"Radiohead" Book

"They've worked at it, as they'd be the first to tell you, but there is no great melodrama to relate in their story," admits Ogg in the postscript to his unauthorised biography Radiohead--Standing On The Edge. It's easy to understand his reticence; ...Standing On The Edge enters the market pitched against the likes of Simon Price's Everything a staggering landmark biography of the Manic Street Preachers that comfortably redrew the boundaries that a modern rock tome should stretch to. And besides, Radiohead--oft derided as tea-sipping public-school mummies' boys--value their privacy, treating journalists with a surly manner that's as much to do with shyness as contempt.The first few chapters flounder, then, relying on the testimony of eyewitnesses, distant friends, and journalists to fill in the details of Radiohead's formative days trawling the fleapits of Oxford, just another going-nowhere indie band. ...Standing On The Edge picks up pace around the time of Radiohead's debut album, "Pablo Honey", where, stung by the harsh critical tongue-lashing of the British press, Radiohead decamped to America, confronted the press circus head on and stormed the American Billboard chart with "Creep". Ogg details how Thom Yorke's contempt towards the American music industry and his intense distrust of the British press are formative to Radiohead's evolution into a truly great band--culminating in the epic psychosis and clinical revulsion of their acknowledged masterpiece, "OK Computer". And believe it or not, somewhere along the way, we even discover that Thom Yorke has a sense of humour--albeit, a supremely dry one. "Some famous pop star told me to lighten up," explains Yorke. "And I felt really proud of myself. I have absolutely no intention of lightening up, because when I do, I really will turn into Jim Kerr." --Louis PattisonRead More