Enregistrement : 1992
Premier live : 9 novembre 1992
Sortie sur Single : fin janvier 1993
Sortie sur album : 22 février 1993 (Pablo Honey)
Tournage d’un clip : courant 1993
Sortie sur single (version live) : 7 août 1995
Dernier live : 28 juillet 1996 (Big Day Out ’96, Galway )

Second single du groupe, Anyone Can Play Guitar a commencé à asseoir leur succès. Comme tous les premiers hits, la chanson, avec le recul, peut sembler un peu désuète et passée au niveau du son, mais elle n’en reste pas moins un hymne pour beaucoup de monde. Les paroles sont certes un peu naïves, mais pleines de sens.

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] octobre 1992 [/button]

Le prochain album est enregistré, et la chanson est annoncée comme premier single de celui-ci.

[quote cite=”Melody Maker, 10 octobre 1992″]The first Radiohead album has already been recorded. thom describes it as, “ Very diverse. A learning experience.” it’ll be preceded by another EP, the lead track of which will probably be “Anyone Can Play Guitar” – a superb, surging song based around radiohead’s healthy contempt for all the self-worshipping false messiahs of rock.
Sadly, we’ll probably have to wait until the New Year to hear it. As thom says, “we don’t want to be competing with the Cliff Richard Christmas single – even though we’re spending his money! Thanks, Cliff!”[/quote]

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 9 novembre 1992 [/button]
Premier live de la chanson, au Wulfrun Hall de Wolverhampton.

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] fin janvier 1993 [/button]
La chanson sort sur le single du même nom, tel un “teaser” pour le nouvel album à paraître.

Le single reçoit bonne presse… il atteint même la 32ème place des ventes en Angleterre (c’est la première fois que le groupe se classe dans le Top 40). Toutefois, BBC1 ne passera pas la chanson sur ses ondes.

Le Melody Maker en fait son “single de la semaine” la semaine de la sortie :

[quote cite=”Melody Maker, 25 janvier 1993″]WITH this multi-faceted gem, Radiohead’s star status will surely be assured. That’ll be a nice irony, because “Anyone Can Play Guitar” is essentially about rock stardom, and the sorry mental state of most of these who dedicate their lives to its pursuit.
The irony doesn’t end there. Thom Yorke’s ingenious lyric acknowledges the distance between rock rhetoric and reality – “…And if the worm does turn, and if London burns / I’ll be standing on a beach with my guitar” – but the sound of the song is vibrant and urgent enough to leave you feeling like music is the most vital thing in the world.
It’s well worth sticking around for the bonus tracks, too. “Faithless, The Wonder Boy” is a sweet, lilting little number spiked with chemical references and desperate anguish, while “Coke Babies” alternately drifts dreamily by and explodes into violent storms of shimmering guitar noise.
So now we know for sure that the mighty “Creep” was no fluke – and I’M left counting the weeks to the release of this priceless band’s debut album. Not long to go now, thankfully.[/quote]

La chanson permet même au groupe de faire son premier passage à la télévision, le 28 janvier, sur ITV dans l’émission “The Beat” :

Ca marche même relativement bien en dehors de l’Angleterre :

[quote cite=”Colin Greenwood, Lime Lizard, avril 1993″]Anyone can play Guitar’ is very popular over there. We’re not doing too badly in the US either. We’ve outsold Suede – though maybe they’re only on import – and we’re number one on the college radio request chart – and again it’s all down to the fact that it’s been played on the radio – unlike this country.
[/quote]

Et Thom est régulièrement interrogé sur ses paroles :

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / NME, 13 février 1993″]“The song is an attack on people who think that growing their hair long and wearing tight leather trousers constitutes being a rock star – and God, it doesn’t. It’s such an easy way to market yourself.”

And what does it take, then?

“Songs, ideas, thought… all the things that you’re not expected to have. Also, connecting yourself with an audience is really important. Like, Bowie, he would stand there and strike all these poses. And everything would be-really mannered and clever but… you knew he was just clever. When you become a caricature of yourself, it’s time to give up.”

Which is why Jim Morrison is given a tough time in the new single and video?

“Well, Jim Morrison was a bimbo. He was great looking and stuff and took loads of drugs and girls loved him, but his poetry just f—ing sucked. The day they brought out a book of his poetry, it was all over. It‘s not art, it’s pop music.”[/quote]

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / Magnet Magazine, septembre 1993”]It’s kind of a song about being in a band. Sort of all the positive and negative sides at the same time. And also, it’s a reaction against, um, hair bands. People that wear leather trousers and therefore think that when they come offstage they’re entitled to a blow job because they’re in a band and all that sort of thing. We still meet people in bands who are living out this rock and roll legend thing that just DIED years ago. If people are still living it out then they obviously need to go into therapy or something. So there’s all that side of it. But there’s also the really positive side of being in a band, and, just really honest, we really enjoy it.[/quote]

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 22 février 1993 [/button]
La chanson figure sur le nouvel album Pablo Honey.

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 4 juillet 1993 [/button]
Pour l’émission ‘MTV Beach House’, le groupe enregistre la chanson au bord d’une piscine… La prestation est mémorable…

En fait, presque aussi mémorable que le clip tourné officiellement par Dwight Clark, dans une piscine justement…

Ed lui-même en rira plus tard :

[quote cite=”Ed O’Brien / NME, 21 juin 1997″]ED’S DAD sounds like a great bloke. He rates Primal Scream, reads the music press and rips the piss out of old Radiohead videos. He actually throws parties, bringing all of his mates around for a few beers, for some banter and the inevitable rerun of the ‘Pop Is Dead’ promo. That’s his favourite.
“What’s going on there, then?” he’ll ask his boy, jabbing at the remote control switch. “You call that a music video? So why is there a lizard in that scene? Explain it to me.” He rewinds the tape just for the hell of it, thoroughly enjoying himself, as his guests chortle at the grand pretentiousness of it all.
“Look. A lizard. Call yourself an O’Brien? Do you, son?”[/quote]

En 2011, Adam Buxton, un proche du groupe, tourne un peu partout dans le monde avec une soirée spéciale autour de radiohead le “Radiohead Bug Show” où sont réunis des fans et des membres du groupe (en vidéoconférence le plus souvent) à qui on présente des vieilles vidéos, des enregistrements exclusifs… Lors d’une ces soirées, Adam (AB) passe le vieux clip d’Anyone Can Play Guitar, et ça fait réagir Jonny Greenwood (JG) :

[quote cite=’The Bug Radiohead Show 2011/2012‘ align=’none’]JG: I used to shop at miss Selfridges really, i actually did
AB: Lot of styling going on, i assume you were heavily styled for this right?
JG: Oh god.
AB: Look at this Lizard guys! Phil’s got a lizard! Oh that lizard was crazy
AB: So these were commissioned by er, who was it commissioned by?[/quote]

[button icon=’iconic-cd’ fullwidth=’true’] 7 août 1995 [/button]
Une version live (enregistrée le 24 mars 1995 au Kentish Town Forum, Londres) de la chanson figure sur le single Just CD2.