Radiohead

Radiohead formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire in 1985, initially called On A Friday after their rehearsal slot at Abingdon School. The lineup — Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Phil Selway — has remained unchanged across the band's entire career. They signed to EMI after Colin Greenwood met a label representative at the record shop where he worked, and released Pablo Honey in 1993. The breakout single "Creep" became an international hit before the band had fully decided what kind of band they wanted to be. The guitar architecture across Radiohead's classic period is built on a three-guitar setup with distinct roles. Jonny Greenwood's primary rig runs a Fender Telecaster Plus — modified with a killswitch and custom rewiring — through two parallel amp paths: a Vox AC30 for clean tones and a solid-state Fender Eighty-Five for distorted tones, with a Boss LS-2 Line Selector switching between them. His primary distortion source has been the Marshall ShredMaster pedal since the band's earliest recordings — it is audible on "Creep" and throughout The Bends and OK Computer. A Roland RE-201 Space Echo tape delay has appeared on every Radiohead album since OK Computer. Ed O'Brien built his sound around ambient textures — EBow, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, Line 6 DL4 — running multiple delay units to create layers rather than lead lines. Thom Yorke's guitar contributions shifted toward Fender Jazzmasters and Epiphone Casinos as the band moved away from conventional rock structures. OK Computer (1997) was recorded at various locations including Canned Applause, Jane Seymour's country house, and St. Catherine's Court in Bath. The guitar textures on "Paranoid Android" — Jonny's Telecaster through the ShredMaster, with the Mellotron doubling the guitar line — defined a new approach to layered rock guitar production. "Karma Police" used the Fender Starcaster, a semi-hollow Fender model that had been discontinued in 1980 and was largely unknown until Greenwood adopted it as a primary instrument. The DMX 15-80S delay's feedback manipulation at the end of "Karma Police" has become one of the most recognizable textural moments in 1990s rock. Kid A (2000) marked a deliberate departure from guitar-centered music, with Jonny Greenwood's Ondes Martenot — a rare electronic instrument from the 1920s — taking a prominent role. In Rainbows (2007) brought guitars back to the foreground alongside the band's electronic architecture, recorded in Hector's House, their own studio in Oxfordshire. Key gear: Fender Telecaster Plus (Jonny Greenwood), Fender Starcaster, Fender Jazzmaster (Thom Yorke), Epiphone Casino, Vox AC30, Fender Eighty-Five, Marshall ShredMaster, Roland RE-201 Space Echo, Boss LS-2 Line Selector, DigiTech Whammy, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, Line 6 DL4.