An early and very rare Radiohead cassette demo of a track entitled Gripe from 1987 or 1988 is to be auctioned off later this month and is expected to fetch up to €4,000.
The song was recorded by the band were still known as On a Friday and will be part of Omega Auctions' Punk and Indie Auction on January 26th.
A guide price of €2,247 has been quoted but bidding has already reached €4000).
The cassette demo includes an inlay card designed by Radiohead front man Thom Yorke, with three songs titled These Are the Chains, Body in a Box and Promise Me.
The tape was given to the seller, who wishes to remain anonymous, by a member of the band.
The auction house description reads:
"Demo cassette from 1987/88 entitled "Gripe" with Thom designed inlay card. Thom has written on the cassette "Gripe + 3 trax at beginning" and then on the inlay card he has written on the inside "Before the ones overleaf are the following (most recent recordings 1989) Promise Me (Thom), Body(?) in a box (Colin/Thom), These are the Chains (Thom).
"These 3 tracks are previously unheard and undocumented and in addition to these are the tracks Happy Song, To Be A Brilliant Light and Sinking Ship which are detailed on the red inlay card."
A pre-fame Radiohead were known as On A Friday after the day of the week when they rehearsed when they met and formed at school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
Reports say that the early demo was recorded after they left school, but before they were signed to EMI in 1991.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said of the demo: "The tracks are raw but certainly suggest something of the fantastic potential that the band would realise in a few years’ time."
An even earlier demo by On a Friday from 1986 and featuring schoolmate Raz Peterson on saxophone is also available on YouTube.
Radiohead recently put a signed hat worn by Yorke in the band’s Lotus Flower music video up for sale on eBay. The hat, which sold for over £8,000, was raising money for Cahonas Scotland and Testicular Cancer Education and Awareness.
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