Book Description
'There aren't many things that scare me, but Radiohead are so good they scare me. ' - Michael Stipe, REM.
With their third album, OK Computer, the British rock group Radiohead is emerging as one of the most popular and influential bands of the 1990s. The distinctive combination of Thom Yorke's beautiful yet chilling vocals and a background of richly textured guitars has gained them fans around the world and already spawned a host of imitators and cover versions. Two years ago the press hailed Radiohead as 'the new U2'. Now any new band that displays the same intense, cinematic rock sound is hailed as 'the new Radiohead'.

In Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless Martin Clarke is the first author to delve deeply into the history of this band - its origins in Oxford where the members were childhood friends; the slacker-friendly single 'Creep' which launched their first album Paublo Honey; the second, multi-platinum, album, The Bends; and the unusual recording process for OK Computer, their complex concept album confronting the fear of a world taken over by technology.

He also examines the psyche and personal demons of the enigmatic Thom Yorke and produces an incisive vision of one of the most charismatic musical forces in the world.