Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments), Colin Greenwood (bass), Phil Selway (drums, percussion) and Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals). Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead's popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their following albums, The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001), Hail to the Thief (2003), Rainbows (2007) and The King of Limbs (2011).

Links to Peel

Although Peel played a couple of their initial singles in the early 1990s, he did not appear to find their subsequent albums of interest. However, he did start playing some of their material in 2000 and 2001 when their music took a more experimental direction, and he did have a copy of their 1997 release "Ok Computer" in his Record Collection: R. This is what he said about Radiohead on 19 September 2000:

"Although I've got nothing against Radiohead, I've never been that keen on the stuff that they've done, and the more people tell me that they're the most important band on Earth, the less inclined I am to believe that. So, when the new LP came out, 'Kid A', I did listen to it, but I didn't initially pay a great deal of attention to it. As it sort of drivelled on at home, I thought, "Actually, if I didn't know it was Radiohead, if it was a kind of demo or something like that, I'd be playing this on the radio".

On the programme of 28 May 2003, Peel describes having heard a live session by the band on the Jo Whiley show that afternoon, noting that he felt there was a juxtaposition between their "lugubrious" music and the sunny day (complete with ice cream van in the background) on which it was being performed.

Festive Fifty Entries

1993 Festive Fifty: Creep #31 (JP: 'At number 31, a record I was rather surprised to see there. I mean, nothing wrong with it at all, but I think it's the only record in the Festive Fifty that I didn't actually play on these programmes during the year.')
2000 Festive Fifty: Kid A #25
2000 Festive Fifty: Idiotique #48
2001 Festive Fifty: Pyramid Song #40
2003 Festive Fifty: There There #37
2007 Festive Fifty: All I Need #42
2016 Festive Fifty: Burn The Witch #28
2016 Festive Fifty: Daydreaming #15

Sessions

None

Other Shows Played

The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and may be incomplete. Please add further details if known.

1992

08 May 1992: Prove Yourself (Drill EP)

1993

15 January 1993: Anyone Can Play Guitar (EP)
31 January 1993 (BFBS): Anyone Can Play Guitar (EP)
25 December 1993: 'Creep (Edit) (CDS)' (Capitol) 1993 Festive Fifty #31

1996

15 July 1996: Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Non-Peel session) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)

2000

19 September 2000: In Limbo (CD - Kid A) (JP: 'This is going to cause me a bit of a dilemma, because when bands are extraordinarily popular and I don't fully understand why that it is, I always suspect that there's a kind of sinister cartel of interests that are promoting them: I'm an avid conspiracy theorist. Although I've got nothing against Radiohead, I've never been that keen on the stuff that they've done, and the more people tell me that they're the most important band on Earth, the less inclined I am to believe that. So, when the new LP came out, 'Kid A', I did listen to it, but I didn't initially pay a great deal of attention to it. As it sort of drivelled on at home, I thought, "Actually, if I didn't know it was Radiohead, if it was a kind of demo or something like that, I'd be playing this on the radio." So, because I like to be consistent, I'm playing it on the radio.')
21 September 2000: Kid A (CD - Kid A)
27 September 2000: Treefingers (CD - Kid A)
26 December 2000: Idioteque (LP-Kid A) Parlophone 2000 Festive Fifty #48
27 December 2000: Kid A (CD-Kid A) Parlophone 2000 Festive Fifty #25

2001

14 June 2001: Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box (CD - Amnesiac)
19 June 2001: I Might Be Wrong (CD - Amnesiac)
26 June 2001: Life In A Glass House (CD - Amnesiac)
25 December 2001: Pyramid Song (CD-Amnesiac) Parlophone 2001 Festive Fifty #40

2003

24 December 2003: There There (CD-Hail To The Thief) Parlophone 2003 Festive Fifty #37 (JP: 'Another track which I don't remember playing, in fact I didn't play it on the radio...Excellent stuff, and I can understand why you voted for that too. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I'd not even heard the LP until I went out and bought myself a copy a couple of weeks ago.')

2004

20 October 2004: Pyramid Song (CD - Amnesiac)

External Links

FANDOM