The release of the film 'Meeting People is easy' (a film by Grant Gee mostly about Radiohead) has
got me thinking back to how I got into Radiohead in the first place and became a big fan.
Way back before the world knew their name and came to love their music I found them and they became
special to me. They were a different band to the one in the film, but they have not changed that much.
In the aftermath of their global success, I'm going to look back on how I came to love them and
then at the film which is the best attempt so far to capture the band and their world.
Before there was OK Computer, before there was The Bends, there was a band called Radiohead who
struggled to be heard and to find success. For a long time it felt like they were my secret.
It was October 1992, I was in my last year of school and the only things keeping me going are the
Smiths reissues and jokes about The Cure. A friend recommended that i hear a song called 'CREEP'
that wasn't getting played on the radio. One day after school I went down town to the bargain bin
of the record shop and found the 12" record and another Radiohead single for a very cheap price.
In my room, back at home with with my record player, my headphones on I played 'CREEP' Looking at
the skinny Indie Guitar band on the back cover I am expecting the usual jangly sound (remember, back
in 1992 the Wonderstuff were very popular and Carter USM were considered to be cutting edge...) The
record played, I thought 'nice voice..' and then...'oh my god where did that sound come from!'. I
played it again. It dawned on me that this was the most wonderfully vengeful, bitter song that I had
ever heard.
"I'm a creep..." but this was coming from somewhere I could understand... this one was for
you if you ever felt rejected for being different, it says 'so what if I am weird, what makes you so
special?' but at the same time it is about the feeling of being shut out because of what people think
of you. I liked its defiance and its power. I felt the same about the other Radiohead songs I heard
on those records (the 'CREEP' and 'DRILL' EPs) and looked up the band in my music magazines. They
didn't seem to be like other bands at the time, they wanted to deal with the bigger questions instead
of staring at their shoes. I remember that one paper described the singer thus: "Thom is 5'4" and swears a lot."
For a while I got on with life, and then, a few months later I saw an advert for Radiohead's new single
('ANYONE CAN PLAY GUITAR') and a tour. They were coming to Nottingham, the nearest place to where I
lived that ever had any good bands on. I had to see this band, at the time I was desperate to see any
band, but i had to see this band.
But how would I get there? Would it be an all ages show? Would I be able to get home afterwards?
I noticed a note at the bottom of the advert ...
'for more information please write to..' and an Oxford address.
Expecting a postcard service I scribbled a note... 'Please tell me more about Radiohead.
Are you any good live? Why should I come and see you?' and thought that no-one would read it.
I made it to the gig, it was free, it was packed, it was hot and I couldn't see much, except for
a shock of blond hair and occasional glimpses of the skinny genius guitarist who was bent double over
his instrument for most of the show. But I could hear and I liked what I heard.
Loved it. I bought a t-shirt and vowed to see this band again and SEE them next time.
...a few weeks later I returned home from school to find a letter on the mantle piece, handwritten,
postmarked Oxford. Puzzled, I opened it to find that far from being a junk mail reply service, the
Radiohead fan interface stretched to a personal reply from Thom e. Yorke himself!
After a quick run down of who all the band members were and what they had been doing lately, he ended
the letter by imploring me to come and see them live - 'we are good live, honest.'
I replied and told of my first gig experience and promised to go and see them when they next played in
Nottingham.
We went to the show and I fastened myself to the front this time, and that was the real epiphany for
me. I read a fanzine later that described Thom on stage as 'a blond hand-grenade', and that was about
right. He threw himself into his performance totally, raging at the audience, meaning it, feeling it
every song. Filled with fury at the record company for the fiasco surrounding the release of their
fourth single 'POP IS DEAD', the whole band played like their lives depended on it.
This was only the third or fourth gig I had ever been to, but the adrenaline it generated lit me up
for live music like no record or magazine article ever could.
That summer I began writing for fanzines and seeing lots of bands, I got more mail from Thom and
followed the band's progress in America. I had a place at University in Glasgow and so had an excuse
to visit in time to see Radiohead playing at the Barrowlands (a big venue) supporting Blur, who were
just on the verge of their success with 'Parklife.'
Back in Britain with bad rock hair from America - Creep was just beginning, second time around, to be
a hit at home - Radiohead played a blindingly impressive show that went out live on the radio. I was
so happy to have seen them again, by now they were my favourite band.
I knew that they were no longer just my secret, but something special that was just going to keep
getting better.
I moved to Glasgow and began to go to gigs with a vengeance...
I had another letter from Thom, which arrived at a particularly low ebb in my first year of collage.
Communal living wasn't agreeing with me and I was tired and ill and wondering if University was what
I really wanted after all. Thom wrote from the tour bus in the middle of America, I didn't find out
until later how badly things were going for him, but he sounded homesick and tired. Their next gig in
Glasgow was supporting James. December 1993 at the Barrowlands again. By now I was determined to meet
this man and find out if all the things about him added up. To see if he understood like I thought he
must. I went to the gig early and waited between the tour bus and the venue, knowing that the band had
to pass that spot to get inside. Eventually as my hands were turning numb with cold, out of the corner
of my eye I could see the familiar blond hair - that was by now an out of control rocker's wig. I
stood up and tried to make my lips move to make words. "I got your letter..the one from Illinois.."
"Oh yeah?... I know.." Thom replied as I stopped him at the door.
"Thanks. I wrote back but you won't have got it...Have a good show" I wasn't sure if he
knew who I was or remembered writing to me or anything at the time.
Inside later, the gig was very intense. The crowd were emphatically there for James and weren't
very interested in these young upstarts with their one record and their stroppy guitars who deemed to
come onto the stage first. Objects were thrown, heckling was dealt with and at one point Thom left the
stage mid-song in an attempt to calm the seething mass of uncaring James fans. The dozen or so hardcore
Radiohead fans at the front yelled their support. I think i kept shouting "make 'em have it!"
wanting to will them to win this crowd.
The intensity of the performance in the face of opposition was electric. When they left the stage, my
friend and I fought our way out through the tightly packed, sweaty crowd to the beer stall. Then,
nerves slightly calmed, we went down stairs to the landing where the toilets, coats and inferior
support band dressing rooms made a surprisingly welcoming alternative to the prospect of the James
live experience. I collapsed in a seat inbetween the doors to the toilets and the dressing room. My
friend, who was less dishevelled than I was after our front of the crowd heroics, spotted Colin
Greenwood, bass player, and marched up and began a conversation. This seemed easy enough, Colin was
polite and sociable and chatted with us.
I waited in the seat, unsure of what to do, the only certainty being that I had to talk to Thom again
before I left. Finally he appeared, going back to the dressing room after a brief sortie outside.
I caught his attention and he talked to me about the gig. "I just want to be a human being again"
he said. He sounded so forlorn that I just wanted to tell him that everything would be alright. I told
him that I planned to go to Manchester to see another show and meet up with my fanzine editor, who
already knew the band through their manager.
He said that was cool and said see you later as he disappeared from view.
My teenage self melted and wanted to burst. They say you shouldn't meet your heroes in case you are
disappointed, but when it happens and it is more than you hoped for then it is the greatest feeling.
This was only the start of my fascination with Radiohead. Since then I have seen them live many
times all over the country and travelled along with their tours. I have been lucky along the way and
have had privileged access that not many fans have the opportunity to have.
I am thankful to all my friends that I have met along the way for all the help they have given me and
all the great times we have had. During this time I have seen some tremendous live performances and
witnessed the effects of Radiohead's growing popularity on both the band and their followers. My
friends always want me to explain why a band has this effect on me, how come I go to so many shows,
when surely one gig is very much like another.
It is hard to explain to someone who has never seen them, but for me they are unlike any other band,
I'm sure that it is a personal thing and they don't have this effect on everybody but when they are
playing at their best nothing can touch them. For the couple of hours that they are playing, nothing
else matters. The intensity of the feelings and the thrill of the sound simply can't be bettered.
Grant Gee's film Meeting People Is Easy gives an intriguing insight into the process of touring
and promoting the album OK Computer. It takes its visual cues from the sleeve artwork of the album,
making the endless cities that the band visit look like alien landscapes.
The band themselves also seem like aliens at times, at the start of the film they appear to land from a
spaceship and then make their way towards a stage to the strains of Fitter Happier. On the streets of
Tokyo, they try to mingle with the crowds but end up standing out and looking lost in the futuristic city.
The album's recurring themes of movement, speed and transport are interpreted here as views from
vehicle windows as the world speeds by in a blur of bright lights, freeways, tunnels and airports.
It is remarkable how close Gee has come in interpreting the band's musical vision on film. Reading
through some of the countless press interviews that the band did to promote the album i found that
the way the describe the songs and feelings on OK Computer corresponds very closely to the images in
the film.
Thom tried to describe the point of view from which he had written the songs:
"It was like there was a secret camera in every room and it's watching the character for each
song. The camera's not quite me. its neutral, emotionless. but not emotionless at all.
In fact it is the complete opposite.'
Grant Gee has said of the film"what i tried to do was to scoop out the emotion as much as
possible and just show frustration. Even though there are some candid scenes in there, it is kind of
empty. There's nothing you can show about these people that's going to have anything like the same
impact as the music they make."
The music is the connecting force. The most important thing in the process. The Radiohead live
experience is only shown in fits and starts in the film but there are moments when it all comes
together and even someone who is not a fan can feel the emotional power of the music.
The first song that we hear them play is the first song that they played to the world on the tour at
the opening show in Barcelona, 'Lucky'. Jonny Greenwood recalls "shaking in Barcelona and never
wanting to loose that feeling" The excitement of playing live is as palpable for the band as it
is for the audience. Maybe its a spiritual thing !
The film is less about the band than them at the centre of the process of taking their music out
to the world. This process is not even really fame because they are not really famous.
They are not (thank goodness!) famous like movie stars or household names but their job now involves
taking part in the process of celebrity, the rounds of interviews and TV appearances, self advertisement
that leads them to become a kind of human product on the global marketing treadmill.
It is their own fear that they will become part of this machine, the fact that it is so much not what
they are about that makes the film so compelling.
For these five worriers, being caught up in this intense situation is often more than they can stand.
In taking their art to the people there are a lot of draw backs, a lot of reasons to quit. As it
becomes monotonous and they become weary (as in the later sections of the film) they have to keep
focusing on what it is that drives them on. As Thom has said:
"There are a lot of good reasons for not doing tours. It fucks you up, it takes too long and it
costs shitloads of money...but...its about looking people in the eye when we play our songs."
The film is full of hidden tension. Touring the world is the thing which drives the band to greater
success but at the same time it is also the thing which prevents them from leading normal human lives
and being able to concentrate on the thing that they love, the music.
Yet as the film illustrates, their music comes from the kind of situations which they encounter on the
road. The emotional resonance of the songs fits with the images. Shopping malls and 'modern life'
handshakes and carbon monoxide...
Meeting People Is Easy manages to be both revealing and not at the same time.
There are candid scenes of the band back stage but we never get any closer to finding out about how
they work together. The film uses fragments of interviews and footage which manage create an
impressionistic and occasionally profound picture of Radiohead without ever achieving concrete
coherence.
Throughout the film, Gee returns to the idea that all the critical acclaim the band are receiving
is adding to the pressure on them to live up to expectations.
The barrage of press-superlatives builds up and overflows until they feel the fear of the inevitable
backlash.
In one interview, done on the Australian leg of the tour, Thom talks about success bringing with it new
responsibilities, making taking risks very hard.
There is always this fear deep down, but risks need to be taken, success should bring them the freedom
to express themselves creatively, rather than add to the pressure to bring more success. The pressure
of feeling it and meaning it all the time as a job means that Radiohead often take everything too
seriously.
The moments in the film where it is most obvious that Radiohead are better than any of this, worth
more than all the strife that they have to contend with are the fragments of new songs.
One which may or may not be called 'Big Ideas (Don't get any)', performed in New York and others which
we can see being worked on in sound checks, including one with the lyric 'You follow me around' that
sounds a little like a country-style REM song.
For me, as a fan, the part where Thom talks about the most important thing being that he can remember
what it is like to have songs which were etched on your heart when you are were a teenager, when life
goes wrong.
When he realised that his songs were as important to people as The Smiths or REM were to him, then that
is what makes it all worthwhile.
To know that he understands the big deal is very meaningful.
The video of Meeting People Is easy should be available in Japan in January.
It is indespensible to all fans of Radiohead!
Copyright Lucy Brouwer 1999.
Inrock/ the frame Jan '99