Guitars, Campfires & Cropredy: Oxfordshire's Rock Pilgrimage

From Oxford's legendary back-room stages to the fields where folk-rock history was made

Oxford, Oxfordshire · 6 stops · 56.6 km · ~13.4 h · Generated

  1. 1. Abingdon School — Where Radiohead Were Born

    Abingdon School, Park Road, Abingdon

    Take a look around you. This quiet school on Park Road... it doesn't exactly scream rock and roll, does it? But right here, inside the music department of Abingdon School, five teenage boys changed the course of guitar music Forever.

    It was nineteen eighty-five, and Radiohead — then just a group of schoolmates — formed their very first band right here in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. This was an independent boys' school. Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood were in the same year, guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Philip Selway one year above... and Colin's younger brother, Jonny Greenwood, two years below.

    Now here's the thing. They called themselves On a Friday... simply because Friday was their usual rehearsal day in the school's music room. Not exactly a name for the ages, right? And get this — at one point, On a Friday even featured a saxophone section. Try to imagine That version of Radiohead.

    The band disliked the school's strict atmosphere — the headmaster once actually Charged them for using a rehearsal room on a Sunday. But there was one person who made all the difference... A music teacher named Terence Gilmore-James, who immersed his students in twentieth century classical music, avant-garde music, classic jazz, and film scores. Gilmore-James recalled young Thom Yorke as "forlorn and a little isolated," and said he was "not a great musician" unlike Jonny Greenwood, but rather a "thinker and experimenter."

    Yorke himself once said the music department was the Only place where school was bearable for him.

    The earliest known demo recording of On a Friday was recorded right here in nineteen eighty-six — and Jonny wasn't even in the band yet. Instead, a friend named Raz Peterson played saxophone. Jonny was the last to join... first on harmonica, then keyboards, but he soon became the lead guitarist.

    On a Friday played their first proper gig in nineteen eighty-seven at Oxford's Jericho Tavern. And on the strength of an early demo, they were even offered a record deal by Island Records — but they turned it Down, deciding they weren't ready. Teenage boys... walking away from a record deal. That takes some nerve.

    It wasn't until nineteen ninety-one that they finally signed — a six-album contract with E-M-I. And at the label's request, they changed their name. "Radiohead" was taken from a song on the Talking Heads album True Stories. David Byrne himself, decades later, said he was "surprised and very flattered" that they'd named themselves after one of his songs.

    So next time you hear those guitar chords ringing out from OK Computer or The Bends... remember. It all started in a school music room, on a Friday afternoon, with five boys who had no idea what they were about to unleash on the world.

  2. 2. O2 Academy Oxford — The Venue That Radiohead Helped Save

    O2 Academy Oxford, 190 Cowley Road, Oxford

  3. 3. Cowley Road — Oxford's Bohemian Music Mile

    Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JP

  4. 4. Holywell Music Room — The World's Oldest Concert Hall

    Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, Oxford

  5. 5. Cropredy Civil War Plaque — History Under Your Tent

    Cropredy Bridge, Cropredy, Banbury

  6. 6. Cropredy Village — The Soul of Folk-Rock Camping

    Cropredy, Banbury, Oxfordshire