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Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals); and Philip Selway (drums, percussion). They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.
Radiohead | |
|---|---|
 Radiohead in the mid-2010s. From left: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Philip Selway | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Discography | |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | |
| Members | |
| Website | radiohead |
Radiohead signed to EMI in 1991 and released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1993. Their debut single, "Creep", was a worldwide hit, and their popularity and critical standing rose with The Bends in 1995. Their third album, OK Computer (1997), is acclaimed as a landmark record and one of the best albums in popular music, with complex production and themes of modern alienation. Their fourth album, Kid A (2000), marked a dramatic change in style, incorporating influences from electronic music, jazz, classical music and krautrock. Though Kid A divided listeners, it was later named the best album of the decade by multiple outlets. It was followed by Amnesiac (2001), recorded in the same sessions. Hail to the Thief (2003), with lyrics addressing the war on terror, blended the band's rock and electronic sides, and was Radiohead's final album for EMI.
Radiohead self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), as a download for which customers could set their own price, to critical and chart success. Their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), an exploration of rhythm, was developed using extensive looping and sampling. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) prominently featured Jonny Greenwood's orchestral arrangements. Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Selway and O'Brien have released solo albums. In 2021, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted a new band, the Smile.
By 2011, Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.[1] Their awards include six Grammy Awards and four Ivor Novello Awards, and they hold five Mercury Prize nominations, the most of any act. Seven Radiohead singles have reached the top 10 on the UK singles chart: "Creep" (1992), "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (1996), "Paranoid Android" (1997), "Karma Police" (1997), "No Surprises" (1998), "Pyramid Song" (2001), and "There There" (2003). "Creep" and "Nude" (2008) reached the top 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone named Radiohead one of the 100 greatest artists of all time, and included five of their albums in its lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Radiohead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
1985–1992: formation and first years
The members of Radiohead met while attending Abingdon School, an independent school for boys in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.[2] The guitarist and singer Thom Yorke and the bassist Colin Greenwood were in the same year; the guitarist Ed O'Brien was one year above, and the drummer Philip Selway was in the year above O'Brien.[3] In 1985, they formed On a Friday, the name referring to their usual rehearsal day in the school's music room.[4] The band disliked the school's strict atmosphere—the headmaster once charged them for using a rehearsal room on a Sunday—and found solace in the music department. They credited their music teacher for introducing them to jazz, film scores, postwar avant-garde music, and 20th-century classical music.[5]
While each member contributed songs in the band's early period, Yorke emerged as the main songwriter.[7] According to Colin, the band members picked their instruments because they wanted to play together, rather than through any particular interest: "It was more of a collective angle, and if you could contribute by having someone else play your instrument, then that was really cool."[8] Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley had an active independent music scene in the late 1980s, but it centred on shoegazing bands such as Ride and Slowdive.[9] On a Friday played their first gig in 1987, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern.[4]
On the strength of an early demo, On a Friday were offered a record deal by Island Records, but they decided they were not ready and wanted to go to university first.[10] In 1987, all members had left Abingdon to attend university. On a Friday continued to rehearse on weekends and holidays,[5] but did not perform for four years.[11] At the University of Exeter, Yorke played with the band Headless Chickens, performing songs including future Radiohead material.[12] He also met Stanley Donwood, who later became Radiohead's cover artist.[13]
In 1991, the band members regrouped in Oxford, sharing a house on the corner of Magdalen Road and Ridgefield Road.[14] They recorded another demo, which attracted the attention of Chris Hufford, Slowdive's producer and the co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios.[15] Hufford and his business partner, Bryce Edge, attended a concert at the Jericho Tavern; impressed, they became On a Friday's managers.[15] According to Hufford, at this point the band had "all of the elements of Radiohead", but with a rougher, punkier sound and faster tempos.[16] At Courtyard Studios, On a Friday recorded the Manic Hedgehog demo tape, named after an Oxford record shop.[16]
In late 1991, Colin happened to meet the EMI A&R representative Keith Wozencroft at a record shop and handed him a copy of the demo.[15] Wozencroft was impressed and attended a performance.[15] That November, On a Friday performed at the Jericho Tavern to an audience that included several A&R representatives. It was only their eighth gig, but they had attracted interest from several record companies.[15] On 21 December, On a Friday signed a six-album recording contract with EMI.[5][15] At EMI's request, they changed their name; "Radiohead" was taken from the song "Radio Head" on the Talking Heads album True Stories (1986).[5] Yorke said the name "sums up all these things about receiving stuff ... It's about the way you take information in, the way you respond to the environment you're put in."[15]
1992–1994: "Creep", Pablo Honey and early success
Radiohead recorded their debut EP, Drill, with Hufford and Edge at Courtyard Studios. Released in May 1992, its chart performance was poor.[4] As it was difficult for major labels such as EMI to promote bands in the UK, where independent labels dominated the indie charts, Radiohead's managers planned to have Radiohead use American producers and tour aggressively in America, then return to build a following in the UK.[17] Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, who had worked with the US bands Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., were enlisted to produce Radiohead's debut album, recorded quickly in Oxford in 1992.[4] With the release of their debut single, "Creep", that September, Radiohead began to receive attention in the British music press, not all of it favourable; NME described them as "a lily-livered excuse for a rock band",[18] and "Creep" was blacklisted by BBC Radio 1 as "too depressing".[19]
Radiohead released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in February 1993. It reached number 22 in the UK charts. "Creep" and its follow-up singles "Anyone Can Play Guitar" and "Stop Whispering" failed to become hits, and "Pop Is Dead", a non-album single, also sold poorly. O'Brien later called it "a hideous mistake".[17] Some critics compared Radiohead to the wave of grunge music popular in the early 1990s, dubbing them "Nirvana-lite",[20] and Pablo Honey initially failed to make a critical or a commercial impact.[18] The members of Radiohead expressed dissatisfaction with the album in later years.[21]
In early 1993, Radiohead began to attract listeners elsewhere. "Creep" had been played frequently on Israeli radio by the influential DJ Yoav Kutner, and in March, after the song became a hit there, Radiohead were invited to Tel Aviv for their first show overseas.[22] Around the same time, "Creep" became a hit in America, a "slacker anthem" in the vein of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana and "Loser" by Beck.[23] It reached number two on the Billboard Modern Rock chart,[5] number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,[24] and number seven on the UK singles chart when EMI rereleased it in September.[25] To build on the success, Radiohead embarked on a US tour supporting Belly and PJ Harvey,[26] followed by a European tour supporting James and Tears for Fears.[24][16]
1994–1995: The Bends, critical recognition and growing fanbase
The Bends marked Radiohead's first collaboration with the producer Nigel Godrich (top) and the artist Stanley Donwood, both of whom have worked on every Radiohead album since.
Radiohead began work on their second album in 1994 with the veteran Abbey Road Studios producer John Leckie. Tensions were high, with mounting expectations to match the success of "Creep".[27] To break a deadlock, Radiohead toured Asia, Australasia and Mexico and found greater confidence performing their new music live.[28] However, troubled by his new fame, Yorke became disillusioned with being "at the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle" he felt he was helping to sell to the world.[29]
The My Iron Lung EP and single, released in 1994, was Radiohead's reaction, marking a transition towards the greater depth they aimed for on their second album.[30] It was Radiohead's first collaboration with their future producer, Nigel Godrich, then working under Leckie as an audio engineer,[31] and the artist Stanley Donwood. Both have worked on every Radiohead album since.[13] Though sales of My Iron Lung were low, it boosted Radiohead's credibility in alternative circles, creating commercial opportunity for their next album.[32]
Having introduced more new songs on tour, Radiohead finished recording their second album, The Bends, by 1995, and released it that March. It was driven by dense riffs and ethereal atmospheres, with greater use of keyboards.[4] It received stronger reviews for its songwriting and performances.[18] While Radiohead were seen as outsiders to the Britpop scene that dominated music media at the time, they were finally successful in the UK,[9] as the singles "Fake Plastic Trees", "High and Dry", "Just", and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" became chart successes. "High and Dry" became a modest hit, but Radiohead's growing fanbase was insufficient to repeat the worldwide success of "Creep". The Bends reached number 88 on the US album charts, and remains Radiohead's lowest showing there.[33] Jonny Greenwood later said The Bends was turning point for Radiohead: "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."[34] In later years, The Bends appeared in many publications' lists of the best albums of all time,[35] including Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" at No. 111.[36]
In 1995, Radiohead again toured North America and Europe, this time in support of R.E.M., one of their formative influences and at the time one of the biggest rock bands in the world.[37] Attention from famous fans such as the R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, along with distinctive music videos for "Just" and "Street Spirit", helped sustain Radiohead's popularity outside the UK.[38] The night before a performance in Denver, Colorado, Radiohead's tour van was stolen, and with it their musical equipment. Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed a stripped-down acoustic set with rented instruments and several shows were cancelled.[39][nb 1] Their first live video, Live at the Astoria, was released in 1995.[40]
1995–1998: OK Computer and acclaim
By late 1995, Radiohead had already recorded one song that would appear on their next record. "Lucky", released as a single to promote the War Child charity's The Help Album,[41] was recorded in a brief session with Nigel Godrich, the young audio engineer who had assisted on The Bends. Radiohead decided to self-produce their next album with Godrich, and began work in early 1996. By July they had recorded four songs at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, a converted apple shed in the countryside near Didcot, Oxfordshire.[42] In August 1996, Radiohead toured as the opening act for Alanis Morissette.[43] They resumed recording not at a studio but at St. Catherine's Court, a 15th-century mansion near Bath.[44] The sessions were relaxed, with the band playing at all hours of the day, recording in different rooms, and listening to the Beatles, DJ Shadow, Ennio Morricone and Miles Davis for inspiration.[4][34]
Radiohead released their third album, OK Computer, in May 1997. It found the band experimenting with song structures and incorporating ambient, avant-garde and electronic influences, prompting Rolling Stone to call the album a "stunning art-rock tour de force".[45] Radiohead denied being part of the progressive rock genre, but critics began to compare their work to Pink Floyd. Some compared OK Computer thematically to the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon,[46] although Yorke said the lyrics were inspired by observing the "speed" of the world in the 1990s. Yorke's lyrics, embodying different characters, had expressed what one magazine called "end-of-the-millennium blues"[47] in contrast to the more personal songs of The Bends. According to the journalist Alex Ross, Radiohead had become "the poster boys for a certain kind of knowing alienation" as Talking Heads and R.E.M. had been before.[5] OK Computer received acclaim. Yorke said he was "amazed it 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."[48]
OK Computer was Radiohead's first number-one UK chart debut, and brought them commercial success around the world. Despite peaking at number 21 in the US charts, the album eventually met with mainstream recognition there, earning Radiohead their first Grammy Awards recognition, winning Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year.[49] "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police" and "No Surprises" were released as singles, of which "Karma Police" was most successful internationally.[25] OK Computer went on to become a staple of "best-of" British album lists.[50][51] In the same year, Radiohead became one of the first bands in the world to have a website, and developed a devoted online following; within a few years, there were dozens of fansites devoted to them.[52]
OK Computer was followed by the year-long Against Demons world tour, including Radiohead's first headline Glastonbury Festival performance in 1997.[53] Despite technical problems that almost caused Yorke to abandon the stage, the performance was acclaimed and cemented Radiohead as a major live act.[54] Grant Gee, the director of the "No Surprises" video, filmed the band on tour for the 1999 documentary Meeting People Is Easy.[55] The film portrays the band's disaffection with the music industry and press, showing their burnout over the course of the tour.[4] Since its release, OK Computer is often acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s[56] and the Generation X era, and one of the greatest albums in recording history.[57][58]
In 1998, Radiohead performed at a Paris Amnesty International concert[59] and the Tibetan Freedom Concert.[60] In March, they and Godrich entered Abbey Road Studios to record a song for the 1998 film The Avengers, "Man of War", but were unsatisfied with the results and it went unreleased.[61] Yorke described the period as a "real low point";[62] he and O'Brien developed depression,[63] and the band came close to splitting up.[64]
1998–2001: Kid A, Amnesiac and change in sound
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In early 1999, Radiohead began work on their next album. Although the success of OK Computer meant there was no longer pressure from their record label,[5] tensions were high. Band members had different visions for Radiohead's future, and Yorke suffered from writer's block, influencing him toward more abstract, fragmented songwriting.[64] Radiohead secluded themselves with Godrich in studios in Paris, Copenhagen, and Gloucester, and in their new studio in Oxford.[20] O'Brien kept an online diary of their progress.[65] After nearly 18 months, Radiohead's recording sessions were completed in April 2000.[66]
Radiohead's fourth album, Kid A, was released in October 2000. A departure from OK Computer, Kid A featured a minimalist and textured style with more diverse instrumentation, including the ondes Martenot, programmed electronic beats, strings, and jazz horns.[64] It debuted at number one in many countries, including the US, where it became the first Radiohead album to debut atop the Billboard chart and the first US number-one album by any UK act since the Spice Girls in 1996.[67] This success was attributed variously to marketing, to the album's leak on the file-sharing network Napster a few months before its release, and to advance anticipation based, in part, on the success of OK Computer.[68] Although Radiohead released no singles from Kid A, promos of "Optimistic" and "Idioteque" received radio play, and a series of "blips", short videos set to portions of tracks, were played on music channels and released free online.[69] Radiohead continued a 2000 tour of Europe in a custom-built tent free of advertising; they also promoted Kid A with three sold-out North American theatre concerts.[69]
Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year in early 2001. It won both praise and criticism in independent music circles for appropriating underground styles of music; some British critics saw Kid A as a "commercial suicide note" and "intentionally difficult", and longed for a return to Radiohead's earlier style.[9][18] Fans were similarly divided; along with those who were appalled or mystified, many saw it as the band's best work.[29][70] Yorke denied that Radiohead had set out to eschew expectations, saying: "We're not trying to be difficult ... We're actually trying to communicate but somewhere along the line, we just seemed to piss off a lot of people ... What we're doing isn't that radical."[9] The album was ranked one of the best of all time by publications including Time and Rolling Stone;[71][72] Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Times named it the best album of the decade.[73][74][75]
Radiohead's fifth album, Amnesiac, was released in May 2001. It comprised additional tracks from the Kid A sessions, including "Life in a Glasshouse", featuring the Humphrey Lyttelton Band.[76] Radiohead stressed that they saw Amnesiac not as a collection of B-sides or outtakes from Kid A but an album in its own right.[77] It topped the UK Albums Chart and reached number two in the US, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and the Mercury Music Prize.[18][67] Radiohead released "Pyramid Song" and "Knives Out" as singles, their first since 1998.[78]