success when "Creep" unexpectedly became a smash hit. Although representing a style from which the band would later move, songs like "Anyone Can Play Guitar," "Stop Whispering," "Thinking About You," and "You" also gained considerable popularity for their wall of guitar sound and heart-on-sleeve lyrics, causing Radiohead to be seen as an "English Nirvana." The Pablo Honey supporting tour moved into its second year, while the album continued to rise in popularity internationally, fuelled by "Creep," which still remains the band's largest worldwide hit.

After the tour had ended, Radiohead set to work on their second album. The hiring of veteran Abbey Road studios producer John Leckie (The Stone Roses, The Fall, Pink Floyd) contributed to the sound of the album. "The best part about working with John Leckie," Jonny recalls, "was that he didn't dictate anything to us. He allowed us to figure out what we wanted to do ourselves." Nevertheless, tensions were high as the band felt smothered by "Creep's" success and mounting expectations for a superior follow-up. Recalling these sessions, Leckie recounted: "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!"

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Four members of Radiohead in 1995's enigmatic music video for "Just".

The band responded by seeking a change of scenery, touring Australasia and the Far East in an attempt to relax the atmosphere. However, the band were once again confronted with their newfound popularity, and they began to feel discomfort at being "right at the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle thing that they're trying to sell to the rest of the world, make them aspire to". While unwinding at a bar in Thailand, Radiohead members witnessed the in-house band play a cover of "Creep", unaware who was in the audience. The 1994 EP My Iron Lung, featuring the single of the same title, was released while the band were touring and marked a transitional stage between the pop-rock of Pablo Honey and the musical depth of their second album; the caustic title song, recorded live, was the band's reaction to "Creep". Having developed the remainder of the new songs on the road, they returned to Britain and completed the album in a fortnight in late 1994, mixing and releasing The Bends in May 1995.

While a resurgent Britpop scene dominated the charts and the media's attention, Radiohead finally earned British success and won new fans with The Bends, an album driven by dense riffs and ethereal atmospheres from the band's three guitarists, particularly lead player Jonny Greenwood. Thom Yorke's expressive falsetto in the singles "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just," and "High and Dry" helped the band stay afloat in a sea of Britpop, and The Bends appeared in many end-of-year lists in 1995. Yet major success for the album did not come until the release of final single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which hit #5 in the UK.

In summer 1995, Radiohead toured with R.E.M., one of their strongest influences (and by then one of the biggest rock bands in the world). Introducing his opening act, Michael Stipe had said, "Radiohead are so good, they're scary". The buzz generated by such famous fans, along with a series of distinctive music videos such as "Just", helped to expand Radiohead's popularity outside the UK.

According to Phil Selway, "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!" However, while critically acclaimed, the album failed to match the worldwide commercial success of "Creep".

(1996-1998) OK Computer

Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke said that The Bends succeeded because "we had to put ourselves into an environment where we felt free to work. And that's why we want to produce the next one 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".

One new song was already recorded for the album: "Lucky", committed to tape in a day in September 1995 for 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)", the Bends single. The latter was a new song, to be included eventually on the band's next album.

With the assistance of their engineer Nigel Godrich (who had helped on The Bends and produced "Lucky" and "Talk Show Host") Radiohead produced their next album themselves, beginning work in early 1996. By July they had recorded four songs with coproducer Godrich at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, a converted apple shed near Didcot, Oxfordshire. They had hoped to stay away from traditional recording studios, fearing the bad vibes they'd previously set off in the band. Having learnt from The Bends, they decided to perfect the songs live, touring as an opening act for Alanis Morissette, before completing the record. The rest was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's 15th-century mansion in St. Catherine's Court near Bath. The recording sessions were relaxed, with the band playing at all hours of the day, recording songs in different rooms, and blasting DJ Shadow, Ennio Morricone and the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" through the house for inspiration. By the end of 1996 the album was finished and by February and March it was mixed and mastered.

Radiohead released OK Computer in the summer of 1997 to great critical acclaim. Largely composed of melodic rock songs, OK Computer also found Radiohead introducing more uncommon musical elements, experimenting with song structures, ambient noise and electronics. It included the singles "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "No Surprises" (as well as "Let Down," a planned single and fan favourite). OK Computer was the band's first #1 UK chart debut, eventually finding commercial success in many markets around the world. It received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, and a nomination for Album of the Year.

OK Computer was followed by a world tour, nicknamed "Against Demons," the band's biggest yet. Grant Gee, the director of the "No Surprises" video, accompanied the band on their tour and filmed it, which resulted in the "fly on the wall" documentary Meeting People Is Easy (released in 1999). Rather than stereotypical rock n' roll behaviour, the film depicted the band's disaffection with the music industry and press that had feted them as "rock saviours", and showed their burnout as they progressed from their first concert dates in mid-1997 to mid-1998, nearly a year later. During this time the band also released a compilation of their music videos (7 Television Commercials), and two EPs with similar track lists which compiled B-sides from OK Computer. One of them, Airbag/How Am I Driving?, was later seen as a bridge between that album's progressive alternative rock and their subsequent more atmospheric, electronic work.

(1999-2001) Kid A and Amnesiac

Exhausted by fame and on the verge of burning out following their 1997-1998 world tour, the band spent the next year in relative quiet. Thom Yorke later admitted that during that period the band were close to splitting up, and that he himself had developed mild depression. Radiohead's only appearance later that year was at an Amnesty International concert in Paris. In 1999 Thom and Jonny performed alone at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam, debuting a new work, "Egyptian Song" (later known as "Pyramid Song"). The band's only public performance during this period was in a webcast to their fans, introducing the song "Knives Out".

In early 1999 Radiohead began work on a follow-up to OK Computer, but in a less organised fashion than with their previous albums. Although there was no longer any pressure or even a deadline from their record label, tensions during this period were high. The members all had different visions for the band's future, and Yorke, in his songwriting role, was experiencing writer's block. Eventually all the members agreed on a new musical direction, redefining their roles in the band. 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 own studio, newly complete in Oxford. In the process, they pared their 40 new songs down to the 30 which ultimately made their subsequent two records and accompanying b-sides.

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Kid A "modified bear" icon

Radiohead refused to create a stylistic sequel to OK Computer, opting for a minimalist and textured style featuring less overt guitar and more diverse instrumentation, such as the ondes martenot, electronic beats, strings and jazz horns, but retaining some of the lyrical and musical hooks of their earlier records. "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, which were completed in late spring of 2000, after nearly 18 months.

Kid A, released on October 2, 2000, was the first of two albums taken from these recording sessions. Synthesised, claustrophobic, alternately lush and abrasive, with ever more cryptic lyrics, the album stunned both the music industry and Radiohead's fan base for its departures from their past work and from pop conventions. The band declined to release any singles from Kid A, apparently suggesting the album should be listened to as a whole (however, a promo of "Optimistic" received some radio play). Instead, 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; these 30-second largely animated videos were seen to tie in with the album's anti-consumerist themes.

Yet the "difficult" Kid A achieved Radiohead's highest worldwide chart placement to date, debuting at number 1 in many countries, including the United States. Its top position on the Billboard album chart (where OK Computer had reached a peak of #21) marked a first for the band, identifying them as one of the few modern British pop artists to penetrate the American market, though the album fell off soon after. Kid A's success has been attributed both to massive hype and to the early availability of all the songs on the Internet file-sharing network Napster, accustoming fans to the new musical style, but it was also seen as a clear result of anticipation after OK Computer.

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Jonny Greenwood on Saturday Night Live in 2000

Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year, and the record ultimately appeared on many critics' lists, like its predecessor. But while the press continued to brand Radiohead one of the world's most "important" rock bands, Kid A did not inspire universal praise. "I think a lot of writers 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", said Jonny Greenwood. However, along with fans who were appalled or mystified, there were many who saw Kid A as the band's best work. The record cemented Radiohead's enigmatic image, gaining them plaudits for courage and innovation.

Inspired by Naomi Klein's anti-globalization manifesto No Logo, the band mounted a tour of Europe during this period in a big top tent free of corporate logos, but performed only three small theatre dates in North America. These concerts sold out instantly and attracted many celebrities. Along with songs from Kid A (which had been reworked for live performance after the album was finished) the band performed songs that had been recorded, but not yet released. Having rejected the possibility of a double album before Kid A, they now considered a series of EPs or singles, before settling on another album to contain the remaining material.

Amnesiac was released in June 2001 and comprised those further tracks from the same recording sessions. Conceived by the band as complementary but distinct sequences of songs, the two albums' connection was made explicit with different versions of the song "Morning Bell" appearing on both records. Amnesiac saw the band's sound coalesce into a similar hybrid of avant garde electronic music and art rock, though in contrast to Kid A it featured more influence from jazz, and slightly more accessible songs. 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. Critics who viewed Amnesiac as less accomplished than Kid A often cited a lack of cohesion. However, without quite matching its predecessor's sales, the album was critically acclaimed and a commercial success.

After Amnesiac's release, the band embarked on a world tour, concentrating on large outdoor venues and visiting North America, Europe and Japan. They also staged a summer mini-festival in Oxford's South Park, featuring Beck, Sigur Rós, Supergrass, and Humphrey Lyttelton (who played trumpet on Amnesiac's closing track, "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 autumn 2001, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings featured performances of Kid A and Amnesiac songs from various international concerts. The live versions of "The National Anthem," "I Might Be Wrong," and "Like Spinning Plates" were seen as notably different from the studio recordings. Also included on the album was an acoustic performance of a previously unreleased song, the fan favourite "True Love Waits".

(2002-2004) Hail to the Thief

On the heels of the Amnesiac tour, the band took new material on the road in Portugal and Spain during July and August 2002. Using this opportunity to test and finalise the songs before an audience of their fans, the band completed the album in only two weeks in a Los Angeles studio with Nigel Godrich, with a few additional recordings done later in Oxford. According to interviews, the band was seeking to lessen their perfectionist tendencies and find more of a "swaggering" live sound in the studio.

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Ed O'Brien on tour

The band released their sixth album, Hail to the Thief, in June 2003. The record is seen as an attempt to distill and fuse the more electronic and experimental influences of the previous two albums with the guitar-based rock music of Radiohead's early albums. At 14 tracks and nearly an hour long, the album is the band's longest. Although Hail to the Thief received many positive reviews, some criticised the band for treading water rather than continuing the 'genre-redefining' trend that OK Computer had begun. Nonetheless, at the Grammys the album was nominated for Best Alternative Album - Radiohead's fifth straight nomination in that category - and Godrich received the Best Engineered Album award.

Hail to the Thief's title was widely assumed in the media to be a comment on the controversial U.S. presidential election of 2000, but Thom Yorke denied this, saying the title had a wider meaning: "If the motivation for naming our album had been based solely on the [current] U.S. election, I'd find that to be pretty shallow." The band has commented that they feared a backlash in America for the title and politics of the lyrics, as had recently befallen the Dixie Chicks when they spoke against President George W. Bush, and were pleasantly surprised when this did not occur.

Hail to the Thief was Radiohead's fourth consecutive UK number 1 album and had moderate commercial success in America, debuting at number 3 on the Billboard chart with the band's best ever first week sales, but falling off soon after. The album's lead single, "There There", peaked at number 4 in the British charts, with subsequent singles "Go to Sleep" and "2+2=5" charting at #12 and #15 respectively. However, "There There" 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.

After the release of Hail to the Thief, Radiohead embarked on an international tour, which lasted about a year but was punctuated by long breaks; by this time, most members of Radiohead had families and children at home. To many the band appeared more relaxed than on earlier tours, laughing at meetings with the press, and dancing on stage. In June 2003 Radiohead again headlined the main (Pyramid) stage on the Saturday of the Glastonbury Festival, a sequel to their highly rated 1997 performance. Later in 2003, Radiohead contributed original music to Split Sides, a project of Merce Cunningham's dance company which also involved their former touring partners Sigur Rós. The band finished the Hail to the Thief tour in mid-2004 with a performance at the Coachella Festival.

After the tour, the band began writing and rehearsing again in their Oxford studio, then went on hiatus as Ed had had a son, Salvador, born in January 2004, and Colin was awaiting the birth of his firstborn, Jesse. Free of any contractual obligations, Radiohead spent the remainder of 2004 resting and devoting time to solo projects, only recording together sporadically. They released the DVD version of their webcast television show, The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time, in December 2004. Jonny and Thom collaborated with many other artists for the Band Aid 20 project, playing guitar and piano, respectively.

(2005-present) Seventh studio album

Main article: Radiohead's seventh studio album

The band have been working on their seventh album for about two years, starting in early 2005. The album has no confirmed title or official release date. The band toured Europe and North America in summer 2006, playing 13 songs they have been working on (see main article). The band originally worked with mixer Mark "Spike" Stent on the recording before the tour, but since autumn 2006 they have recorded with longtime producer Nigel Godrich in several rural locations in England. According to a recent post on Dead Air Space, they are currently back at work after a Christmas break.

The band is currently unsigned, having fulfilled their six-album contract with EMI. Yorke released a solo album in 2006 on independent label XL Records (see Solo work section). In interviews in 2006, the band said that "for the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfill - it's both liberating and terrifying". The band have stated they will not make a decision on how to release their new material until it is finished, but that they do not plan to permanently re-sign to a label for more than one record at a time. Yorke has also hinted at the possibility of releasing EPs rather than an album, but ruled out Internet-only distribution. It is unknown whether the band has plans to negotiate a new contract with a label for release of current and future recordings.

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Thom Yorke campaigning for Friends of the Earth in 2006.

Radiohead's new music has been characterized by the band as "almost embarrassingly minimal" and "sparse with lots of bass", and more recently, "lush", according to Stanley Donwood who works closely with them on the artwork of the new album. About the lyrical concept of the new record, Yorke said in May 2006, "It's about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, 'I'm sure I'm supposed to be doing something else'... it's similar to OK Computer in a way. It's much more terrifying. But OK Computer was terrifying too - some of the lyrics were."

Changing roles

Radiohead's lineup has remained constant, but the band's evolving musical style is sometimes seen as a product of the variety of musical tastes and accomplishments of its members. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is currently the BBC's Composer in Residence, the only classically trained member of the band, and a multi-instrumentalist, playing (aside from guitar and keyboard) such instruments as the Ondes Martenot, banjo, viola and harmonica. Greenwood has also arranged string orchestrations for Radiohead songs (such as "Climbing Up the Walls", "How to Disappear Completely" and "Pyramid Song").

Lead singer Thom Yorke plays guitar and piano, and was once a DJ and part of a techno group at university. He has also focused on the digital manipulation of sound in recent years. Thom and Jonny are both credited with playing "laptop" on the band's most recent album, which featured electronic beats and samples created on computer.

Yorke is responsible for nearly all lyrics, and Yorke and Greenwood are sometimes seen as the main musical influences within the band. However, songwriting is actually a collaborative effort. All members are cited equally in Radiohead's album credits, and interviews have revealed all members to have had integral songwriting roles, such as bassist Colin Greenwood with "Dollars & Cents", guitarist Ed O'Brien with "Karma Police" and "Treefingers" and drummer Phil Selway with "Everything in Its Right Place".

The tense recording sessions for Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) completely changed Radiohead's method of working as they moved away from standard rock music instrumentation. Since then, Radiohead members have felt less constrained to stick to only "their" instrument, switching off depending on what the song requires. However, roles usually remain more constant when the band plays live.

Close collaborators

The band's spirit of collaboration is also shown in their close relationship with their producers and engineers, in particular Nigel Godrich, and with resident artist Stanley Donwood. Nigel Godrich made his name with Radiohead by working with the band as their coproducer on 1997's OK Computer and on every Radiohead album since. He was also responsible for producing Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album, The Eraser. Godrich has sometimes been dubbed the "sixth member" of the band in an allusion to George Martin's work with the Beatles.

Graphic artist Stanley Donwood is another longtime associate of the group, having produced all of Radiohead's album covers and visual artwork since 1994, often together with Yorke, whom he met at art school (Yorke himself is credited for artwork under the pseudonym "Tchock" or "The White Chocolate Farm"). Examples of Donwood's art range from oil paintings and computer generated imagery to collages and antique style posters. He prefers to work in the same place the band is recording so as to find a visual equivalent for their sound. Donwood thus projects significant influence over the public image of the band, and the issues addressed in his artwork have been seen to act as a catalyst to themes within Yorke's lyrics. Together with Yorke, he won a Grammy in 2002 for a special edition of Amnesiac packaged as a library book.

Graeme Stewart has been a sound engineer for Radiohead since their Kid A/Amnesiac sessions. He has also engineered Jonny and Thom's respective solo albums Bodysong and The Eraser. Dilly Gent has been responsible for commissioning all Radiohead music videos since The Bends era, working closely with the band to find a director suitable for each project. Radiohead's roadie Plank, who also has worked with them since their Bends years, has also achieved a degree of fame.

Solo work

Main articles: Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, and Thom Yorke

• Jonny Greenwood appeared on Pavement's Terror Twilight in 1999, playing harmonica and guitar on several tracks. In 2003, he released Bodysong, an instrumental soundtrack he wrote for the documentary of the same name. The first solo album credited to a member of Radiohead, Bodysong includes diverse orchestration, much of it processed electronically, ranging from string quartet, piano and soprano sax to Ondes Martenot. His brother Colin Greenwood also contributes bass and programming. Since 2003, Jonny has composed "Smear," "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" and "Piano for Children" in his capacity as the BBC's resident composer. In 2005 Greenwood, along with Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as part of a fictional band fronted by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker; they recorded several songs available on the soundtrack. In 2006 Greenwood was chosen as Composer of the Year in the British Composer Awards voted by BBC Radio 3 listeners, for his piece "Popcorn Superhet Receiver".

• In 1999, Ed O'Brien contributed to the soundtrack for Eureka Street, a British television miniseries; the soundtrack was released on CD by the BBC. In late 2000, Ed and Phil toured with Neil Finn, Johnny Marr and others for 'Seven Worlds Collide'. In 2002, O'Brien contributed guitar to several tracks on Enemy of the Enemy, an album by Asian Dub Foundation also featuring Sinéad O'Connor.

• In late 2000, Phil Selway toured for 'Seven Worlds Collide'. In 2005 Selway, along with Jonny, appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as part of a fictional band fronted by Jarvis Cocker; they recorded several songs available on the soundtrack. Also in 2005, Selway performed live with Nigel Powell's band Dive Dive; Powell was the former drummer of Andy Yorke's band Unbelievable Truth, and had once recorded demos with Radiohead's early lineup On a Friday.

• In the late 1990s, Thom Yorke collaborated on songs by Drugstore and UNKLE (with DJ Shadow). He participated in the 1998 Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, singing Roxy Music cover songs as part of the fictional band 'Venus in Furs'. He later sang duets with Björk and PJ Harvey. Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, was released July 10, 2006 on XL Records, debuting at #2 in the US and being nominated for the UK's Mercury Music Prize as well as a Grammy. Begun as a series of electronic compositions created on Yorke's laptop, the record developed into songs under the guidance of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Radiohead members have joined Yorke to perform two songs live from The Eraser, "Cymbal Rush" and "The Clock".

Discography

Main article: Radiohead discography

The cover art for Radiohead albums, with the exception of Pablo Honey, were designed by Stanley Donwood and The White Chocolate Farm. For more information on the artwork, see the Close collaborators section and the articles on each album.

1. Pablo Honey - February 22 1993 - #22 (UK) Platinum (300,000), #32 (U.S.) Platinum
2. The Bends - March 13, 1995 - #4 (UK) 3x Platinum , #88 (U.S.) Platinum
3. OK Computer - June 16, 1997 - #1 (UK) 3x Platinum , #22 (U.S.) 2x Platinum
4. Kid A - October 2, 2000 - #1 (UK) Platinum, #1 (U.S.) Platinum
5. Amnesiac - June 4, 2001 - #1 (UK), #2 (U.S.) Gold
6. Hail to the Thief - June 9, 2003 - #1 (UK) Platinum, #3 (U.S.) Gold

Trivia

• Having played over 800 concerts, Radiohead have almost never repeated a setlist. Says Ed O'Brien, "one of the worst things in music is when bands play the same set every night."

• Radiohead's song "You and Whose Army?" is sampled by hip-hop group The Roots for their track "Atonement" on their 2006 album Game Theory. (see Covers article for a list of cover versions, samples and remixes of Radiohead by other acts)

• Radiohead songs have appeared in such films as Children of Men (2006), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Vanilla Sky (2001), William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996), Clueless (1995) and Cyclo (1995). They have also been used in TV shows such as Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. The band do not allow their songs to be used for product endorsements, but allowed "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" to be used for an environmental public service announcement and "I Might Be Wrong" for a Winter Olympics promotion in 2002.

• During their early career Radiohead opened for acts including R.E.M., PJ Harvey, Tears for Fears, Alanis Morissette and Belly.

• Bands that Radiohead have chosen to open for their concert tours include Deerhoof, The Black Keys, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Low, Four Tet, Clinic, The Beta Band, Kid Koala, Sigur Rós, Supergrass, Teenage Fanclub, Sparklehorse and Spiritualized. Radiohead and Björk planned a tour together in 1998 but ran into logistical problems.

• Since its initial release, Radiohead's OK Computer has often appeared very high in critics' lists and audience polls in various publications and countries (see article). The band has an ambivalent reaction to this type of popularity. Other Radiohead albums such as The Bends and Kid A have also been listed often.

• Radiohead members are featured as characters in the 2001 South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die".

References

Online references

• Draper, Brian. Interview with Thom Yorke. Third Way magazine, December 2004. Vol. 27, No. 10.
• McLean, Craig. "All messed up." The Observer, June 18, 2006.
• Ross, Alex. "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution." The New Yorker, August 20 and 27, 2001.
• Smith, Andrew. "Sound and Fury." The Observer, October 1, 2000.
• White, Curtis. "Kid Adorno." Context. Issue No. 6.
• At Ease: Radiohead Biography
• Radiohead Articles Archive: comprehensive unofficial site
• Follow Me Around: Radiohead Press Cuttings
• Rock on the Net: Radiohead timeline & discography

Books

• Radiohead: An Illustrated Biography by Nick Johnstone (1997, ISBN 0-7119-6581-1)
• Radiohead: From a Great Height by Jonathan Hale (1999, ISBN 1-55022-373-9)
• Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless by Martin Clarke (2000, ISBN 0-85965-332-3)
• Exit Music: The Radiohead Story by Mac Randall, (2000, ISBN 0-385-33393-5)
• Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe by James Doheny (2002, ISBN 1-56025-398-3)
• Radiohead: A Visual Documentary by Tim Footman and Billy Dancer (2002, ISBN 1-84240-179-3)
• The Music and Art of Radiohead edited by Joseph Tate (2005, ISBN 0-7546-3980-0)
• Radiohead: The Complete Guide to Their Music by Mark Paytress (2005, ISBN 1-84449-507-8)
• OK Computer by Dai Griffiths, from 33 1/3 series (2005, ISBN 0-8264-1663-2)

Dissertations

• "Authenticity in Rock Culture (Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Radiohead)" by Mark Mazullo (1999, University of Minnesota)
• “Contextually Defined Musical Transformations” by Jonathan Kochavi (2002, State University of New York at Buffalo)
• "'How to Disappear Completely': Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album" by Marianne Tatom Letts (2005, University of Texas at Austin)

External links

• Radiohead.com: The official Radiohead website. The Messageboard has gathered a cult following; members of the band occasionally post there. Since beginning new recording sessions in 2005, Radiohead members have also posted intermittently on their blog called Dead Air Space, hosted there.
• w.a.s.t.e: Radiohead's official fan club, ticketing, and merchandise site.
• At Ease: The largest fan site, with frequent news updates, detailed information on the band, and an extremely popular message board.
• Green Plastic: Another large fan site including news, lyrics and guitar tabs. Also hosts the Mortigi Tempo message board.
• 58Hours: A database of nearly all of Radiohead's live performances, with accompanying information and statistics on the performance history of each song.
• RHDiscog.com - Radiohead Discography: A comprehensive Radiohead discography.
• Radiohead CDs: A catalogue of every officially released version of every Radiohead song and where to find them.
• IndexTube: List of Radiohead music videos and live shows.