Before there was Radiohead, there was Thom Yorke’s late ’80s punk band Headless Chickens. Now, thanks to some Radiohead Redditors, we have footage of Headless Chickens performing “High and Dry” with a 20-year-old Thom Yorke at Exeter University’s Lemon Grove. The performance is from 1989, but “High and Dry” would later make Radiohead’s The Bends album in 1995. Headless Chickens had some success in the late ’80s English punk scene, opening for De La Soul and Eat along with the release of the track “I Don’t Want to Go to Woodstock.”
For being a fan-shot video from the late ’80s, the video itself is in great quality. Listening to the two versions, you can hear similarities in the chorus and the guitar solo and some differences with the Headless Chickens’ version involving less drums. Yorke obviously left Headless Chickens and reunited with his college band mates from On a Friday to form Radiohead in 1991.
(Via Consequence of Sound)
