The Inventive Masterworks of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke

These videos are bonus content related to the Holiday 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.

Radiohead frontman and primary songwriter Thom Yorke began playing guitar at age seven and formed his first band by the time he was 11.

As he progressed musically, Yorke was inspired by a diverse array of musical influences, including jazz greats Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, alternative rock icons R.E.M. and the Pixies, singer-songwriters Neil Young and Elvis Costello, classic bands like Queen and the Beach Boys, and numerous electronic-based musical artists.

These influences helped shape the future sound of Radiohead, the group formed when Yorke met band mates Jonny and Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Pete Selway at public school in their mid teens. Today, Radiohead are internationally renowned superstars. This month, I want to look at the key acoustic-driven cuts that helped elevate Yorke’s style and musicality to legendary status, tracing Radiohead’s evolution along the way.