Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985.^[1] The group consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano), brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards) and Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), and Philip Selway (drums, percussion).^[2] The members met while attending Abingdon School, a private boys' school, and initially performed under the name On a Friday, a reference to their regular rehearsal day in the school music room.^[1] After reuniting in Oxford in 1991 following university, the band signed with EMI Records, who requested a name change. They chose "Radiohead," taken from the Talking Heads song "Radio Head" on the 1986 album True Stories.^[3]

Before the band achieved fame, Yorke worked as an orderly in a mental hospital during the late 1980s and early 1990s, an experience that profoundly shaped his songwriting. This coincided with the British government's Care in the Community program, which moved patients out of institutional psychiatric care. Yorke later described it as "one of the scariest things to happen in this country," and the experience directly inspired songs like "Climbing Up the Walls."^[8] Meanwhile, Jonny Greenwood developed a deep interest in 20th-century classical composition, particularly the work of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, whose dissonant string techniques would become a lasting influence on both Greenwood's arrangements for Radiohead and his later career as a film composer.^[9]

The band's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993), produced the breakthrough single "Creep," which became an international hit.^[4] The band's reaction to that success, however, was one of deep ambivalence. The sudden rise to global recognition felt disorienting, and the label pressure to deliver another "Creep" intensified the group's anxiety. The title of their second album was chosen deliberately: the bends is the decompression sickness that strikes a diver who ascends too quickly, a precise metaphor for what the band experienced after "Creep" propelled them to a level of fame they were not prepared for.^[13]

The Bends (1995), recorded at RAK Studios, Abbey Road, and The Manor between February and November 1994, showcased a more intense and soaring alternative rock sound.^[13] The sessions introduced two collaborations that would define Radiohead's subsequent work: Nigel Godrich, who contributed additional production and has worked on every Radiohead album since, and visual artist Stanley Donwood, who created the album artwork and has designed all of the band's visual identity ever since. The album expanded their popularity and, critically, demonstrated that the band were capable of artistic growth on their own terms rather than on a record company's schedule.

Radiohead achieved worldwide critical acclaim with their third album, OK Computer (1997), which reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and has been widely cited as one of the greatest albums ever made.^[5] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1998 and sold at least 7.8 million copies worldwide.^[5]

A pivotal moment in Radiohead's evolution came in September 1995, when the band contributed the song "Lucky" to The Help Album, a War Child charity compilation benefiting children affected by the Bosnian conflict.^[10] Recorded in just five hours with engineer Nigel Godrich, the session marked the beginning of a transformative creative partnership. Godrich went on to produce OK Computer and every subsequent Radiohead album, becoming what many consider the band's unofficial sixth member.^[10] Yorke later called "Lucky" the "first mark on the wall" for the sound they would pursue on OK Computer.^[11]

With Kid A (2000), Radiohead made a dramatic stylistic shift toward electronic and experimental music, moving away from conventional guitar rock.^[4] The album debuted at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, becoming their first chart-topping release in America.^[2] They continued to explore new sonic territory with Amnesiac (2001) and Hail to the Thief (2003), which reunited guitar-driven elements with their experimental approach.^[4]

In 2007, Radiohead pioneered a new distribution model by releasing In Rainbows as a pay-what-you-want digital download, the first major release of its kind, attracting enormous media attention and sparking debate about the future of the music industry.^[6] The album received over one million downloads on its first day and later debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 upon its physical release.^[3] Subsequent albums The King of Limbs (2011) and A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) continued their artistic evolution, with the latter incorporating orchestral arrangements.^[2]

Described by Britannica as "arguably the most accomplished art-rock band of the early 21st century,"^[4] Radiohead have sold over 30 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy Awards.^[2] In 2019, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by David Byrne of Talking Heads, who praised them for having "completely changed the music business."^[7] Outside of Radiohead, members have pursued notable solo work, with Thom Yorke composing film soundtracks and Jonny Greenwood receiving an Academy Award nomination for his film scoring.^[4]

In 2025, Radiohead experienced an unexpected cultural resurgence when "Let Down," a deep cut from OK Computer, went viral on TikTok. A new generation of listeners paired the track with melancholic and contemplative video clips, drawn to its paradoxical blend of despair and hope. The viral wave propelled "Let Down" to number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's fourth charting single and their first in seventeen years, since "Nude" in 2008.^[12]