Smells Like Alternative

Hopefully by now you’ve heard the news about Radiohead’s new album, if not, you can go here or there for more info. With all this buzz, it seems like a good time for an FYI on Radiohead.

• Colin Greenwood, Thom Yorke, Ed O’ Brien, Phil Selway and Jonny Greenwood went to Abingdon School together.
• In 1986 they formed the band On A Friday and played their first gig at Jericho Tavern in Oxford.
• Guitarist Jonny Greenwood originally joined the band as a keyboard player.
• In 1991 the band signed with EMI and changed their name to Radiohead.
• “Radio Head” is a song featured on the Talking Heads album True Stories.
• On May 5, 1992 the band released the EP Drill.
• Pablo Honey was released on Februrary 22, 1993; the title is taken from a Jerky Boys skit (the Jerky Boys made lots of money by prank calling people).
• “Creep” was the band’s first single from Pablo Honey and gained popularity in Israel, followed by San Francisco and then the rest of the States.
• Pearl Jam have NOT covered “Creep”, however, Eddie Vedder did record a version during the infamous “birdman session”.
• On March 13, 1995 Radiohead released their second album, The Bends.
• Thom Yorke recorded the vocals for “Fake Plastic Trees” after the band had seen Jeff Buckley.
• Radiohead opened up for R.E.M. in the summer of 1995.
• The band contributed two songs for the 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. “Talk Show Host” appeared on the soundtrack, while “Exit Music (For a Film)” only appeared in the closing credits.
• Radiohead performed songs from OK Computer live while on tour with Alanis Morissette before the recording the album.
• OK Computer was recorded in a converted apple shed and actress Jane Seymour’s 15th century mansion.
• OK Computer was released on June 16, 1997 and has gone on to triple platinum status in the UK and double platinum in the US.
• The video for “Paranoid Android” was done by Swedish cartoonist Magnus Carlssonm, which used characters from his animated TV series Robin.
• The band’s rockumentary, Meeting People Is Easy, covers the band during the OK Computer tour and was the first ever DVD released by their label (EMI/Parlophone/Capitol).
• Kid A was released on October 2, 2ooo, with no official singles being released and using the internet instead to promote the album.
• The song “Everything in it’s Place” appears in the movie and soundtrack for Vanilla Sky.
• “Motion Picture Soundtrack” was written before “Creep” was.
• Amnesiac was released in June of 2001 and was recorded during the Kid A sessions.
• “Pyramid Song” made it’s live debut at the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam, which was just Thom Yorke and a piano.
• “Knives Out” was covered by the Flaming Lips on their Fight Test EP.
• Hail to the Thief was released in June of 2003 and was recorded mainly during a two week session in L.A.
• Every song title on Hail to the Thief has a parenthetical subtitle.
• “There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere)” was the band’s biggest radio single since “Karma Police”.
• The EP COM LAG (2plus2isfive) is a compilation of b-sides from Hail to the Thief, and was released in Australia and Japan in 2004 and finally the UK in 2007.
• Radiohead have fulfilled their contract with EMI and are currently without a label.
• The band began work on a new album in early 2005.
• During their European and North American tour in 2006, Radiohead unveiled 13 new songs.
• The bands seventh album, In Rainbows, will be released as a digital download on October, 1o.

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