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  • Comment: The article needs proper sourcing.
    Notability of a song should be independent of the album it was released on. Most of the sources talk about the album, but not of the song.
    The Parlophone sources are not independent from the artists.
    The Randall 2000 reference is nor properly sourced. Itzcuauhtli11 (talk) 16:22, 28 June 2025 (UTC)

"Anyone Can Play Guitar"
Single by Radiohead
from the album Pablo Honey
B-side
  • "Faithless, the Wonder Boy"
  • "Coke Babies"
Released1 February 1993
Recorded1992
GenreRock[1]
Composer(s)Radiohead
Lyricist(s)Thom Yorke
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Creep"
(1992)
"Anyone Can Play Guitar"
(1993)
"Pop Is Dead"
(1993)

"Anyone Can Play Guitar" is a song by English rock band Radiohead, released as the second single from their debut studio album Pablo Honey.

Composition and lyrics

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The line "Grow my hair, I wanna be Jim Morrison" is a reply to people in the music industry who, according to Yorke "think they have to act like fucking prats in order to live up to the legend".[2]

Recording

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"Anyone Can Play Guitar" is unique for the way the band recorded it, as they gathered every person they could into the studio, those being the band, the producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, the owner of the studio, and the cook, they were told to play guitars with anything they wanted, as Kolderie explained: "The idea was to live up to the title: anyone can play guitar".[3] Jonny Greenwood started hitting his guitar with a paintbrush.[4]

Release and reception

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"Anyone Can Play Guitar" was released as a single on 1 February 1993, and was also included on the band's debut album, Pablo Honey. Guitar.com described the track as a "brilliantly daft slice of early-90s bombast."[5] Vulture critic Marc Hogan ranked it 66 of all the band's songs, stating that "There’s a naiveté here that would understandably cause today’s Radiohead to blush".[6] Consequence of Sound critic Dan Caffrey ranked it 129 out of all their songs, stating that song's "triple-axe attack has more snarl than Yorke’s criticism of Jim Morrison. A slightly better-than-average cut (but only slightly) from the band’s grungier days".[7] Authour Dan Caffery stated it is a "achieves the greatest sense of subversiveness by taking down the myth of the rock 'n' roll messiah", calling it an "archetype Yorke himself would one day embody in the eyes of his most ardent fans".[8] "Anyone Can Play Guitar" was included as the eleventh track of the second disk on the special edition of Radiohead: The Best Of.[9]

Track listings

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All tracks written by Radiohead.

| class="col-break col-break-2" |

  1. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" – 3:38
  2. "Faithless, the Wonder Boy" – 4:13
  3. "Coke Babies" – 2:59
  1. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" – 3:12
  2. "Faithless, the Wonder Boy" – 4:14
  • Australian Digipack EP[14]
  1. "Anyone Can Play Guitar"  – 3:24
  2. "Creep"  – 3:57
  3. "Pop Is Dead"  – 2:12
  4. "Thinking About You (EP version)"  – 2:17
  5. "Killer Cars (live)"  – 2:15
  • New Zealand cassette single[15]
  1. "Anyone Can Play Guitar"  – 3:24
  2. "Creep"  – 3:57

|}

Credits and personnel

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Credits are adapted from the UK CD liner notes:[11]

Radiohead

Technical

  • Sean Slade – production, engineering; mixing
  • Paul Q. Kolderie – production, engineering; mixing
  • James Warren – engineer, producer
  • Chris Hufford – engineer, producer

Artwork

  • Icon – design
  • Tom Sheehan – photography
  • Lisa Bunny Jones – painting ("Goo Goo")

Charts

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Documentary film

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The title of the song was also used for a 2010 documentary of the same name about the the music scene in Oxford after 1978, mainly focusing on the years after 1978 until 2007.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Every Radiohead Album Ranked From Worst To Best". Mojo. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  2. ^ Fortnam, Ian (1992). "Paranoid Android?". Prog.
  3. ^ Randall 2000, p. 74.
  4. ^ Runtagh, Jordan (22 February 2018). "Radiohead's 'Pablo Honey': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  5. ^ "The Genius Of… Pablo Honey by Radiohead". Guitar.com | All Things Guitar. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  6. ^ Hogan, Marc (13 May 2016). "I Might Be Wrong: Every Radiohead Song, Ranked". Vulture. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  7. ^ "Ranking: Every Radiohead Song from Worst to Best". Consequence. 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  8. ^ Cafferty 2021, p. 167.
  9. ^ "The Best of Radiohead [Special Edition] - Radiohead: Album info on AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
  10. ^ Anyone Can Play Guitar (12" vinyl liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1 February 1993. 12R 6333.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ a b Anyone Can Play Guitar (CD liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1 February 1993. CDR 6333, 7243 8 80444 2 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ Anyone Can Play Guitar (Cassette liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1 February 1993. 7243 8 80444 4 8, T-CR 6333.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Anyone Can Play Guitar (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. Netherlands: Parlophone. 1993. 7243 8 80747 2 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ Anyone Can Play Guitar (EP Digipack liner notes). Radiohead. Australia: Parlophone. 1994. 8812842.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ Anyone Can Play Guitar (Cassette single liner notes). Radiohead. New Zealand: Parlophone. 1994. 8812844.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 10 Jul 1994". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  17. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  18. ^ "Fans fund independent music film Anyone Can Play Guitar" "BBC Introducing", 24 September 2010, accessed 8 December 2010

Sources

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  • Caffery, Dan (2021). Radiohead FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the World's Most Famous Cult Band. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781493053971.
  • Randall, Mac (2000). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. New York: Delta Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 0-385-33393-5.