Radiohead: The Stories Behind Every Song by James Doheny

Radiohead: The Stories Behind Every Song Reviews

• 
  Danny Kelly

  Radiohead has been my favorite band for a long time. I own a popular Twitter account
  Radiohead lyrics so naturally this book would seem to fit right in. I enjoyed reading any back-stories the author provided about the recording of individual albums, songs, and events during tours.
  
  One criticism I would offer is that the author often goes into almost laborious detail describing specific musical elements and composition used in the songs and relating them to other songs by Radiohead or other bands throughout history. It ends up being a little too technically detailed, hard to read, and ends up straying away from the title of the book "the Stories Behind Every Song."
  
  Another disappointment was the little content written about the band's most recent album as of this review, the King of Limbs. However, if I could give a half star, I would give it 3.5 out of 5.
• 
  Jake

  For those diehard Radiohead fans or anyone into music theory, this is a must read!
• 
  Patrick

  I am not certain how much the band had a hand in the construction of this book, but the author does a fantastic job of weaving sessions notes, artist interviews, and lyrics into a very cohesive presentation. I am a diehard Radiohead fan, and would even say that they are the soundtrack to my life. This book was a gift for those of us that love the band so dearly. There were some issues with editing in the book, and this was forgivable given the intense research, vast knowledge of music, and an adherence to the band’s message.
• 
  Derek

  I thought this book was pretty awful. I was expecting some insights into the band, interviews with band members on how they wrote the songs etc. Instead it is some fan writing cork-sniffing types of reviews of songs- think "This bottle opens with a bouquet of subtle raspberries with a hint of oak and a finish that is simply superb." It's like being forced to read unending Rolling Stone magazine articles. If you like to read hundreds of pages of someone describing records they are listening to with no greater insight than a regular fan- you got it here. Mostly it is boring with a lot of time referring to 4/5 beats and minor chord progressions. Even as a musician this part was boring- if you don't play music and have a music theory background you will be tearing the book to pieces within the first 50 pages.
  
  Most of the interesting parts are lifted from other sources. He seems to rely heavily on a few interviews with Q magazine. Their should be a headline on the book stating- the author has not actually discussed any of this with the band and is simply repeating hearsay reported in other sources.
  
  Avoid.
  
  
• 
  emy

  hate to say it, but this book was pretty bad. it read like a college essay on radiohead music, rather than a book about "the stories behind every song." it was very analytical of the music and used terms that only people who play or study music would understand. these sections were so pointless and hard to get through for me. and i think they were completely unnecessary even to a person who could understand more of the musical terminology. a quick examination of the theme or mood of each song would have been plenty. i wanted to read this book to learn more about how the band came up with their songs. i wanted to learn a little bit about their personalities. i wanted to hear STORIES like it said in the title of the book! all i got were a few quotes taken from old magazines or websites that gave some info about what the songs were about or what the recording process was like. there were no stories and i don't feel like i know more about radiohead than i did before reading it except i know what time signatures a lot of the songs were in, so that is great.
• 
  Jacob Leon

  Offered some nice insight into songs, but did not offer much more. Inconsistent in insight and sometimes contradicting itself, it left an unprofessional feel. I believe it could also be better if Doheny also kept an unbiased out look on each song and album, instead of constantly shifting viewpoints.
• 
  Laurel

  Loved the intu