Exit Music: The Radiohead Story [Anglais] [Broché]

This October, when Radiohead release their highly anticipated follow-up to 1997's guitar-driven OK Computer, music critics may very well bestow the Oxford quintet with "The Most Important Band in Rock" accolade that cursed U2, R.E.M. and the Clash. The East Coast editor of Launch magazine, Randall is undoubtedly one of the many journalists eager to exclaim "genius!" again, but his biography of the Grammy winners is economical, restrained and unauthorized (band members "respectfully declined" Randall's requests to cooperate). After briefly reenacting the now mythic June 1997 concert at New York City's Irving Plaza, attended by rock's superstar aristocracy (Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, etc.), Randall smartly spends most of his narrative on the band's fascinating, decade-long conception in and around culturally barren Oxford, whose Radiohead landmarks he visited and lays out. Non- and neo-Anglophiles will especially appreciate Randall's definitions of British terms and background on the British music industry, music press and education system (all five musicians met at the all-male Abingdon School). As for the inevitable "record critique" chapters, Randall rarely throws in his two cents, preferring to sprinkle passages with the band's own pithy observations and recording-session anecdotes culled from magazine interviews. Exit music? Not quite, as Radiohead are pushing the boundaries of pop music (the new record is rumored to include Miles Davis and backwards singing). Because the book will be published right before the new album debuts, it will be nearly out of date by the time it hits bookstores. However, Randall's work will still serve as a reliable introduction to an ever-evolving band. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reputable music journalist Randall, the East Coast editor of Launch and a former senior editor of Musician, has compiled a cut-and-paste compendium of every interview the Oxford, England, quartet has ever given. The book makes up for its unforgivable regurgitation of quotes long familiar to hardcore fans with a comprehensive study of the band's development before they hit it big and began having troubles in the studio. Still, the Radiohead story is long from over, and this does not work in Randall's favor. If they are indeed one of the most important rock groups of our time, they won't be worthy of such a study until their catalog is fuller and their influence has had time to sink in. (It doesn't help that they all live quiet, un-rock'n'roll lives either.) Though Exit Music is eminently readable, Martin Clarke's Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless (Plexus, 1999) covers the same time period with more interesting and academic readings of their songs.AColin Carlson, New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reading that Radiohead has become "arguably the most accomplished and forward-looking British rock group of the '90s," the thought occurs that this book may be a little, uh, laudatory. When Randall proclaims himself a member "of the rock critical establishment" in the same paragraph, the word vainglory also comes to mind. Anyhow, Randall says Radiohead was heavily influenced by Nirvana and the Pixies early on but became a purveyor of a unique and adventurous sound. Its members also became mysterious privacy enthusiasts. This is an interesting book about a relatively interesting band; one that, given Radiohead's rejection of the trappings of stardom, affords what may be a rare source of information about it. Pop music collections should acquire the book, but quickly, since the shelf life of modern pop bands, even accomplished and forward-looking ones, is pretty short. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Non- and neo-Anglophiles will especially appreciate Randall's definitions of British terms and background on the British music industry, music press and education system.


Randall's work will still serve as a reliable introduction to an ever-evolving band. (Sept.)

This October, when Radiohead release their highly anticipated follow-up to 1997's guitar-driven OK Computer, music critics may very well bestow the Oxford quintet with "The Most Important Band in Rock" accolade that cursed U2, R.E.M. and the Clash. The East Coast editor of Launch magazine, Randall is undoubtedly one of the many journalists eager to exclaim "genius!" again, but his biography of the Grammy winners is economical, restrained and unauthorized (band members "respectfully declined" Randall's requests to cooperate). After briefly reenacting the now mythic June 1997 concert at New York City's Irving Plaza, attended by rock's superstar aristocracy (Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, etc.), Randall smartly spends most of his narrative on the band's fascinating, decade-long conception in and around culturally barren Oxford, whose Radiohead landmarks he visited and lays out. Non- and neo-Anglophiles will especially appreciate Randall's definitions of British terms and background on the British music industry, music press and education system (all five musicians met at the all-male Abingdon School). As for the inevitable "record critique" chapters, Randall rarely throws in his two cents, preferring to sprinkle passages with the band's own pithy observations and recording-session anecdotes culled from magazine interviews. Exit music? Not quite, as Radiohead are pushing the boundaries of pop music (the new record is rumored to include Miles Davis and backwards singing). Because the book will be published right before the new album debuts, it will be nearly out of date by the time it hits bookstores. However, Randall's work will still serve as a reliable introduction to an ever-evolving band.

Non- and neo-Anglophiles will especially appreciate Randall's definitions of British terms and background on the British music industry, music press and education system.


Randall's work will still serve as a reliable introduction to an ever-evolving band. (Sept.)