(1986–1991) Formation and first years
On A FridayThe Radiohead story began in the mid-Eighties at Abingdon School, a private boys-only school located just outside the city of Oxford. Mild-mannered drummer Phil Selway was a year above guitarist Ed O'Brien and guitarist/vocalist Thom Yorke, bassist Colin Greenwood a year below them, and Colin's multi-instrumentalist brother Jonny two years below him. Though the five didn't know each other that well, they began meeting up in the school's music department, which Yorke describes as "great-no one came down there, and there were these tiny rooms with soundproofed cubicles." Colin remembers Abingdon's music school as a place "where we would all run and hide away from the tedious conformity of timetables and uniforms." It wasn't long before the boys formed a more or less permanent band, playing music heavily influenced by acts like Joy Division, Pixies, Magazine, R.E.M., Elvis Costello and the Smiths. After trying and ditching a series of names, they finally settled on On A Friday in honour of the day they regularly rehearsed. They rehearsed on Friday because they had school every other day. The band played their first gig in August 1986, at Oxford's Jericho Tavern (the gig was recorded by the late, great Michael Gerzon who was well known in and around the Oxford area for his many live recordings that he made. The tape is now part of the Michael Gerzon collection in The British Library, National Sound Archive). Jonny Greenwood, Colin's younger brother, became the final addition to the band when Colin took him along to rehearsals as a shortcut to babysitting him. Soon he began to take his keyboard along and play any parts they wanted on top. It was a long time before Jonny became an official member of the band.
Even though the band were already fairly certain that they wanted to keep playing together, when it came time for college, all chose to bow to parental pressure and continue their education, putting music on the back burner. For almost four years On A Friday didn't play a single gig, and they rehearsed only during holiday breaks. In 1991, the band reemerged to release its first demo tapes. Their first one—the Manic Hedgehog Demo (named after an Oxford record shop)—brought the group to another gig in the Jericho Tavern. In the meantime, the band had already appeared on the cover of Curfew, a magazine based in Oxford.
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