Radiohead didn’t release their breakthrough album, Pablo Honey, until 1992, but the band itself formed seven years prior in 1985 when they were students at The Abingdon School in Oxford, England. For the last sixteen years we’ve watched Radiohead evolve into one of the most important bands in music history, but haven’t you ever wondered what their music sounded like at the very beginning when they were just teenagers? Well, wonder no more, because a couple days ago Pitchfork posted two recordings from the band dated to 1986 which suddenly popped up on YouTube earlier this month: 1) “Girl (In The Purple Dress)” and 2) “Everybody Knows” (NOTE: for all you Leonard Cohen fans out there this is not a version of Cohen’s song, it is an original composition). At the time of these demo recordings, Thom Yorke was just a wee young pup at 18-years-old, and the band was called On A Friday; and according to Pitchfork, the YouTube user who uploaded the videos is married to someone “who went to school with the band and partied with them and who has had the demo since he was 17.” For more details about the recordings, including a story about the band’s two backpacking trips across America and India, be sure to visit Poptart, What’s Our Mission?
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