Song · Pablo Honey era (1992–93)
Blow Out
The last song on Pablo Honey is one of the two that Phil Witmer, in Vice, heard pointing to the band Radiohead turned into.
Pablo Honeyalbum- 1993released
- 4:40length
1993
the closer on the first record
It sounds little like the eleven songs before it. Phil Selway's hi-hats tick like a jazz drummer's under clean, raked chords, and the opening put Gary Walker at Guitar.com in mind of Jeff Buckley. Then the guitars take over, and the last stretch goes to the kind of shoegaze noise that Annie Zaleski, in Salon, lined up with Sonic Youth. The 2003 version of this site called it Jonny Greenwood's favourite song on the album, and heard Thom Yorke's low opinion of himself in the words.
For the album's 25th anniversary Phil Witmer, in Vice, picked this and “You”, the songs at either end of the record, as the two that point forward. Mark Kemp, reviewing the 2009 reissue for Paste, picked out the end of “Blow Out” as an early sign of the guitar playing Greenwood would be known for.
1993–2007
second looks and other versions
A remix went on the Japanese CD of “Creep”. In February 2007 Q put it with “Lurgee” among twenty lesser-known Radiohead songs in its “500 Greatest Lost Tracks”, and Lo-Freq had already covered it for Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads, a 2006 album of other people's versions. In 2004 Grant Huling named his course at Oberlin College's Experimental College after it: “Blow Out: The Radiohead Exco”.
1992–97
the closing song
The archive first has it at The Venue in New Cross, London, on 27 March 1992, and it went on to close 55 of its 111 nights. It closed the filmed show at the London Astoria on 27 May 1994.
On Saturday 23 March 1996 Yorke went into the CBC studio in Vancouver alone with an acoustic guitar, the day Radiohead played the Rage there. After “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and “Killer Cars”, Ken Stringfellow of the Posies joined him for a send-up of Oasis's “Wonderwall”, and Stringfellow and Jon Auer, also of the Posies, backed him on this, making their parts up as they went.
2008–18
two returns
After the E-Werk in Cologne on 2 July 1997 it was gone for 4,115 days, and came back at the Tokyo International Forum on 7 October 2008 and again the next night. Then another decade passed, until the United Center in Chicago on 6 July 2018, the first night of that summer's North American tour, where it started the second encore.
on stage
Live at United Center Chicago.· lordazuretwentyfivewatch on youtube →
the record(1)
on stage(8)
Live history
| Times played | 111 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 27 March 1992 · London |
| Last played | Friday 6 July 2018 · Chicago |
| Closed the night | 55 times |
| Longest absence | 11 years · back on Tuesday 7 October 2008 · Tokyo |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
Tabs (1)
sources10
- Phil Witmer, “The first song on Radiohead's debut album predicted their future greatness”, Vice, 22 February 2018, for the two songs that point forward.
- Annie Zaleski, “Pablo Honey: Beyond ‘Creep’”, Salon, 23 February 2018, for the drumming and the Sonic Youth ending.
- Gary Walker, “The Genius Of… Pablo Honey by Radiohead”, Guitar.com, 15 February 2023, for Selway's hi-hats.
- Mark Kemp, “Radiohead: Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer (reissues)”, Paste, 27 March 2009, for the end of the song.
- The 2003 treefingers.com lyric page for “Blow Out”, for Greenwood's favourite and the words.
- “The 500 Greatest Lost Tracks”, Q, February 2007, via Wikipedia, “Pablo Honey”.
- Wikipedia, “Creep (Radiohead song)”, for the Japanese remix; Wikipedia, “Live at the Astoria”, for the 1994 running order.
- Drowned In Sound, “No surprises? Radiohead get covered…”, 2006, for the Lo-Freq cover.
- Internet Archive, “Thom Yorke Live – 1996-03-22 CBC Real Time Studio, Vancouver”, for the Posies session.
- Peter Helman, Stereogum, 7 July 2018, for the Chicago return.