On a Friday – Final name: Radiohead
Radiohead first came together when they were high school students at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England. They would rehearse every week after school on Friday nights, inspiring them to call themselves On a Friday. The band didn’t play too frequently (probably because they were only practicing once a week), but then, in the early ’90s, they became regulars on the Oxford circuit.
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They even made a demo, which featured future Radiohead songs like “Prove Yourself,” “You,” and “Thinking About You.” The demo wasn’t a hit, but it did catch the attention of EMI records, who not only signed the band but suggested they get a better name. All of the group members were huge fans of the Talking Heads, so they named themselves after the band’s obscure 1986 song Radio Head, and the rest is history.