by Trevor Baker
When they began rehearsing for the tour at the end of 2007, Radiohead started by trying out a series of covers. It wasn’t that they planned to play any cover versions. By now they had far too many great songs to fit into a normal set anyway. Most gigs would immediately be followed by comments on websites saying, ‘They were amazing but why didn’t they play …’ It was just that they were having fun for a change. They knew they would never have to do the kind of touring that they did after Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer again. For Thom, being part of Radiohead had always been “heaven and hell” and, in 2007 and 2008, it was, for a change, closer to the former.
“I think they enjoy making music together now,” says Mark. “I don’t think that’s going to change. I think Thom doing his own stuff got that out of his system. What I heard from the road crew [on the recent tour] was that every gig was really, really good and they all had a really great time. They haven’t got to prove themselves anymore. I think they’ve proved themselves. They reached the end of their contract with their record company and came out in profit, which not a lot of bands do, really. They reached the end of their contract without needing to do a Greatest Hits. That doesn’t happen very often at all.”
Also, for someone who agonised so often and so lyrically that success was changing him and his friends, Thom has managed to cling on to his sanity. Maybe it helped that he was so well prepared for what would happen. When he wrote songs like ‘The Bends’ and ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ he already seemed, in his late teens and early twenties, to have a better understanding of the vacuity of stardom than most people who’ve lived through it. He’d thought about what it was like to be a rock star for years. He drew pictures of what a band would look like when he was at school. He’d been thinking about it constantly since he was seven, remember. He may have been the least likely person to want to be a rock star, or to become a rock star, but he was also the best prepared.
Of course, every time he went into the studio, all that preparation seemed to count for nothing. At the time of writing, Radiohead are back in the studio working on their eighth album and, no doubt, the process is pretty painful. “It’s always awful,” as Colin Greenwood sighed to Grant Gee at the start of the In Rainbows sessions. Their refusal to do the same things that have worked so brilliantly in the past means that at the start of every recording session they’ve had to spend weeks just sitting around figuring out what to do next. And because they have periods when they don’t often see each other apart from when they’re recording and touring, the first few weeks are mostly just about hanging out as they’ve done since they were at school. “It made me realise that [recording with Radiohead] was as much for the craic, as we say, than anything else,” Thom said to Pitchfork. “It’s an excuse to hang out.”
If being in Radiohead hasn’t always seemed like much fun, that’s because the bad times created the best songs. As many people said of Meeting People Is Easy, if they’d wanted to paint a picture of a band having a laugh on the beach, they could have done. But that would’ve been boring. Few other songwriters have taken on the subjects that Thom Yorke has made his own – dislocation, confusion and anxiety – and made them so powerful, beautiful and triumphant.
The stereotype of Thom as a gloom-sodden misery-guts can only really be held by somebody who’s never seen him perform. The energy that he’s always put into Radiohead’s live shows, the unabashed enjoyment of performing, is not what you’d expect from the miserabilist of legend. After Radiohead’s greatest moments, live or in the studio, he should have thought back to the seven-year-old who had such confidence and ambition. It might not have worked out quite as he expected, but Thom Yorke did become a rock star. He also did what few other rock stars have ever done. He changed what it meant to be a star, what it meant to be in a band and even what it meant to release records. After more than fifteen years, it’s perhaps too much to expect that he’ll do it once more but, then again, nobody should bet against him.
RADIOHEAD & THOM YORKE UK DISCOGRAPHY
RADIOHEAD
STUDIO ALBUMS
Pablo Honey: You / Creep / How Do You? / Stop Whispering / Thinking About You / Anyone Can Play Guitar / Ripcord / Vegetable / Prove Yourself / I Can’t / Lurgee / Blow Out
Parlophone 1993
The Bends: Planet Telex / The Bends / High and Dry / Fake Plastic Trees / Bones / Nice Dream / Just / My Iron Lung / Bulletproof… I Wish I Was / Black Star / Sulk / Street Spirit (fade out)
Parlophone 1995
OK Computer: 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
Parlophone 1997
Kid A: Everything In Its Right Place / Kid A / The National Anthem / How to Disappear Completely / Treefingers / Optimistic / In Limbo / Idioteque / Morning Bell / Motion Picture Soundtrack
Parlophone 2000
Amnesiac: Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box / Pyramid Song / Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors / You and Whose Army? / I Might Be Wrong / Knives Out / Amnesiac/Morning Bell / Dollars and Cents / Hunting Bears / Like Spinning Plates /
Life in a Glass House
Parlophone 2001
Hail To The Thief: 2+2=5 / Sit Down, Stand Up / Sail To The Moon / Backdrifts / Go To Sleep / Where I End And You Begin / We Suck Young Blood / The Gloaming / There There / I Will / A Punch-Up At The Wedding / Myxomatosis / Scatterbrain / A Wolf At The Door
Parlophone 2003
In Rainbows: 15 Step / Bodysnatchers / Nude / Weird Fishes/Arpeggi / All I Need / Faust Arp / Reckoner / House Of Cards / Jigsaw Falling Into Place / Videotape
Self-released 2007 / XL 2008
COMPILATION ALBUMS
I Might Be Wrong - Live Recordings: The National Anthem (live from Vaison la Romaine 05/28/01) / I Might Be Wrong (live from Oxford 07/07/01) / Morning Bell (live from Oxford 07/07/01) / Like Spinning Plates (live from Cleveland 08/08/01) / Idioteque (live from Oxford 07/07/01) / Everything In Its Right Place (live from Vaison la Romaine 05/28/01) / Dollars And Cents (live from Oxford 07/07/01 / True Love Waits (live from Los Angeles 08/20/01)
Parlophone 2001
The Best Of: Just / Paranoid Android / Karma Police / Creep / No Surprises / High And Dry / My Iron Lung / There There / Lucky / Fake Plastic Trees / Idioteque / 2 + 2 = 5 / The Bends / Pyramid Song / Street Spirit (Fade Out) / Everything In Its Right Place
Bonus disc: Airbag (Edit) / I Might Be Wrong / Go To Sleep / Let Down / Planet Telex / Exit Music (For A Film) / The National Anthem / Knives Out / Talk Show Host / You / Anyone Can Play Guitar / How to Disappear Completely / True Love Waits
Parlophone 2007
SINGLES
Creep: Creep / Lurgee / Inside My Head / Million Dollar Question
Parlophone 1992
Anyone Can Play Guitar: Anyone Can Play Guitar / Faithless The Wonder Boy / Coke Babies
Parlophone 1993
Pop is Dead: Pop Is Dead / Banana Co. (Acoustic) / Creep (Live) / Ripcord (Live)
Parlophone 1993
Creep: (reissue CD): Creep (Album Version) / Yes I Am / Blow Out (Remix) / Inside My Head (Live)
Parlophone 1993
Creep: (reissue 12”) Creep (Acoustic), You (Live), Vegetable (Live), Killer Cars, (Live)
Parlophone 1993
Stop Whispering: Stop Whispering (US version) / Creep (Acoustic) / Pop Is Dead / Inside My Head
Parlophone 1993
My Iron Lung: (CD1) My Iron Lung / The Trickster / Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong / Lozenge of Love
Parlophone: 1994
My Iron Lung: (CD2) My Iron Lung / Lewis (Mistreated) / Permanent Daylight / You Never Wash Up After Yourself
Parlophone 1994
High And Dry: (CD1) High and Dry / Planet Telex / Maquiladora / Planet Telex (remix)
High And Dry: (CD2) Planet Telex / High And Dry / Killer Cars / Planet Telex (remix)
(Parlophone 1995)
Fake Plastic Trees: (CD1) Fake Plastic Trees / India Rubber / How Can You Be Sure?
Fake Plastic Trees: (CD2) Fake Plastic Trees / Fake Plastic Trees (acoustic) / Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was (acoustic) / Street Spirit (Fade Out) (acoustic)
(Parlophone 1995)
Just: (CD1) Just / Planet Telex (Karma Sunra mix) / Killer Cars (Mogadon version)
Just: (CD2) Just / Bones (live at The Forum) / Planet Telex (live at The Forum) / Anyone Can Play Guitar (Live)
(Parlophone 1995)
Street Spirit (Fade Out): (CD1) Street Spirit (Fade Out) / Talk Show Host / Bishop’s Robes
Street Spirit (Fade Out): (CD2) Street Spirit (Fade Out) / Banana Co. / Molasses
(Parlophone 1996)
Paranoid Android: (CD1) Paranoid Android / Polyethylene Parts 1 & 2 / Pearly
Paranoid Android: (CD2) Paranoid Android / A Reminder / Melatonin
(Parlophone 1997)
Karma Police: (CD1) Karma Police / Meeting in the Aisle / Lull
Karma Police: (CD2) Karma Police / Climbing Up the Walls (Zero 7 Mix) / Climbing Up the Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)
(Parlophone 1997)
No Surprises: (CD1) No Surprises / Palo Alto / How I Made My Millions
No Surprises: (CD2) No Surprises / Airbag (Live in Berlin) / Lucky (Live in Florence)
(Parlophone 1998)
Pyramid Song: (CD1) Pyramid Song / The Amazing Sounds of Orgy / Trans-Atlantic Drawl
Pyramid Song: (CD2) Pyramid Song / Fast-track / Kinetic
(Parlophone 2001)
Knives Out: (CD1) Knives Out / Cuttooth / Life in a Glasshouse (Full length version)
Knives Out: (CD2) Knives Out / Worrywort / Fog
Knives Out: (CD3) Knives Out / Worrywort / Fog / Life in a Glasshouse (Full length version)
(Parlophone 2001)
There There: There There / Paperbag Writer / Where Bluebirds Fly
(Parlophone 2003)
Go To Sleep: (CD1) Go to Sleep / I Am Citizen Insane / Fog (Again) (Live)
Go To Sleep: (CD2) Go to Sleep / Gagging Order / I Am a Wicked Child
(Parlophone 2003)
2+2=5: (CD1) 2 + 2 = 5 / Remyxomatosis (Christian Vogel RMX) / There There (first demo)
2+2=5: (CD2) 2 + 2 = 5 / Skttrbrain (Four Tet remix) / I Will (Los Angeles version)
(Parlophone 2003)
Jigsaw Falling Into Place: Jigsaw Falling into Place / Down Is the New Up (Live From The Basement) / Last Flowers (Live From The Basement)
(XL 2008)
Nude: Nude / Down Is the New Up / 4 Minute Warning
(XL 2008)
House Of Cards: / Bodysnatchers: House Of Cards (radio edit) / Bodysnatchers
(XL 2008)
Reckoner: (digital release only)
(XL 2008)
EPS
Drill: Prove Yourself / Stupid Car / You / Thinking About You
Parlophone 1992
My Iron Lung EP (full-length, 8-track version originally only available in Australia): My Iron Lung / The Trickster / Lewis (mistreated) / Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong / Permanent Daylight / Lozenge Of Love / You Never Wash Up After Yourself / Creep (acoustic)
VIDEOS/DVDS
Live At The Astoria: You / Bones / Ripcord / Black Star / Creep / The Bends / My Iron Lung / Prove Yourself / Maquiladora / Vegetable / Fake Plastic Trees / Just / Stop Whispering / Anyone Can Play Guitar / Street Spirit (Fade Out) / Pop Is Dead / Blow Out
Parlophone 1995
7 Television Commercials: Paranoid Android / Street Spirit (Fade Out) / No Surprises / Just / High and Dry (US version) / Karma Police / Fake Plastic Trees
Parlophone 1998 (DVD 2003)
Meeting People Is Easy (Documentary)
Parlophone 1998
The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time (sketches, animation, live performances and interviews)
Self-released 2004
In Rainbows – From the Basement: (live performances): Weird Fishes/Arpeggi / 15 Step / Bodysnatchers / House of Cards / Bangers + Mash / Reckoner / Go Slowly / All I Need / Videotape / Nude
(Xurbia Xendless Limited 2008)
THOM YORKE
STUDIO ALBUMS
The Eraser: The Eraser / Analyse / The Clock / Black Swan / Skip Divided / Atoms For Peace / And It Rained All Night / Harrowdown Hill / Cymbal Rush
XL 2006
SINGLES
Harrowdown Hill: Harrowdown Hill / The Drunkk Machine / Harrowdown Hill (extended mix)
XL 2006
Analyse: (limited edition 12”) Analyse / A Rat’s Nest / Iluvya
XL 2006
Copyright
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