Radiohead

Radiohead
Radiohead in 2006; from left to right: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway
Background information
Origin	Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
Genres	Art rock alternative rock electronica experimental rock
Years active	1985–present
Labels	XL Ticker Tape Ltd. Hostess TBD Parlophone Capitol
Associated acts	Atoms for Peace 7 Worlds Collide
Website	radiohead.com
Members	Thom Yorke Jonny Greenwood Colin Greenwood Ed O'Brien Philip Selway

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass), and Phil Selway (drums, percussion, backing vocals). They have worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994.

After signing to EMI in 1991, Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992. It became a worldwide hit after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Their popularity and critical standing rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). Radiohead's third album, OK Computer (1997), propelled them to international fame; noted for its complex production and themes of modern alienation, it is often acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s^[1] and one of the best albums in popular music.^[2][3] The group's next albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), recorded simultaneously, marked a dramatic change in style, incorporating influences from experimental electronic music, 20th-century classical music, krautrock, and jazz. Despite initially dividing listeners, Kid A was later named the best album of the decade by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Times.

Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), mixed rock and electronic music with lyrics inspired by the War on Terror, and was the band's final album for EMI. Their subsequent releases have pioneered alternative release platforms such as pay-what-you-want and BitTorrent. Radiohead self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), as a download for which customers could set their own price, to critical and chart success. Their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), an exploration of rhythm, was developed using extensive looping and sampling. Their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), prominently featured Jonny Greenwood's orchestral arrangements.

Radiohead have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.^[4] Their work places highly in both listener polls and critics' lists of the best music of the 1990s and 2000s.^[5][6] In 2005, they were ranked 73rd in Rolling Stone's list of "The Greatest Artists of All Time"; Jonny Greenwood (48th^[7]) and O'Brien (59th) were both included in Rolling Stone's list of greatest guitarists, and Yorke (66th^[8]) in their list of greatest singers.^[9] In 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted the group the second-best artist of the 2000s.^[10]

History

1985–1992: Formation and first years

The members of Radiohead met while attending Abingdon School, an independent school for boys in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.^[11] Guitarist and singer Thom Yorke and bassist Colin Greenwood were in the same year, guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Phil Selway the year above, and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood, brother of Colin, two years below. In 1985, they formed On a Friday, the name referring to the band's usual rehearsal day in the school's music room.^[12] Jonny was the last to join, first on harmonica and then keyboards, but soon became the lead guitarist;^[12] he had previously been in another band, Illiterate Hands, with musician Nigel Powell and Yorke's brother Andy Yorke.^[13][14] According to Colin, the band members picked their respective instruments because they wanted to play music together, rather than through an interest in the particular instrument: "It was more of a collective angle, and if you could contribute by having someone else play your instrument, then that was really cool."^[15] At one point, On a Friday featured a saxophone section.^[16]

The band disliked the school's strict atmosphere—the headmaster once charged the band for using a rehearsal room on a Sunday—and found solace in the school's music department. They credited their music teacher for introducing them to jazz, film scores, postwar avant-garde music, and 20th-century classical music.^[17] Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley had an active independent music scene in the late 1980s, but it centred on shoegazing bands such as Ride and Slowdive.^[18]

Although all but Jonny had left Abingdon by 1987 to attend university, On a Friday continued to rehearse on weekends and holidays.^[20] At the University of Exeter, Yorke played with the band Headless Chickens, performing songs including future Radiohead material,^[21] and met artist Stanley Donwood, who would later create artwork for the band.^[22] In 1991, On a Friday regrouped, sharing a house on the corner of Magdalen Road and Ridgefield Road, Oxford.^[23]

As On a Friday continued to perform in Oxford, including more performances at the Jericho Tavern,^[4] record labels and producers became interested. Chris Hufford, Slowdive's producer and co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, attended an early On a Friday concert at the Jericho Tavern. Impressed, he and his partner Bryce Edge produced a demo tape and became On a Friday's managers;^[20] they remain Radiohead's managers today.^[24] In late 1991, after a chance meeting between Colin and EMI A&R representative Keith Wozencroft at Our Price, the record shop where Colin worked,^[19] On a Friday band signed a six-album recording contract with EMI.^[20] At the label's request, the band changed their name; "Radiohead" was taken from the song "Radio Head" on the Talking Heads album True Stories (1986).^[20]

1992–1994: "Creep", Pablo Honey and early success

Radiohead recorded their debut release, the Drill EP, with Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge at Courtyard Studios. Released in May 1992, its chart performance was poor. The band enlisted Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, who had worked with US indie bands Pixies and Dinosaur Jr., to produce their debut album, recorded quickly in an Oxford studio in 1992.^[12] With the release of the "Creep" single later that year, Radiohead began to receive attention in the British music press, not all of it favourable; NME described them as "a lily-livered excuse for a rock band",^[25] and "Creep" was blacklisted by BBC Radio 1 because it was deemed "too depressing".^[26]

Radiohead released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in February 1993. It stalled at number 22 in the UK charts, as "Creep" and its follow-up singles "Anyone Can Play Guitar" and "Stop Whispering" failed to become hits. "Pop Is Dead", a non-album single, also sold poorly. Some critics compared the band's early style to the wave of grunge music popular in the early 1990s, dubbing them "Nirvana-lite",^[27] and Pablo Honey failed to make a critical or a commercial splash upon its initial release.^[25] Despite shared influences with popular guitar acts, and some notice for Yorke's falsetto, Radiohead toured only British universities and clubs.^[28]

	"Creep" "Creep" was Radiohead's first hit. This sample features Jonny Greenwood's guitar distortion before the chorus. According to legend, the effects were an attempt to sabotage a song Greenwood initially disliked.[29]
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In early 1993, Radiohead began to attract listeners elsewhere. "Creep" had been played frequently on Israeli radio by influential DJ Yoav Kutner, and in March, after the song became a hit in that country, Radiohead were invited to Tel Aviv for their first live gig overseas.^[30] Around the same time, the San Francisco alternative radio station KITS added "Creep" to its playlist. Soon other radio stations along the west coast of the United States followed suit. By the time Radiohead began their first North American tour in June 1993, the music video for "Creep" was in heavy rotation on MTV.^[20] The song rose to number two on the US modern rock chart, entered the lower reaches of the top 40 pop chart, and hit number seven in the UK Singles Chart when EMI rereleased it in the UK in September.^[31]

Unexpected attention for the single in the US prompted EMI to improvise new promotional plans, and the band shuttled back and forth between continents, playing more than 150 concerts in 1993.^[28] Radiohead nearly broke up due to the pressure of sudden success as the Pablo Honey supporting tour extended into its second year.^[32] The band members described the tour as difficult to adjust to, saying that towards its end they were "still playing the same songs that [they had] recorded two years previously ... like being held in a time warp", when they were eager to work on new songs.^[33]

1994–1995: The Bends, critical recognition and growing fanbase

Radiohead began work on their second album in 1994, hiring veteran Abbey Road Studios producer John Leckie. Tensions were high, with mounting expectations to deliver a follow-up to match the success of "Creep".^[34] Recording felt unnatural in the studio, with the band having over-rehearsed the material.^[35] Seeking a change of scenery, they toured the Far East, Australasia and Mexico and found greater confidence performing their new music live.^[35] However, troubled by the fame he had achieved, Yorke became disillusioned with being "at the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle" he felt he was helping to sell to the world.^[36]

My Iron Lung, an EP and single released late in 1994, was Radiohead's reaction, marking a transition towards the greater depth they aimed for on their second album.^[37] It was their first time working with their future producer Nigel Godrich, then working under Leckie as an audio engineer.^[38] It was also Radiohead's first collaboration with artist Stanley Donwood, who has produced all of their artwork since.^[22] Promoted through alternative radio stations, My Iron Lung's sales were better than expected, and suggested for the first time that the band had found a loyal fanbase and were not one-hit wonders.^[39]

Having introduced more new songs on tour, Radiohead finished recording their second album by year's end, and released The Bends in March 1995. The album was driven by dense riffs and ethereal atmospheres from the band's three guitarists, with greater use of keyboards than their debut.^[12] It received stronger reviews for its songwriting and performances.^[25] While Radiohead were seen as outsiders to the Britpop scene that dominated media attention at the time, they were finally successful in their home country with The Bends,^[18] as singles "Fake Plastic Trees", "High and Dry", "Just", and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" made their way to UK chart success; the latter song placed Radiohead in the top five for the first time. In 1995, Radiohead again toured North America and Europe, this time in support of R.E.M., one of their formative influences and at the time one of the biggest rock bands in the world.^[33] The buzz generated by such famous fans as R.E.M singer Michael Stipe, along with distinctive music videos for "Just" and "Street Spirit", helped to sustain Radiohead's popularity outside the UK.

"High and Dry" became a modest hit, but Radiohead's growing fanbase was insufficient to repeat the worldwide success of "Creep". The Bends peaked at No. 88 on the US album charts, which remains Radiohead's lowest showing there.^[40] Nonetheless, Radiohead were satisfied with the album's reception. Jonny Greenwood later said: "I think the turning point for us came about nine or twelve months after The Bends was released and it started appearing in people's [best of] polls for the end of the year. That's when it started to feel like we made the right choice about being a band."^[41] In later years, The Bends appeared in many publications' lists of the best albums of all time,^[42][43][44] including Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" at No. 111.^[45]

1995–1998: OK Computer and critical acclaim

By late 1995, Radiohead had already recorded one song that would appear on their next record. "Lucky", released as a single to promote the War Child charity's The Help Album,^[46] was recorded in a brief session with Nigel Godrich, the young audio engineer who had assisted on The Bends and produced a 1996 B-side, "Talk Show Host". The band decided to self-produce their next album with Godrich's assistance, and began work in early 1996. By July they had recorded four songs at their rehearsal studio, Canned Applause, a converted apple shed in the countryside near Didcot, Oxfordshire.^[47]

In August 1996, Radiohead toured as the opening act for Alanis Morissette.^[48] They resumed recording, not at a traditional music studio, but instead at St. Catherine's Court, a 15th-century mansion near Bath.^[49] The sessions were relaxed, with the band playing at all hours of the day, recording songs in different rooms, and listening to the Beatles, DJ Shadow, Ennio Morricone and Miles Davis for inspiration.^[12][41]

Radiohead released their third album, OK Computer, in June 1997. The album found the band experimenting with song structures and incorporating ambient, avant garde and electronic influences, prompting Rolling Stone to call the album a "stunning art-rock tour de force".^[50] Radiohead denied being part of the progressive rock genre, but critics began to compare their work to Pink Floyd, a band whose early 1970s work influenced Greenwood's guitar parts at the time. Some compared OK Computer thematically to Floyd's bestseller The Dark Side of the Moon (1973),^[51][52][53] although Yorke said the album's lyrics had been inspired by observing the "speed" of the world in the 1990s. Yorke's lyrics, embodying different characters, had expressed what one magazine called "end-of-the-millennium blues"^[54] in contrast to the more personal songs of The Bends. According to journalist Alex Ross, the band had become "the poster boys for a certain kind of knowing alienation—as the Talking Heads and R.E.M. had been before."^[55] OK Computer met with critical acclaim. Yorke said he was "amazed it got the reaction it did. None of us fucking knew any more whether it was good or bad. What really blew my head off was the fact that people got all the things, all the textures and the sounds and the atmospheres we were trying to create."^[56]

	"Paranoid Android" "Paranoid Android" is a three-part song, mixing acoustic guitars, abrasive electric solos and layered choirs. The first single from OK Computer, it marks Radiohead's UK singles chart peak (number three).
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OK Computer was the band's first number-one UK chart debut, propelling them to commercial success around the world. Despite peaking at number 21 in the US charts, the album eventually met with mainstream recognition there, earning Radiohead their first Grammy Awards recognition, winning Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year.^[57] "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police" and "No Surprises" were released as singles from the album, of which "Karma Police" was most successful internationally.^[31] In the same year, Radiohead became one of the first bands in the world to have a website, and developed a devoted online following; within a few years, there were dozens of fan sites devoted to the band.^[58] OK Computer went on to become a staple of "best-of" British album lists.^[59][60]

The release of OK Computer was followed by the year-long "Against Demons" world tour, including Radiohead's first headline Glastonbury Festival performance in 1997.^[61] Despite technical problems that almost caused Yorke to abandon the stage, the performance was acclaimed and cemented Radiohead as a major live act.^[62] Grant Gee, the director of the "No Surprises" video, filmed the band on tour for the 1999 documentary Meeting People Is Easy.^[63] The film portrays the band's disaffection with the music industry and press, showing their burnout over the course of the tour.^[12]

1998–2002: Kid A, Amnesiac and change in sound

Radiohead were largely inactive following their 1997–1998 tour; after its end, their only public performance in 1998 was at an Amnesty International concert in Paris.^[64] Yorke later said that during that period the band came close to splitting up, and that he had developed severe depression.^[65] In early 1999, Radiohead began work on a follow-up to OK Computer. Although the album's success meant there was no longer any pressure or a deadline from their record label,^[55] tension during this period was high. Band members all had different visions for Radiohead's future, and Yorke experienced writer's block, influencing him toward a more abstract, fragmented form of songwriting.^[65] Radiohead secluded themselves with producer Nigel Godrich in studios in Paris, Copenhagen, and Gloucester, and in their newly completed studio in Oxford. Eventually, all the members agreed on a new musical direction, redefining their instrumental roles.^[27] After nearly 18 months, Radiohead's recording sessions were completed in April 2000.^[65]

In October 2000 Radiohead released their fourth album, Kid A, the first of two albums from these recording sessions. A departure from OK Computer, Kid A featured a minimalist and textured style with more diverse instrumentation, including the ondes Martenot, programmed electronic beats, strings, and jazz horns.^[65] It debuted at number one in many countries, including the US, where its debut atop the Billboard chart marked a first for the band, and the first US number one album by any UK act since the Spice Girls in 1996.^[66] This success was attributed variously to marketing, to the album's leak on the file-sharing network Napster a few months before its release, and to advance anticipation based, in part, on the success of OK Computer.^[67][68][69] Although Radiohead did not release any singles from Kid A, promos of "Optimistic" and "Idioteque" received radio play, and a series of "blips", or short videos set to portions of tracks, were played on music channels and released freely on the internet.^[70] The band had read Naomi Klein's anti-globalisation book No Logo during the recording, and decided to continue a summer 2000 tour of Europe later in the year in a custom-built tent free of advertising; they also promoted Kid A with three sold-out North American theatre concerts.^[70]

	"Everything in Its Right Place" The opening track from Radiohead's fourth album, this song emphasises the band's increasing use of electronic music and distortions of Thom Yorke's vocals.
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Kid A received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and a nomination for Album of the Year in early 2001. It won both praise and criticism in independent music circles for appropriating underground styles of music; some mainstream British critics saw Kid A as a "commercial suicide note", labelling it "intentionally difficult" and longing for a return to the band's earlier style.^[18][25] Radiohead's fans were similarly divided; along with those who were appalled or mystified, there were many who saw the album as the band's best work.^[36][71] Yorke, however, denied that Radiohead had set out to eschew commercial expectations, saying: "I was really, really amazed at how badly [Kid A] was being viewed ... because the music's not that hard to grasp. We're not trying to be difficult ... We're actually trying to communicate but somewhere along the line, we just seemed to piss off a lot of people ... What we're doing isn't that radical."^[18] The album has since been ranked one of the best of all time by publications including Time and Rolling Stone;^[72] Pitchfork, the Times and Rolling Stone named it the best album of the decade.^[73][74]

Radiohead's fifth album, Amnesiac, was released in June 2001. It comprised additional tracks from the Kid A recording sessions, plus one track recorded after Kid A's release, "Life in a Glasshouse", featuring the Humphrey Lyttelton Band.^[75] Radiohead stressed that they saw Amnesiac not as a collection of B-sides or "leftovers" from Kid A but an album in its own right.^[76] It topped the UK Albums Chart and reached number two in the US, being nominated for a Grammy Award and the Mercury Music Prize.^[25][66] Radiohead embarked on a world tour, visiting North America, Europe and Japan. "Pyramid Song" and "Knives Out", Radiohead's first singles since 1998, were modestly successful. A live album, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, released in November 2001, features performances of seven songs from Kid A and Amnesiac, and the previously unreleased acoustic track "True Love Waits".^[77]

2002–2004: Hail to the Thief and departure from EMI

	"2 + 2 = 5" An up-tempo, guitar-driven album opener, "2 + 2 = 5" heralded Radiohead's return to a more straightforward alternative rock style that still included electronic elements.
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In July and August 2002, Radiohead toured Portugal and Spain, playing a number of new songs. They and Godrich recorded most of the new material in two weeks in a Los Angeles studio, with the rest of the album recorded in Oxford into the next year. The band described the recording process as relaxed, in contrast to the tense sessions for Kid A and Amnesiac.^[11]

Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief, was released in June 2003, combining guitar rock with electronic music.^[78] Its lyrics were influenced by what Yorke called "the general sense of ignorance and intolerance and panic and stupidity" following the 2000 election of US President George W. Bush.^[79] The album was promoted with a website, radiohead.tv, where short films, music videos and live webcasts from the studio were streamed at scheduled times.^[80] Hail to the Thief debuted at number one in the UK and number three on the Billboard chart, and was eventually certified platinum in the UK and gold in the US. The singles "There There", "Go to Sleep" and "2 + 2 = 5" achieved heavy circulation on modern rock radio. At the 2003 Grammy Awards, Radiohead were again nominated for Best Alternative Album, and producer Godrich and engineer Darrell Thorp received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album.^[81] In May 2003, Radiohead embarked on a world tour and headlined Glastonbury Festival for the second time. The tour finished in May 2004 with a performance at the Coachella Festival in California.^[82] A compilation of Hail to the Thief B-sides, remixes and live performances, COM LAG (2plus2isfive), was released in April 2004.^[83]

Radiohead's six-album record contract with EMI ended with the release of Hail to the Thief. In 2005, Yorke told Time: "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'Fuck you' to this decaying business model."^[84] In 2006, the New York Times described Radiohead as "by far the world's most popular unsigned band".^[82]

2004–2009: Solo work, In Rainbows and "pay what you want"

Following the Hail to the Thief tour, Radiohead went on hiatus to spend time with their families and work on side projects. Jonny Greenwood composed soundtracks for the films Bodysong (2004) and There Will Be Blood (2007); the latter was the first of several collaborations between Greenwood and director Paul Thomas Anderson.^[85][86] In July 2006, Yorke released his debut solo album, The Eraser, comprising mainly electronic music.^[87] He told Pitchfork: "I've been in the band since we left school and never dared do anything on my own ... It was like, 'Man, I've got to find out what it feels like,' you know?"^[88]

Radiohead began work on their seventh album in February 2005 with no record label.^[86] In an effort to "get out of the comfort zone", they decided against involving producer Godrich, with whom they had recorded five albums,^[89] and hired producer Spike Stent. The collaboration with Stent was unsuccessful and ended in April 2006.^[89] In September 2005, Radiohead contributed "I Want None of This", a piano dirge,^[90] for the War Child charity album Help: A Day in the Life. The album was sold online, with "I Want None of This" the most downloaded track, though it was not released as a single.^[91] In late 2006, after touring Europe and North America with new material, the band re-enlisted Godrich and resumed work in London, Oxford and rural Somerset, England.^[92] Recording ended in June 2007 and the recordings were mastered the following month.^[93]

Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows, was released through the band's website in October 2007 as a download for any amount users wanted, including £0—a landmark use of the pay-what-you-want model for music sales.^[94] The pay-what-you-want release, the first for a major act, made headlines worldwide and sparked debate about the implications for the music industry.^[95] According to Mojo, the release was "hailed as a revolution in the way major bands sell their music", and the media's reaction was "almost overwhelmingly positive";^[96] Time called it "easily the most important release in the recent history of the music business".^[84] The release drew criticism from musicians including Lily Allen^[97] and Kim Gordon,^[98] who felt the release undercut less successful acts. 1.2 million downloads were reportedly sold by the day of release,^[99] but the band's management did not release official sales figures, claiming that the internet-only distribution was intended to boost later retail sales.^[100] Colin Greenwood explained the internet release as a way of avoiding the "regulated playlists" and "straitened formats" of radio and TV, ensuring fans around the world could all experience the music at the same time, and preventing leaks in advance of a physical release.^[101] O'Brien said the self-release strategy sold fewer records, but made more money for the band as there was no middleman.^[102] A special "discbox" edition of In Rainbows, containing the record on vinyl, a hardcover book of artwork, and a second CD of extra songs, was also sold from Radiohead's website and shipped in late 2007.^[103]

In Rainbows was released physically in the UK in late December 2007 on XL Recordings and in North America in January 2008 on TBD Records,^[103] charting at number one both in the UK and in the US.^[104][105] The record's retail success in the US – after having been legally available for months as a free download – was Radiohead's highest chart success in that country since Kid A. It became their fifth UK number-one album and sold more than three million copies in one year.^[106] The album received critical acclaim for its more accessible sound and personal lyrics.^[107] It was nominated for the short list of the Mercury Music Prize^[108] and went on to win the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. Their production team won the Grammy for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, while Radiohead received their third nomination for Album of the Year. Along with three other nominations for the band, Godrich's production and the "House of Cards" music video also received nominations.^[109] Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed "15 Step" with the University of Southern California Marching Band at the televised award show.^[110]

Radiohead released a number of singles from In Rainbows: "Jigsaw Falling into Place" in January 2008,^[111] followed by "Nude", which debuted at number 37 in the Billboard Hot 100, Radiohead's first song to make that chart since 1995's "High and Dry" and their first top 40 hit in the US since "Creep".^[31] In July they released a digitally shot video for "House of Cards".^[112] "House of Cards", along with "Bodysnatchers", also received a single release on radio. In September the band announced a fourth single, "Reckoner", and a remix competition similar to one organised for "Nude".^[113] In April 2008, Radiohead launched W.A.S.T.E. Central, a social networking service for Radiohead fans.^[114] In May, VH1 broadcast In Rainbows – From the Basement, a special episode of the music television show From the Basement in which Radiohead performed songs from In Rainbows. It was released on iTunes in June.^[115]

In June 2008, EMI released a greatest hits album, Radiohead: The Best Of.^[116] It was made without Radiohead's input and only contains songs released under their recording contract with EMI. Yorke was critical of the release, saying: "There's nothing we can do about it. The work is really public property now anyway, in my head at least. It's a wasted opportunity in that if we'd been behind it, and we wanted to do it, then it might have been good."^[117] In August 2008, EMI reissued "special editions" of Radiohead's back catalogue as part of its "From the Capitol Vaults" series.^[118] From mid-2008 to early 2009, Radiohead toured North America, Europe, Japan and South America to promote In Rainbows, and headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2009.^{[99][119][120]}

2009–2012: The King of Limbs, two drummers and Toronto stage collapse

As social media began to expand around the turn of the decade, Radiohead gradually withdrew their public presence, with no promotional interviews or tours to promote new releases. Pitchfork wrote that around this time "their popularity became increasingly untethered from the typical formalities of record promotion, placing them on the same level as Beyoncé and Kanye West."^[58]

In May 2009, Radiohead began new recording sessions with Godrich.^[121] In August, they released "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", a tribute song to Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier to have fought in World War I, with proceeds donated to the British Legion.^[122][123] The song has no conventional rock instrumentation, and instead comprises Yorke's vocals and a string arrangement composed by Jonny Greenwood.^[124] Later that month, another new song, "These Are My Twisted Words", was leaked via torrent, possibly by Radiohead themselves.^[125][126] The song features krautrock-like drumming and guitars,^[127] and was released as a free download on the Radiohead website the following week.^[128] Commentators saw the releases as part of Radiohead's new unpredictable release strategy, without the need for traditional marketing campaigns.^[129]

That year, Yorke formed a new band to perform The Eraser live, Atoms for Peace, with musicians including Godrich and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea; the band played eight North American shows in 2010.^[130] In January 2010, Radiohead played their only full concert of the year in the Los Angeles Henry Fonda Theater as a benefit for Oxfam. Tickets were auctioned, raising over half a million US dollars for the NGO's 2010 Haiti earthquake relief.^[131] In June, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival, performing Eraser and Radiohead songs.^[132] On 30 August, Selway released his debut solo album, Familial.^[133] In September 2010, Radiohead released the soundboard recording of their 2009 Prague performance for use in a fan-made concert video, Live in Praha.^[134][135] In December, a fan-made video of Radiohead's Oxfam benefit performance, Radiohead for Haiti, was released via YouTube and torrent with Radiohead's support and a "pay-what-you-want" link to donate to Oxfam.^[136] The videos were described as examples of the band's openness to fans and positivity toward non-commercial internet distribution.^[137][138]

Radiohead finished recording their eighth album, The King of Limbs, in January 2011.^[101] Following the protracted recording and more conventional rock instrumentation of In Rainbows (2007), Radiohead developed The King of Limbs by sampling and looping their recordings with turntables.^{[139][140][141]} According to O'Brien: "Rhythm is the king of limbs! The rhythm dictates the record. It's very important."^[142] The album was announced on Valentine's Day and self-released as a download on 18 February 2011 through the Radiohead website.^[143] It was followed by a retail release on CD and vinyl formats in March, and a special "newspaper album" edition in May.^[144]

The King of Limbs sold an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 copies through Radiohead's website;^[145] the retail edition debuted at number six on the United States Billboard 200^[146] and number seven on the UK Albums Chart.^[147] It was nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Short Form Music Video (for "Lotus Flower"), Best Rock Performance ("Lotus Flower") and Best Rock Song ("Lotus Flower").^[148] Two tracks not included on The King of Limbs but worked on during the same sessions, "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", were released as a single for Record Store Day on 16 April 2011.^[149] A series of King of Limbs remixes by various artists were compiled on TKOL RMX 1234567, released in September 2011.^[150]

To perform the rhythmically complex King of Limbs material live, Radiohead enlisted a second drummer, Clive Deamer, who had worked with Portishead and Get the Blessing; Selway said of the collaboration: "One played in the traditional way, the other almost mimicked a drum machine. It was push-and-pull, like kids at play, really interesting."^[151] With Deamer, Radiohead recorded a second From the Basement session, released online as The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement in August 2011.^[152] It was also broadcast by international BBC channels and released on DVD and Blu-ray in January 2012.^[153] The performance included two new songs, "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase", released as a double A-side download single on 19 December 2011.^[154] Deamer has joined Radiohead on subsequent tours.^[151][155]

On 24 June, Radiohead played a surprise performance on the Park stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, performing songs from The King of Limbs before an audience for the first time.^[156] In September, they played two dates at New York City's Roseland Ballroom^[157] and made American TV appearances including a one-hour special episode of The Colbert Report^[158] and the season première of Saturday Night Live.^[159] In February 2012, they began their first extended North American tour in four years, including dates in the United States, Canada and Mexico.^[160] While on tour, Radiohead spent a day working on new material at Jack White's Third Man Records studio,^[161][162] but discarded the recordings.^[163]

On 16 June 2012, an hour before gates were due to open at Toronto's Downsview Park for the final concert of Radiohead's North American tour, the roof of the venue's temporary stage collapsed, killing drum technician Scott Johnson and injuring three other members of Radiohead's touring technical crew. The collapse also destroyed the band's light show and much of their musical equipment. No band members were on stage. The concert was cancelled and Radiohead's tour dates in Europe were postponed.^{[164][165][166][167][168][169]} After rescheduling the tour, Radiohead paid tribute to Johnson and their stage crew at their next concert, in Nîmes, France, in July.^[170] Yorke later said that finishing the tour after the collapse was his "biggest achievement so far".^[171] In June 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Labour charged 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 Act.^[172] The hearing began in November 2015.^[173] In June 2017, a mistrial was declared and a new trial ordered after the judge was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court and lost jurisdiction. The trial may be delayed indefinitely due to trial time limits imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016.^[174]

2012–2014: Hiatus and further solo work

In September 2012, EMI was bought by Universal Music. The European Commission approved the deal on the condition that Universal Music divest EMI's Parlophone label, which controlled the Radiohead albums recorded under their contract with EMI.^[175] In February 2013, Parlophone, along with Radiohead's back catalogue, was bought by Warner Music Group (WMG).^[176] As a condition of the purchase, WMG made an agreement with the trade group Impala to reach distribution agreements with independent labels for many of the Parlophone acts, which required artist approval.^[177] In October 2015, Radiohead sued Parlophone for deductions made from downloads of their back catalogue.^[178] In April 2016, as a result of the Impala agreement, WMG transferred Radiohead's back catalogue to XL Recordings, who had released the physical editions of In Rainbows and The King of Limbs and most of Yorke's solo work. The "special editions" of Radiohead albums, issued by EMI in 2008 without Radiohead's approval, were removed from streaming services.^[177] In May 2016, XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl.^[179]

After the King of Limbs tour, during which the band performed several new songs,^[180] Radiohead entered hiatus again and the members worked on side projects. In February 2013, Yorke and Godrich's band Atoms for Peace released a studio album, Amok.^[181] The pair made headlines that year for their criticism of the free music streaming service Spotify, which they believe cannot support new artists; Yorke accused Spotify of only benefiting major labels with large back catalogues, and encouraged artists to build their own "direct connections" with audiences instead.^[182][183] On 11 February 2014, Radiohead released the Polyfauna app for Android and iOS phones, an "experimental collaboration" with the British digital arts studio Universal Everything, using musical elements and imagery from The King of Limbs.^[184]

Yorke and Selway released their respective second solo albums, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes and Weatherhouse, on 26 September^[185] and 7 October 2014.^[186] Jonny Greenwood scored his third film for Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice, released in October 2014; it features a new version of an unreleased Radiohead song, "Spooks", performed by Greenwood and two members of Supergrass.^[187] In May 2015, Yorke contributed a soundtrack, Subterranea, to The Panic Office, an installation of Radiohead artwork in Sydney, Australia.^[188] In November 2015, Junun, a collaboration between Greenwood, Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and Indian musicians, engineered and mixed by Godrich, was released.^[189] It was accompanied by a documentary of the same name directed by Anderson.^[190]

2014–present: A Moon Shaped Pool and OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017

Radiohead began work on their ninth studio album in September 2014, joined again by Godrich.^[191] In 2015 they resumed work in the La Fabrique studio near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.^[192] The sessions were marred by the death of Godrich's father,^[193] and Yorke's separation from his wife, Rachel Owen, who died of cancer several months after the album's completion.^[194] Recording was also interrupted when the band were commissioned to write the theme for the 2015 James Bond film Spectre,^[193] but the song was rejected, in Greenwood's words, for being "too dark".^[195] Radiohead released "Spectre", a "brooding" orchestral song, on Christmas Day 2015 on the audio streaming site SoundCloud.^[196]

On 30 April 2016, fans who had previously made orders from Radiohead received embossed cards with lyrics from a new song, "Burn the Witch".^[197] On 1 May, Radiohead deleted all content from their website and social media profiles and replaced them with blank images,^[198] a move Pitchfork interpreted as symbolic of the band's re-emergence.^[199] Radiohead released "Burn the Witch", the lead single from their forthcoming album, as a download on 3 May, accompanied by a stop-motion animated music video.^[200] On 6 May, Radiohead released another new download single, "Daydreaming", accompanied by a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson;^[201] the video was screened in 35 mm film in select cinemas.^[202]

Radiohead's ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, was released digitally on 8 May 2016 on Radiohead's website and online music stores. It was followed by physical versions on 17 June via XL Recordings.^[201] It includes several songs written some years earlier, including "True Love Waits" (which dates to at least 1995),^[203] along with strings and choral vocals performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra and additional percussion from Deamer.^[204] The album was simultaneously released on paid streaming services including Tidal and Apple Music, but was not released on Spotify, a free service, until 17 June, six weeks later. Spotify had been in "advanced discussions" with Radiohead’s management and label to make A Moon Shaped Pool the first album available exclusively to Spotify's paying subscribers, but the deal fell through, according to Spotify, due to technical hurdles.^[205] In Rainbows, the only other Radiohead album not previously available on Spotify, was added on 10 June.^[206]

A Moon Shaped Pool was Radiohead's sixth UK number-one album;^[207] it was certified gold in the UK on 24 June 2016, and became a bestseller on vinyl.^[208] It was the fifth Radiohead album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize, making Radiohead the most shortlisted act in the award's history,^[209] and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song (for "Burn the Witch") at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.^[210] It appeared on several publications' lists of the best albums of the year.^{[211][212][213][214][215]}

The Moon Shaped Pool physical release was promoted with "Live From a Moon Shaped Pool" in participating record shops around the world. The event featured a "day-long" audio stream, including playlists curated by Radiohead and a recording of their recent performance at the London Roundhouse,^[216] along with competitions, artwork, and other activities.^[217] A participating shop in Istanbul closed after an attack by a gang angered by customers drinking beer and playing music during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fast. Radiohead released a statement condemning the attacks and offering "love and support" to Istanbul fans.^[218] From May to October 2016, Radiohead toured Europe, North America, and Japan in support of A Moon Shaped Pool, joined again by Deamer.^[155][219] They began a second US tour in March 2017, culminating in a headline slot at the April 2017 Coachella festival in California.^[220] A European tour followed in June and July with several festival shows,^[221] including Radiohead's third headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival.^[222] In July, Radiohead relaunched radiohead.tv with recordings of recent live performances.^[223]

The tour drew criticism for its inclusion of a date in Tel Aviv on 19 July, disregarding the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign for an international cultural boycott of Israel. The band were subject to protests at some concerts, where sections of the audience unfurled Palestinian flags.^[224] On 23 April, more than 50 prominent figures, including Roger Waters, whose 2017 album Is This the Life We Really Want? was produced by Godrich, signed a petition urging Radiohead to cancel the show. Yorke told Rolling Stone he found the criticism "extremely upsetting ... [the critics] choose to, rather than engage with us personally, throw shit at us in public. It's deeply disrespectful to assume that we're either being misinformed or that we're so retarded we can't make these decisions ourselves. I thought it was patronising in the extreme." He felt the criticisms created "divisive energy" rather than "bring people together".^[225] Godrich added that he did not "believe in cultural boycotts ... I don't think they're positive, ever ... The people you'd be denying [the music] are the people who would agree with you and don't necessarily agree with their government."^[225] Waters responded in a public statement saying he had written to Yorke months earlier, but that Yorke had replied angrily and not replied to further correspondence.^[226] On 11 July, film director Ken Loach wrote in the Independent that "[Radiohead’s] stubborn refusal to engage with the many critics of their ill-advised concert in Tel Aviv suggests to me that they only want to hear one side – the one that supports apartheid... Radiohead need to decide if they stand with the oppressed or with the oppressor." Yorke responded in a statement: "Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing the government. Music, art and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue and freedom of expression."^[224] The show went ahead as planned, with Yorke saying "a lot was said about this, but in the end we played some music".^[227][228]

On 2 May 2017, Radiohead announced a 20th-anniversary OK Computer reissue, OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017, including a remastered version of the original album, plus B-sides and three previously unreleased tracks: "I Promise", "Man of War" and "Lift". The boxed edition contains additional artwork and notes, and an audio cassette of demos and session recordings. The digital version was released on 23 June 2017, with physical editions shipping in July. Radiohead promoted the reissue with posters around the world featuring "cryptic" messages and the years 1997 and 2017, and a teaser video featuring "glitchy" computer graphics and lyrics from "Climbing Up the Walls".^[229][230] On 2 and 22 June respectively, Radiohead released "I Promise" and "Man of War" as downloads for those who had pre-ordered OKNOTOK,^[231] with accompanying music videos.^[232][233] OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 topped the UK charts in the week of release, boosted by Radiohead's televised Glastonbury performance that week.^[234]

Style and songwriting

	"Pyramid Song" "Pyramid Song" was influenced by jazz musician Charles Mingus' 1963 piece "Freedom".[18] This sample shows the Radiohead track's string arrangement and irregular timing on the piano and drums.
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Among Radiohead members' earliest influences were Queen, Pink Floyd and Elvis Costello, post-punk acts such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine, and significantly 1980s alternative rock bands such as U2, R.E.M., Pixies, the Smiths and Sonic Youth.^{[12][20][36][235]} By the mid-1990s, Radiohead began to adopt some recording methods from hip hop, inspired by the sampling work of DJ Shadow,^[12] and became interested in using computers to generate sounds.^[236] Other influences on the group include the jazz music of Miles Davis,^[237] Charlie Mingus^[237] and Alice Coltrane,^[238] the soundtracks of Ennio Morricone, 1960s rock groups such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and Phil Spector's "wall of sound" production technique.^[12][41]

The electronic music of Kid A and Amnesiac was inspired by Yorke's admiration for glitch, ambient techno and IDM as exemplified by Warp Records artists such as Autechre and Aphex Twin; in 2013, Yorke named Aphex Twin as biggest influence.^[239] The album also samples early computer music.^[27] The jazz of Charles Mingus,^[240] Alice Coltrane^[238] and Miles Davis, and 1970s krautrock bands such as Can and Neu!, were other major influences during this period.^[241] Jonny Greenwood's interest in 20th century classical music also had a role, as the influence of composers Krzysztof Penderecki^[41] and Olivier Messiaen was apparent; for several songs on Kid A and later albums, Greenwood has played the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument popularised by Messiaen.^[20]

Recording In Rainbows, Radiohead members mentioned a variety of rock, electronic, hiphop and experimental musicians as influences, including Björk, M.I.A, Liars, Modeselektor and Spank Rock.^[242][243] In 2011, Yorke denied that Radiohead had ever set out deliberately to change musical styles or to make "experimental music", saying the band was "constantly absorbing music" and that a variety of musicians are always influencing their work.^[244] Drummer Clive Deamer, who has recorded and performed with Radiohead since 2011, said that Radiohead did not see themselves as a rock band and felt their methodology had closer parallels with jazz: “They deliberately try to avoid cliché and standard forms for the sake of the song ... Rock bands don’t do that. It’s far more like a jazz mentality."^[245] In 2017, Jonny Greenwood said he saw Radiohead as "just a kind of an arrangement to form songs using whatever technology suits the song. And that technology can be a cello or it can be a laptop. It's all sort of machinery when looked at in the right way."^[194]

Since their formation, Yorke has been Radiohead's principal songwriter and lyricist. Arrangement is a collaborative effort, with all the band members having roles in the process;^[65] all the band's songs are credited to "Radiohead". Radiohead songs usually begin with a sketch by Yorke, which is harmonically developed by Jonny Greenwood before the other members develop their own parts.^[55] The Kid A and Amnesiac sessions brought a change in Radiohead's musical style and working method.^[65][246] Since their shift from conventional rock music instrumentation toward an emphasis on electronic sound, the members have gained flexibility and now regularly switch instruments depending on the particular song requirements.^[65] On Kid A and Amnesiac, Yorke played keyboard and bass, while Jonny Greenwood often played ondes Martenot, bassist Colin Greenwood worked on sampling, and O'Brien and Selway branched out to drum machines and digital manipulation, also finding ways to incorporate their primary instruments, guitar and percussion, respectively, into the new sound.^[65] The relaxed 2003 recording sessions for Hail to the Thief led to a different dynamic in Radiohead, with Yorke admitting in interviews that his power in the band had been "absolutely unbalanced" and that he would "subvert everybody else's power at all costs. But ... it's actually a lot more healthy now, democracy-wise, than it used to be."^[247]

Collaborators

Radiohead have maintained a close relationship with a number of frequent collaborators. Producer Nigel Godrich made his name with Radiohead, working with the band as an audio engineer on The Bends and as their producer on every studio album afterwards.^[248] He has been dubbed the "sixth member" of the band, in an allusion to George Martin being called the "Fifth Beatle".^[248] In 2016, Godrich said of the collaboration: "I can only ever have one band like Radiohead who I've worked with for this many years. That's a very deep and profound relationship. The Beatles could only have ever had one George Martin; they couldn't have switched producers halfway through their career. All that work, trust, and knowledge of each other would have been thrown out of the window and they'd have to start again."^[249]

Graphic artist Stanley Donwood met Yorke when both were art students, and with Yorke has produced all of Radiohead's album covers and visual artwork since 1994.^[22] Donwood works in the studio with the band as they record, allowing the music to influence the artwork.^[250] He and Yorke won a Grammy in 2002 for the special edition of Amnesiac packaged as a library book.^[22]

Dilly Gent has been responsible for commissioning all Radiohead music videos since OK Computer, working with the band to find a director suitable for each project.^[251] Since Radiohead's inception, Andi Watson has been their lighting and stage director, designing the visuals of live concerts, such as the carbon-neutral "LED forest" of the In Rainbows tour.^[252] Radiohead's chief live technician, Peter "Plank" Clements, has worked with the band since before The Bends, overseeing the setup of their instruments for studio recordings and live performances.^[12] Drummer Clive Deamer has performed and recorded with Radiohead since 2011.^{[151][155][204]}

Politics

Radiohead's music and lyrics are considered to be anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist without expressing any specific political allegiance. However, Radiohead's members have given support to various charities and causes, particularly ones with environmental aims.^[253] In an interview with the NME in 2015, Thom Yorke said he declined an offer to help the Green Party and was sceptical about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.^[254] In an interview with BBC 6 Music, Yorke said student politics had put him off politics for life.^[255] In 2017 Radiohead played a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, defying the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign which calls for a cultural boycott of Israel.^[256]

Band members

• Colin Greenwood – bass guitar, keyboards, percussion
• Jonny Greenwood – guitar, keyboards, ondes Martenot, analogue synthesisers
• Ed O'Brien – guitar, backing vocals, samples, percussion
• Philip Selway – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Thom Yorke – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, piano

Additional live members

• Clive Deamer – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present)

Awards and nominations

Discography

• Pablo Honey (1993)
• The Bends (1995)
• OK Computer (1997)
• Kid A (2000)
• Amnesiac (2001)
• Hail to the Thief (2003)
• In Rainbows (2007)
• The King of Limbs (2011)
• A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)

See also

• The Music and Art of Radiohead (2005 book)

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radiohead.

• Radiohead discography at MusicBrainz
• Radiohead at DMOZ