Presenting MOJO’s finest writing on Radiohead in a single deluxe volume, MOJO The Collectors’ Series: Radiohead Fade Out 1985-2024 in on sale now. Order your copy HERE!
It was 30 years ago that an unfashionable guitar group from Oxford suddenly found themselves international stars on the strength of an extraordinary song called Creep, which on its initial release in 1992 had been largely ignored in their native Britain. Touring relentlessly to promote the single, Radiohead feared they would become one-hit wonders; instead, Creep would kickstart a stellar career that would see them transform into revered sonic visionaries, with the albums OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows redefining how experimental rock music could be made.
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READ MORE: Radiohead’s Best Albums Ranked
To salute their genius, MOJO has brought together its extensive archive of in-depth Radiohead features and exclusive interviews in a deluxe bookazine. Beginning with an entertaining account of their formative years at Abingdon School as On A Friday and their signing to Parlophone in 1991 on the condition they changed their name, we chart the turbulent journey to The Bends and OK Computer – timeless albums that revealed an uncompromising, doggedly original approach to their art, as well as Thom Yorke’s uncommon gifts as a songwriter and vocalist.
Having in the 1990s redrawn the blueprint of what rock music could achieve, Radiohead’s next pair of albums, Kid A and Amnesiac (released in 2000 and 2001), all but ditched guitars in favour of ambient electronic sounds, confounding many critics and fans. Yet today, they are regarded as landmark recordings, setting a course for the experimental mix of electronica and rock that followed, most successfully on 2007’s In Rainbows and their last album to date, A Moon Shaped Pool in 2016. But as our stories show, life in Radiohead was never easy and almost every release was attended by backstage tensions and dramas that threatened to sink the group.
Illustrated with dozens of rare and iconic photographs, this sumptuous 132-page special tells the group’s complete story and is a must-have for all Radiohead fans and music connoisseurs.
