Radiohead: Pablo Honey [XL RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

Every Radiohead story starts here. Pablo Honey gave the world "Creep," one of the great outsider anthems, and it's a loud, fun guitar record that shows how quickly the band was already growing.

This edition

• Single LP, 12 tracks
• XL Recordings pressing

About the album

Before OK Computer and Kid A, Radiohead were five Oxford lads with three guitars and a lot to prove. Their debut was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, and it's the most straightforward rock record they ever made: big, crunchy guitars, Thom Yorke already wailing like nobody else, and plenty of youthful angst.

"Creep" made the band famous almost by accident, first in Israel, then on US college radio, then everywhere, and Jonny Greenwood's famous guitar blasts still jolt the room. But Pablo Honey is more than one song: "You," "Stop Whispering" and the sarcastic "Anyone Can Play Guitar" hint at the ambition to come, and the gorgeous closing "Blow Out" points straight towards The Bends.

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Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings, a reissue of the 1993 album.