  Radiohead hail from Oxford,
England consisting of Thom Yorke (vocals),
Jon Greenwood (guitar), Colin Greenwood
(bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar), and Phil Selway
(drums). The band formed in 1989 and have
gradually became a top alternative band for
the 90s. With angst in their voices and force
in their music, Radiohead has become a
favorite with fans and critics. Before coming
together as a band, Thom and Colin were in a
band called TNT before they broke off on
their own to form their own band. With Ed,
Phil and Jon joining in, the quintet formed a
band called On A Friday while they were
students in England in 1987 and made their
first appearance in Jericho's Tavern in
Oxford. When a music career was determined to
be their focus and their name wasn't helping
their image, they became known as Radiohead
(from the Talking Heads song
"Radio Head").
Radiohead released an EP called Drill
with a single called "Prove
Yourself" that helped the EP sell
moderately in England. Soon the band signed
with EMI/Capitol.
 # 107
Singles Artist of the Year
 Radiohead's debut LP, Pablo
Honey, was released and the band had
their first hit - the self-loathing "Creep" with the chorus
"...but I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what
the hell am I doing here? I don't belong
here." Other tracks, including "Pop
Is Dead" and "Anyone Can Play
Guitar" were also played on modern rock
and college radio.
Radiohead hit the Top 40 with
"Creep."
The band found more success in
the U.S. than their native England, and
toured throughout '93 opening for Belly
and Tears For Fears. By the
end of the year, Radiohead found their fans
in England when "Creep" was re-issued
and hit the Top 10.
 Radiohead's second LP, The
Bends, was released. Critical praise
of the LP had demonstrated that the
"sophomore slump" had not hit the
band. The LP was not however a commercial
success and had few tracks played on the
radio - even as the band toured with R.E.M. in the U.S. and
Europe. "High And Dry" and
"Fake Plastic Trees" were moderate
hits on alternative radio. The LP did fare
better in England than the U.S. this time.
The LP also made the Top 50 of Q magazine's
Best Albums of 1995.
The band started work on a new
LP in and also toured with Alanis
Morissette in the summer.
Radiohead were
nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Breakthrough Video ("Just").
 Radiohead contributed the
haunting track "Talk Show Host" to
the Romeo
And Juliet soundtrack.
O.K.
Computer topped the UK Albums chart for
2 weeks.
 Radiohead released O.K.
Computer in the US. The band toured in
support of the LP throughout the U.S. and
England to sell-out crowds. The first single
"Paranoid Android" was a Top 3 hit
in the U.K. and a video and alternative radio
favorite in the U.S. Thom said of the LP
title: "When we were doing it, when we
were recording it, we would walk around the
studio like robots going, 'OK, Computer! And
it kind of stuck."
Radiohead were
nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Breakthrough Video ("Paranoid
Android").
O.K.
Computer was Spin magazine's #2
LP of the Year. Spin magazine also
named Radiohead their Band of the Year for
1997 and made the Top 10 lists of numerous
"Best LPs of 1997."
Readers of Rolling
Stone named "Paranoid
Android" the Best Video of the Year and
critics named Radiohead the Best Band of the
Year.
 When the
nominations for the 1998 Brit Awards were
announced, the front-runners included
Radiohead with 3 nominations: Best Group,
Best Album for O.K.
Computer and Best Single for
"Paranoid Android."
A poll of
England's favorite LPs of all-time found 2
Radiohead LPs in the Top 10: The
Bends at #4 and O.K.
Computer at #7.
Radiohead won a Grammy
Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance (O.K.
Computer) and was also nominated for
Album of the Year (O.K.
Computer). It wasn't a big surprise that
Radiohead were not going to perform at the
ceremony considering they are often called
"anti-television." Yet, the band
apparently was willing to perform at the
ceremony, but declined the invite when it was
told that they would have to perform with David
Bowie (singing solo was considered
"not too good for ratings"). The
group had planned on performing because the
awards show has a history of helping
developing bands (which Radiohead feels they
are in the U.S.) and had planned on singing
"Exit Music (For A Film)."
 Radiohead released the limited
edition EP, Airbag
/ How Am I Driving? containing
several unreleased tracks.
Radiohead were nominated for a
few MTV Video Music
Awards including Best Group Video, Best Direction (Jonathan Glazer), Best Cinematography (Stephen
Keith-Roache), and Best Alternative Video ("Karma
Police").
Radiohead came out in support of
Amnesty International at a concert held in
France which also included Bruce
Springsteen, Tracy
Chapman, Alanis
Morissette, Peter Gabriel, Shania
Twain, Robert Plant,
Jimmy Page, and Youssou
N'dour. The concert was held to mark
the 50th anniversary of the United Nation's
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Nominees
announced for the 1999 Brit Awards include
Radiohead for Best British Video (for
"No Surprises").
Radiohead were
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance (Airbag
/ How Am I Driving?).
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"Fake Plastic Trees" at # 77.
Radiohead were
nominated for a Grammy Award for
Best Music Video Long Form (Meeting
People Is Easy).
Radiohead announced via their website that the band has
finished up their next LP (Kid
A)
to be released in October. Yorke said on the
website: "Yesterday we finished
recording. I am free and happy, and now I'm
going for a walk in the park. Goodbye."
Radiohead toured in Europe
during the summer.
 Radiohead released Kid
A
and hit #1 on the LP charts and was certified
gold by the end of the month.
Kid
A
topped the UK charts for 2 weeks and the
Billboard Internet Album Sales chart for 1
week.
Rolling Stone
& MTV: 100 Greatest Pop Songs includes "Creep" at # 76.
. Radiohead was named 'Band of
the Year' by Spin magazine.
VH1: 100
Greatest Albums includes O.K.
Computer at # 94.
Radiohead won a
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance and were nominated for Album of the Year (Kid
A).
Kid
A
was certified platinum.
Radiohead were
nominated for a Brit Award for Best British
Group.
 Radiohead's next LP, Amnesiac, was released and
included tracks from the Kid
A
sessions along with a few new songs.
Amnesiac topped the Billboard
Top Internet Albums chart for a week and the
UK Albums chart for a week.
Amnesiac was certified gold.
Radiohead topped the Canadian
singles charts with "Knives Out."
Radiohead won a Q Award for Best
Act In The World Today.
 Radiohead released a live LP - I
Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings.
Radiohead were
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance (Amnesiac).
Radiohead won Q magazine's 'Best
Act in the World Today' award for a second
year.
 # 175
Singles Artist of the Year
 Radiohead released their next
LP, Hail
To The Thief.
VH1: 100 Best
Songs of the Past 25 Years includes "Creep" at # 84.
Radiohead topped the Billboard
Internet Sales chart for a week and the UK
for a week and Canadian LP charts with Hail
To The Thief.
Hail
To The Thief was certified gold.
 Radiohead's video for
"There There " won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Art Direction (Chris Hopewell) and
was nominated for Best Special Effects (John Williams &
Dave Lea), Best Editing (Ben Foley), and Best Cinematography (Fred Reed).
Radiohead embarked on a tour of
North America kicking off in Massachusetts.
 Critics in Rolling
Stone named Radiohead's tour as the
Best Tour of the year and Best Band (tied
with Queens Of The Stone Age).
Rolling Stone:
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: # 110:
The
Bends, # 162: O.K.
Computer, # 428: Kid
A.
Radiohead was
nominated for 2 Grammy Awards including Best Rock Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("There
There") and Best Alternative Music
Performance (Hail
To The Thief).
Rolling Stone:
The Immortals - The 100 Greatest Artists of
All Time included Radiohead at # 73.
 O.K.
Computer was certified 2x platinum.
Yorke released
a solo LP The
Eraser (Billboard peak: # 2 - Rolling Stone:  - Entertainment
Weekly:
B-).
Yorke topped
the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart with The
Eraser.
Yorke released
the EP Spitting
Feathers, 5 B-Sides & 2 Videos.
 Yorke was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album (The
Eraser).
Radiohead released the EP Com
Lag (2Plus2IsFive) - a collection of
b-sides and rare tracks originally released 3
years ago in Japan.
Radiohead
released their next LP In
Rainbows (Rolling Stone: - Entertainment
Weekly:
A) on the webset www.inrainbows.com where fans could name
their price for the LP (including $0) and
then download it.
 Radiohead released the box set Radiohead:
Limited Edition Box Set - the set included all
7 Radiohead LPs.
Radiohead officially released In
Rainbows.
Radiohead topped the Billboard
200 LP chart, Top Rock Albums chart, and Top
Internet Albums chart with In
Rainbows.
Radiohead topped the UK and
Canadian LP charts with In
Rainbows.
Yorke appeared on the cover of Rolling
Stone.
In
Rainbows was certified gold.
 
|
Pablo Honey
Released: April, 1993
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 32
Tracks: "You" -
"Creep" - "How
Do You?" - "Stop
Whispering" - "Thinking About
You" - "Anyone Can Play
Guitar" - "Ripcord" -
"Vegetable" - "Prove
Yourself" - "I Can't" -
"Lurgee" - "Blow Out"
- "Creep" (Clean) |
|
The Bends
Released: April, 1995
US: Gold
Billboard
peak:
# 88
Rolling Stone
review: 
Tracks: "Planet
Telex" - "Bends" -
"High & Dry" - "Fake
Plastic Trees" - "Bones" -
"Nice Dream" - "Just"
- "My Iron Lung" - "Bullet
Proof... I Wish I Was" - "Black
Star" - "Sulk" -
"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" |
|
O.K. Computer
Released: July, 1997
US: 2x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 21
Rolling Stone
review:
Tracks:
"Airbag" - "Paranoid
Android" - "Subterranean
Homesick Alien" - "Exit Music
(For A Film)" - "Let Down"
- "Karma Police" - "Fitter
Happier" -
"Electioneering" -
"Climbing Up The Walls" -
"No Surprises" -
"Lucky" - "The
Tourist" |
|
Airbag / How Am I
Driving? (EP)
Released: April, 1998
Billboard
peak:
# 56
Tracks:
"Airbag" - "Pearly" -
"Meeting In The Aisle" -
"Reminder" - "Polyethylene
(Pts. 1 & 2)" -
"Melatonin" - "Palo
Alto" |
|
Kid A
| | 
