Radiohead: Fantastic Rock Band

By Dylan Watson

Radiohead is one of the most celebrated alternative rock groups of the last two decades, wowing critics while maintaining a sizable following across the globe despite their insistence on producing challenging, forward-thinking music. When the British band began in the '90s, they resembled a traditional modern-rock group, but in subsequent years the quintet has slowly moved away from conventional guitar-and-drum-based music to explore experimental structures and tones. They may not be the most popular group in rock, but they're certainly one of the most respected. Radiohead came together when the band members were all attending the same school in Abingdon in England in the mid-'80s. The individual members went off to university but remained in contact, eventually getting back together near the beginning of the '90s to concentrate on music.
1991 proved to be the critical early year in their nascent career- within the span of 12 months, Radiohead found management and then signed to EMI Records.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: May 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304904713

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Talking About a Great Band

Radiohead is widely regarded as one of the world's most important bands of today. While their debut was rather modest, they were shot to stardom after the success of OK Computer - a success that few probably would have expected or predicted when the five of them started playing together in the early 80s after meeting at Abingdon School in Oxford.

Thom Yorke was the driving force of the band. He was singing in the punk band TNT, but asked the TNT bass player, Colin Greenwood, if he wanted to join him and guitar player Ed O'Brien in a new band. One year older Phil Selway started playing drums in the band. Colin's younger brother Jonny hung around them, bugging them, asking to join. Eventually, he was allowed to play with them, first on the harmonica, then, on the keyboards. Finally, he became the lead guitarist.

The band was named On A Friday because they rehearsed on Fridays. They made their debut at the Jericho's Tavern in 1987. April 1991, they recorded their first demo tape. The demo gave them the opportunity to record another tape, and the Manic Hedgehog Demo got the ball rolling for the band. Parlophone A&R representative Keith Wozencroft heard it, and after seeing the band live at Jericho's, On A Friday signed for EMI. They also changed their name to Radiohead after Talking Head's song Radio Head from the True Stories album.

In May 1992, the band released Drill EP which would eventually be a very sought after collector's item. When it was released, however, it reached #101 only and the band toured as a support band. Then, they released Creep EP in September 1992. Still, the big break didn't come before 1993 when Creep entered the Billboard Modern Rock Track Chart, peaking at second place. A re-issue of the single