48 Fun Facts About Radiohead

In which Oxfordshire town did Radiohead form in 1985?

Abingdon: the five met at Abingdon School, and the youngest, Jonny, joined last on harmonica and keyboards before becoming lead guitarist.

Which Radiohead song's video shows Thom Yorke miming inside a helmet that slowly fills with water?

No Surprises was shot as one close-up, and the crew sped up part of the song so Yorke would spend less time holding his breath underwater.

What was Radiohead's debut single, released in 1992?

Creep's crunching guitar blasts before each chorus came from Jonny, who found the song too quiet and wimpy and hit his guitar as hard as he could.

What was the title of Radiohead's 1993 debut album?

Pablo Honey took its title from a Jerky Boys prank call in which a caller pleads, 'Pablo, honey, please come to Florida!'

Which 1997 Radiohead album is known for its themes of modern alienation?

OK Computer includes 'Lucky', which the band recorded in a single day in 1995 for a charity album for children in Bosnia.

Which 2007 album did Radiohead release as a pay-what-you-want download?

In Rainbows let fans pay whatever they liked, even nothing, yet its retail release still reached number one in both the UK and the US.

Which producer has worked on every Radiohead album since the mid-1990s?

Nigel Godrich was an engineer on The Bends when a B-side he recorded, 'Black Star', was promoted onto the album.

Radiohead took their name from a song by which band?

Talking Heads supplied the name: when their label asked for a new one, the band chose 'Radio Head', a track from the 1986 album True Stories.

Which surname is shared by two brothers in Radiohead?

Greenwood: bassist Colin's younger brother Jonny quit his course at Oxford Brookes University when the band signed their record deal.

Who is Radiohead's drummer?

Philip Selway was brought in to replace the drum machine the band had been playing with at the start.

Which rock star inducted Radiohead into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019?

David Byrne gave the induction speech, but Yorke and Jonny weren't interested, so only Ed O'Brien and the drummer went to accept.

Which 2000 Radiohead album marked a dramatic turn toward electronic music?

Kid A came out the year Radiohead toured Europe in a custom-built tent free of corporate logos, playing mostly new songs.

What is the name of the band Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny launched in 2021?

The Smile, Jonny said, was a way to work with Yorke during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when they just wanted to finish some songs together.

Jonny scored There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread for which director?

Phantom Thread earned him an Oscar nomination; One Battle After Another in 2025 was their sixth film together.

Radiohead wrote 'Exit Music (For a Film)' for the closing credits of which Baz Luhrmann film?

Romeo + Juliet: Baz Luhrmann sent Radiohead a tape of the film's final scenes, and they wrote this song to play as it ends.

Which artist has designed Radiohead's album covers since 1994?

Yorke met him at the University of Exeter; the pair exhibited their artwork at the Ashmolean Museum in 2025.

What was Radiohead called before they signed their record deal?

On a Friday was named after the band's school rehearsal day, but their label asked for a new name when it signed them.

Which 1972 song, later a Hollies hit, earned its writers a credit on Radiohead's debut single?

Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood accepted only a small share because the band were honest about the borrowing.

Why did BBC Radio 1 keep Radiohead's debut single off its playlists in 1992?

Too depressing, Radio 1 decided, but after the song caught on abroad, its 1993 reissue reached number seven in the UK.

In which country did a radio DJ turn Radiohead's debut single into a hit before it broke in America?

Israel: DJ Yoav Kutner made the song a radio hit there, and Radiohead soon booked shows in Israel to build on its success.

Which band did Radiohead support on tour in 1995, one of their formative influences?

Michael Stipe's public enthusiasm helped keep them in the spotlight outside the UK.

The title of Radiohead's third album comes from a phrase in which radio series?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: the band listened to it on their tour bus, and Yorke noted down a line spoken by Zaphod Beeblebrox.

'Fitter Happier' is recited by 'Fred', a synthesised voice from which make of machine?

Yorke wrote the words in ten minutes and found it liberating to hand them to a neutral-sounding voice.

Radiohead's fourth album leaked online before its release on which file-sharing network?

Napster spread the leak, yet the album still went to number one in the US.

Which label released the retail version of Radiohead's seventh album in the UK?

XL Recordings put out the CD after the band's download release, and in April 2016 it also took over Radiohead's back catalogue.

Which film featured the drummer and Jonny as members of the wizard band the Weird Sisters?

Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fronted the fictional band in the 2005 film.

What was the title of Thom Yorke's 2006 debut solo album?

The Eraser was made, Yorke insisted, with the band's blessing, and he stressed that Radiohead were not splitting up.

In which city did a stage collapse kill Radiohead's drum technician before a 2012 show?

Toronto: after the collapse the show was cancelled, and Radiohead's European tour dates were postponed.

What was the name of the band Yorke formed in 2009 with his producer and the bassist Flea?

Atoms for Peace was formed to play Yorke's first solo album live, and later made its own album, Amok, in 2013.

Which singer beat Radiohead's Amnesiac to the 2001 Mercury Prize?

PJ Harvey won on 11 September 2001 while touring in Washington, D.C., and later said winning the prize that day didn't have much importance.

Which veteran Abbey Road producer worked on The Bends?

His young engineer on the sessions went on to produce every Radiohead album since.

Much of Radiohead's third album was recorded in which historic mansion near Bath?

St. Catherine's Court gave the band room to experiment: they sang one song on a stone staircase for its echo and recorded another in the ballroom at 3 a.m.

Radiohead wrote a theme song that the producers turned down for which James Bond film?

Spectre's producers chose Sam Smith's 'Writing's on the Wall' instead, so Radiohead gave their song away as a free download on Christmas Day 2015.

Which pop star called Radiohead's pay-what-you-want album release 'arrogant'?

Lily Allen argued that letting fans pay nothing for music sent the wrong signal to young bands.

Which 2008 single became Radiohead's first US top 40 hit since their debut single?

Nude's iTunes release came with separate stems for a fan remix contest, and those sales helped push the single into the top 40.

Which ensemble performed the strings and choral vocals on A Moon Shaped Pool?

The London Contemporary Orchestra played on the album that finally gave 'True Love Waits' a studio release, after the band had tried for years to record it.

What was the title of Ed O'Brien's 2020 debut solo album?

Earth grew from songs Ed O'Brien found didn't fit Radiohead, shaped by his time living in Brazil and going to Carnival.

What was the name of Radiohead's rehearsal studio near Didcot?

Canned Applause was too close to the members' homes and lacked dining and bathroom facilities, so the band moved the sessions to a mansion.

What did Radiohead call the short videos made to promote their fourth album instead of singles?

No singles were released, though promos of 'Optimistic' and 'Idioteque' got radio play.

Radiohead's fourth album was the first US number one by a UK act since which group?

The Prodigy had last done it with The Fat of the Land in July 1997, and Radiohead matched them without releasing a single or a video.

Which singer did Colin tour with between 2022 and 2024?

He also played on the 2024 album Wild God and published a book of his Radiohead photographs.

What was the title of the 2010 debut solo album by Radiohead's drummer?

Familial put the drummer out front, singing and playing acoustic guitar himself.

Thom Yorke dueted with which singer on 'I've Seen It All', nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Björk sang it with actor Peter Stormare in the film Dancer in the Dark, so Yorke's version is only on the soundtrack album.

Thom Yorke wrote his first feature film score for Luca Guadagnino's remake of which horror film?

Suspiria's director needed months of requests to win him over, because Yorke initially turned the job down.

Which singer said Radiohead wanted a songwriting credit on her 2017 song 'Get Free'?

Lana Del Rey said she offered Radiohead 40 percent of the song's royalties, and that they asked for 100 percent.

Which jazz trumpeter's group features on Amnesiac's 'Life in a Glasshouse'?

Humphrey Lyttelton's band blew for seven hours after Jonny wrote asking for help with a track the band were stuck on.

Radiohead's Jonny earned an Oscar nomination for scoring which Jane Campion film?

The Power of the Dog's score has Jonny playing a cello like a banjo, and it earned him his second Oscar nomination.

Radiohead's song '2 + 2 = 5' takes its title from a slogan in which novel?

Nineteen Eighty-Four's Party tortures Winston Smith until he accepts that reality is whatever it says, even that two plus two makes five.