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In 1976, Thom Yorke heard his new favourite band. He immediately wanted to be their guitarist
Thom Yorke has said that hearing Queen’s *Greatest Hits* as a child sparked his first musical obsession and made him want to become guitarist Brian May. The story highlights how an early encounter at school helped shape the future Radiohead frontman’s musical ambitions.
In a 1993 interview, Yorke recalled that a friend bought the album when he was about eight, after which he took his guitar to school and told his teacher he wanted to be like May. Yorke and his future Radiohead bandmates met at Abingdon School, where they formed an early group called On a Friday. Queen’s influence later surfaced in Radiohead’s ambitious work, including the connection between “Paranoid Android” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
In short
- Queen’s *Greatest Hits* inspired Yorke as a child.
- He wanted to emulate guitarist Brian May.
- Yorke and his future bandmates met at school.
Explained simply
Queen are a British rock band known for elaborate songs and the guitar playing of Brian May. Their 1981 album Greatest Hits brought together some of their best-known recordings, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Thom Yorke later became the singer and songwriter of Radiohead, whose members first played together as pupils at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire. The band went on to make ambitious rock music, and listeners have compared the multi-part structure of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
The story offers a glimpse of how a young musician’s ambitions can begin with hearing a particular band. It also places Radiohead’s later experiments in the context of the music that inspired Yorke early on.