Radiohead
Radiohead is a British alternative rock band from Abingdon-on-Thames, England, formed in 1985 initially as a cover band. It is made up of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass, keyboards) and Phil Selway (drums)., percussion).
Radiohead released their first single, "Creep," in 1992. While the song was initially a commercial flop, it became a worldwide hit after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993) due to the commercial rise of alternative rock. Radiohead's popularity in the UK increased with their second album, The Bends (1995). The third, OK Computer (1997), with an expansive sound and themes of alienation and globalization, brought them worldwide fame and has been hailed as a landmark record of the 1990s and one of the best albums of all time.
Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) signified an evolution in his musical style, incorporating electronic music, experimental music, classical music from the 20th century, trip- hop and cool jazz. Despite the initial division of fans and critics, Kid A was named best album of the decade by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and The Times. The album Hail to the Thief (2003), a mix of rock and electronic music with lyrics inspired by the war on terror, was the The band's last on the EMI record label. Radiohead independently released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007) with a softer, "scarier" sound similar to their third studio album, OK Computer, according to Yorke himself, the album was released as a digital download for which users paid whatever price they deemed appropriate. His eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), was an exploration of rhythm and calmer textures. On his ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), Jonny Greenwood's orchestral arrangements predominate.
They have won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album three times, for OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows. The band's work has been recognized by critics on various lists and music polls. In 2005 they were ranked 73rd on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. >. In 2009 they were named the best band of the 2000s by The Guardian . and in 2011 they were ranked number 3 on the list of the best British artists in history according to Paste Magazine, only surpassed by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In 2014 the English weekly NME ranked them as the most influential musicians of the moment. Likewise, their performance at Glastonbury '97 was chosen as the best concert in history in a vote by Q magazine in 2004 and best festival concert in a Proud Galleries poll in 2005. The group has sold nearly 40 million albums worldwide. world. On March 29, 2019, Radiohead was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Although the band's early albums were especially influential on British rock and pop music, their later work has influenced other musicians in genres ranging from jazz i> and contemporary classical music to hip hop, ambient music, R&B and metal.
History
1985: training and early years
Radiohead formed in the mid-1980s at Abingdon School (a private all-boys school) in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in England, attended by drummer Phil Selway, guitarist Ed O&# Brien, vocalist Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood and his brother Jonny. Yorke and Colin Greenwood were in the same grade, O'Brien and Selway were a year older than them and Jonny Greenwood two years younger than them. his brother. They all came from middle-class families and began playing in the school's music room, taking the name of the only day of the week they could rehearse: On a Friday ("Friday"). The band played their first live performance at Oxford's Jericho Tavern in late 1986; Jonny Greenwood initially played harmonica and keyboard, but soon became lead guitarist.
Although Yorke, O'Brien, Selway and Colin Greenwood left Abingdon around 1987 to attend university, the band continued to practice on weekends and holidays. In 1991, when all band members except Jonny Greenwood, having completed their university studies, On a Friday regrouped and the band began recording demos, including Manic Hedgehog, and resumed gigs around Oxford. The band's popularity in the Oxfordshire region grew to the point of appearing on the cover of Curfew, a local music magazine. Indie music had made a splash in Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley in the late 1980s, but it focused only on shoegazing bands like Ride and Slowdive; On a Friday did not belong to the genre.
As On a Friday began to play more shows, various record labels began to show interest in the band. Slowdive's producer Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge, producer and co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, attended one of the group's first concerts at Jericho's Tavern. Impressed by the band, they produced a demo and became their managers, in fact they still are today. Following a chance meeting between Colin Greenwood and EMI representative Keith Wozencroft at the record store where he worked, the group signed a six-album deal with the record company. At the company's request, the band changed their The name was inspired by a Talking Heads song from the album True Stories (1986) called "Radio Head".
1992-1995: Pablo Honey and The Bends
Radiohead recorded their first release, the Drill EP at Courtyard Studios, with Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge as producers. It was launched in March 1992 and its relevance in the sales charts was very low. The band subsequently hired Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade—who had previously worked with American indie rock bands Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.—to produce their debut album, quickly recorded in an Oxford studio. in 1992. Following the release of their first single, "Creep" at the end of that year, Radiohead began to attract the attention of the British music press, although not always favorably. NME called them "a dastardly imitation of a rock band", while "Creep" was withdrawn from BBC Radio 1 for being deemed "too depressing".
The band released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in February 1993. The album reached number 22 in the UK charts, while "Creep" and other singles from it such as " Anyone Can Play Guitar" and "Stop Whispering" failed to become hits. "Pop is Dead", a non-album single that would later be discredited by the band, had poor sales. Some critics compared the band's primary style to the grunge popular in the early 1990s, to the extreme of comparing it to Nirvana. Pablo Honey was not commercially successful. nor did it receive praise from critics upon its release, it was considered an album with a clear and decisive presence of the guitars, falling within the classic English rock: indie rock. The vision is quite particular, existentialist and realistic, directing its criticisms and laments to contemporary society. Despite some mentions of Yorke's falsetto, the band only had a brief tour in English universities and nightclubs.
In the early months of 1993, Radiohead began to attract listeners from many different places. "Creep" received heavy airplay on Israeli radio, and in March, after the song became a chart hit in that country, Radiohead received an invitation to Tel Aviv for their first performance abroad. At the same time, in San Francisco, the alternative music radio station KITS added the song to its playlist. Soon other stations along the west coast of the United States followed suit. By the time Radiohead began their North American tour in June 1993, the promotional video for "Creep" was being played widely on MTV. The song reached number two on the Billboard Modern Rocks chart. in the United States and reached number seven on the UK charts when it was reissued there later that year.
The unexpected success of the single in the United States meant that the band had to improvise new ways to promote themselves and that they were moving from one continent to another, playing more than 150 concerts in 1993. Radiohead almost broke up due to to the pressure of the sudden success of Pablo Honey, with the tour extending up to two years. The members of the group stated that it was a tour that was difficult to adapt to, mentioning that, towards its end, they ended up "playing the same songs that we recorded two years ago [...] as if we were trapped in a time warp" and they also stated that at that time they were eager to compose new songs.
The band began work on their second album in 1994, together with Abbey Road Studios producer John Leckie. There was a lot of pressure within the group, as they were expected to match or exceed the success of "Creep". The songs sounded unnatural in the studio, due to being over-rehearsed by the band members. They sought to ease the pressure with toured Europe, the Far East, Australasia and Mexico and it was there that they began to feel confident in their new songs. sexy, cheeky, lovey-dovey life of MTV" and felt that he was helping consumerism.
My Iron Lung, an EP and single released in October 1994, was Radiohead's reaction, marking a transition towards the depth they wanted to give to their second album. Publicized through radio stations, sales of the single were better than expected and it was suggested that for the first time the band had built a loyal fan base for this success. Having introduced more new songs on tour, Radiohead finished recording their second album towards the end of that year and released The Bends on March 13, 1995. The album received more positive reviews than the previous one for lyrics and performances. Coinciding with this release, the band released their first VHS release. video album, Live at the Astoria, which included a concert at the London theater in May 1994.
Although the members of Radiohead were seen as outsiders in Britpop, the predominant genre at the time, they finally found success in their native country with The Bends; the singles "Fake Plastic Trees", "High & Dry", "Just" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" entered the UK Singles Chart and the latter was in the Top 5 of said chart. In 1995, Radiohead toured the United States and Europe with R.E.M., one of their early influences. "High and Dry" became a moderate hit, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100. > and The Bends peaked at number 88 on the Billboard 200, although their style would directly influence bands like Muse and Coldplay. album. Jonny Greenwood commented: "I think the turning point for us was nine or twelve months after the release of The Bends, when it started showing up in 'best of the year' polls. 39;. It was then that we felt that we had made the right decision in choosing to be a band."
1996-1998: OK Computer, fame and critical acclaim
By the end of 1995, Radiohead had already recorded a song that would be featured on their next album. Released as a single to promote War Child's charity album The Help Album, "Lucky" was created during a brief session with Nigel Godrich, a young sound engineer who was a production assistant. in The Bends and who also produced one of its B-sides, "Talk Show Host". The band decided to produce their new album with Godrich and began working in early 1996. By July, they had recorded four songs at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, near Didcot, Oxfordshire.
In August 1996, Radiohead toured supporting Alanis Morissette, seeking to hone their songs live before finishing recording. They then resumed it outside of a traditional studio, choosing instead a 15th century lowercase mansion, St. Catherine's Court, near Bath. The recording sessions were relaxing, with the band playing all the time, recording songs in different rooms and listening to The Beatles, DJ Shadow, Ennio Morricone and Miles Davis for inspiration. Radiohead provided input. "Talk Show Host" to the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's adaptation Romeo + Juliet, as well as "Exit Music (For a Film)" towards the end of that year. Much of the album was finished at the end of 1996 and by March of the following year it was already mastered and mixed.
Radiohead released their third album, OK Computer, in June 1997. Comprised primarily of melodic rock songs, the new record was the first where the group experimented with song structure and became it incorporated an ambient, avant-garde sound with influences of electronic music. Their lyrics took on a less personal and more observant tone than on The Bends and one magazine called the songs "the blues of the turn of the millennium". OK Computer was met with critical acclaim, and Yorke admitted that he was "impressed [by] the reaction it generated. None of us fucking knew if it was good or bad anymore. What really blew my mind was the fact that people picked up on all the things, all the textures and sounds and atmospheres that we were trying to create."
OK Computer was the group's UK chart-topping debut, giving Radiohead global commercial success. Despite entering at number 21 on the US charts, the album was well recognized in that country and won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and received a nomination in the Album of the Year category. "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police" and "No Surprises" were released as singles, with "Karma Police" being the most successful internationally. "Let Down", whose release as a single was canceled due to the fact that the video performed was unsatisfactory, it was released as a promotional single for radio stations in some countries.
After the release of OK Computer the international tour Against Demons took place, which had some 104 dates all over the world, starting on May 22, 1997 in Barcelona and ending on April 18 in 1998 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, with a subsequent performance on June 14, 1998 at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington D.C. Grant Gee, the director of the promotional video for "No Surprises", accompanied and filmed the band, releasing this material in the documentary Meeting People Is Easy, released in November 1998. The film shows the band's distant relationship with the music industry and the press, also showing their progressed from the tour's first performance in May 1997 to the April 1998 performance in New York almost a year later. During this time, the band also released a promotional video compilation called 7 Television Commercials as well as two EPs: Airbag / How Am I Driving? (nominated in the pr Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album), and No Surprises/Running from Demons, a compilation of the B-sides of the OK Computer singles.
1999-2001: Kid A, Amnesiac and sound change
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Radiohead were long inactive as a group after their 1997-1998 tour; after finishing it, their only public performance in 1998 was at an Amnesty International concert in Paris in December. Yorke later admitted that during this period the band nearly broke up and that he suffered from severe depression. In early 1999, Radiohead began work on a sequel for OK Computer. Although they no longer had pressure or a deadline imposed by the record company, the tension during this time was high. The band members had differing visions of Radiohead's future, and Yorke suffered from writer's block, which pushed him toward a more abstract and fragmentary form of songwriting. The group retreated to the studios with producer Nigel Godrich in Paris., Copenhagen and Gloucester, as well as in his Oxford studio. Finally, all its members agreed to take a new musical direction, redefining their new instrumental roles. After almost 18 months, the recording sessions ended in April 2000.
On October 2, 2000 the band released their fourth album, Kid A, the first of two albums recorded in those sessions. Rather than being a similarly styled sequel to OK Computer, Kid A features a minimalist style with fewer electric guitar sections and more diverse instrumentation including ondas Martenot, programmed percussion and string and brass instruments of jazz. the band and a rare hit for UK musicians in that country.
This success was credited to the marketing campaign, the album's leak through the Napster network a few months before its release, and the buzz generated by OK Computer. Although Radiohead did not released any singles taken from Kid A, promo copies of "Optimistic" and "Idioteque" were broadcast, and a series of blips or short videos of approximately 30 seconds in length were broadcast on music channels and released for free on the internet. The band had read Naomi Klein's anti-globalisation book No Logo during the recording and decided to tour Europe in the summer that year in a tent free of advertising. In addition, in October they promoted Kid A with three sold-out North American concerts and a performance on Saturday Night Live.
Kid A won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and was nominated for Album of the Year in early 2001. It received praise and harsh criticism from music circles. independent music for having used elements of alternative music, while some British mainstream critics saw the album as "commercial suicide" and described it as "intentionally complicated", longing for the group's previous style. Supporters were also divided; along with those who were baffled and turned away were others who considered it the band's best work. Yorke, however, denied that Radiohead was seeking to avoid commercial expectations, saying: "I was really astonished at how bad [a] was looking." Kid A], [...] the music is not that difficult to understand. We weren't trying to be complicated, [...] actually, we were trying to communicate but on the other end of the line, it seemed like we got lost among a lot of people [...] —what we've done is not that radical».
Amnesiac, released in June 2001, contained other songs taken from the same recording sessions. His musical style was similar in terms of its combination of electronic music and jazz influences, although there was more use of guitars. The album was a commercial and critical success worldwide, reaching number one on the UK charts and number two in the US, receiving Grammy Award and Mercury Award nominations. of Amnesiac, the band began a world tour visiting North America, Europe and Japan. Meanwhile, "Pyramid Song" and "Knives Out", the band's first singles since 1998, were moderately successful and "I Might Be Wrong", initially intended as the third single, became the band's first live album. the band. I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings features live performances of seven tracks by Kid A and Amnesiac along with the acoustic "True Love Waits."
2002-2004: Hail to the Thief and parentheses
In July and August 2002, Radiohead toured Portugal and Spain, where they played some recently written songs. They then recorded the new material in two weeks in Los Angeles with Godrich, adding many new tracks to it at Oxford, where they continued their work the following year. Band members described the recording process as relaxing, in contrast to the tense sessions for Kid A and Amnesiac. Split Sides, a dance piece by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company that debuted in October 2003 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The group's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, was released in June 2003. Integrating the different styles in his career, Hail to the Thief combines guitar-based rock with electronic music influences and contemporary lyrics. written by Yorke. Although the album received praise, many critics opined that Radiohead were creatively selling water rather than continuing the "genre redefinition" that had begun with OK Computer. enjoyed commercial success, debuting at number one in the United Kingdom and number three in the United States, receiving a record of platinum in the first country and one gold in the second. The singles from the album "There There", "Go to Sleep" and "2+2=5" were broadcast on rock radios >. At the 2003 Grammy Awards, Radiohead received a nomination in the Best Alternative Album category for their work, while Godrich and sound engineer Darrel Thorp received the award for Best Engineering Work.
Yorke denied the title is a comment on the controversial 2000 US presidential election, explaining that he first heard the words in a BBC Radio 4 debate on US politics in the XIX. Yorke commented that their lyrics were influenced by the 2001-2002 war news and "the sense that we are entering an era of intolerance." and fear where the power to express ourselves in democracy and be heard is being denied us", but also commented that "[Radiohead] didn't write a protest [...] or political record". Upon its release, Radiohead embarked on in May 2003 on a world tour, which included an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. The tour ended a year later with a performance at the Coachella Festival. During it, the band released COM LAG, an EP that compiled most of the B-sides from that time. Following this, the group began composing and rehearsing in their Oxford studio, but subsequently took a hiatus. Free of their record contract, the group spent the rest of the year relaxing with their family and working on solo projects. In December 2004, the band released The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time, a DVD which collects the four episodes of the homonymous program that was broadcast through radiohead.tv. and that include a total of twenty-four animated short films, many of them by the group's own followers.
2005-2008: In Rainbows and new forms of distribution
Radiohead began work on their seventh album in February 2005, although regular sessions did not start until August. At this stage they would be contacted by Bob Geldof to participate in June's Live 8 concert series, but due to the The dispersal of the band and their lack of activity due to Jonny's paternity, they decided not to attend. In September 2005 the band recorded a new song, "I Want None of This", for the War Child charity album: Help: A Day in the Life, a sequel to the 1995 mixtape they had collaborated on with "Lucky". The album was sold on the Internet, and the Radiohead song was the most downloaded from the album, although it was not released as a single. Radiohead had already begun work on their next album on their own and then with producer Mark Stent. However, in late 2006, after touring Europe and North America and premiering thirteen new songs on it, the band resumed work with Nigel Godrich in London, Oxford and various rural locations in Somerset. The work was complete. in June 2007 and mastered the following month.
On October 1, 2007, Radiohead announced on their website that their new album, In Rainbows, was finished and could be purchased for whatever price the customer deemed appropriate at digital or physical format, with postal delivery. The option to download it for free was also included, with the inscription "At your discretion". The physical format of the album included two CDs and two vinyl records, as well as additional content (digital photographs and lyric booklet). Following the band's sudden announcement just ten days before activating the download, the group's unusual strategy drew attention in the music industry. Later, bands such as Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins imitated this trend, launching sell their records independently through the Internet. It was reported that 1.2 million copies had been sold on the day of its release, but the group's manager did not mention official figures, stating that the idea of releasing it online it was intended to incentivize physical retail sales. Colin Greenwood explained that the online release was a way to avoid the "regulated playlists" and "rigid formats" of radio and television. elevisión, to ensure that fans around the world could listen to the music at the same time and to avoid a possible leak before its physical release.
In Rainbows was released physically in the UK in December 2007 through XL Recordings and in North America in January 2008 through TBD Records, charting at the top of both countries. The album's commercial success in the United States was Radiohead's biggest in the country after the release of Kid A, while it was their fifth UK number-one album. In Rainbows sold more than three million copies in its first year of release. It also received very positive reviews and was noted for having a more accessible sound and more personally styled lyrics than previous works. The album received Mercury Award nominations and went on to win the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. His production team won in the category of best limited edition package, while Radiohead earned their third nomination in the album of the year category. In addition to other nominations from the band, notable nominations were for Godrich's production and the video for "House of Cards".
Radiohead released several singles from In Rainbows to promote the album; "Jigsaw Falling into Place", the former, was released in the United Kingdom in January 2008. The latter, "Nude" debuted at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. to enter the chart since "High and Dry" in 1995 and their first single to enter the Top 40 since "Creep". Radiohead continued to release tracks from the album as singles and promotional videos; in June of that year, one of "House of Cards" was recorded. "House of Cards", along with "Bodysnatchers" received airplay and in September the band announced a fourth single, "Reckoner". A competition was also organized to create a remix of it, similar to that of "Nude". EMI released a greatest hits album called Radiohead: The Best Of in the same month. It was made without the consent of the group and does not contain any songs from In Rainbows, as the band had left the label by then. Yorke expressed his disapproval on Radiohead's behalf: "We don't have any hits, so what exactly is the purpose of this? [...] If we had wanted to do it, then it would be fine."
On June 24, 2008, the live video album In Rainbows - From the Basement was released in digital format, which included the songs from In Rainbows performed by the band on the TV show From the Basement. From May to October 2008, the band toured North America, Europe, and Japan. In March 2009 the second part of the tour began, in which the group visited Latin America. After 15 years they performed in Mexico and, for the first time, in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In August 2009 they went on tour in Europe again, performing at the Reading Festival, which they had not attended since 1994.
2009-2012: The King of Limbs, two batteries and collapse in Toronto
In May 2009 the band began new recording sessions with producer Nigel Godrich. Months later, in August, the band released two singles recorded during those sessions through their website. The first of these, "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" was recorded as a tribute to Harry Patch, the last living British soldier to fight during World War I and who had recently died. The track sold for £1 with the proceeds donated to the British Legion. On "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", Thom Yorke performs lyrics based on Patch's statements about his own experience in the war., against the backdrop of a string orchestra conducted by Jonny Greenwood. That same month, another new track, "These Are My Twisted Words", was released as a free download. Jonny Greenwood explained that the song had been one of the first compositions from the band's last studio sessions.
In mid-2009, in an interview for NME, Yorke suggested that Radiohead might refocus on EPs, including the possibility of releasing an EP of orchestral music. In December of that year, O&# 39;Brien stated on the band's website that they would start working on their next album in January: "The atmosphere is fantastic right now, and we'll be back in the studio in January to continue the work we started last summer [...] 10 years ago we were all together (what the band is) at the time of Kid A and while I'm tremendously proud of that record, it wasn't a fun place to be. [...] What's reassuring now, is that we're definitely a different band, which should mean the music is different too and that's the point of the game. [...] keep moving." In June 2010, Ed O'Brien made similar comments: "We're in the middle of recording right now." O'Brien added that they hoped to have the album ready by the end of 2010. In September 2010, Colin Greenwood mentioned that they had just finished a new set of songs and had started to think about how they would release it "in an environment digital that has changed again". Phil Selway added later that month that the band were going to "take stock" of the new material and said that it was all "up in the air".
In January 2010, while the members of Radiohead were in Los Angeles to record, the band played their only performance of the year, a benefit concert for Oxfam. The tickets were auctioned off to the highest bidder, which allowed the presentation that took place at the Henry Fonda Theater to raise more than half a million dollars for the work of the NGO in Haiti, which months before had been hit by a devastating earthquake. A group of fans edited a video of the concert with images taken from different digital cameras of the attendees, which they offered via YouTube and BitTorrent in December 2010, with the support of the band and with a link to donate money to Oxfam International. In 2010, another group of supporters made a video of Radiohead's concert in Prague in 2009 that was distributed on the Internet for free, with the audio provided by the band themselves. Live in Praha and Radiohead for Haiti had some coverage in the mainstream media and were described as examples of the band's openness to fans and their positive attitude towards non-commercial forms of distribution by I internet.
On February 14, 2011, Radiohead announced through their website that their new album would be called The King of Limbs and that it could be downloaded at a fixed price in less than a week. On February 18, one day ahead of schedule, the band showed the video for "Lotus Flower" on their page, one of the new songs, and reported that the new album could already be downloaded. On March 28 the album It was released on CD and vinyl, and on May 9 the Newspaper edition, which includes numerous extras, went on sale. On April 16, 2011 the band released the single "Supercollider/The Butcher to celebrate Record Store Day. The group revealed that they worked on both songs during the sessions for The King of Limbs, but ultimately decided not to include them on the album. "Supercollider", at over 7 minutes long, is the longest studio song the band has ever recorded. The digital files of the songs were made available free of charge to anyone who had already purchased the album on the band's website, and also uploaded the audio of the songs to their YouTube channel.
On June 6, 2011, the band announced the release of a series of remixes of The King of Limbs songs by various artists, on 12-inch vinyl of a limited nature, which they would eventually be edited in several batches throughout the summer. Radiohead published the audio of all of them on their YouTube channel and on their website to be heard in streaming. The double CD TKOL RMX 1234567, which brought together the 19 remixes made, was released on September 16 in Japan and on October 10 in the rest of the world. Among the artists who collaborated are Caribou, Modeselektor, Nathan Fake, Jacques Greene, Lone or Four Tet. On June 21, 2011, a video of the band playing a new song, "Staircase", was uploaded to their YouTube channel as a preview of their performance on the show From the Basement. In June 2011, Radiohead made a surprise performance at the Glastonbury Festival, where they showed all the songs from The King of Limbs live for the first time and also presented a new song previously played by Yorke, « The Daily Mail». The band performed with a new instrumentalist, Clive Deamer, a drummer who had collaborated on several tours with Portishead. In July 2011, several television channels around the world premiered the band's live performance on the From the Basement, where they perform, along with Clive Deamer, all eight songs from The King of Limbs, as well as "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase". The band had already appeared on this show in 2008 after the release of In Rainbows. In September the members of Radiohead, accompanied by Deamer, appeared on the US shows Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Report, and Thom and Jonny also performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In addition, the band performed two live performances at the Roseland Ballroom in New York.
On December 19, 2011 the group released via digital download the live video album The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, which included their performance on the television show From the Basement that year. That same day, the first single from it, "The Daily Mail / Staircase", was also released digitally. On January 23, 2012, the video album was also published in physical format, both on DVD and Blu-Ray, including the performance of "Supercollider" as extra material, which was not shown when the program was broadcast on television.
In February 2012, Radiohead began what was their first North American tour in 4 years, including dates in the United States, Canada and Mexico. On June 16, 2012, an hour before the doors opened for the Downsview Park in Toronto for the final concert of the North American tour, the stage roof collapsed, killing the band's percussion technician Scott Johnson and injuring three other members of the band's technical crew. The cave-in also destroyed the group's light show and much of their musical equipment. None of the band members were on stage. The concert was canceled and the dates of the European tour were postponed.Radiohead paid tribute to Johnson and his crew at the first concert after the collapse, which took place in July in Nimes, France. Yorke later wrote that finishing the tour after the collapse was his "greatest achievement yet". In June 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Labor indicted Live Nation Canada Inc, Live Nation Ontario Concerts GP Inc, Optex Staging &; Services Inc and an engineer with 13 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Law. The case began on June 27, 2013 in the Ontario Court of Justice, located in Toronto. The hearing began in November 2015.
While touring the US in mid-2012, Radiohead spent a day at former White Stripes guitarist Jack White's recording studio, where he worked on two new songs, one of them "Identikit". Yorke would say in April 2013 that those recordings were "unfinished business".
2013-2016: Parentheses and A Moon Shaped Pool
Following the The King of Limbs tour, during which Radiohead performed several new songs, the band decided to take another hiatus to work on some independent projects. On February 25, 2013, Yorke and Nigel Godrich's group Atoms for Peace released their first album, titled Amok. On February 11, 2014, Radiohead launched the app Polyfauna for Android and iOS phones, an "experimental collaboration" between the band and digital art studio Universal Everything using musical elements and images from The King of Limbs. On September 26, 2014, Yorke released his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. On October 7, 2014, Phil Selway also released his second solo album, titled Weatherhouse, while that same month the soundtrack of the film Inherent Vice, composed by Jonny, was released. The latter included a reinterpretation of the song "Spooks", a previously unreleased Radiohead song that debuted live in 2006.
Radiohead began working on their ninth album from September 2014 until Christmas, resuming recording in March 2015, Selway stated in an interview. Jonny Greenwood stated in another interview in February 2015 that: "We've certainly changed our method again [...] We are kind of limiting ourselves; working on limits [...] we are trying to use very old and very new technology simultaneously to see what happens". they wrote as a commission for the James Bond film of the same name but it was not included in the soundtrack.
On May 1, the band removed all information from their Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as from their official page, which remained completely blank, generating numerous rumors about the release of the album. On May 3, they released a new song, "Burn the Witch", along with its corresponding video clip. On May 6, they shared the second single, "Daydreaming", as well as its video clip, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. That same day they announced that the new album would be available for download on May 8 at 7:00 p.m. English time, and would be available in physical format on June 17. On May 8 it was released under the title A Moon Shaped Pool. It includes several songs written years earlier, such as "True Love Waits" (dating to at least 1995), as well as strings and choirs by the London Contemporary Orchestra. On 20 May 2016, the world tour of the album, which lasted from May to October and had dates in Europe, North America and Japan. In the same they counted again with Clive Deamer as additional battery. At the end of 2016, Radiohead announced a second part of the tour between March and July 2017, with concerts at various American and European festivals, including presentations in Norway, England or Ireland, among others. On June 23 they performed at the Glastonbury Festival, this being the third time they headlined the festival.
2017-2020: Side Projects, OKNOTOK, and MiniDiscs [Hacked]
On May 2, 2017 Radiohead announced a special reissue of OK Computer, thus celebrating 20 years since its publication. Its title is OKNOTOK and it includes the remastered original songs plus 8 B-sides and 3 previously unreleased songs: «I Promise», «Man of War» (also known as «Big Boots») and «Lift». The album was released digitally on June 23, and in July it was available on CD and in a special edition on vinyl and cassette that also includes drawings, lyrics and notes by Thom Yorke about the songs. June Radiohead released "I Promise" as a single, accompanied by its video clip on YouTube. On September 12, the video for "Lift" was released. On November 29, Radiohead announced a new tour of South America in 2018, in which they shared the bill with Flying Lotus and Junun. It began in Chile on April 11, followed by Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Colombia. In the summer of 2018 they held several concerts in the United States and Canada. On December 13, 2018, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced Radiohead's induction at a ceremony to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on March 29, 2019.
In June 2019, several hours of recordings made by Radiohead during the OK Computer period were leaked online. In response, Radiohead released the recordings for sale online as MiniDiscs [Hacked], with all proceeds going to environmental group Extinction Rebellion. In December 2019, Radiohead made their discography available for free. free to stream on YouTube. The following January, they launched Radiohead Public Library, an online archive of their work, including music videos, live performances, artwork, and the 1998 documentary Meeting People Is Easy. Radiohead suspended their online content for Blackout Tuesday on June 2, in protest of racism and police brutality.
In 2017, Selway released his third solo effort, the soundtrack for the motion picture Let Me Go. Jonny Greenwood was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his fifth collaboration with Anderson, Phantom Thread (2017), and scored her second Lynne Ramsay film, You Were Never Really Here (2018). Yorke released the soundtrack to his first feature film, Suspiria (2018), and his third solo album, Anima (2019), backed by a short film directed by Anderson. O& #39;Brien released his debut solo album, Earth, in 2020. He had been writing songs for years, but felt they had a "different energy" that would be lost with Radiohead.
2021-present: Kid A Mnesia and The Smile
In November 2021, Radiohead released Kid A Mnesia, an anniversary reissue collecting Kid A, Amnesiac and previously unreleased material from the sessions. It was promoted with single downloads and videos of previously unreleased tracks "If You Say the Word" and "Follow Me Around". Plans for an art installation based on the albums were canceled due to logistical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. 19; instead, Radiohead created a free digital experience, Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Windows. Plans for a 2021 tour were also dropped.
At a live streaming event hosted by the Glastonbury Festival in May 2021, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted a new band, The Smile, a collaboration with Godrich and drummer Tom Skinner. Greenwood said the project it was a way for him and Yorke to work together during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis described The Smile as a "skeletaler, more complicated version of Radiohead”, with unusual time signatures, complex riffs and “impulsive” motorik psychedelia. In May 2022, The Smile released his debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention, to critical acclaim, and began a European tour. Selway will release his third solo studio album, Strange Dance, in 2023.
Solo works
Thom Yorke's first solo album, The Eraser, was released on July 10, 2006 through XL Recordings in the UK and a day later in the US. The album was produced by Godrich and Jonny Greenwood was involved in writing the album's title track. The Eraser received generally positive reviews and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammy Awards of 2007. In September 2009, Yorke released two tracks released as a single: "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses", dating from the 2001 sessions, and the previously unreleased "The Hollow Earth". In 2009 he formed the supergroup Atoms for Peace, with whom he went on tour in 2010, performing songs from his solo album live among other songs.
On September 6, 2012, Atoms for Peace released the single "Default" on iTunes, at the same time as they launched their website. On February 25, 2013, Atoms for Peace released their first album, titled Amok, under the XL Recording label. That same year the group went on tour again. On September 26, 2014, Yorke released his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, through the BitTorrent portal.
In 2003, Jonny Greenwood released Bodysong, an instrumental album of music he composed for the documentary of the same name directed by Simon Pummell. The soundtrack includes songs performed by an orchestra, most of them processed electronically, including everything from string quartets to piano and ondas Martenot. This was the first album by a member of Radiohead as a solo artist, although his brother Colin also collaborated on it. In 2005 he participated with Phil Selway in the soundtrack of the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in three songs composed by Jarvis Cocker (vocalist of Pulp), appearing both as part of the Weird Sisters, the band performing at the film's party. In 2007, Jonny Greenwood composed the music for the Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. The soundtrack received Oscar nominations but was ultimately disqualified for containing non-original parts, including some excerpts from his previous album, Bodysong. In 2010 he also worked on the soundtrack for the Japanese film Norwegian Wood. In 2011 he made the music for the film We need to talk about Kevin.
On March 13, 2012, Greenwood co-released the album Polymorphia with Krzysztof Penderecki, which included a new piece he composed titled 48 Responses to Polymorphia, as well like their old track Popcorn Superhet Receiver. Both were inspired by Penderecki's compositions Polymorphia and Treno to the Hiroshima Victims respectively, also included on the album. In 2012, Jonny scored the soundtrack for The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson, and in 2014 he repeated with the director for the third time when composing the music for the film Inherent Vice. In 2015, together with Shye Ben Tzur and Rajasthan Express, released the album Junun.
In the late 1990s, Ed O'Brien composed parts of the soundtrack for the British television show Eureka Street. It was released in CD format via the BBC. In 2003, O'Brien contributed guitar playing to several songs on Enemy of the Enemy, an Asian Dub Foundation album featuring Sinéad O'Connor also participates. Like Phil Selway, Ed has recorded and toured with the supergroup 7 Worlds Collide, a project led by Neil Finn of Crowded House, participating in the albums 7 Worlds Collide (2001) and The Sun Came Out (2009).
In 2003, Colin Greenwood played bass on the track "24 Hour Charleston" from Bodysong, his brother Jonny Greenwood's first solo album. In 2008, in his first project in which no other Radiohead members were involved, Colin played bass on James Lavino's soundtrack for the Alex Karpovsky film Woodpecker. It also features the participation of Lee Sargent and Tyler Sargent, from the group Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
In 2005, Phil Selway participated with Jonny Greenwood in the soundtrack of the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in three songs composed by Jarvis Cocker, vocalist of Pulp. Ed O'Brien, Phil has recorded and toured with the supergroup 7 Worlds Collide, a project fronted by Neil Finn, appearing on the albums 7 Worlds Collide (2001) and The Sun Came Out (2009). On August 30, 2010, Selway released Familial, his first solo album, in which he sings and plays various instruments, in addition to the collaboration of various artists. On July 5, 2011, he released the EP titled Running Blind. On October 7, 2014, Phil released his second solo album, titled Weatherhouse.
Influences and musical style
Early influences on Radiohead members included Queen, Pink Floyd and Elvis Costello; post-punk bands like Joy Division, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Magazine; and especially alternative rock groups from the 1980s such as R.E.M, the Pixies, The Smiths and Sonic Youth. Around the mid-1990s, Radiohead began to show an interest in electronic music, especially electronic music. DJ Shadow, whom the band cited as one of their influences on OK Computer. Other influences on the album included Miles Davis and Ennio Morricone, as well as 1960s groups such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Jonny Greenwood also cited composer Krzysztof Penderecki as an inspiration for the sound of OK Computer. The electronic style of Kid A and Amnesiac was the result of Thom Yorke's admiration for clicks and cuts, ambient music and IDM, as well as Warp Records artists such as Autechre and Aphex Twin. jazz by Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Miles Davis and 1970s krautrock bands like Can and Neu! were other important influences during this period. Jonny Greenwood's interest in 20th-century classical music was also important, most notably the influence of Krzysztof Penderecki and Olivier Messiaen, which is evident in several songs on OK Computer and subsequent albums. Greenwood has played the Martenot waves, an electronic instrument popularized by Messiaen. On the Hail to the Thief sessions, Radiohead reemphasized more traditional rock. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and particularly Neil Young, were the main sources of inspiration for the band during this stage. Since the beginning of the recordings of In Rainbows, Radiohead members have mentioned as He influences a wide variety of experimental, rock, electronic and hip hop musicians, such as Björk, Liars, Modeselektor and Spank Rock.
Regarding Radiohead's influence on other musicians, the band's early albums were especially influential on British rock and pop music, while their later work has inspired musicians from across genres. ranging from jazz and classical music to hip hop, electronic music and R&B. On the other hand, some analysts and musicians, as members of Rush, Opeth, Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree, Radiohead have been credited with the resurgence of progressive rock in popular music due to their stylistic twists and innovations.
"If there is a representative band of the time, it is definitely Radiohead. It was the most ambitious, the one that shouted and pushed the most." -Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone |
Since their formation, Radiohead have been, lyrically and musically, fronted by Thom Yorke. However, despite Yorke being responsible for writing almost all of the lyrics, songwriting is a collective effort, as it has been mentioned in various interviews that all of the band members have some sort of role during the production. process. Because of this, all of the group's songs are officially credited to Radiohead. The sessions for Kid A and Amnesiac produced a change in Radiohead's musical style and an even more radical change in the band's working method. From traditional rock instrumentation to an emphasis on electronic sound, the band members have had greater flexibility and now typically play different types of instruments depending on the particular requirements of each song. Kid A and Amnesiac, Yorke played keyboard and bass, while Jonny Greenwood often manipulated Martenot's waves instead of guitar, bassist Colin Greenwood performed i>samples, and O'Brien and Selway shared the drum machine and digital manipulation while also finding new ways to incorporate their main instruments, guitar and drums respectively, into the new sound. 2003 sessions for the recording of Hail to the Thief gave rise to a different dynamic in the group. Yorke admitted in an interview that "[his] power over the band got completely unbalanced and [he] wanted to disempower the rest at all costs. [...] It's certainly much better now, rational democracy, which is what there used to be."
Collaborators
The band maintains a close relationship with their producer Nigel Godrich, as well as graphic artist Stanley Donwood. Godrich rose to fame with Radiohead, working with the band since The Bends, and as a producer since OK Computer. He has sometimes been referred to as the "sixth member" of the band, after George Martin, who was called the "fifth Beatle". Donwood, another regular collaborator of the band, has designed all of Radiohead's album covers and visual art for the group since 1994. Together with Yorke, won a Grammy Award in 2002 in the category of best package for the special edition booklet for Amnesiac. Other collaborators with the band include Dilly Gent and Peter Clements. Gent has been responsible for the set-up of all of Radiohead's videos since OK Computer, working with the band to find the best director for each project. The band's sound engineer, Peter Clements, or "Plank", has worked with the group since The Bends, preparing the instruments for both studio recordings and live performances.
Members
- Thom Yorke: main voice, rhythmic guitar, piano, keyboards, laptop, pandereta and battery (1985-presente)
- Jonny Greenwood: solo guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, Martenot waves, piano, glockenspiel, laptop, analog synthesizer, toy piano, percussion and piano Rhodes (1985-presente)
- Ed O'Brien: guitar, percussion, sampler, piano and voice (1985-present)
- Colin Greenwood: bass, keyboards, synthesizer, sampler, bass and percussion (1985-present)
- Phil Selway: drum, percussion and voice (1985-present)
Additional live members
- Clive Deamer: drum, percussion and voice (2011-2012/2016-2018)
Discography
- 1993: Pablo Honey
- 1995: The Bends
- 1997: OK Computer
- 2000: Kid A
- 2001: Amnesiac
- 2003: Hail to the Thief
- 2007: In Rainbows
- 2011: The King of Limbs
- 2016: A Moon Shaped Pool
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