Radiohead — Headless Chickens Studio, Abingdon

Radiohead formed at Abingdon School, a boys' independent school in the Oxfordshire market town of Abingdon-on-Thames, where Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Phil Selway were all pupils in the mid-1980s. The band originally called themselves On a Friday, a reference to the only day they could rehearse. Yorke and the Greenwood brothers grew up in and around Abingdon, and the town's quiet middle-England character — neither city nor village — runs through the alienation and anxiety that defines Radiohead's music.

After graduation the members dispersed to different universities before regrouping in Oxford, signing to Parlophone, and releasing 'Creep' in 1992. The band's trajectory from that self-loathing breakthrough single to the experimental art-rock of OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), and beyond represents one of the most sustained creative evolutions in rock music. Yorke and the Greenwoods remained rooted in the Oxford area even as the band became globally significant.

Abingdon School is still an active independent school and is not open to public visitors in its general campus. The town of Abingdon is a pleasant market town south of Oxford on the Thames. Radiohead devotees often visit the broader Oxford area — the band has deep connections to the city — including Jericho, where Yorke lived, and the Oxford venues where they played early shows.