Radiohead (Part III)

Solo work

Main articles: Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway and Thom Yorke

See also: Bodysong, The Eraser

Jonny Greenwood appeared on Pavement's Terror Twilight in 1999, playing harmonica and guitar on several tracks. In 2003, he released Bodysong, an instrumental soundtrack he wrote for the documentary of the same name. The soundtrack includes diverse orchestration, much of it processed electronically, ranging from string quartets to piano to soprano sax to ondes martenot. It was the first solo album credited to a member of Radiohead, although his brother Colin contributes bass and programming. Since 2003, Greenwood has composed the pieces "Smear," "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" and "Piano for Children" in his capacity as BBC's resident composer. In 2005 Greenwood, along with Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, appeared in the film of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as part of a fictional band fronted by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker; they recorded several songs available on the soundtrack.

In 1999, Ed O'Brien composed the soundtrack for Eureka Street, a British television miniseries; the soundtrack was released on CD by the BBC. In late 2000, Ed toured with Neil Finn, Johnny Marr and others for 'Seven Worlds Collide'. In 2002, O'Brien contributed guitar to several tracks on Enemy of the Enemy, an album by Asian Dub Foundation also featuring Sinéad O'Connor.

In late 2000, Phil Selway (with O'Brien) toured for 'Seven Worlds Collide'. In 2005 Selway, along with Jonny Greenwood, appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as part of a fictional band fronted by Jarvis Cocker; they recorded several songs available on the soundtrack.

In the late 1990s, Thom Yorke collaborated on songs by Drugstore and UNKLE. He participated in the 1998 Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, singing Roxy Music cover songs as part of the fictional band 'Venus in Furs'. He later sang duets with two friends, Björk and PJ Harvey, both songs appearing on those artists' acclaimed 2000 albums. Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, was released July 10, 2006 on XL Records in the UK and July 11 in North America. Begun as a series of electronic compositions created on Yorke's laptop, the record developed into songs under the guidance of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Radiohead members have joined Yorke to perform two songs live from The Eraser, "Cymbal Rush" and "The Clock", and Colin and Jonny Greenwood each made brief contribitions to the album.

Discography

Audio samples of Radiohead

• "You (live)" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
  • from Itch (EP) - This song exemplifies the early sound of Radiohead, melodic arena rock influenced by post-punk styles, featuring Thom Yorke's passionate voice.
• Just (file info) — play in browser (beta)
  • from The Bends - This song off of Radiohead's popular sophomore album epitomises their increasing complexity, but retains a fast, catchy, angst-saturated, punk feel, typical of mid-'90s alternative rock.
• Lucky (file info) — play in browser (beta)
  • from OK Computer - An excerpt from the band's highly acclaimed third album, this song shows Radiohead's increasingly layered production, while their guitar-based rock sound remains in the foreground.
• The National Anthem (file info) — play in browser (beta)
  • from Kid A - An excerpt from Radiohead's fourth album, this number shows the band's efforts at blending their influences of avant garde jazz and electronic music into their sound.
• Life in a Glasshouse (file info) — play in browser (beta)
  • from Amnesiac - This song from Radiohead's fifth album demonstrates more directly their incorporation of jazz, featuring Yorke and the backing band of trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton.
• Problems playing the files? See media help.

Main article: Radiohead discography

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Trivia

For a list of samples, cover versions and remixes of Radiohead songs, see Radiohead overview and influence.

• Having played over 800 concerts, Radiohead have rarely repeated a setlist exactly. Ed O'Brien says, "one of the worst things in music is when bands play the same set every night."^[14]

• Acts Radiohead has chosen to open for their concert tours include Deerhoof, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Low, Four Tet, Clinic, The Beta Band, Kid Koala, Sigur Rós, Sparklehorse and Spiritualized. During their early career Radiohead opened for bands including R.E.M., PJ Harvey, Tears for Fears and Belly.

• Radiohead members are featured as characters in the 2001 South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die". The band did not voice themselves: that was done by the show's creators.

• "You And Whose Army?" is sampled by rap group The Roots on the track "Atonement" from their 2006 album Game Theory.

Further reading

See also Radiohead overview and influence

Online references

• Draper, Brian. Interview with Thom Yorke. Third Way magazine, December 2004. Vol. 27, No. 10.
• McLean, Craig. "All messed up." The Observer, June 18, 2006.
• Ross, Alex. "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution." The New Yorker, August 20 and 27, 2001.
• Smith, Andrew. "Sound and Fury." The Observer, October 1, 2000.
• White, Curtis. "Kid Adorno." Context. Issue No. 6.
• At Ease: Radiohead Biography
• Follow Me Around: Radiohead Press Cuttings
• Rock on the Net: Radiohead timeline & discography

Books

• Radiohead: An Illustrated Biography by Nick Johnstone (1997, ISBN 0-7119-6581-1)
• Radiohead: From a Great Height by Jonathan Hale (1999, ISBN 1-55022-373-9)
• Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless by Martin Clarke (2000, ISBN 0-85965-332-3)
• Exit Music: The Radiohead Story by Mac Randall, (2000, ISBN 0-385-33393-5)
• Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe by James Doheny (2002, ISBN 1-56025-398-3)
• Radiohead: A Visual Documentary by Tim Footman and Billy Dancer (2002, ISBN 1-84240-179-3)
• The Music and Art of Radiohead edited by Joseph Tate (2005, ISBN 0-7546-3980-0)
• Radiohead: The Complete Guide to Their Music by Mark Paytress (2005, ISBN 1-84449-507-8)
• OK Computer by Dai Griffiths, from 33 1/3 series (2005, ISBN 0-8264-1663-2)

Dissertations

• "Authenticity in Rock Culture (Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Radiohead)" by Mark Mazullo (1999, University of Minnesota)
• “Contextually Defined Musical Transformations” by Jonathan Kochavi (2002, State University of New York at Buffalo)
• "'How to Disappear Completely': Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album" by Marianne Tatom Letts (2005, University of Texas at Austin)

Notes

1. ^ Ross, Alex. "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution." The New Yorker, August 20 and 27, 2001. [1]
2. ^ Burton, Sarah. "Art and Politics" (interview with Howard Zinn and Thom Yorke). Resonance Magazine, November 22, 2003. archived at alternet
3. ^ Pareles, Jon. New York Times article, July 2, 2006. [2]
4. ^ Ross, Alex. "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution." The New Yorker, August 20 and 27, 2001. [3]
5. ^ O'Brien, Ed. Studio diary from Kid A and Amnesiac recording sessions, 1999-2000. archived at green plastic
6. ^ Eccleston, Danny. Q magazine feature and interview, October 2000. archived at follow me around
7. ^ Tate, Joseph. "Radiohead's Antivideos: Works of Art in the Age of Electronic Reproduction." Postmodern Culture, May 2002. Volume 12, Number 3. also reprinted in The Music and Art of Radiohead, edited by Tate, 2005.[4]
8. ^ BBC News. "US success for Radiohead." 14 June, 2001.[5]
9. ^ Menta, Richard. "Did Napster Take Radiohead's New Album to Number 1?" MP3 Newswire, October 28, 2000.[6]
10. ^ Oldham, James. "Radiohead - Their Stupendous Return." NME, 24 June, 2000. archived at follow me around
11. ^ On E-online [7]
12. ^ Pitchfork Media. Music news, May 12, 2006.[8]
13. ^ McLean, Craig. "All Messed Up." The Observer, June 18, 2006.[9]
14. ^ Mathis-Lilley, Ben. "Secrets of the Radiohead Set List." New York magazine, June 26, 2006.[10]

• Radiohead.com: The official Radiohead website. The Messageboard has gathered a cult following; members of the band occasionally post there. Since beginning new recording sessions in 2005, Radiohead members have also posted intermittently on their blog called Dead Air Space, hosted here.
• w.a.s.t.e: Radiohead's official fan club and merchandise site.
• Radiohead on the Ongoing History of New Music by Alan Cross
• At Ease: The largest fansite with frequent news updates and detailed information on the band. Has an extremely popular message board.
• Green Plastic: Another large fan-site with big community.
• RHDiscog.com - Radiohead Discography: The most comprehensive Radiohead discography on the internet.
• Radiohead Track Resource: A catalogue of every officially released version of every Radiohead song and where to find them. Includes scans of the released media.
• 58Hours:An in-depth database of nearly all of Radiohead's Live performances, with accompanying information and statistics on the live performance history of each (Radiohead) song.
• Radiohead tabs