Radiohead

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are tired of the first record. They had toured far longer than they wanted because of the success of one song, and had been trying to record the second album for about two years, which they call frustrating for them and, they suspect, for their audience too.

The American breakthrough meant little to them. MTV did not exist in Britain, so the channel's attention felt surreal rather than significant. What made them nervous was playing Reading a few months later, or being on Radio 1, because those were what they had grown up with since they were eight or nine. Neither thinks they understood what was happening in America at all, and Greenwood suggests that was probably for the best.

They would rather play almost anywhere else, they say, and America is not the best country in the world for music as a business.

They had expected the first album to last one English tour, and hope to be better prepared for this one to last a while.