At first Radiohead seemed to be the one hit wonder due to the success of the song Creep, but now Radiohead have proliferated themselves as one of the best live acts in the UK. The second album, The Bends, is heaps better than the inconstant debut album Pablo Honey.

"Don't mind me, I'm in a lousy mood" - a meeting with Thom Yorke in Chicago..

The first thing Thom says is "we don't have to have our picture taken, do we ? - I can't think of anything worse than posing for a picture right now. I'd rather have my four wisdom teeth removed.

For four weeks now Radiohead have been touring the US and the flu has gotten the better of the members of Radiohead. This morning in Chicago, I came accross Colin Greenwood who was walking round the streets of Chicago. We went looking for a place to have some breakfast and in between the most awful fits of coughing, he told me that the four walls of the touring bus were starting to close in on him. It is so oppressing living in that tour bus, that once we get back home, I can't get to sleep anymore. I have to readjust myself to the space and fresh air.

Besides this, the tour is going well. The gigs are sold out and the crowd likes the new songs. Next week they are returning to the quietness of Oxford, but next summer, they are going back to the States for their 10th tour as the support act for Alanis Morissette.

Colin takes out a voluminous book :"A historical study : the collapse of British power. I'm working on my knowledge of history", he tells me - again he bursts into a fit of coughing which nearly kills him. Thom's health is just as bad. He sits ensconced in the corner of the dressing room, nervous for tonights performance. He's wearing a large leather coat. His red hair is covered by an enormous wollen cap. "There's a television crew that will record tonights performance. A lot of nice people live in Chicago, people who have become very good friends of us".

How is the tour coming along ?

Oh, it's so difficult. I just feel like a politician at the election campaign. Vote for me ! What I'm doing has nothing to do with vulnerable emotions. I'm here to sell pieces of plastic with a diameter of 12 cms.

Can you bring out these emotions on stage ?

Yes, I try to save my emotions during the day. So that I still have some left at night. That's why I'm wearing the cap. To protect myself from the outside world.

But what are you doing it all for then ?

I'm here to prove that we have fans, a lot of fans. So that we get enough money to make our new album. If you're not big in America, you don't get a decent budget to make a new album. It's as simple as that. You can be number 1 for weeks in the UK, but that doesn't make an impression on the music industry.

What are the plans for the new album ?

I want to be able to work at it as long as possible. Preferably a year. I want to have the freedom to work at it until we feel it's finished.

Do you prefer to be recording in the studio to performing live on stage ?

No, generally speaking not. But at this tour, I feel as though I've left a larger part of myself at home. The gigs aren't going bad though. But I'd rather be at home, writing new numbers. I feel as though I've broken both my arms and I have to lie in plaster for five weeks.

Do you hate America ?

Well, no. Of course I'm fascinated in one way or the other by America, but I don't know why. If I'm at home, America sounds romantic, but when I'm here, that feeling of being in love disappears. Elvis Costello told me that he had toured the States 14 times before his real breakthrough came. You really get depressed when you hear something like that. I ofter get these panic attacks when I'm here in America. Like, hey, I'm talking to a Barbie doll. But hey, don't mind me, I'm in a lousy mood.

What was the best thing that happened this year ?

That all our equipment got stolen in Denver. That was unreal. We got a lot of money from the insurance to buy nice new things. Touring with REM was also great. REM is the living proof that you can get famous without being a prat. That has reassured me.

What was this years worse experience ?

The Brit awards. A complete and utter disgusting charade. Yes of course it pissed me off that Oasis got loads of awards and we got none. But it was worse than that `cos I realised for the first time what kind of business the music industry is. I was sitting there in a world of ugly men in suits, who were accompanied by women that weren't their wives and who were wearing a cocktail dress that didn't fit properly. All bands were so far gone that they didn't have a clue as to what they were saying. Very humiliating.

Do you feel that The Bends has been underappreciated, that you deserved to win a few awards ?

No, not underestimated. The reviews on The Bends were incredibly good - so good that I was a bit embarrased. Nothing sensible was written about the album. All journalists picked their brains to come up with the weirdest superlatives. Well, that's a bit over the top. The Bends is a nice album, but you don't have to shove it down people's throats. If they like it, they'll buy it, you don't need all that sucking up to the press stuff. It's hard for me to respect the members of the press, especially the american journalists. Do you know the celebrity magazine People? If you read that, you don't get a lot wiser, all that's in there are stories like: this popstar is incredibly famous and this week he is getting it on with this and that famous actrice. Thank God we never do interviews like that.

From the Radiohead mailing list on the internet, I got the impression that American fans are a lot more hysterical than the ones in the rest of the world. They even have your autographs tattoed on their arms.

It only seems like that. Americans just write more on the internet. They are ahead by 5 years. I think that we still have pretty normal fans. Kids and youths, men and women and older couples. Thank God no drunken lunatics who jump on each other, beat each other up or throw up on each other. When I see a mosher, I'd rather walk off stage.

Did you use to dream about success ?

I dunno what I dreamt of. Yes, I would've loved to play the guitar, to become a guitarist in a good band. I never thought about becoming a singer. But I was the only one who wrote songs, so I had to sing.

Still - you are a great singer.

Oh. (Thom is startled by the compliment - it's like making music is such a perssonal thing for him, with which nobody else should interfere. When The Bends came out a year ago, we met in Amsterdam. Then he said: each time someone starts to interfere, it turns out to be a disaster. Record companies, managers, I prefer it that they keep their mouths shut)

The 5 lads from Oxford once started a band to have a certain stability in life. This stability meant : rehersals every Friday night. A name for the band was quickly found: On a Friday. They messsed around for a few years until Creep became an enormous hit in 1993.

Guitarist Ed is a nice, down to earth kind of guy. He says things like : sometimes we do gigs that are that good that suddenly I think: it is not that strange that we have made it this far.

Drummer Phil Selway is the oldest member of the band. He doesn't look like a popstar at all. Often fans mistake him for the roadie of the band. Out of sympathy, Japanese fans have founded a special fanclub under the name of Phil is great. This fanclub has 3 members.

Colin Greenwood is the merriest guy in Radiohead. He doesn't seem to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Contrary to his brother Jonny. Jonny is the musical genius, the guitar God. The mystery. He refuses to answer my questions and makes sure that he doesn't come in my vicinity. As a child he played the violin. He is a music freak. He wears some kind of massage aparatus round his wrist with which he can produce the weirderst sounds out of his guitar. On stage, he also has keyboards at his disposal. That Jonny is gay and the rumours that he has left Radiohead to go and play zith the Red Hot Chili Peppers are not true.

Then there's Thom Yorke, the man with the golden voice. He hasn't had a happy childhood. He's tortured by his weak health. He was born with one eye he could't open. He had to undergo surgery and although he can see perfectly well with that eye, this operation wasn't a complete success.

Thom: "I hate it when things go too smooth. The creative process can only work in a state of panic. If you are completely relaxed, it is absolutely impossible to perform. The best things evolve out of tension and stress."

If everything is going so smoothly within the band, do you try to disrupt this relaxed feeling ?

Yes, people in my surroundings often say that I need to see a shrink, but I don't want to. The only therapy I need is RH. I couldn't want to live without the stress.

Should Radiohead cease to exist, would you fall into a great black hole ?

No, I don't worry about that. I'm proud of what we have done, but I only have this feeling of proudness just recently. Only when The Bends was finished, I thought: yes! Finally I made it.

What did you do before Creep ?

I was studying at the arts college together with my best friend, who still does the artwork for us.

What did you do at college ?

Not much, I couldn't paint. I'm a bit clumsy. I did a few things on the computer, but most of the time I was busy bragging about my future as a popstar. My sketchbooks were full of lyrics and designs for record sleeves.

Is that where the sentence: I wish I was special comes from ?

No, the song is about adoration of people for real stars. The ridiculous attention of Hollywood for famous people. It is becoming kind of a theme in my work, this horrible entertainment industry. Have you ever tried to watch CNN? It is supposed to be a television station that brings you newsupdates, but 80% is about ads for new products that nobody wants to buy or about who's sleeping with whom or that actor has been casted for this film and will earn that much money. CNN is a television channel which refuses to bring the news and the people don't seem to mind. I think that is all pretty alarming. I wish I was special is as far as I'm concerned about people who'd love to be in the magazine "People". In that piece of trash about people with plastic surgery and champagne parties.

But the tragedy is that you are a popstar too now ?

I don't feel that's a tragedy. I think of it as my privilege to be able to show how ridiculous it all is. If people don't want to hear it, they can always switch off the radio.