Radiohead

Radiohead was arguably one of the most innovative and provocative bands during the 1990s and the 2000s. Radiohead was the biggest art-rock act since Pink Floyd and attracted the label of "complaint rock". Their albums inspired many other bands however, no one could top Radiohead's talen
Thom Yorke, lead singer was born in 1968 and formed his first bad at the age of 10. He had an abnormality in one of his eyes which made him a victim for childhood bullies and he often got into fights. This is reflected in Yorke's angsty, antisocial, and confrontational lyrics.

In 1985, Thom Yorke met his future bandmates at the Abingdon School. Thom said he recruited Ed O'Brien, the guitarist, because he thought he looked like Morrissey. Additionally, he recruited Colin Greenwood because he "dressed weird and went to lots of parties". Drummer Phil Selway and Greenwood's younger brother Jonny soon joined. Radiohead's first EP Drill was released in 1992 and their first album in 1993 titled Pablo Honey that featured their smash hit "Creep".

In 1995 they released The Bends which was a mix of sonic guitar and striking ballads and was immediately critically applauded. Their themes included a haunted landscape with sickness, consumerism, jealousy, and longing. It was a smash hit in both the U.K and the U.S. Additional themes that they explored in their album OK Computer was paranoia, minutiae of suburban life, alien abduction, car and plane crashes, and fear of the computer age. Their next album Kid A, added technology and rebuilt it all as an actual android touching on the digital age. Radiohead embraced the Internet however, as a promotional tool.

In 2002 Radiohead premiered 12 songs onstage while on Tour in the United States. It was a reflection of the state of affairs in the post 9/11 America as well as the War on Terror. In the United States, under George W. Bush America was marching into Iraq and many felt the paranoia of Radiohead's aforementioned albums.

Radiohead was extremely influential in the music scene in the 90s to the 2000s. They helped popularize the blend of rock and electronic music which was very progressive during that time. Additionally, they helped usher in the era of independent artists because their alum In Rainbows that they released without a major label was a success. Many artists today like Chance the Rapper and older bands like Pearl Ham followed in Radiohead's footsteps and created their own companies to hand release. Radiohead challenged the "mainstream" sound of music by combining rock n' roll with many other elements and genres. Radiohead inspired many other bands to use minimalist electronic music combined with rock such as Muse, Coldplay, Alt-J, The xx and more.