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Radiohead are a British alternative rock band
from Oxford and nearby Abingdon.
Lineup
*Thom Yorke:
lead vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, piano and laptop *Jonny
Greenwood: lead guitar, keyboards, modular synthesizer, Ondes Martenot,
glockenspiel and laptop *Ed O'Brien: supplemental guitar, effects
pedals, backing vocals, auxiliary percussion *Colin Greenwood: bass
guitar, keyboards, sampler, and synthesisers *Phil Selway: drums,
percussion
Overview
Fans, music critics, and
fellow musicians tend to regard Radiohead as among the most fearlessly
creative bands of their era, although they are not universally popular. In
general, their music is more complex than that of other pop musicians,
incorporating a wide range of influences across genres and time periods,
but they identify with the punk and post-punk movements rather than with
progressive rock.
Radiohead have sometimes been cited as an
"outsider" band within the mainstream, or vice versa. Some fans assume the
band to be the natural inheritors of the mantle of R.E.M., Pink Floyd or
even The Beatles, though Radiohead have not enjoyed the same commercial
success as these groups; Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon has
so far sold over 40 million copies worldwide (and the band have been very
quick to publicise those figures), whereas Radiohead's much-acclaimed
OK Computer has probably only sold a fraction of that (no
official figures exist for OK Computer's success as far as units go).
However, reportedly members of these bands cited Radiohead numerous times
as one of the greatest modern rock bands. Examples include Michael Stipe
(who at a point in time was a quasi-mentor to Thom) is a great fan of the
band's output, and Paul McCartney, who lists them as one of his personal
favourite acts.
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are chiefly
responsible for songwriting, with Yorke initiating a song and Greenwood
developing it, though the entire band is often involved. They all
contribute lyrical and artistic ideas to each step of writing and
recording music.
All five members are highly respected musicians.
Jonny Greenwood in particular is an incredibly talented and versatile
musician; he is currently the BBC's Composer in Residence and is adept at
numerous instruments aside from the guitar, notably the Ondes Martenot,
harmonica and many that have never been recorded. Ed O'Brien, apart from
his normal duties as guitarist, is a gifted drummer as well.
This
versatility and openness in the band has grown more pronounced over time.
In recent years, especially, band members have embraced less clearly
defined roles in the band. For example, bassist Colin Greenwood wrote much
of "Dollars & Cents", a track on Amnesiac, by playing string
samples from Alice Coltrane's work on top of a simple bassline, inspiring
his brother Jonny's subsequent arrangement. Yorke switched to bass guitar
on the song "The National Anthem". During an average live show one can
expect all of them, with the exception of drummer Selway, to play an
assortment of instruments.
Producer Nigel Godrich has worked with
the band since the recording of The Bends, where he assisted
producer John Leckie. He has contributed significantly to their sound, and
has often been dubbed the "sixth member" of the band. However, after 5
recorded LPs and numerous EPs with the band, he won't contribute to
Radiohead's forthcoming album in 2006. Graphic artist Stanley Donwood is
another candidate for "sixth member". He originally met Yorke at the
University of Exeter and has produced, with Yorke's help, all of the
artwork for the band since their My Iron Lung EP. He also has a
great deal of influence over the public image of the band and input into
the themes and concepts of Yorke's lyrics. Yorke is always credited under
an alias, usually "Tchock", "Tchocky", or "Dr. Tchock", when collaborating
with Donwood. The two also created the band's official website together at
Radiohead.com. See section: Radiohead and the Internet.
Early
influences include The Beatles, Cardiacs (whom the band supported early in
their career), The Smiths, Elvis Costello, Joy Division, Pixies, Talking
Heads, Roxy Music, R.E.M., and the Jam, among others. Later influences
have included jazz musicians like Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Ornette
Coleman and Krautrock pioneers such as Kraftwerk, Neu! and Can, whose song
"Thief" Radiohead have covered live. Electronic music artists like Aphex
Twin, Squarepusher, and Autechre have also been cited as important
influences on Kid A and Amnesiac. The work of Polish
composer Krzysztof Penderecki informed some of Radiohead's string-oriented
songs such as "How To Disappear Completely", but more significantly, French
composer Olivier Messiaen, who made much use of the Ondes Martenot, is a
longtime idol of Jonny Greenwood, whose work is held in high regard by the
band. Members of Radiohead are also fans of reggae, dub reggae, and classic
soul music, particularly Booker T & the MGs for Colin. The band have
expressed love for OutKast and old school hip-hop. Artists they have
invited to open for them on tour include Sigur Rós, Supergrass,
Spiritualized, Sparklehorse, Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), Low, Clinic,
Four Tet and the Beta Band, among
others.
History
(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. Mild-mannered drummer Phil Selway was a year above guitarist Ed
O'Brien and guitarist/vocalist Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood a year
below them, and Colin's multi-instrumentalist brother Jonny two years
below him. Though the five didn't know each other that well, they began
meeting up in the school's music department, which Yorke describes as
"great-no one came down there, and there were these tiny rooms with
soundproofed cubicles." Colin remembers Abingdon's music school as a place
"where we would all run and hide away from the tedious conformity of
timetables and uniforms." It wasn't long before the boys formed a more or
less permanent band, playing music heavily influenced by acts like Joy
Division, Pixies, Magazine, R.E.M., Elvis Costello and the Smiths. After
trying and ditching a series of names, they finally settled on On A
Friday in honour of the day they regularly rehearsed. They rehearsed
on Friday because they had school every other day. The band played their
first gig in August 1986, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern (the gig was recorded
by the late, great Michael Gerzon who was well known in and around the
Oxford area for his many live recordings that he made. The tape is now
part of the Michael Gerzon collection in The British Library, National
Sound Archive). Jonny Greenwood, Colin's younger brother, became the final
addition to the band when Colin took him along to rehearsals as a shortcut
to babysitting him. Soon he began to take his keyboard along and play any
parts they wanted on top. It was a long time before Jonny became an
official member of the band.
Even though the band were already
fairly certain that they wanted to keep playing together, when it came
time for college, all chose to bow to parental pressure and continue their
education, putting music on the back burner. For almost four years On A
Friday didn't play a single gig, and they rehearsed only during holiday
breaks. In 1991, the band reemerged to release its first demo tapes. Their
first one?the Manic Hedgehog Demo (named after an Oxford record
shop)?brought the group to another gig in the Jericho Tavern. In the
meantime, the band had already appeared on the cover of Curfew, a
magazine based in Oxford.
(1992?1995) Pablo Honey and
The Bends
Things went fast as On A Friday started being
booked for gigs frequently. Various record labels showed interest and
eventually the group signed a 6-album recording contract with EMI. The
band were signed not long after the members had graduated from university.
The only member of Radiohead without a university degree is Jonny, the
youngest, who abandoned his course in psychology at Oxford Polytechnic
when the band got signed. Responding to the critic in Curfew who
characterised their name as mundane, the band decided to swap it for the
title of a cod-reggae tune, "Radio Head" on Talking Heads' True
Stories album. The record is a band favourite and would later be a
major influence on their own Kid A.
After spending a year
trying to break into the consciousness of the British music press, they
finally did become well-known with "Creep" in 1992. The band subsequently
released Pablo Honey in 1993, began touring America, and nearly
broke up over the pressure. The band's debut release was a self-produced
EP, described by Chris Hufford as "not a clever move." "A huge conflict of
interests. I think Thom was very insecure of my involvement. I'd had that
happen to me as an artist when one of our managers acted as producer.
There was definitely some friction on that front. Otherwise it was a
treat; we fired out the songs." The 4-track Drill EP came out in March
1992 with Prove Yourself as the lead track. It reached 101 in the UK
singles chart. The band then hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, who
produced Buffalo Tom's "Let Me Come Over," as producers. The album was
finished in three weeks in an Oxford studio. Although representing a style
from which the band would later move, songs like the big self-loathing hit
"Creep," "Anyone Can Play Guitar," "Thinking About You," and "You" were
popular. Because the album kept on breaking around the world, the
Pablo Honey supporting tour moved into its second
year.
However, some critics and record buyers labelled the band as
a "one-hit-wonder" on the heels of Creep's massive success. The
band were fully aware of this, and began work on their second album
immediately after the tour finished. The hiring of producing legend John
Leckie to make their next record showed that the band had further
developed as musicians and the latter 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." Previous producers Kolderie,
Hufford and Slade participated in the mixing process and the selection of
tracks. Nevertheless, the first sessions were exceedingly difficult, as
the pressure to make a follow-up that would build on the success of
Pablo Honey created high levels of tension within the band.
Recalling these sessions, Leckie said: "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!" Thereafter, the band responded by seeking a change of scenery,
quitting the studio and touring Australasia and the Far East. Trying new
songs while touring relaxed the atmosphere and helped in making their
second album.
Hufford claimed that "it made them re-evaluate what
they were good at and enjoyed doing. Playing live again put the
perspective back on what they'd lost in the studio." The EP My Iron
Lung (1994) was released between the two albums while the band were
touring and saw them in a transitional stage between the pop-like
Pablo Honey and the musical depth of their sophomore album.
Having worked the songs in on the road, they returned to Britain and
completed the album at once in a fortnight in late 1994. It was swiftly
mixed and released in May 1995. It wasn't successful until their third
single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which hit the Top 5 in UK. The album
finally bounced to the charts in 1996. The Bends drew heavily on
1960s influences as well as the then-popular music exemplified by groups
such as R.E.M. and the Pixies. Songs like "High & Dry", "Fake Plastic
Trees", "My Iron Lung" (the band's response to their big hit "Creep") and
"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" were striking, original and profound, hinting
that the group were growing as musicians and were on the way to lasting
fame.
By early 1996, contemporaneous with the rise of Britpop bands
such as Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Suede, Radiohead had received much critical
acclaim for the album which is now considered by many critics and fans to
be one of the best albums of the mid-1990s.
(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",
especially 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. In the end the band learned that creative tensions
aren't necessarily a bad thing, by the end of the year the album was
finished and in February and March it was mixed and mastered.
On 16
June, 1997 OK Computer was released and received even greater
acclaim than The Bends, featuring prominently in many "best
album" polls, then and now. 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. During this
time their performance at the Glastonbury Festival (shown briefly in
Meeting People Is Easy), just after the release of OK
Computer, was hailed by Michael Eavis as one of the greatest gigs
ever performed at the festival. OK Computer has been named the
best album of the past 20 years by US music magazine Spin, and the best
album of the 1990s by the online music publication Pitchfork, as well as
numerous other publications and public votes.
The band released two
EPs No Surprises/Running From Demons (1997) and Airbag/How Am
I Driving? (1998), which differ only by a couple of songs. 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.
OK Computer and
The Verve's final powerful alternative album?Urban Hymns?were
regarded as a boost to the already dying Britpop movement, despite the
fact that both records departed from the style. Nevertheless OK
Computer is regarded by some as one of the greatest rock albums and
still tops various charts. It defined Radiohead as top superstars and
elevated them to the pantheon of the greatest bands of 1990s, among such
seminal acts as R.E.M., U2, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
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 b-side to "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" found also on
the soundtrack to the film, while the latter was included in OK
Computer.
(1999?2001) Kid A and
Amnesiac
Exhausted by their fame and on the verge of
burning out, following the end of the "Against Demons World Tour" in
middle 1998, the band spent the next year in relative quiet. Thom Yorke
admitted that after the tour the band was close to splitting up, and that
he himself had fallen into depression for a time. Colin Greenwood said:
"It felt a bit like we were in a dead-end street and that was really
frustrating." The band only appeared at the Amnesty International Concert
in Paris (10 December 1998), and Thom and Jonny performed at the Tibetan
Freedom Concert in Amsterdam, where a new song, "Pyramid Song", made its
live debut. Thom Yorke claims that New Years Eve 1998 was one of the most
depressing days of his entire life. During this time he began a big
friendship with R.E.M.'s frontman Michael Stipe, who had a big influence
over his mental health and artistic career. According to Thom, Michael
helped to overcome his depressive episodes.
The band however were
still working on the follow-up, but rather chaotically and was less
organised than previous times. Thom said: "I think it was the first time
we didn't have a clue what we were going to do, what we were doing. We
were just experimenting. We've been in this state for about a year, just
fooling around, trying out stuff and listening to what we did, then it
finally started to get into shape... after about 18 months." But, after
O'Brien's collaboration for the BBC drama series "Eureka Street" in middle
1999, the band holed completely in the studio to record. The amount of the
material was huge?about 40 new songs, from which they chose 30 for their
subsequent two records.
Radiohead refused to make a follow-up of
OK Computer in the same musical vein and chose to be even more
ambitious than before, creating an experimental electronic album with
minimal guitar work that complemented the lyrical and musical hooks of
their earlier work with a more minimalist style. Yorke explained that the
band wanted "to experiment and find new angles, leave the old paths. We
tried to treat the album like a song, let the album develop itself rather
than giving it a shape and moulding it into a shape, and it worked. It was
a completely different way we used for work and it was rather
liberating."
Their fourth record, Kid A, was released in
October 2, 2000?three-and-half years after OK Computer. The band
cited Alice Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Paul Lansky as influences, as
well as the entire back catalogue of Warp Records. In fact, it has been
rumored that Thom desired to name the album "LP4" as a nod to Autechre, as
well as a means of denoting the somewhat experimental style. The album's
arrangements have been likened to a meeting of Pink Floyd and Aphex Twin.
In some pressings of Kid A the case includes a secret booklet,
containing artwork by Stanley Donwood and Tchocky. Kid A received
a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album just as its predecessor did, but
some critics complained that the record was too self-indulgent and
radio-unfriendly. Despite this, Kid A is now considered one of
their finest records and greatest achievements. The online music
publication Pitchfork Media 1 picked Kid A as the finest album of the
first half of this decade.
The follow-up, Amnesiac, which
was released in June of the following year, comprised further tracks from
the same recording sessions. Conceived as two separate sequences of songs,
the two albums are similar in style and influences; linked by two different
versions of the song, "Morning Bell." Amnesiac is often viewed by
critics as the less accomplished of the two works and has been criticised
for its lack of cohesion. However, most 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 Kid A's sales, but came close. There is some
argument among fans over which of the two albums is better.
After
its release, the band staged their own mini-festival in Oxford's South
Park, featuring Beck, Sigur Rós, Supergrass, Humphrey Lyttelton (who
played trumpet on "Life in a Glass House", the closing track on
Amnesiac), and themselves. Initially the band wanted to release
"I Might Be Wrong" as their new single after "Pyramid Song" and
"Knives Out", but soon the idea expanded into a fully-fledged live record.
In the fall of 2001, they released their first live album: I Might Be
Wrong: Live Recordings, featuring performances from Berlin, Paris,
London and a couple of other concerts as well as one unreleased track,
"True Love Waits".
(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 prior to recording it. The recording process of the album was more
like The Bends sessions, rather than the slower Kid
A/Amnesiac sessions. With the songs fleshed out and
finalised during the tour, the band completed the album in a Los Angeles
studio in a fortnight. In 2003 the band released their sixth album
Hail to the Thief, which was rooted in less overt experimentation
than its two immediate predecessors but was still a long way from their
earlier guitar-driven material. The atmospheric lead single "There there"
peaked at number 4 in the U.K. charts. The album's title was seen as a
comment on the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Even though the band
denied that they had any reference to George W. Bush's election win, and
the subsequent Bush presidency, the view that it was might be seen as
appropriate when taking into consideration the artwork and themes of some
of the songs on the album, such as the track "2 + 2 = 5", which refers to
George Orwell's political commentary Nineteen Eighty-Four (see
two plus two make five).
Hail to the Thief gathered
lukewarm reviews on release, mainly based on the fact that it was not
considered 'genre-redefining' to the extent Kid A and OK
Computer were analysed to be. However, in the greater scheme of
popular music, many fans and critics consider it to be an on a par with
Radiohead's previous work. The record revisits every era of Radiohead's
sound, varying from experimental electronica to crunching guitars, and is
infused with a certain swagger that band members attribute to the quick,
energetic recording sessions.
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 previous.
Many Australian fans were deeply upset by the cancellation of the last
show merely hours before its scheduled start due to problems with Yorke's
throat. Radiohead again, in June 2003, headlined the main (Pyramid) stage
on the Saturday of the Glastonbury Festival. Like in 1997, the performance
was greeted to huge crowd acclaim and positive press reviews. Also in 2003,
Jonny Greenwood, with the help of his brother Colin Greenwood, composed,
recorded and produced the soundtrack to the avant-garde documentary
Bodysong.
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
features live takes, remixes, and different versions of Hail to the
Thief-era songs, as well as a handful of acoustic and electronic
numbers. The band finished touring and promoting Hail to the
Thief in mid-2004 with an acclaimed performance at the Coachella
Festival.
(2005?2006) Current recording sessions
At
first, the band stated that it's natural to record some more material on
the heels of the previous record and started jamming in their Oxford based
studio. This didn't last long, as Ed and Colin were expecting children, and
the band wanted some time off after a three-album cycle. Free of any
contractual obligations, Radiohead spent the rest of 2004 resting and
devoting themselves to solo projects and recordings with other artists,
only recording sporadically. They released the DVD version of their
webcast television show, The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All
Time, in December 2004. Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway had cameo
roles in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, for which
they recorded three songs, but their fictional band The Weird Sisters,
fronted by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, received only a few seconds of screen
time. Jonny became a composer for the BBC, charged with creating classical
pieces. He and Thom collaborated with many other artists for the Band Aid
20 project, playing guitar and piano, respectively.
Radiohead
returned to recording sessions in early 2005, although they recorded on
and off in during the hiatus. The band got together back in January 2005
and Thom played a bunch of his new songs for the others. Despite having
never heard the material before, the rest of the band jumped in and
started adding their own parts. The whole recording process has been
portrayed as "unorganised" and very different than the usual ways
Radiohead have recorded before. Later Thom described this change to NME as
the way the band worked during the gap of OK Computer and Kid
A. Close collaborator Nigel Godrich won't participate in the making
of the album, as it has been revealed in late December by Ed O'Brien.
"It's not an end of an era, (but) part of what your realise as a band is
that all those records you made with Nigel, apart from Hail To The
Thief we were a little bit in the comfort zone," he explained.
"That's why you make records like Kid A after OK
Computer, that's why you make OK Computer after The
Bends, you've got to do stuff that you're scared of doing. With
Nigel, we've been working together for 10 years, and we all love one
another too much."
In March 2005 Thom and Jonny played at the Ether
Festival, unveiling a new song "Arpeggi", in the process. A month later, in
April, Thom played an acoustic solo gig at the Trade Justice vigil at
Westminster, playing a new song, "House of Cards", a 'lost' song, "Last
Flowers" (shelved from the OK Computer era), and two other songs
that have been performed before but not recorded, "Nude/Big Ideas (Don't
Get Any)" (as seen on the Meeting People Is Easy DVD), and
"Reckoner".
It's been revealed that it's unlikely that the band
would re-sign with EMI. Their management also dismissed rumours that
Warner Music were lining up to sign the band, saying: "The band (are) 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 early September, the band
recorded a new song; "I Want None Of This", for the War Child album Help:
a Day in the Life. It is a simple piano-based song, with a minimalist
style & some haunting backing vocals. On September 30, Thom posted a photo
on their own on-line blog of what seems to be a list of 21 songs for the
band to work on. However, these are not all of the songs that the band are
currently working on as they have many other tunes. A list has been
extrapolated by members of the ateaseweb.com fan site. Titles for tracks,
considered for the new album from the sessions, which is expected some
time Summer 2006, include "Rubbernecks", "Bodysnatchers", "Solutions", "A
Pig's Ear", "Burn The Witch", "Suit Don't Fit", "Down Is The New Up"
(speculated to be a prospective title for the new album), "Morning Mi'
Lord", as well as the already mentioned "Last Flowers", "House Of Cards",
"Reckoner" and "Arpeggi". The band are already discussing next year's tour
dates, although no dates are confirmed. Thom said the following on the
official site message board: "Next year we will play some small gigs.
Actually maybe a couple of large ones too..." It is rumoured also that the
band will be headlining at the V Festival in Chelmsford, UK in
2006.
Ed O'Brien appeared on the BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show on
December 21 to talk about Radiohead's upcoming record. "We are going to
tour next year, definitely," Ed O'Brien told Zane Lowe. "Hopefully we're
going to have a couple of tracks to download by about April or May. But
we're going to go out in May; we're going to do some theatres because part
of what we're doing is play new material. It's a good way to get your shit
together." O'Brien explained the band will do UK and European dates in May
before heading to America in the summer. He said the band hoped they would
have around ten new songs in their set by then. In January 2006, a bid was
presented for Radiohead to play a weekend stand at Chicago's Millennium
Park bandshell in summer 2006. The state-of-the-art bandshell, designed by
renowned Canadian architect Frank Gehry, would have been the perfect
setting for the concert. However, the city, citing a planned rehearsal by
the Grant Park Orchestra, denied the bid. Radiohead still hopes to play
Chicago and many other U.S. dates in 2006. Radiohead are also slated to
play as a headliner in 2006's Bonnaroo Festival outside of Manchester,
Tennessee.
Discussing the album itself, the guitarist said there
was no confirmed release date or a title yet, but said that Radiohead
planned more recording sessions in February. "We've been talking to
(producer) Mark "Spike" Stent, who's worked with Madonna and Björk and
hopefully in February we'll reconvene with him," said O'Brien. "We've got
some great songs but we won't release something we're not happy with. The
thing with Radiohead is that each record has a different sound, it's
really hard finding something that's different and sits well with us." On
the 31st of January, Thom posted on Dead Air Space that the band are in
the studio "getting on" with the album: "So here we are with Spike Stent
in our studio which now looks like NASA," he said. "And we are being taken
to task. We are having to shake the dust off. No more bullshit. Stop
answering the phones and thinking of excuses to leave the building.
Instead get on with it." He added: "Jonny said today that since we were
last Radiohead, between us, we've had six children or rather our partners
have, this may perhaps have something to do with our lack of focus. But as
this rock 'n' roll (sic) we ain't supposed to discuss this.. deny it every
(sic) happened etc. What bullshit."
Apart from the few glimpses
last year, it's quite difficult to tell what the next album will sound
like. As Jonny Greenwood said earlier in 2005 that he was mostly listening
to dub reggae back then, it is very possible that the album will have
influences of that nature. Also, the use of orchestral arrangements by
Jonny probably will give the album certain aesthetic feel. Radiohead are
known for their experimental nature, so new sounds are expected. It's
unknown when the new album will be released, but fans await it for the
summer this year, because of the band's propensity for summer releases.
Another possible time release is this fall as it is supposed that the band
will observe fan's reaction on their new tunes and as they are
perfectionists they would probably like to work more in the studio for
some time to finish the album to their
satisfaction.
Discography
Studio
albums
Image:Radiohead.pablohoney.albumart.jpg|1. Pablo
HoneyFebruary 22 1993#25 (UK), #32
(US) Image:Radiohead.bends.albumart.jpg| 2. The Bends
March 13, 1995 #4 (UK), #88
(US) Image:Radiohead.okcomputer.albumart.jpg| 3. OK
Computer June 16, 1997 #1 (UK), #21
(US) Image:Radiohead.kida.albumart.jpg| 4. Kid A
October 2, 2000 #1 (UK), #1
(US) Image:Radiohead.amnesiac.albumart.jpg| 5.
Amnesiac June 4, 2001 #1 (UK), #2
(US) Image:Radiohead.hailtothetheif.albumart.jpg| 6. Hail to
the Thief June 9, 2003 #1 (UK), #3 (US)
Selected
EPs
Image:Rad01.jpg|Drill(1992) Image:Radiohead
itch.jpg|Itch(1994)(Japan/New
Zealand) Image:My Iron Lung.jpg|My Iron
Lung(1994) Image:Nosurprises
front.jpg|No Surprises/Running From
Demons(1997)'(Japan) Image:Airbag.jpg|Airbag/How
Am I Driving?(1998)(U.S.)#1 UK,
#56
US Image:Radiohead.imightbewrong.albumart.jpg|I Might Be Wrong:
Live Recordings(2001)#22 UK,
#44 US Image:Radiohead Com Lag (japan) CD
cover.png|COM LAG
(2plus2isfive)(2004)(Japan)#37
U.K.
Other *Live Au Forum
(1995) (France) *The Bends
Pinkpop(1996)
(Netherlands) *Amnesiac College EP
(2001) (U.S. College
Radio)
Singles
| align="center" valign="top"
width="40"|Year | align="left" valign="top"|Song | align="center"
valign="top" width="40"|UK Singles Chart | align="left" valign="top"|Album
| | align="center" valign="top"|1992 | align="left" valign="top"|Prove
Yourself | align="center" valign="top"|101 | align="left"
valign="top"|Drill E.P. | | align="center" valign="top"|1992 |
align="left" valign="top"|Creep | align="center" valign="top"|78 |
align="left" valign="top"|Pablo Honey | | align="center"
valign="top"|1993 | align="left" valign="top"|Anyone Can Play Guitar |
align="center" valign="top"|32 | align="left" valign="top"|Pablo Honey
| | align="center" valign="top"|1993 | align="left" valign="top"|Pop
is Dead | align="center" valign="top"|42 | align="left" valign="top"|-
| | align="center" valign="top"|1993 | align="left" valign="top"|Creep
(re-release) | align="center"
valign="top"|7 | align="left" valign="top"|Pablo Honey
| | align="center" valign="top"|1993 | align="left" valign="top"|Stop
Whispering | align="center" valign="top"|N/A (U.S Only) |
align="left" valign="top"|Pablo Honey | | align="center"
valign="top"|1994 | align="left" valign="top"|My Iron Lung |
align="center" valign="top"|24 | align="left" valign="top"|The Bends |
| align="center" valign="top"|1995 | align="left" valign="top"|High and Dry
| align="center" valign="top"|17 | align="left" valign="top"|The Bends
| | align="center" valign="top"|1995 | align="left"
valign="top"|Planet Telex | align="center" valign="top"|17 | align="left"
valign="top"|The Bends | | align="center" valign="top"|1995 |
align="left" valign="top"|Fake Plastic Trees | align="center"
valign="top"|20 | align="left" valign="top"|The Bends | |
align="center" valign="top"|1995 | align="left" valign="top"|Just |
align="center" valign="top"|19 | align="left" valign="top"|The Bends |
| align="center" valign="top"|1996 | align="left" valign="top"|Street
Spirit (Fade Out) | align="center" valign="top"|5 |
align="left" valign="top"|The Bends | | align="center"
valign="top"|1996 | align="left" valign="top"|The Bends | align="center"
valign="top"|N/A (Ireland Only) | align="left"
valign="top"|The Bends | | align="center" valign="top"|1997 |
align="left" valign="top"|Paranoid Android | align="center"
valign="top"|3 | align="left" valign="top"|OK Computer
| | align="center" valign="top"|1997 | align="left" valign="top"|Karma
Police | align="center" valign="top"|8 | align="left"
valign="top"|OK Computer | | align="center" valign="top"|1998 |
align="left" valign="top"|No Surprises | align="center"
valign="top"|4 | align="left" valign="top"|OK Computer
| | align="center" valign="top"|2001 | align="left"
valign="top"|Pyramid Song | align="center" valign="top"|5
| align="left" valign="top"|Amnesiac | | align="center"
valign="top"|2001 | align="left" valign="top"|Knives Out | align="center"
valign="top"|13 | align="left" valign="top"|Amnesiac | |
align="center" valign="top"|2003 | align="left" valign="top"|There there |
align="center" valign="top"|4 | align="left"
valign="top"|Hail to the Thief | | align="center" valign="top"|2003 |
align="left" valign="top"|Go to Sleep | align="center" valign="top"|12 |
align="left" valign="top"|Hail to the Thief | | align="center"
valign="top"|2003 | align="left" valign="top"|2 + 2 = 5 | align="center"
valign="top"|15 | align="left" valign="top"|Hail to the Thief |
|
Multimedia
Videos
*Live at the Astoria
(1995, VHS) *7 Television Commercials (1998,
VHS/DVD) *Meeting People Is Easy (1999, VHS/DVD) *The
Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time (2004, DVD) *Live at the
Astoria [Re-release] (2005,
DVD)
Books
*Radiohead: An Illustrated Biography
by Nick Johnstone (1997, ISBN 0711965811) *Radiohead: From a Great
Height by Jonathan Hale (1999, ISBN 1550223739) *Radiohead:
Hysterical and Useless by Martin Clarke (2000, ISBN
0859653323) *Exit Music: The Radiohead Story by Mac Randall,
(2000, ISBN 0385333935) *Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe
by James Doheny (2002, ISBN 1560253983) *Radiohead: A Visual
Documentary by Tim Footman and Billy Dancer (2002, ISBN
1842401793) *The Music and Art of Radiohead edited by Joseph
Tate (2005, ISBN
0754639800)
Samples
References
*Ross,
Alex (August 20 and 27, 2001). The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet
revolution. The New Yorker. *Rock On The Net:
Radiohead
Collector links
*RHDiscog.com - Radiohead
Discography: The most comprehensive Radiohead discography on the
internet. *Track Resource: A list of every officially released version
of every Radiohead song. Includes scans of the releases from which each
version is found.
General links
*Radiohead.com:
The official Radiohead website. The Messageboard has gathered a cult
following. Members of the band occasionally post there. *Talk In
Maths: 'A Not Even Remotely Official Radiohead FAQ': Site packed with
general information and facts about the band. *Radiohead News: Latest
headlines on Radiohead. *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. *Radiohead Perú Sitio web Peruano
sobre Radiohead con contenido en español, foro, news, Tributos,
etc. *ne pas a.v.a.l.e.r.: The main French fansite very detailed
section on songs and discs. Very active forum. *Dead Air Space:
Radiohead's blog for its 7th LP *The Radiohead Backlash
Article *Radiohead México: The main Mexican fansite with content in
Spanish. *Radiohead Greek Theater Los Angeles: Radiohead Greek Theater
Concert review
Lyrics links
*Radiohead lyrics Radiohead
lyrics *Monkey Picture Soundtrack: An independent transcription and
analysis of Radiohead's lyrics, devoted to demystifying Yorke's unclear
vocal deliveries. *Pulk-Pull: An on-going investigation of the band's
music and art. *2: Comprehensive list of all songs and their
lyrics
* Category:Art rock musical
groups Category:Alternative musical groups Category:Rock music
groups Category:English musical
groups
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Wikipedia article is licensed under http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
and uses material from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiohead. A preview
of this article is available at
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