(1986-1991) Formation and first years

Radiohead were formed in the mid-Eighties at Abingdon School, a boys-only public school located just outside the city of Oxford, which drummer Phil Selway, guitarist Ed O'Brien, guitarist/vocalist Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood and Colin's brother Jonny all attended. They began practicing in the school's music room, which led to the formation of their first band On a Friday, so named because of their customary rehearsal date. The band played their first gig in September 1986, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern. Jonny was the youngest member, and played harmonica until he could persuade the others to allow him on guitar. Ironically, he soon developed into the band's lead player.

(1992-1995) Pablo Honey and The Bends

As On a Friday's live bookings increased, various record labels began to show interest in them. Eventually the group signed a six-album recording contract with EMI. The band also changed their name to Radiohead at the behest of the label, the title of a song on Talking Heads' True Stories album. Their debut EP was produced by their managers Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge, who both remain Radiohead's managers to this day. However, shortly after releasing the Drill (EP) in March 1992, the band hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, known for their work with the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., to produce their first album. Radiohead's first album was finished in three weeks in an Oxford studio.

(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".

(1999-2001) Kid A and Amnesiac

Exhausted by fame and on the verge of burning out following their 1997-1998 world tour, the band spent the next year in relative quiet. Thom Yorke later admitted that during that period the band were close to splitting up, and that he himself had developed mild depression. Radiohead's only appearance later that year was at an Amnesty International concert in Paris (10 December, 1998). In 1999 Thom and Jonny performed alone at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam, debuting a new work, "Egyptian Song" (later known as "Pyramid Song"). The band's only public performance was in a webcast to their fans, introducing the song "Knives Out."

(2002-2004) Hail to the Thief

On the heels of the Amnesiac tour the band took new material on the road in Portugal and Spain during July and August 2002. Using this opportunity to test and finalise the songs before an audience of their fans, the band completed the album in only two weeks in a Los Angeles studio with Nigel Godrich, with a few additional recordings done later in Oxford. According to interviews, the band was seeking to lessen their perfectionist tendencies and find more of a "swaggering" live sound in the studio.

(2005-present) Current work

Radiohead began work again in early 2005. As a result of the band's work, Thom and Jonny debuted a new song, "Arpeggi," in March 2005, playing it at London's Ether Festival; Greenwood also debuted two of his own classical pieces, one written for the Ondes Martenot. Later that summer, Thom performed an acoustic set for the Trade Justice Rally, playing never-recorded fan favourite "Nude" (aka "Big Ideas"), debuting the new song "House of Cards," reviving the unreleased "Reckoner," and introducing "Last Flowers [to the Hospital]," a remnant of the OK Computer period. Radiohead did not perform live in 2005, but would perform some of these songs later by the full band.

Band Members

• Thom Yorke – vocals, guitar, piano, laptop
• Jonny Greenwood – guitar, piano, organ, analogue systems, ondes martenot, laptop, toy piano, glockenspiel
• Ed O'Brien – guitar, percussion, harmony vocals, effects
• Colin Greenwood – bass, keyboards, synthesizers, sampler
• Phil Selway – drums and percussions

Solo work

Further reading

See also Radiohead overview and influence

Online references

• Draper, Brian. Interview with Thom Yorke. Third Way magazine, December 2004. Vol. 27, No. 10.
• McLean, Craig. "All messed up." The Observer, June 18, 2006.
• Ross, Alex. "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution." The New Yorker, August 20 and 27, 2001.
• Smith, Andrew. "Sound and Fury." The Observer, October 1, 2000.
• White, Curtis. "Kid Adorno." Context. Issue No. 6.
• At Ease: Radiohead Biography
• Follow Me Around: Radiohead Press Cuttings
• Rock on the Net: Radiohead timeline & discography

Books

• Radiohead: An Illustrated Biography by Nick Johnstone (1997, ISBN 0-7119-6581-1)
• Radiohead: From a Great Height by Jonathan Hale (1999, ISBN 1-55022-373-9)
• Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless by Martin Clarke (2000, ISBN 0-85965-332-3)
• Exit Music: The Radiohead Story by Mac Randall, (2000, ISBN 0-385-33393-5)
• Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe by James Doheny (2002, ISBN 1-56025-398-3)
• Radiohead: A Visual Documentary by Tim Footman and Billy Dancer (2002, ISBN 1-84240-179-3)
• The Music and Art of Radiohead edited by Joseph Tate (2005, ISBN 0-7546-3980-0)
• Radiohead: The Complete Guide to Their Music by Mark Paytress (2005, ISBN 1-84449-507-8)
• OK Computer by Dai Griffiths, from 33 1/3 series (2005, ISBN 0-8264-1663-2)

Dissertations

• "Authenticity in Rock Culture (Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Radiohead)" by Mark Mazullo (1999, University of Minnesota)
• “Contextually Defined Musical Transformations” by Jonathan Kochavi (2002, State University of New York at Buffalo)
• "'How to Disappear Completely': Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album" by Marianne Tatom Letts (2005, University of Texas at Austin)

Notes

Find out more about Radiohead on Wikipedia