Radiohead ARE a curious case. The guitar-driven band of five pale ex-college boys from Oxford were originally written off by the music press, but when their single, Creep, was a Top 40 hit in the US, revisionists queued up to hail them as the Next Big Thing. Creep, which flopped in Britain when it was first released, was promptly re-released and made it into the Top 10.

Next year could see them fulfil their dream to break through at home; they have already done so in the States where their progress has a fairy-tale ring to it: sales of their debut album, Pablo Honey, have already passed the half-million mark.

Americans love their Englishness or what lead guitarist (and chief musical talent) Jonny Greenwood has called their 'classic English angst pop'. And then there was that song, Creep, an anthem of self-loathing with lyrics that fans sing along to: 'I wish I was special/You're so f***ng special/And I'm a creep/I'm a weirdo.'

Music critics have detected shades of early U2, REM, the Stone Roses and the Hollies. A typical Radiohead song opens in a nonchalant sort of way before the guitars crunch in and whip up a storm. On tour in Britain this month with James, they came across as a formidable live act, with Thom E Yorke, the lead vocalist, making a natural front-man, complete with tousled mop of bleached hair and seriously angry attitude.

They met at Abingdon school, formed in 1991, signed to Parlophone, and spent a busy 1992 touring, usually as a support band. To date, they've proved reluctant to play the role of pop stars: the band make a point of avoiding hard drugs and claim they don't sleep with groupies. Rhythm guitarist Ed O'Brien told Melody Maker: 'It might be all right in a Guns N' Roses video, but it's not for us. We're quite a moral band, you know.'

That they crave recognition back home is not in doubt. 'I'm still upset that no one seems to care about us in Britain,' said Yorke recently. He's already been proved wrong there, to judge by their reception at the Brixton Academy this month. With a second album scheduled for release in the summer, Radiohead could find themselves in rock's first division before the end of 1994.