Radiohead

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Radiohead

Alternative rock band

Arty British rockers Radiohead have found themselves starring in one the most unusual success stories in alternative music. Dismissed as one-hit wonders for their unexpected 1993 hit "Creep," in subsequent years the band slowly accrued critical adoration and a devoted cult following. By late 1997 their third album, OK Computer, had appeared on year-end lists as one of the most outstanding releases of the year, in publications as diverse as People and the Village Voice.

"This is one of the few bands in recent years to surf a brief wave of post-Nirvana success in the early 1990s, watch it die and then paddle out again in search of the big one," wrote Rolling Stone's Matt Hendrickson, of Radiohead. Much of the group's musical persona is centered on lead singer Thom Yorke. Born in 1968 and once described as a cross between onetime Sex Pistol Johnny Lydon and comic actor Martin Short, the gaunt, orange-haired Yorke grew up in Scotland and in Oxford, England. Yorke was thin, suffered from a lazy eye, and was often pummeled by the other boys at his boarding school. His father, an industrial salesman, had been a champion boxer, and he tried to teach Yorke the sport, but usually succeeded only in flattening him. These traumas of his youth led Yorke to form his first band around the age of ten, in which he played guitar while a friend destroyed television sets. But later, at the detested boarding school, he taught himself to sing in the rehearsal rooms there.

Recorded Debut Album

It was also at school that he met fellow boarder Colin Greenwood, and the duo formed a punk band called TNT. Back in Oxford, in 1987 Yorke and Greenwood put together another band called On a Friday with friends Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway. At their first gig, Colin's younger brother Jonny sat near the stage with his harmonica until he was finally invited on stage. The band dissolved after a short while, and most members departed to different universities in England. Yorke studied English literature at Exeter University, where he became politically active in the anti-fascist movement, which once again made him an easy target for battery. In 1991 he found himself back in Oxford, where he reassembled his friends once more; this time they called themselves Radiohead, borrowing the name from a Talking Heads song.

Radiohead quickly became a fixture on the Oxford club scene. Most bands in the British Isles, after some hometown success, head to London to play what is called "showcase" gigs in the city's thriving club scene. The venues in London are frequented by Artist and Repretoire (A&R) people from labels looking for new acts to sign. Radiohead refused advice to play London and stubbornly stayed put in Oxford, but buzz about their sound grew so loud that at one Oxford gig, 30 record industry people from London were in attendance. Later in 1991 the group signed to Parlophone, part of the EMI family, who put them on tour. They played 100 shows around Britain in 1992. They also headed into the studio to record their debut album, Pablo Honey. The album was released in the United States in 1993, and went gold only because of the success of "Creep," a wry homage to Yorke's personal demons. "I wish I was special," he laments in its chorus. "I don't belong here." He later tired of interviews that wanted to discuss the song and his self-esteem. "Self-loathing is something we can all relate to," guitarist Ed O'Brien explained to Billboard's David Sprague, about the impetus for the song. "Every day, we see people who are better-looking or richer or more worthy than we feel."

The Bends a Critical Success

Other tracks from Pablo Honey, when released as subsequent singles, failed to make a similar impact on the American modern-rock charts, and by the time of their 1995 release The Bends, few were expecting a repeat of "Creep." Though it sold nowhere near as many copies as their debut, The Bends established Radiohead as a solid, lyrical force. "Alternately quivering with heart-rending insecurity and self-deprecating anguish," wrote Rolling Stone's Jon Wiederhorn, the record "is an emotional seesaw that never remains balanced." Singles such as the title track and "Fake Plastic Trees" hit a good nerve with music industry insiders, and the alternative press penned homages to Radiohead and their record that were almost unanimous in approval. Wiederhorn called The Bends "dynamic and passionate," granting that it was a bit less accessible than their debut, but termed it an "amalgam of experimental noise and meditative beauty."

For the Record …

Members include Colin Greenwood , bass; Jonny Greenwood , guitar, keyboards; Ed O'Brien , guitar, vocals; Phil Selway (born c. 1967), drums; Thom E. Yorke (born 1968, in Wellingborough, England; son of an industrial salesperson; attended Exeter University, late 1980s), vocals, guitar. Education: attended Exeter University, late 1980s

Band formed in Oxford, England, as "On a Friday," 1987; disbanded for a time; reformed and renamed themselves Radiohead, 1991; signed with Parlophone/EMI (United Kingdom), 1991; released first single, "Creep,"1993; released debut album, Pablo Honey, Capitol, 1993; issued OK Computer, 1997, Kid A, 2000, Amnesiac, 2001, and Hail to the Thief, 2003; left Capital Records following EP COM LAG, 2006; self-released In Rainbows, 2007; issued Best Of on Capitol, 2008.

Awards: OK Computer named in several entertainment industry listings as "Album of the Year," 1997; Grammy Award, Best Alternative Music Performance; 1997, Rolling Stone Critics Poll, Band of the Year, 1998; Grammy Award, Best Alternative Album, for Kid A, 2000.

Addresses: Record company—Capitol Records, 304 Park Ave. South, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10010. Web site—Radiohead Official Web site: http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/.

That same year, Radiohead was paired as an opening act for R.E.M., a contact that had a profound influence on the way they would handle their creative and business careers from then on. They also opened for Alanis Morissette during 1996, which presumably made less of an impact but gave them great exposure. The band returned to England to record a third album, much of which was done in a gothic manse near Bath that actress Jane Seymour often rented out to bands for extended stays.

Near-Unanimous Accolades

When OK Computer was finished, the record company did an unusual and expensive publicity stunt to promote it: an advance cassette was glued into a Walkman and sent out to critics. It was an almost unnecessary act, though: the music press was almost unanimous in its praise. Entertainment Weekly named it "Album of the Year" for 1997, as did numerous other year-end polls and lists, and the weekly's music critic David Browne called it a "subtly resplendent opus. … No other piece of music this year so eloquently captured fin de siecle wariness." Eric Weisbard of the Village Voice compared Radiohead to Pink Floyd, as had some other critics, and wrote that "the sounds on OK Computer … range from twinkly-tone steely guitar lullabies to jarring crash landings, often within the same number," and lauded it for the "gorgeous mood of elegy that takes over toward the close."

Hendrickson, writing in Rolling Stone, found OK Computer to be "a glorious piece of moody, spaced-out art-rock madness," and the magazine named Radiohead Band of the Year, as did its competitor, Spin magazine. The latter's Pat Blashill described the album as "full of spindly guitars and freaked-out noise [and] poppy songs … and it's especially full of mystery. Nothing is explained, everything is suggested." The band explained that influences for some of their bizarre tunes, such as "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and "Karma Police," among others, ranged from Miles Davis to seventies-era German experimentalist rockers Faust to overblown Genesis albums they despised.

The Lovable Creep

Yorke seemed more comfortable handling the press and interview questions after a few years' experience. Indeed, some critics have felt that the real impetus behind Radiohead's unusual, though accessible, music has been its frontman's cantankerous persona. "A self-described perfectionist and control freak, Yorke is also a moody codger," wrote Hendrickson. "It is this unpredictability that drives his band mates, who feed off the singer's mania and channel it into an explosive, complex and melodic mix of guitar rock and electronics." The rest of the band members have also won critical recognition for their musicianship and daring.

In 1998 Radiohead released the mini-EP Airbag/How Am I Driving?. Vehicles and automobile accidents have remained somewhat of a songwriting fixation for Yorke. When asked about Airbag and some previous songs about car crashes, Yorke explained to Spin's Blashill, "I just think that people get up too early to leave houses where they don't want to live to drive to jobs where they don't want to be in one of the most dangerous forms of transport on earth. I've just never gotten used to that."

Radiohead supported OK Computer by touring in 1997-98, and then took a temporary hiatus. It was later revealed that the band had nearly broken up, and that Yorke had been suffering from severe depression. Yorke was also suffering from writer's block, but Radiohead nonetheless returned to the studio at the beginning of 1999, and over the next 18 months the band revamped its method of songwriting, a method that included a more equal input from all members.

Two albums evolved from the sessions, Kid A (2000), and Amnesiac (2001). Both albums featured a radically new sound, one that eschewed guitar rock for an electronic sound. While critical attention continued to recognize Radiohead as innovators, the music on Kid A and Amnesiac was considered less accessible to the average listener. Still, Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and Amnesiac was also nominated for a Grammy.

Unlike the lengthy sessions that produced Kid A and Amnesiac, Radiohead recorded its sixth album in Los Angeles and Oxford in only two weeks in 2002. Released in mid-2003, Hail to the Thief charted and received good reviews, but was perceived as following in the wake of the previous two albums. Many critics also believed that the title of the album was a direct comment on the 2000 presidential election in the United States, though Yorke noted that he had first heard the phrase in a discussion about John Quincy Adams on Radio 4.

Following the issue of the 2006 EP COM LAG, mostly featuring Hail to the Thief b-sides, Radiohead's contract with EMI came to an end. The band finished recording its seventh album, In Rainbows, in June of 2007, and issued the tracks as digital downloads in October of the same year. Besides receiving rave reviews, the album drew media attention because of Radiohead's decision to allow the buyer to choose a price for the album. In 2008, Radiohead planned to tour Europe, North America, and South America in support of In Rainbows.