Radiohead's press office issues a new biography and discography
The band's British publicists set down their official version of Radiohead's story, from the Drill EP to the single due later this month.
News archive
1996
Radiohead in 1996, written up from the press of the day.
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january
Raw gets the stories behind Radiohead's sleeves and videos
A long career feature in the rock magazine hands its sidebars to the people who made the band's pictures, from the album cover to four promo videos.
february
Radiohead take “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” to number five
The closing track of The Bends comes with a Jonathan Glazer video shot overnight on a camera made for slow-motion science.
Radiohead lose three Brit Awards to Oasis
The Bends, the “Just” video and the band themselves all come away with nothing, and Blur fare no better.
Ed O'Brien wants no September deadline for the next Radiohead album
The fan magazine Radiohead World Service gives its January to March 1996 issue to a long talk with O'Brien and a running quarrel with Radio 1.
march
Radiohead skip South by Southwest for a secret show at the Troubadour
With the music business away in Austin, a Los Angeles club full of ordinary fans gets an early hearing of songs meant for the next album.
Colin Greenwood says “Planet Telex” opens on Ultravox's “Vienna” piano
Ahead of Radiohead's return to Portland, Colin tells a local weekly how The Bends was made, and what the band play at soundcheck.
Thom Yorke and two of the Posies send up “Wonderwall” on CBC
Between Radiohead's shows in Calgary and Vancouver, Yorke plays a solo radio set, with a B-side and a Pablo Honey song among the four.
Radiohead open their North American tour in an Edmonton lounge
The band usually reach Canada worn out at the end of a tour, so this time they began there, in rooms far smaller than R.E.M.'s arenas.
Radiohead go back to Denver ready to play “Creep” on request
Six months after their equipment was stolen in the city, the band return to the Ogden Theatre to an audience that knows more than one song.
april
Thom Yorke turns “Creep” on the crowd at a sold-out Wiltern
Los Angeles has heard three songs meant for Radiohead's next album, and their singer seems to care more for them than for his hit.
Radiohead play “Lift” to a sold-out Metro in Chicago
A critic who wanted the three guitars turned down all night found the best of the show in a song nobody can buy yet.
![A still from the video: Radiohead - Electioneering 1-3 (Toronto) [live - 6 April 1996]](/assets/video/XgOzQ48noro.jpg)
Radiohead headline a sold-out Varsity Arena in Toronto
Jonny Greenwood, interviewed before the show by a student paper, says he plays as if to one imaginary listener and never for the crowd.
Thom Yorke plays a new song, “Motion Picture Soundtrack”, on WHFS
Alone with an acoustic guitar on the Maryland station, Yorke tries out a song he would like to see on Radiohead's next album.
Radiohead cover Carly Simon at a sold-out Roseland
Neil Strauss of the New York Times finds a band who have left their one hit behind them.
Radiohead's The Bends goes gold in America
Radiohead's second album, slow to catch on in the United States, has made its highest chart place yet and gone gold in the same month.
may
Radiohead will produce their third album themselves
All five members write in the spring newsletter, with the summer's dates and news of a studio going up near home.
Radiohead play “Lift” and “Electioneering” at a rain-soaked Pinkpop
Straight from Paris, the band play the last day of a wet Dutch festival that went out live on national television.
july
NME reviews Radiohead's secret hometown show at the Zodiac
The paper's verdict is that the unreleased songs were the best of the night, with “Lift” at the top of the pile.
Radiohead warm up for Galway with a sold-out night at Dublin's Olympia
The last time they played Dublin they were one more British band with a hit; this time the Irish Times heard songs strong enough to need no star.
Radiohead close Galway's Big Day Out after a day of rain
The Galway Arts Festival's last big show ran from lunchtime to Radiohead's closing set, through a thunderstorm and out the other side.
august
Radiohead play three unreleased songs at Jones Beach
Supporting Alanis Morissette in America's summer amphitheatres, the band are giving a third of a short set to songs nobody can buy yet.
Radiohead bat away a “Creep” rumour in the Baltimore Sun
On the night they open for Alanis Morissette at Merriweather Post Pavilion, three of the band explain why The Bends is still finding listeners.
Radiohead turned down headlining Reading and Phoenix, Yorke tells W.A.S.T.E.
The letters in the band's twelfth newsletter come from the road in America, where new songs are being worked up for the studio.
september
Radiohead headline T in the Park and play “Creep” to head off a riot
The band gave a wet Scottish crowd three songs that are on no record yet.
october
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood try four new songs at a Dazed & Confused party
A London magazine party got an early hearing of new Radiohead songs, and much of it talked through them.
Radiohead's “Exit Music” closes Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet
The soundtrack album out today carries a different Radiohead song, not the one they wrote for the film.
november
Radiohead's third album pencilled in for spring, says Chris Hufford
The magazine's Radiohead special comes with a price guide, and the most it gives for any record is £30, for the earliest tapes and the Drill CD.