Radiohead

Ever outsiders, the five Oxford school mates – 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) – have remained experimental and groundbreaking, while inadvertently becoming one of the biggest and most important bands of their generation. Initially inspired by REM and The Pixies, Radiohead found fame when single "Creep" from debut album Pablo Honey (1993) became a huge hit on US college radio. They overcame potential one-hit-wonder oblivion through the lush, maudlin angst of "My Iron Lung," "High and Dry" and "Fake Plastic Trees," which helped establish the fragile second album The Bends (1995) album as a classic. Full of post-rock alienation and Pink Floyd-style otherworldliness, Number 1 album OK Computer (1997) took them to another plane while avant-garde fourth album Kid A (2000) initially baffled fans and critics, but is now an acknowledged masterpiece; along with Amnesiac (2001) and the politically charged Hail to the Thief (2003). Inviting fans to pay what they wanted to download 2007 album In Rainbows caused massive controversy but it was another work of art. Every subsequent turn they took after that proved even more noteworthy than the previous one, from 2011's Grammy-nominated The King of Limbs to 2016's Mercury-nominated A Moon Shaped Pool. Radiohead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 and in November 2021, they released Kid A Mnesia, an anniversary reissue of Kid A and Amnesiac made up of previously unreleased material. The album charted in the top 10 in various countries.

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