RADIOHEAD

RADIOHEAD

ABOUT RADIOHEAD...

Origin Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England

Genres

Art rock alternative rock electronica experimental rock

Years active 1985–present ( 32 years )

Labels

XL Ticker Tape Ltd. Hostess TBD Parlophone Capitol

Associated acts

Atoms for Peace 7 Worlds Collide

Website radiohead.com

Members

Thom Yorke

Jonny Greenwood

Colin Greenwood

Ed O'Brien

Philip Selway

History

1985–1992: Formation and first years

Abingdon School, where the band formed

The members of Radiohead met while attending Abingdon School, an independent school for boys in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.In 1985, they formed On a Friday, the name referring to the band's usual rehearsal day in the school's music room. Jonny was the last to join, first on harmonica and then keyboards, but soon became the lead guitarist; he had previously been in another band, Illiterate Hands, with musician Nigel Powell and Yorke's brother Andy Yorke. According to Colin, the band members picked their respective instruments because they wanted to play music together, rather than through an interest in the particular instrument: "It was more of a collective angle, and if you could contribute by having someone else play your instrument, then that was really cool."At one point, On a Friday featured a saxophone section.

The band disliked the school's strict atmosphere—the headmaster once charged the band for using a rehearsal room on a Sunday—and found solace in the school's music department. They credited their music teacher for introducing them to jazz, film scores, postwar avant-garde music, and 20th-century classical music. Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley had an active independent music scene in the late 1980s, but it centred on shoegazing bands such as Ride and Slowdive.

Although all but Jonny had left Abingdon by 1987 to attend university, On a Friday continued to rehearse on weekends and holidays. At the University of Exeter, Yorke played with the band Headless Chickens, performing songs including future Radiohead material,and met artist Stanley Donwood, who would later create artwork for the band.In 1991, On a Friday regrouped, sharing a house on the corner of Magdalen Road and Ridgefield Road, Oxford.

As On a Friday continued to perform in Oxford, including more performances at the Jericho Tavern, record labels and producers became interested. Chris Hufford, Slowdive's producer and co-owner of Oxford's Courtyard Studios, attended an early On a Friday concert at the Jericho Tavern. Impressed, he and his partner Bryce Edge produced a demo tape and became On a Friday's managers;they remain Radiohead's managers today.In late 1991, after a chance meeting between Colin and EMI A&R representative Keith Wozencroft at Our Price, the record shop where Colin worked, On a Friday band signed a six-album recording contract with EMI. At the label's request, the band changed their name; "Radiohead" was taken from the song "Radio Head" on the Talking Heads album True Stories (1986).

A MOON SHAPED POOL (ALBUM)

A Moon Shaped Pool is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released digitally on 8 May 2016.

Radiohead recorded A Moon Shaped Pool in southern France with longtime producer Nigel Godrich. It includes several songs written some years earlier; "True Love Waits" dates to at least 1995, "Burn the Witch" to 2000 and "Present Tense" to 2008. The album features strings and choral vocals arranged by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. "Ful Stop" features additional drumming from Clive Deamer, who performed with Radiohead on their 2012 King of Limbs tour. The artwork was created by singer Thom Yorke with longtime Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood, who created abstract works by leaving the canvases outside and allowing the weather to affect the paint.

Radiohead promoted A Moon Shaped Pool a week before its release with the singles "Burn the Witch" and "Daydreaming", accompanied by music videos. The band also commissioned a series of video vignettes set to short clips from the album. A world tour began in May 2016 and resumed in March 2017, with headline performances at festivals including Glastonbury and Coachella.

A Moon Shaped Pool was acclaimed by critics and appeared in many publications' lists of the year's best albums. It was the fifth Radiohead album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize, and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song (for "Burn the Witch") at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It topped the charts in several countries, becoming Radiohead's sixth number-one album in the UK and a bestseller on vinyl. It was certified gold in the UK on 24 June 2016.

BURN THE WITCH

Released on May 3rd 2016.

"Burn the Witch" was accompanied by a stop-motion animated music video that pays homage to the 1960s British children's television programme Camberwick Green and the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man. Some critics interpreted the lyrics and video as a warning against groupthink and authoritarianism. The song received positive reviews and was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

The phrase "burn the witch" appears in the Hail to the Thief album artwork. 

The Music Video

The "Burn the Witch" music video was directed by Chris Hopewell, who previously directed the animated video for Radiohead's 2003 single "There There". It uses stop-motion animation in the style of the Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley series of 1960s English children's television programmes (also known as the Trumpton Trilogy). The video was conceived and finished in 14 days and released on YouTube one week later on 3 May 2016. According to the son-in-law of Trumpton creator Gordon Murray, the family was not asked permission to use the style for the video and saw it as a "tarnishing of the brand."

The video homages the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man and depicts mob rule in a rural community.An inspector is greeted by a town mayor and invited to see a series of unsettling sights, culminating in the unveiling of a wicker man. The mayor urges the inspector to climb into the wicker man, whereupon he is locked inside as a human sacrifice and the wicker man is set on fire. As the flames gather, the townspeople turn their backs and wave goodbye to the camera. After the song ends, the inspector escapes among the trees.

CHRIS HOPEWELL - THE VIDEO DIRECTOR

Bristol designer/director Chris Hopewell returned to directing with the spooky stop-motion folktale with a terrible twist for Radiohead’s “Burn the Witch,” recalling the style of vintage UK kid’s shows like The Trumptonshire Trilogy.

Hopewell (who directed the ambitious stop-motion dream “There There” for Radiohead back in 2003), and his Bristol crew animated “Burn the Witch” over 14 days at his Jacknife studio.

THE WICKERMAN (1973)

The 1973 version of The Wicker Man, with Christopher Lee, told the story of a devout Christian detective going to an island to investigate a disappearance. There, he finds a mad community of pagans indoctrinated by Lee’s laird, whose fruit farm’s success depends on pagan rituals, or so they believe. Among rituals like those you can see below, they also have a sacrificial effigy that houses a sacrifice – here and in the film, that’s the inspector. 

This video is less explicit than the film, with the inspector climbing into the cage of his own accord, not being dragged into it, and at the end of the sequence he escapes. In the film, he is burnt to a crisp in front f the setting sun.

The Trumptonshire Trilogy (1966 - 1969)

Trumpton is a stop-motion children's television series from the producers of Camberwick Green. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967, it was the second series in the Trumptonshire trilogy, which comprised Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley.

My View of Radiohead

Personally, I think that Radiohead are a very individual band who are represented as very different and perhaps strange. Their music genres varies from art rock, electronica, experimental rock, and alternative rock, expressing a unique style of rock music. Through their music videos, and song titles, we can see how the band are irregular to the style of music that we have in the UK charts today. Song titles such as ' burn the witch ', ' fake plastic trees ' and ' paranoid android '  all suggest their distinctive style of rock that they sing.