Radiohead is a seminal rock band made up of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals) and Philip Selway (drums, percussion). After signing to EMI in 1991 Radiohead released Creep from their debut album Pablo Honey and it became a worldwide hit.
The band rose to international fame with the release of their third studio album OK Computer. Acclaimed for its lush, complex production and exploration of modern alienation OK Computer presented a way forward for rock music at the turn of the century. Furthermore it engaged with art-rock in an accessible way and is often cited as one of the landmark albums of the 1990s.
Radiohead sold over 30 million records worldwide in 2011 and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Too many, the career of Radiohead can be divided into everything that occurred before KID A and everything that occurred afterwards. Following the success of OK Computer, the Oxford quintet took a left-turn, eschewing the grandiose, Floydian rock of their previous release in favour of a dark, claustrophobic electronica.
Released in 2000, this was a daring statement in the age before the infinitesimal splintering and cross-pollination of genre post the record industry breakdown and internet saturation.
