A hip-hop documentary sets Radiohead rethinking how they record

A television history of hip hop has Radiohead wondering whether they could make records the way Public Enemy did, Ed O'Brien writes in his diary for the week to 2 October 1999. The band watched a programme on what he calls the classic years, 1988 to 1992, the time of Run DMC, Public Enemy and NWA, whose records he ranks with the greatest ever made.

One of the people interviewed was Hank Shocklee, who produced Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. He described everyone setting up samplers and drum machines in one room and playing together. Most of it was a mess, but the strong moments were cut up to build the basic track. The effect of hearing this was like “well why the fuck can’t we do this” – it could be so exciting.¹

Much as they would like to, they will not be making a hip-hop record. What draws O'Brien is another way of working. Rehearsing every part to a fine finish and then capturing the best take suits a live band, he argues, but for many of these songs it is no longer enough, and without a change he fears the band will become dull.

The diary is changing too. This week's entry is not a day-by-day journal. Rereading the earlier ones, he found they made him look like an unofficial spokesman for the band, a part he does not want; he puts that partly down to Select printing some of the diary. He keeps writing it to show something of how a record gets made, and because once the patterns are written down, a bad day is less discouraging.