Radiohead

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Radiohead are an English band from Oxford and nearby Abingdon. Though often classed as alternative rock, their style has incorporated a variety of other genres, and the band have been both praised and derided for their sound, which is known to change from album to album.

Formed in Oxford in 1986, their first worldwide hit was "Creep", a song that seemed a product of the grunge and britpop movements then prevalent in the UK and USA. While branded as a one-hit wonder in the States, Radiohead caught on in their native England, with their second album The Bends reaching #4 on the British charts. However, it was the band's Grammy award-winning third album OK Computer that propelled them to worldwide recognition. After a three year hiatus, Radiohead returned in 2000 with Kid A, an album that stunned both the music industry and their fanbase with a very different and genre-challenging sound. The release cemented Radiohead's image as a musical enigma, gaining them plaudits for their courage and innovation, but criticism in some quarters for abandoning their roots.

Kid A's follow-ups, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, saw a further distancing of the band's sound from British punk rock to jazz and electronic infused art rock. In the process, the band have strayed from earlier influences such as R.E.M. and Nirvana, towards artists such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Autechre, whose sounds spanning multiple genres have greatly affected Radiohead's appoach to modern rock. Radiohead continues today to be a figurehead in the music industry, directly influencing many artists in all fields of music.

See also: Radiohead overview and influence

Contents

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Members

Radiohead are:

The band's style, notable for its variety and versatility, can be largely explained by the musical accomplishment and eclectic musical tastes of its members. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is currently the BBC's Composer in Residence, and an adept musician, playing aside from the guitar such instruments as the Ondes Martenot and harmonica. Ed O'Brien, though usually employed as a guitarist and vocalist, is also a skilled drummer. Lead singer Thom Yorke also plays several different instruments. Though Yorke and Greenwood are often seen as the main creative influences within the band, songwriting is chiefly a collaborative effort, and all members are cited equally by the band in their album credits. For example, bassist Colin Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway are known to have played an influential role in shaping several of the band's pieces.

This spirit of creative collaboration is also shown in the band's close relationship with their producers: in particular Nigel Godrich, who has worked with the band since the recording of The Bends and has often been dubbed the "sixth member" of the band. This association has however been temporarily broken, following the decision to work with Mark Stent on album #7.

Graphic artist Stanley Donwood is another long-term associate of the group, having produced together with Yorke (often under the pseudonym "Tchock", "Tchocky", or "Dr. Tchock") all of Radiohead's artwork since their My Iron Lung EP. Donwood also projects significant influence over the public image of the band, and the issues addressed in his artwork have acted as a catalyst to themes and concepts within Yorke's lyrics.

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History

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(1986–1991) Formation and first years

The Radiohead story began in the mid-Eighties at Abingdon School, a private boys-only school located just outside the city of Oxford, which drummer Phil Selway, guitarist Ed O'Brien, guitarist/vocalist Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood and Colin's multi-instrumentalist brother Jonny all attended. The five of them formed a band after they began practicing in the school's music room, with the initial name of 'On a Friday'. On a Friday played their first gig in August 1986, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern.

Music was put to the side by the band upon entering college. After four years of inactivity, the band began releasing demos (such as the Manic Hedgehog Demo and performing live again in Oxford in 1991, also appearing on the cover of local magazine Curfew.

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(1992–1995) Pablo Honey and The Bends

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As On a Friday's live bookings increased, various record labels began to show an interest. Eventually the group signed a 6-album recording contract with EMI. The band also changed their name to Radiohead, the title of a song on Talking Heads' True Stories album. Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

The band's debut EP was self-produced. However, shortly after releasing Drill in March 1992, the band hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade to produce their first full-length studio album. Radiohead's first album was finished in three weeks in an Oxford studio. With the release of single "Creep" in 1992, the band began to receive interest from the music press. The band subsequently released Pablo Honey in 1993, began touring America, and nearly broke up over the pressure of this sudden success. Although representing a style from which the band would later move, songs like the hit "Creep," "Anyone Can Play Guitar," "Thinking About You," and "You" gained considerable popularity. The Pablo Honey supporting tour moved into its second year as the album continued to break internationally.

Radiohead set to work on their second album. The hiring of producing legend John Leckie contributed significantly 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 pressures of creating a superior follow-up mounted. 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!" The band responded by seeking a change of scenery, quitting the studio and touring Australasia and the Far East in an attempt to relax the atmosphere.

The EP My Iron Lung (1994) was released between the two albums 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. Having developed the remainder of the 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. Success for the album did not come until the release of their third single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which hit the Top 5 in the UK and pulled The Bends up the charts in 1996.

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(1996–1998) OK Computer

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". The band didn't know it at the time, but already one new song was recorded for the album: "Lucky", specially produced in September 1995 for the War Child charity's The Help Album, which was an indicator of the bands next steps. With the assistance of engineer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead really did produce their next album themselves. They bought their own recording gear and went to work on OK Computer in early 1996. By July they had recorded four songs with producer Nigel Godrich at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, a converted shed with the latest recording equipment. Their plan was to stay away from traditional recording studios and the bad vibes they'd previously set off in the band. After recording four songs, and having learnt from The Bends, they decided to perform the songs live, touring with Alanis Morissette, before completing the record. The rest were recorded in actress Jane Seymour's 15th-century mansion in St. Catherine's Court near Bath. Unfortunately, some of the same tension present during The Bends sessions appeared once again during the track selection for OK Computer. By the end of the year the album was finished and in February and March it was mixed and mastered. Image:Thom yorke radiohead2.jpg On 16 June, 1997 OK Computer was released and received even greater acclaim than The Bends. It found Radiohead introducing uncommon musical elements, experimenting with ambience and noise to create a set of songs that many consider being a high point of late-twentieth-century rock music. It received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and was followed by their big "Against Demons World Tour". 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, which showed the band starting from their first and foremost tours and finishing in their late burn-out dates in mid-1998.

The band released two EPs No Surprises/Running From Demons (1997) and Airbag/How Am I Driving? (1998). The more notable is the second, which has few songs that could best be described as a bridge between the progressive alternative rock of OK Computer and their subsequent experimental work.

During this time, 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 is a remix of one of the b-sides to "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (released in "The Bends") found also on the soundtrack to the film, while the latter was included in OK Computer.

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(1999–2001) Kid A and Amnesiac

Image:Bear20Big.gifExhausted by fame and on the verge of burning out following their "Against Demons World Tour" in mid-1998, 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 himself had developed mild depression. The band's only appearance was at the Amnesty International Concert in Paris (10 December 1998). Thom and Jonny performed alone at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam, debuting a new work, "Egyptian Song".

The band began work on a follow-up to OK Computer, but in a less organised fashion than with their previous albums. The band eventually secluded themselves in the studio to record, in the process paring down about 40 new songs to the 21 which ultimately made their subsequent two records.

Radiohead refused to create a stylistic sequel to OK Computer, choosing instead a very different electronic style with minimal guitar work. The result was a more minimalist sound, but one which retained some of the lyrical and musical hooks of their earlier records.

Album number four, Kid A, was released on October 2, 2000 — three-and-half years after OK Computer. Some pressings of Kid A included a hidden booklet within the case, containing artwork by Stanley Donwood and Tchocky (Thom's pseudonym). Like its predecessor, Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album, but some critics complained that the record was too self-indulgent and not radio-friendly.

Their next album, Amnesiac, was released in June of the following year, and comprised further tracks from the same recording sessions. Conceived as complementary but distinct sequences of songs, the two albums are similar in style and influence; a connection made explicit in the selection of different versions of the song "Morning Bell" appearing on both records. Amnesiac is often viewed by critics as the less accomplished of the two works and has been criticised for a lack of cohesion. However, many fans and a growing number of critics refer to this lack of continuity as a deliberate device used by Radiohead to distinguish Amnesiac from Kid A. The album did not quite match its predecessor's sales, but was nevertheless a commercial success.

After Amnesiac's release, the band staged their own mini-festival in Oxford's South Park; featuring Beck, Sigur Rós, Supergrass, and Humphrey Lyttelton (who played trumpet on the album's closing track, "Life in a Glass House"). "I Might Be Wrong", initially planned as a third single release from the album, eventually expanded into the band's first live record: I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings. Amongst others, it featured performances from concerts in Berlin, Paris and London, and contained one previously unreleased track, the long-time fan favourite "True Love Waits".

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(2002–2004) Hail to the Thief

On the heels of the Amnesiac tour the band took their new material on the road in Portugal and Spain during July and August 2002. With the songs fleshed out and finalised during the tour, the band completed the album in a Los Angeles studio. In 2003 the band released their sixth album Hail to the Thief, which was considered by many as an attempt to distill the electronic and jazz infuences of the previous two albums, and fuse them with the guitar based music of their early albums. Indeed at 14 tracks the album was the longest the band had released, and gave them a chance to showcase the wide variety of musical styles that they have developed over their career. The album's title was seen as a comment on the 2000 U.S. presidential election, even though the band denied this. Hail to the Thief gathered good reviews, tempered by the view that the album was not considered 'genre-redefining' to the extent Kid A and OK Computer were.

The lead single "There there" peaked at number 4 in the U.K. charts, with the subsequent singles "Go To Sleep" and "[[2 + 2 = 5 (song)|2+2=5]]" charting at #12 and #15 in the U.K charts respecively.

After the release of Hail to the Thief, Radiohead embarked on a vast international tour, lasting about a year. The band showed a relaxed attitude during interviews and press conference and at the stage shows, they were dancing and grinning. The tour saw the band visiting Australia and Japan for the first time since their OK Computer tour in 1997–1998, more than 6 years prior. Radiohead again, in June 2003, headlined the main (Pyramid) stage on the Saturday of the Glastonbury Festival.

About one year after the release of Hail to the Thief, Radiohead released a new EP titled COM LAG (2plus2isfive), while on their 2004 tour in Australia and Japan. With 10 tracks, COM LAG is longer than the average Radiohead EP. It combines nearly all of the tracks released on the "Hail to the Thief" singles into one EP. The band finished touring and promoting Hail to the Thief in mid-2004 with a performance at the Coachella Festival.

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(2005–2006) Current recording sessions

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After the tour, the band began rehearsing for the follow up album in their Oxford based studio. It went on hiatus as Ed and Colin were awaiting the birth of their children. Free of any contractual obligations, the members of Radiohead spent the remainder of 2004 resting and devoting themselves to solo projects, only recording as a group 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.

Radiohead returned to more regular recording sessions in January 2005, with Thom playing a selection of new songs to the other members, who in turn began adding their own parts. The recording process has been described by the band as "unorganised", and very different to the way Radiohead has recorded before. Perhaps the biggest change however is the choice of producer for the record: for the first time in more than a decade, close collaborator Nigel Godrich won't participate in the making of the album. Instead, the band is working with Mark Stent (who has previously produced albums by Oasis, Keane and Madonna).

It appears unlikely that the band will re-sign with EMI. Its management has also dismissed rumours that Warner Music was lining up to sign the band, stating: "The band (is) not looking for a record company in any way, shape or form. They are out of a contract, but they're not actively looking for another one. They're getting on with doing what they do". In an interview in April for NME, Thom revealed that they do plan to sign a record deal eventually, but on their own terms, and not until the album is finished.

In early September the band recorded a new piano and vocal-based song, "I Want None of This", for the War Child album Help; a Day in the Life.

The new album's released date and title is still unconfirmed. However, the band has announced that it will debut some of its new material during a Summer 2006 tour of Europe and North America, including headlining slots at the Bonnaroo and V Festivals. The members have also stated that they are considering releasing some songs solely via the internet.

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Discography

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Studio albums</br>

  1. Pablo Honey: (February 22, 1993) #25 UK, #32 US</br>
  2. The Bends: (March 13, 1995) #4 UK, #88 US</br>
  3. OK Computer: (June 16, 1997) #1 UK, #21 US</br>
  4. Kid A: (October 2, 2000) #1 UK, #1 US</br>
  5. Amnesiac: (June 4, 2001) #1 UK, #2 US</br>
  6. Hail to the Thief: (June 9, 2003) #1 UK, #3 US</br>
     

Selected EPs</br>

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Further Reading

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Books

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Dissertations

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References

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External links

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  • Radiohead.com: The official Radiohead website. The Messageboard has gathered a cult following. Members of the band occasionally post there.
  • At Ease: The largest fansite with detailed information on the band. Has an extremely popular message board.
  • Green Plastic: Another large Radiohead fan and news site. Very reliable source for Radiohead guitar tabs.

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