Radiohead’s iconic album covers will go on display in a museum show called “This is What You Get”. The show will be on at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford from 8 August 2025 to 11 January 2026. Album artworks on display are those created by Stanley Donwood – his other art works will also be on show, as well as Thom Yorke, the Radiohead singer. There will be additional exhibits like notebooks never before seen by the public.
Radiohead are an English rock band created in 1985 in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The members are Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway. Since 1994, the band have worked with producer Nigel Goodrich and album cover artist Stanley Donwood. They signed to label EMI in 1991 and two years later released their debut album, “Pablo Honey” in 1993. Their debut song “Creep” was a success worldwide and it only increased in 1995 with their next release, album “The Bends”.
After further well-received albums, they released their fourth album “Kid A” (2000), which marked a move into other genres including a blend of electronic, jazz, classical and krautrock – a German experimental rock genre translating to “cosmic music”. After six albums with EMI, the group began releasing self produced albums, controversially releasing their seventh album for download only, where fans would pay however much they wanted. There was no lead single though multiple songs from the album still got played on the radio. The album received barely any promotion yet it was still widely successful. Now they are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being inducted in 2019.
Due to their success and contributions to the rock genre, it’s no surprise that their artworks are iconic too. Having worked with Stanley Donwood, the same album designer since 1994, the artworks will be available to see at the show.
In an interview whilst talking about “Kid A”, Donwood said, “So Thom rented a place in an old warehouse in Bath afterwards, and we got a load of massive canvases and a load of paint brought in. And I hadn’t painted since I was doing A-level art or something. Me and Thom were up all night making loads of covers for Kid A. But it wasn’t called Kid A. They all said “Radiohead” on them, but they all had different titles. I don’t know, 20, 30, 40 different covers with titles.”
The sheer amount of time put into one album cover shows just why the designs are still iconic to this day, warranting such an exhibit as the one to be shown next year. It’s no surprise that in 2001, Donwood won a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for his limited edition cover of album “Amnesiac”.
The museum exhibit will be on 8 August 2025 to 11 January 2026 at Ashmolean Museum in Oxford – more information can be found here. Tickets go on sale April 2025.
