After Dinner Speakers: Radiohead, Yo-Yo Ma, John Major

Radiohead hails from lush Oxford, England, where Thom Yorke (vocals), Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, xylophone) Ed O'Brien (guitar), Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil Selway (drums) first began playing together in 1987. The quintet didn't explore music as a full-time option, however, until its members dropped out of their respective institutions of higher education in the early '90s. Opting out of the typical barrage of London gigs, the group played the majority of their shows at home and still managed to create an impressive industry buzz that sent label reps scrambling to Oxford in droves. They eventually signed with Capitol for the release of their first album, 1993's Pablo Honey. Radiohead were the first to market with the whole self-loathing thing; their single "Creep" (off Pablo Honey) predated Beck's "Loser" by a year and shot to the top of the singles charts in both Britain and the United States. After the song faded from the charts and the airwaves, however, many mistakenly passed the band off as another one-hit wonder. In 1995, with the release of The Bends, Radiohead earned their long-due respect. Critics raved about the album and the band landed a spot on R.E.M.'s European tour. Radiohead's third album, OK Computer, released in June 1997, earned even greater critical and commercial success, immediately reaching number 1 on the British album charts, topping countless "Best Of '97" lists and winning the "Best Alternative Music Performance" category at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards. Fans had to wait three years for the much anticipated follow -- up. Kid A, Radiohead's fourth album, finally surfaced in 2000 and was followed in summer 2001 by the band's latest, Amnesiac.