Watch A Young Thom Yorke Perform “High And Dry” With His Pre-Radiohead Band Headless Chickens
Headless Chickens, in addition to being a ’90s New Zealand group, were Thom Yorke’s short-lived pre-Radiohead band, formed while he was studying at Exeter University in 1989. They only played a handful of shows and released one single, “I Don’t Want To Go To Woodstock,” on which Yorke sang backup vocals and played guitar (and which is believed to be his first recorded material). Another one of their songs was “High And Dry,” which would later be reworked by Radiohead on their 1995 classic The Bends, and just now, some previously unseen footage of Yorke and Headless Chickens playing an early version of the song has surfaced online via Reddit. There’s no date given in the video’s description, but it was likely recorded sometime in 1989, two years before Yorke would reunite with his former high school band On A Friday to form Radiohead. Watch below.