Manic Hedgehog

Manic Hedgehog Tapes, also known as Manic Hedgehog or simply First Tapes, was the first release from Radiohead. At the time, the band was known as “On A Friday”. This was intended to be a demo tape, and was the last demo tape of the band’s career.

While performing around Oxford, a man named Chris Hufford, the co-owner of Courtyard Studios, attended a show. Impressed by On A Friday’s work, Hufford, along with Bryce Edge, helped them produce this demo tape, and are still managers of Radiohead to this day. First Tapes was recorded in October of 1991. It was dubbed “Manic Hedgehog” from the Oxford shop that sold the tape. After the tape’s release in late 1991, the band’s bassist, Colin Greenwood met with EMI and got them a record contract. Soon after, EMI asked that they change their band name, and they decided on Radiohead, after a Talking Heads song.

The tape included five songs, three of which (“I Can’t”, “Thinking About You”, and “You”) would be re-recorded and make an appearance on their debut album. The others, “Nothing Touches Me” and “Phillipa Chicken”, would not be released from the band again. As the band had yet to become well known, copies of Manic Hedgehog is hard to track down, and usually demand very high prices. This is a crucial release to understand the band’s history, as it’s a part of what got Radiohead to where they are today.