Yorke experiments with the song’s famous “rain down” refrain, testing out his range with mixed results. ‘Paranoid Android’ on MD115 begins with Yorke laughing in the studio, before some mad Philip Selway drumming arrives. Yorke’s line “keep breathing, don’t lose your nerve” on MD125 sounds like a sigh of relief, as does “rules and wisdom, choke you.” This is the sound of a new Radiohead taking shape. By MD125 the ‘Poison’ lyrics are discarded and ‘Exit Music’ is born, confident and assured, unlike the tentative ‘Poison’ which ends abruptly and feels abandoned. On MD112 is a sample of, as York has scrawled across the disk, the “amazing drums for Exit Music”. “There’ll come a time,” he dejectedly sings. Radiohead were morphing from the indie grunge of The Bends into something more artistic and experimental, and the nerves that come with the change in direction show. “There’s no tomorrow”, he repeats, perhaps hinting at how overwhelmed he was by the pressures of incessant touring, and the gravity of knowing the band might forever be defined by the outcome of this album. “I’m no good, I am poison,” sings Yorke, urging someone to “leave me be.” It’s dystopian, too.

The melody is more or less intact, but with none of the eerie orchestrals and unsettling background noises that appear in the finished song. Perhaps most striking are the self-loathing lyrics. ‘Poison’ is the origin of ‘Exit Music (For a Film)’. ‘Poison’ on MD111, ‘Exit Music’ on MD112, MD125 It is the blueprint of one of the greatest albums ever, and these are our favourite moments: The evolution of ‘Poison’ into ‘Exit Music’ So what’s Radiohead: Minidiscs (Hacked) like? Well, a treasure trove that echoes The Beach Boys’ ‘Smile’ sessions, and is one of the most comprehensive behind-the-scenes releases of Radiohead’s career.

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