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Radiohead
File:Radiohead grass.jpg
Left to right: Phil Selway, Jonny Greenwood, Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood
Background information
OriginOxford, England, UK
Years active1986–present
MembersThom Yorke
Jonny Greenwood
Ed O'Brien
Colin Greenwood
Phil Selway

Radiohead are a British alternative rock band from Oxford and nearby Abingdon.

Lineup

Overview

Main article: Radiohead overview and influence

Radiohead is regarded as being 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 The Dark Side of the Moon has so far sold over 40 million copies worldwide, whereas Radiohead's much-acclaimed OK Computer has probably only sold a fraction of that (To date, OK Computer sales are acknowledged to be just over 8.4 million copies). However, reportedly members of these bands cited Radiohead numerous times as one of the greatest modern rock bands. Examples include Michael Stipe (at one point a quasi-mentor to Thom), who 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 follow-up to Hail to the Thief. 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.

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

File:Curfewcover.jpg
On A Friday

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 second one — the Manic Hedgehog Demo (named after an Oxford record shop and released in October) — 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

Jonny Greenwood

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.

Thom Yorke

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

File:Bear20Big.gif
Radiohead's "Specimen Bear" icon

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 close friendship with R.E.M.'s frontman Michael Stipe, who became a major influence over Yorke's mental health and artistic career. According to Thom, Michael helped him to overcome his depressive episodes.

The band however were still working on the follow-up, but rather chaotically and less organised than on previous albums. 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 secluded themselves in the studio to record. The amount of 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. 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 radio-unfriendly although some radio stations did play the song "Optimistic". 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

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A Radiohead concert ticket stub, from the Hail to the Thief tour

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. Template:Future album 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. Immediately the rest of the band started adding their own parts. The whole recording process has been described 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". 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".

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Thom Yorke, at the Trade Justice vigil, Westminster, April 2005

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[2] 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 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. Unfortunately the city denied the bid, citing a planned rehearsal by the Grant Park Orchestra. 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.

On February 21, Radiohead's ticket sales website was taken offline, displaying the message "Authorization Required" and a username and password were required to enter. Many fans took this as a sign and waited past midnight on the night, hoping tickets would be released to buy. Midnight passed and nothing happened, the site remains offline and fans are still awaiting ticket news.

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 31 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 difficult to tell what the next album will sound like. As Jonny Greenwood said earlier in 2005 that he had been listening only to dub reggae for months, it is possible that the genre's influence will be audible on the new album. Also, the use of orchestral arrangements by Jonny probably will give the album an aesthetic missing from Hail to the Thief, which featured no guest musicians. 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 summer 2006, because of the band's propensity for summer releases. The release date may be farther in the year, 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

Selected EPs

Other

Singles

Year Song UK Singles Chart Album
1992 Prove Yourself 101 Drill E.P.
1992 Creep 78 Pablo Honey
1993 Anyone Can Play Guitar 32 Pablo Honey
1993 Pop is Dead 42 -
1993 Creep (re-release) 7 Pablo Honey
1993 Stop Whispering N/A (U.S Only) Pablo Honey
1994 My Iron Lung 24 The Bends
1995 High and Dry 17 The Bends
1995 Planet Telex 17 The Bends
1995 Fake Plastic Trees 20 The Bends
1995 Just 19 The Bends
1996 Street Spirit (Fade Out) 5 The Bends
1996 The Bends N/A (Ireland Only) The Bends
1997 Paranoid Android 3 OK Computer
1997 Karma Police 8 OK Computer
1998 No Surprises 4 OK Computer
2001 Pyramid Song 5 Amnesiac
2001 Knives Out 13 Amnesiac
2003 There there 4 Hail to the Thief
2003 Go to Sleep 12 Hail to the Thief
2003 2 + 2 = 5 15 Hail to the Thief

Multimedia

Videos

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

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References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radiohead.
  • 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.
  • [3]: Comprehensive list of all songs and their lyrics
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