2001–2005: Formation, Young Liars, and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes The first release from TV on the Radio (initially just founding members Adebimpe and Sitek) was the self-published
OK Calculator (the title being a reference to
Radiohead's 1997 album,
OK Computer). They were later joined by Kyp Malone and released the
Young Liars EP in 2003. This was followed by the full-length
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, which earned the band the 2004
Shortlist Music Prize. They released a second EP,
New Health Rock, later that year.
2006–2007: Return to Cookie Mountain The band's second album,
Return to Cookie Mountain, leaked in early 2006 and garnered pre-release praise from
Pitchfork Media before its official release in July. The record was released in the US and Canada in September by
Interscope.
Spin magazine named
Return to Cookie Mountain its Album of the Year for 2006. The record features guest appearances by
David Bowie, Omega Moon,
Celebration,
Dragons of Zynth,
Martin Perna and
Stuart D. Bogie of
Antibalas,
Blonde Redhead, and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. Bowie contributed back-up vocals on the song "Province". In promotion of the album, the band performed "
Wolf Like Me" on the
Late Show with David Letterman, which has garnered over two million views on
YouTube. During the US tour, TVOTR performed a few covers with
Bauhaus vocalist,
Peter Murphy, and
Nine Inch Nails frontman,
Trent Reznor.
2008–2010: Dear Science The band's third album,
Dear Science, was released on September 23, 2008. It was made available for streaming on their
Myspace page and subsequently leaked onto the internet on September 6, 2008. The album debuted at No. 12 on
Billboard, which was the band's highest chart position of their career.
The Guardian,
Spin,
The A.V. Club,
MTV,
Entertainment Weekly,
Pitchfork Medias readers' poll, as well as the
Pazz and Jop critic's poll. It was also named the second best album of 2008 by
NME and the fourth best by
Planet Sound. On September 22, 2008, TV on the Radio performed "Dancing Choose" on the
Late Show with David Letterman. They also appeared on
Later... with Jools Holland on September 30, 2008, performing "
Golden Age" and "Dancing Choose", which were the same songs they performed on
Saturday Night Live on February 7, 2009. The band performed "Dancing Choose" again on the February 9, 2009, episode of
The Colbert Report. On September 3, 2009,
Tunde Adebimpe announced that TV on the Radio would be taking a year-long hiatus. Guitarist
Kyp Malone's solo album, under the name Rain Machine, was released on September 22, 2009, on
ANTI-. A solo album by
Dave Sitek,
Maximum Balloon, was released August 24, 2010, and featured a variety of guest vocals by many of his musician friends, such as
Karen O,
David Byrne, and both of his TVOTR vocalist bandmates. In addition, Sitek produced
Holly Miranda's album ''
The Magician's Private Library'', which also featured fellow TVOTR members Jaleel Bunton and Kyp Malone. In March 2010, Tunde Adebimpe designed a charity t-shirt for the
Yellow Bird Project to raise money for Haiti Relief via
Partners in Health.
2011–2013: Nine Types of Light and death of Gerard Smith On February 7, 2011, the band announced an end to their hiatus, along with an upcoming fourth album.
Nine Types of Light was released on April 12, 2011, along with a one-hour film under the same name, containing music videos for all the songs on the album, as well as interviews with various New Yorkers. The film was directed by different directors under Adebimpe's supervision. It was announced in March 2011 that the band's bassist, Gerard Smith, was diagnosed with lung cancer. On April 20, 2011, the band announced Smith's death on their homepage: "We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly." In May 2013, TVOTR headlined and curated the
All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, held at Pontins holiday camp in
Camber Sands, England, at which they debuted the new song "Mercy". They began streaming the studio version of "Mercy" online on July 30, 2013, and released the song for sale at digital music outlets a short time later. They also made the multitracks from "Mercy" available to fans so they could make their own remixes. The next single, "Million Miles", was released digitally a few months later.
2013–2024: Seeds and hiatus On November 8, 2013, via their Facebook page, the band announced they were at work on a new album. They made an official announcement on July 29, 2014, that this new album, titled
Seeds, was scheduled for a late 2014 release. In early 2015, it was announced that TVOTR would perform at the Shaky Knees and Boston Calling Music Festivals in May. On April 9, 2015, the band announced a 2015 North American summer tour to promote the new record. The tour began in May and included a concert at the
Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 27.
2024–present: Return to touring In September 2024, the band announced that they would be performing their first shows in five years and re-issuing their debut album for its twentieth anniversary, with ten performances announced for November and December 2024. Dave Sitek did not join TVOTR on these tour dates, though he remains a member of the band. Adebimpe noted: "He's just not touring. Everyone does what's healthiest for them at this point." TVOTR are set to tour throughout the summer of 2025. ==Style and influences==