Band of the Week: Radiohead

Toby L
RockFeedBack
01.01.02

So, where is the best place to start when trying to put into some order the story of one of the most important and prominent bands currently on the planet? I suppose the beginning could be a good idea.

In the mid-eighties, a classic act of the period The Talking Heads released an album entitled True Stories, from which came the single 'Radio Head'. However, to choose such a name for a band from this alone would have been too easy; thus, instead, once Thom, Colin, Ed, Phil and Jonny had eventually come together, they existed in various incarnations such as TNT and On A Friday.

What followed was a series of shows in their native Oxford area under the latter name, and - by November 1991 - a minor A&R furore existed when dozens of labels endeavoured to sign up the band following a packed show in their home-town's Jericho Tavern venue. A deal was clinched just the following month with EMI, though in March of 1992, their name changed to what they're now known as today.

Following a top-notch opening slot for The Catherine Wheel and The God Machine in London, work soon went underway to get recording, and the fruits of their first session resulted in The Drill EP... Which hardly warranted much interest.

However - the turning point occurred on September 21st, when the single 'Creep' was released. Although the track only managed to garner a bit of extra attention for the band, by the time it was released in the US, Radiohead's impact had been made known; the single hit number 34 in the American Billboard Charts, prompting a re-release in the UK. This - along with constant touring and promotion - enabled the group's debut album, Pablo Honey to go on to sell over two million copies worldwide.

This was only the introduction to further fame and popularity, however, and it was with the arrival of the My Iron Lung EP in September of '94 as well as hugely beneficial recording-time with producer John Leckie that Radiohead's second album, The Bends, got created. Of the record, drummer Phil recalls, 'There was a lot of soul-searching... To do that again on another album would be excrutiatingly boring'. Whatever, the listening-experience certainly was anything other than boring: from the tender and beautiful anthems 'High & Dry', 'Fake Plastic Trees' - both top-20 hits in Britain - to the guitar-terror and emotional rock of 'Just' and its title-track, the album became a global smash and a modern classic.

After high-profile tours with REM Alanis Morissette, not to mention their legendary contribution to War Child benefit LP, Help, in the form of their best effort up til then, 'Lucky', the quintet got fast to work on OK Computer, their third album, which was released worldwide in the first half of 1997. Whereas The Bends was a quintessential and challenging guitar record, OK... was almost a statement of uncertainty from a band that were seemingly within the peak of their powers, questioning the fame they had acquired. The sweeping and spine-tingling modern hymns of 'Climbing Up The Walls' and 'Karma Police', and experimental 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' indicated a group not susceptible to the trappings of fitting in with current scenes and trends. Still, ironically, this put them at the height of the indie-rock fraternity: an unwelcome position for a band so open-minded as this one.

It all naturally got too much, and the band disappeared from the limelight for what seemed like an age. When they did finally re-emerge, the pressure for them to achieve was phenomenal. The press and public alike expected the big hit singles we had become accustomed to by now, all delivered in the intelligent, informed fashion of a band that appeared capable of anything.

However, in a brilliant twist, when details of their next album, Kid A, were announced on July 5th, it was clear that gone were the artistic hold-up's of extensive promotion and single-releases, and - to take their place - was the issuing of a record void of bullshit and comeback classics. Kid A was a no-holds-barred, intimate ten-track album of varying loudness, contrasting genres and brave vision. By on large, the press, at first, considered it a failure at whatever the group were seen to be trying out. However, on its placement in the Billboard charts at number one, it was clear Radiohead were back - and more vital than before.

What came next some may fail to believe; a tour of the UK in a logo-free blue tent, the turning-down to answer back to mainstream media, and another record, Amnesiac, released in 2001 to a further ecstatic response, bearing yet more timeless numbers and a stab at every musical-style under the sun. But, in what many have described as the peak of their career thus far, Radiohead returned at long last to Oxford to play a sold out performance in front of over 40,000 people, boasting a support-bill as strong as those showing at the festivals in the summer. Their two-hour set marked five people that have gone past expectations time and time again, delivering everything you don't ever anticipate, in a form that you can't help but grow to love.

The next stage of the Radiohead saga? To be honest, your guess is as good as ours - and that's what's so exciting; let's sit back and watch what they come up with, for it's bound to be something extremely special.