Customer Reviews

Radiohead: Hysterical and Useless

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It is obviously a bit premature to be writing a biography on a band while they're at the height of their career, but you would expect the story to date to be a little more consistent...
The only interesting information the book offers is in the beginning, which describes a little bit of back history and childhood info on Thom Yorke. From this point on its a slapdash of misquoted interviews and half-truths... The book is overladen with mispellings and mistakes (he says at one point that the fan club is called Wasted... ugggg).
What is perhaps most disheartening is how the details seem to peter off towards the middle of the book... He goes into exhaustive detail talking about the making of Ok Computer (all the while offering his own assinine interpretations of the songs) and then almost immediately transforms his writing style into a quick summaration of events. He also blatantly LIES to try to make his point at times... For instance, he tries to claim that KID A was rated poorly by both the American and English press, using a quote from the Rolling Stone review to prove his point, while failing to mention that the very review he was quoting from gave the album 4 Stars... Indeed, the book is entirely composed of half-truths and selective interpretations of events... I think I've met fans who seem to have a better understanding of the band and their songs than this author does...
The book also seems to focus almost entirely around Thom Yorke, as though he were the only reason the band were interesting at all... I'm rather glad that this book is not the only source from which I had gathered information about the band, otherwise I probably would have walked away feeling unimpressed with their story. He fails to capture on every level just why this band is such a phenomenon, missing every point or example that would solidify their brilliance. I would suggest hunting down a copy of the NME collection of interviews (even though that magazine is pathetic) instead of this book, as it shows a much clearer portrait of how the band progressed and got to where they are today. Sad to say, but the interviews seem to be the only glimpse we have at the moment as to what is going through the band member's minds... I think we'll have to wait until their music making carreer is over and the the totality of their work has made its impact before a book such as this one can be complete and worthwhile. Don't waste your time or money on this reader's digest summary of this great band.

this book is "good looking". it has many interesting pictures of the band and it has good cover. it's lovely. but this is not for the die hard fan. most of what mr clarke wrote is what we know already, almost nothing new. and a lot of mistake. a lot of misquoted sentences and stuff. spend your money on better book. but if you're still new to radiohead, this book can give you basic information about the band just fine.

This book is one of the few books available on Radiohead, and although I have not had the pleasure of reading the other books, this Radiohead book is great. If you are fan of the eccentric group, you will enjoy reading about the band from the beginning to their current worldwide success. This book will definitely interest you if you love the brilliance that is Radiohead.

I've been a Radiohead fan since 1995 and this book is great for any long-serving fan. I really like Clarke's writing style and his research is spot on. This book is probably the best thing to come out on Radiohead while we wait for the new album.

The problem I have with books about bands is that they focus almost solely on personality and the timeline, and not music. This book is no different. I could care less whether Thom Yorke is a depressed loner or the happiest guy in the world. I'd love to learn the real details of production and recording techinques, other than just lists of instruments used to record albums.
Unfortunately, a band like Radiohead isn't too excited about letting anyone view their recording sessions, so we're stuck with another book about Thom Yorke's paranoia, fear of the modern world, etc.
Oh, and the typos are rife. I seriously doubt anyone edited this book. There are so many double "the"s, "of"s in the place of "or"s, and flat out mistakes (an Ondes Martenot was not used for Star Wars, the band's name is Sigur Ros, not Signor Ros, etc) it's hard to take. Skip this book, look up all the band bio info on the internet, and save your 80 cents or whatever.

If your curious about radiohead...well you might learn something. And of course noone expects these things to be great literature. So you pretty much know what you're getting into here. This book was poorly written, sort of trite. Not much to say about it. Just don't expect much and you'll be fine.

I have read 4 or 5 books about Radiohead and this is the that stands out in my mind as being informative and in depth. I might have have gotten my titles crossed on this but one thing I'm sure of, Exit music was the worst of the books I read about them. Which is disappointing being that that song is one of their greatest. So don't let the book title fool you people because that is definitely not on the same level with the song.(In terms of quality)

This book is an OK start to exploring Radiohead's career, and to a casual fan infatuated with Thom Yorke, it's right on the money.

The writer, Martin Clarke, is clearly more of a die-hard fan than a rock journalist (in this case anyways, I don't know his credentials), and his constant un-objective fawning over the band can get a bit tedious to read at times. We know Radiohead are brilliant and genius... that's why we bought the book.

The beginning of their career is covered nicely (as written in the other reviews) and offers good insights into Thom's early life... the other members of the band are mentioned briefly, but from the beginning you get the impression that this is definitely more a book about Thom Yorke and Radiohead, opposed to Radiohead.

Some of the analysis offered regarding the albums is quite good, though it really skims all the information, and as a musician myself, really leaves a lot unexplored as to the process of their song writing and recording. For a band as musically innovative (and anti-corporate glitz) as Radiohead, this is where the real interest in the band lies, and a bit more information would've been great.

Not a bad start if you're looking to read more than one book on the band, or if you're a casual fan who is in love with Thom.