Is Ed O’Brien the overlooked cog of Radiohead?
Radiohead are fortunate enough to be littered with complete masters of their instruments. No one in their right mind would call into question the talents of the likes of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. However, one part of Radiohead that often seems to be unfairly overlooked when considering their excellence is poor old Ed O’Brien.
O’Brien has previously admitted that he often felt intimidated by the undoubted “genius” of his Yorke and Greenwood. While Greenwood was playing all manner of instruments – analogue synths, the ondes martenot, and the bloody harp (for Christ’s sake) – and Yorke was coming up with song structures and melodies, O’Brien’s role in the band is certainly one of subtlety and one that might go unrecognised.
Still, O’Brien understands that his role in Radiohead is essential. He told The Face: “We always kind of wrote our own parts; there was a creative outlet for that. But that’s the way Radiohead was set up. I’m not comparing us to The Beatles, but John Lennon put it beautifully when someone asked about George Harrison’s songs: ’The empire was carved up between me and Paul.'”
So evidently, O’Brien understands that in order for Radiohead to work as it does, he needs to allow Yorke and Greenwood to work their magic before adding his own layers of guitar work to the mix in the way that George Harrison had done for the Beatles. “That’s the way that certain groups work, and that’s the dynamic,” O’Brien added. “My role in Radiohead was always to service these songs. They started off as Thom’s songs, and sometimes they became our songs, but other times they stayed as Thom’s songs. It was incredibly satisfying.”
Interestingly, O’Brien considers himself the mother of the band, opposite Yorke’s father role. “I’ve always been like his older brother,” he said. “Not anymore, but that was my role. I always say that he was like the dad of the band, and I’m the mum. My job was to always put my arm around him, and his job was to be Thom.”
In terms of guitar work, Yorke plays riffs and chord progressions, while O’Brien’s work is often comprised of sustained high notes. Take, for instance, the fading delayed notes on OK Computer’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’ or the similar tones found on Kid A’s ‘How to Disappear Completely’ or even the tremolo reverb sound on ‘Reckoner’ from In Rainbows.
So where Jonny Greenwood often takes the limelight when it comes to the guitarists of Radiohead with his complex fingerpicking and the earth-shattering guitar solos of their early output, and Thom Yorke is well known for a difficult riff or two, it is O’Brien’s sound that gives the Radiohead sound its layers of complexity.
With this in mind, it’s unsurprising to learn that O’Brien admires guitarists who don’t necessarily play traditional riffs but use the guitar in more inventive ways. He told Music Radar that he enjoys “people like Edge and Johnny Marr, all these amazing guitarists who were trying to do things that didn’t sound like the guitar.”
The key thing about guitarists like that for O’Brien is that they “put the song first”. Detailing further, he added, “The guitarists who were important for me were Johnny Marr and Edge, people like that, and Peter Buck and Andy Summers. They were great guitarists, but they weren’t lead guitarists. Again, everything they did was about the song. That’s where I came from, so I guess that’s where I naturally gravitate.”
And that’s precisely the beauty of Ed O’Brien. Radiohead would sound daft if he were to play as fast and ferociously as Greenwood and Yorke or rip into a Van Halen-style guitar solo. Instead, he understands that Radiohead songs next texture to elevate them into excellence. O’Brien plays for the song, not for himself, and that’s the sign of a master musician.
