I'm always on the look out for utterly trivial bits of knowledge, so why not ask r/radiohead! I'll start:
You know the sequence of numbers on the back of OK Computer? It's "18576397" - that's the moment the album was completed. 6.57pm, 6th of March, 1997. Fully mastered, approved by the band, it was deemed completed.
So what's yours?
Posted Oct 13, 2011, 2:20 PM UTC
The antique, 19th-century harmonium the band used for the recording of "Motion Picture Soundtrack" was deemed too bulky to bring along for the Kid A tour in 2000, but they made room for it on the Amnesiac tour in 2001, so the song makes occasional appearances in some setlists from that tour.
During one of the last shows, a homecoming at the band's hometown of Oxford, England (at the venue South Park and on July 7, 2001; the show at which most of the live album I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings was recorded), the band started playing this song for the final encore, and the instrument broke.
Thom shouted, "Booger!" and remarked "Es ist kaputt, ja?" (Ger., "It is broken, yes?") and the band instead started playing "Creep" for the first time since 1998. "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has not been played since.
Probably "bugger', not "Booger", no?
BUGGA
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Maybe, but it really sounds like "booger."
This is how british people say things. They are fooked.
An interesting fact about that interesting fact: some people (and I have no idea what they're basing it on) think that the harmonium breakdown was staged.
Why, so they could retire the song? If the band wanted to stop playing a song, they'd just stop. Like with "High and Dry" and half the other material on The Bends.
I don't know, really. My best guess would be that they think the band wanted an excuse to play Creep, but I personally think it's a ridiculous conspiracy theory for them to believe.
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Agreed. I love the way the crowd just explode. Never heard them go so wild before.
Semi-relevant, during the HttT tour in Maryland, they played Creep saying prior "We like this song now" and the crowd went crazy.
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Anyone have a link to this?
Search google for the date and location I gave and I guarantee you'll find something.
Yeah, tried that. Found some setlists, not much else.
German ftw.
video?
The first letter of every album since OK Computer spells out "OK A HIT".
so meaningful
What?
OK Computer
Kid A
Amnesiac
Hail to the Thief
In Rainbows
The King of Limbs
Some suit probably shouted, in a desperate and exasperated voice...
"We just... want... a hit!!!"
Not really Radiohead but still pretty obscure. Thom's younger brother was in a band called The Unbelievable Truth. They broke up in 2000. He released a solo album called Simple a few years ago. It's shit.
Must suck to live in Thom's shadow.
the whole world is living in Thom's shadow
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A man called Adam Freeman is the reason that radiohead continued to exist after 1993 and Thom Yorke is still alive.
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shit.
The average penis length of the band members is 11.73 inches (around 29.79 centimeters).
Wow huge cocks!!
Keep in mind that Ed is pulling up that average a lot.
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Yes! And he once did a handstand over a car during the On A Friday era.
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Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway are in the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They're part of the 5 piece band "The Weird Sisters" that plays during the Yule Ball scene. They performed three songs:
"Do the Hippogriff"
"This Is the Night"
"Magic Works"
EDIT: Jonny also did the Score for Bodysong (2003), There Will Be Blood (2007), Norwegian Wood (2010), and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tNUAumvfzg
This is absolutely amazing.
Thom recorded the vocals for Fake Plastic Trees in 3 takes, and broke down in tears immediately after the final take according to Greenwood.
Which one?
I believe album version. Manor Studios July '94 recording session. Here is the songs wiki.
I think he meant which Greenwood.
Haha, sorry. I actually had to do some work today at work. Anyways the link does say it was Jonny.
I can't say for certain, but I can't shake the feeling that I read an interview that said he recorded fpt post seeing Jeff Buckley perform at a festival. Anyone gotta reference?
http://sayanythingsyndrome.blogspot.com/2007/05/celebrating-life-jeff-buckley.html Says in there
The vocal for Fake Plastic Trees, perhaps my favourite Radiohead song, was recorded by Thom Yorke in two takes after seeing Jeff Buckley perform. After the vocals were laid down, Thom Yorke apparently broke down into tears.
Yay!! I'm so happy it's verified, that man was a legend. They both are.
Thanks for the citation!
Didn't he also do the same to There There?
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Didn't we all?
I always heard this was directly after the whole band went to a Jeff Buckley concert. I know this is probably incorrect, but I want it to be true.. so badly..
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thanks! the legend lives, because seriously, that's epic. he drowned less than a year later I believe.
A lot of funny observations from their live shows. My favorite is the sign Thom does behind his back during everything in its right place for Phil to start the drums.Best thing ever
There's an absolutely fantastic shot of that in the Live In Praha video.
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Ah, sorry about that! I was in a rush to leave, and just quickly posted it while I remembered.
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Radiohead played at my university (Teesside University) in 1992, and they were a support band.
A FELLOW TEESSIDER!
ANOTHER TEESIDER?!
WHY YES
WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!
Radiohead is badass.
that's obscure?
I think an awful lot of people still haven't heard of The Radio Heads
Radiohead? No, I have an iPod.
What's on a friday?
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The guys used to call Phil "The Graf" when they were in school. He was older, and they were a bit afraid of him. He also played in a band called Jungle Telegraph at the time.
This is the most hip question I have ever heard.
"I Will" (Los Angeles version) b-side that's on the canadian version of the 2+2=5 single is actually the non-mastered leaked version and not the Los Angeles version (it's different from the UK single and the com lag one)
And disappointingly, it's the non-mastered version that ended up on the HTTT re-release second disc, not the proper LA version. Damn, EMI screwed up there.
Really? I had no idea. Downloading that track from a torrent now to see.
edit: Yup, this is right. For those out of the know, here is a summary of the three versions relevant to this discussion:
"I Will (No man's land.)" from Hail to the Thief - Roughly two minutes long, is only Thom (or maybe Jonny) on electric guitar, with multi-tracked vocals. The vocals start nearly right away and the track fades into the next song, "Punchup at a Wedding."
"I Will (Los Angeles Version) from the 2+2=5 single and the COM LAG EP - about 2:13 long, is the full band playing. From a mostly scrapped session in L.A.
"I Will" unmastered, an early mix that was leaked , the Canadian 2+2=5 single (according to ThrillSteak) and the 2009 re-release of the album - is about 2:20-2:30 long, nearly identical to the album version except with a longer guitar intro before the vocals, no fade into "Punchup," and a generally more rough sound.
Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I first played it, then thinking "damnit, where are the drums?"
I had COM LAG and most of the other material on the reissue already, so I only downloaded the two live tracks at the end. "Sail to the Moon" and "Go to Sleep," if memory serves me correctly.
Interestingly enough, these two tracks are Thom solo on piano and Thom (acoustic) and Jonny (electric) only, respectively. So I, too, was wondering the first time I listened to them, "where are the drums?"
It probably didn't help that I was listening to them while drifting off to sleep on Ambien, of course.
Don't forget the reverb on the vocals in the latter version.
Talking about screw-ups: The live venues listed on the I Might be Wrong EP : Live Recordings(Oxford, Olso, Berlin, Vaison La Romaine) are wrong. It's actually Oxford, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Vaison La Romaine
Thom once said:
The reality is that we were probably doing as many drugs as everybody else. I wouldn’t go on a chat show and talk about it, because it’s purely recreational. I love getting stoned, it’s the best thing in the fucking world. We put together a lot of this album when we were stoned… Shit, I’ve said it now.
-Thom Yorke
Brb, gonna go listen to The Bends while stoned.
Idioteque while stoned is a frightening experience
Thom only did one take for most of the songs on OK Computer, because he though if he did multiple takes he would think about it too much and it would sound boring
jonny has an original roland space echo tape delay in his guitar rig, but also carries boss' modern digital recreation of the same box for the occasions when the tape heads in the original start acting up.
I think he dropped the original one.Only running with the RE-20 now
Those things are difficult to maintain, so it makes sense.
Their tourdates for next year.
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No way
Way.
You won't share regardless. I'm going to pretend this didn't happen so I don't get sad.
Haha, yeah, I guess you're right. Don't be sad, they're gonna tour.
In Rainbows was released 10 years after OK Computer on 10/10. There is quite a bit of speculation around the "Binary Theory" of 1s and 0s.
According to the theory, the albums are intertwined bookends. If you alternate songs between albums, you get the one complete album. The song list would go as follows:
Airbag (OK Computer)
15 Step (In Rainbows)
Paranoid Android (OK Computer)
Bodysnatchers (In Rainbows)
Subterranean Homesick Alien (OK Computer)
Nude (In Rainbows)
Exit Music (For A Film) (OK Computer)
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (In Rainbows)
Let Down (OK Computer)
All I Need (In Rainbows)
Karma Police (OK Computer)
Fitter Happier (OK Computer)
Faust Arp (In Rainbows)
Electioneering (OK Computer)
Reckoner (In Rainbows)
Climbing Up The Walls (OK Computer)
House Of Cards (In Rainbows)
No Surprises (OK Computer)
Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)
Lucky (OK Computer)
Videotape (In Rainbows)
The Tourist (OK Computer)
where's this speculation come from?
The internets!
Also relevant:
I believe there is some merit to this belief, and that these albums are meant to be intertwined somehow, but not in this fashion. It just doesn't quite work, you know? I can't figure out the order, been trying different combinations for a few months.
im listening to this now and it feels REALLY weird not having Airbag lead in Paranoid Android
Thom recorded the vocals for Planet Telex in one attempt, whilst lying on the floor, completely drunk, in the studio.
Who else just went and listened to Planet Telex to see if they could tell?
was my first reaction
I couldn't tell...
Well, off to listen to Planet Telex... and then the rest of the album coz why the hell not?
A bit late on the reply but another interesting fact in the album:
In the heavier verse of Fake Plastic Trees (the one with distortion) the second guitar doesn't come in on the first bar. Due to a miss-cue by the producer, the second guitar doesn't come in until halfway through the second bar. They liked. the mistake so much that they just left it in there.
There's plenty of stuff like that on the album leading to Jonny actually saying "We recorded 40 minutes of accidents and we put it out and called it The Bends."
It is the first song.. Why not