Radiohead were ‘haunted’ during OK Computer sessions

Thom Yorke believes he was haunted during recording sessions for iconic Radiohead album OK Computer, he’s revealed.

The landmark release reaches its 20th anniversary this year, with a remastered, extended version called OKNOTOK, to be launched this month.

The album was recorded in tenth-century English mansion St Catherine’s Court, which was then owned by actress Jane Seymour, and had its own traditional haunting stories.

Yorke tells Rolling Stone: “Ghosts would talk to me while I was asleep. There was one point when I got up in the morning after a night of hearing voices, and decided I had to cut my hair.”

He went at himself with the scissor blade of a multi-tool. “I cut myself a few times,” he recalls. “It got messy. I came downstairs and everyone was like, ‘Uh, are you alright?’ I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’ Phil Selway very gently took me downstairs and shaved it all off.”

Yorke reflects that it’s been “really, really mental going back into where my head was at” as he looked through old notebooks to gather material for the re-release.

Asked what message he’d send to his younger self, he laughs: “Lighten the fuck up.”

OKNOTOK is available for pre-order now. Full tracklist below.

Radiohead OKNOTOK tracklist

Airbag
Paranoid Android
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Exit Music (For A Film)
Let Down
Karma Police
Fitter Happier
Electioneering
Climbing Up The Walls
No Surprises
Lucky
The Tourist
I Promise
Man Of War
Lift
Lull
Meeting In The Aisle
Melatonin
A Reminder
Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
Pearly
Palo Alto
How I Made My Millions

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Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.