CHAPTERS: 01 02 03
THE ARTIST BEHIND THE MADNESS RADIOHEAD + MUSIC CAREER ACTIVISM: THE POWER OF MEDIA ATTRACTION
CHAPTER 01:
THE ARTIST BEHIND THE MADNESS
INSIDE THE MIND OF THOM YORKE BORN IN OCTOBER 7th 1968 IN WELLINGBOROUGH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. THOMAS EDWARD YORKE IS BEST KNOWN AS THE LEAD SINGER OF ENGLISH ALTERNATIVE ROCK BAND RADIOHEAD AND HAS RECORDED AS A SOLO ARTIST. HE CURRENTLY RESIDES IN CENTRAL OXFORD WITH HIS PARTNER RACHAEL OWEN AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN NOAH AND AGNES. AT
BIRTH, HIS LEFT EYE WAS FIXED SHUT AND UNTIL TO AGE OF SIX HE HAD TO UNDER GO SEVERAL SURGURIES, THE LAST OF WHICH HE HAS CLAIMED WAS “BOTCHED” GIVING HIM HIS RECOGNISABLE DROOPING EYELID. YORKE’S FATHER WAS A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST AND LATER A CHEMICAL EQUIPMENT SALESMAN WHOSE JOB REQUIRED HIM TO TRAVEL AROUND THE COUNTRY
FREQUENTLY. AT AGE TEN, THE YORKE FAMILY FINALLY SETTLED IN OXFORDSHIRE. FROM A YOUNG AGE HE ALWAYS HAD AN INTEREST IN MUSIC AND BY AGE OF TEN HE HAD JOINED HIS FIRST BAND, ‘ON A FRIDAY’, AT THE PUBLIC ABINGDON SCHOOL FOR BOYS. THIS BAND WOULD LATER BE NAMED RADIOHEAD. ON HIS TIME THERE, YORKE HAS SAID, “SCHOOL WAS BEARABLE FOR ME BECAUSE THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT WAS SEPARATE FROM THE REST OF THE SCHOOL. IT HAD PIANOS IN TINY BOOTHS, AND I USED TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME HANGING AROUND THERE AFTER SCHOOL”. HE FOUND SOLACE IN THE CONFINEMENT OF THE MUSIC
ROOMSAND THIS NOTION OF CONFINEMENT HAS BEEN A RUNNING THEME IN MANY OF HIS FUTURE WORKS. IN 1988, YORKE ATTENDED THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, STUDYING FINE ART AND ENGLISH. DURING HIS TIME THERE, HE WORKED AS A DJ AND PLAYED BRIEFLY WITH THE BANDS HEADLESS CHICKENS AND FLICKER NOISE. AT ONE POINT HE ALSO WORKED PART TIME AS AN ORDERLY AT PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL. IT WAS ALSO AROUND THIS TIME THAT HE MET STANLEY DONWOOD, AN ARTIST WHO WOULD BECOME A FUTURE COLLABORATOR, PROVIDING SINGLE AND ALBUM ARTWORK FOR RADIOHEAD ALBUM SUCH AS THE BENDS
“SCHOOL WAS BEARABLE FOR ME BECAUSE THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT WAS SEPARATE FROM THE REST”.
AND AMNESIAC, THE LATTER OF WHICH WON THE 2002 GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST RECORDING PACKAGE. IN 1987, YORKE AND HIS THEN GIRLFRIEND WERE INVOLVED IN A CAR CRASH. ALTHOUGH HE WAS UNHARMED, THE EXPERIENCE LED TO YORKE DEVELOPING A PHOBIA OF CARS, A SUBJECT HE WOULD LATER WRITE ABOUT IN SONGS SUCH AS “AIRBAG”, “KILLER CARS”, “STUPID CARS” AND “DRUNKK MACHINE”. AFTER COMPLETEING HIS COURSE, YORKE AND HIS BANDMATES RELOCATED TO OXFORD AND SIGNED TO PARALOPHONE RECORDS, BECOMING RADIOHEAD. IN 1991, ‘ON A FRIDAY’ REFORMED, RELOCATED TO OXFORD , SIGNED TO PARALOPHONE RECORDS AND CHANGED THEIR NAME TO RADIOHEAD (THE NAME TAKEN FROMA SONG ON THE TALKING HEAD’S ALBUM ‘TRUE STORIES’).
THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER IN RADIOHEAD, THE BAND HAVE WRITTEN AND RECORED EIGHT ALBUMS (WITH A CONFIRMED NINTH IN DEVELOPEMENT), AND SOLD OVER THIRTY MILLION ALBUMS WORLDWIDE. AS WELL AS BEING A FATHER, A HUSBAND AND THE LEAD SINGER OF RADIOHEAD, YORKE IS ALSO A PROFILIC ACTIVIST. HE IS OUTSPOKEN ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES, INCLUDING CARBON EMISSIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, WORKING WITH ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AND FRIENDS OF THE EARTH. WHILE RECORDING OF KING OF LIMBS, YORKE BECAME FASCINATED WITH, “MEDIATION, YOGA AND RUNNING”, A THREE POINT PLAN THAT HE CLAIMED ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE “PROPERLY OPEN-MINDED ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THE STUDIO.” HE FOUND THESE PRACTISES BENFICIAL
TO MORE JUST THE MUSICAL ASPECTS OF HIS LIFE, CLAIMING THAT “I’M NOT AS VOLATILE AS I USED TO BE, WHICH IS GOOD, ‘COS I’D HAVE BURNED OUT IF I WAS”. YORKE IS A MULTI-FACETED AND OFTEN CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER. A NUMBER OF CELEBRITIES HAVE BEEN UPSET BY YORKE’S ALLEGED RUDENESS. IN 2002, ACTOR JACK BLACK CLAIMED TO HAVE APPROACHED YORKE TO CONGULATE HIM ON HIS SOLO SHOW AT THE BRIDGE SCHOOL BENEFIT CONCERT IN SAN FRANSICO, ONLY FOR YORKE TO IGNORE HIM AND WALK AWAY.
REFERRING TO THE INCIDENT, BLACK STATED IN AN INTERVIEW: “I HEARD LATER THAT HE’S FAMOUSLY COLD, AND IT WASN’T JUST ME THAT HE DESPISES, BUT THE WHOLE WORLD.” SINGER RONAN KEATING HAS ALSO BEEN OUTSPOKEN ABOUT HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS THE RADIOHEAD SINGER, REFERRING TO YORKE AS A “MUPPET” AND “JUST AN IDIOT” AFTER THE BOYZONE STAR WAS APPARENTLY BLANKED AND IN THE SAME YEAR, MILEY CYRUS AND KANYE WEST ALSO COMPLAINED ABOUT YORKES ALLEGED RUDENESS.
“A MISERABLE TWAT” KELLLY JONES , ON THOM YORKE
CHAPTER 02:
RADIOHEAD + MUSIC CAREER
MUSICAL INSPIRATION YORKE HAS CITED A VARITYE OF PERSONAL AND MUSICAL HEROES AND BANDS THAT INFLUENCED HIS MUSICAL ABILITIES. YORKE RECIEVED HIS FIRST GUIATR AT THE AGE OF SEVEN WHEN INSPIRED BY A TELEVISED PERFORMANCE OF QUEEN GUITARIST BRIAN MAY. YORKE AND RADIOHEAD EARLY INFLUENCES SPREAD FROM A RNAGE OF MUSICAL GENRES THAT INCLUDE JAZZ COMPOSER AND BASSIST CHARLES MINGUS, NEIL YOUNG, MIRACLE LEIGON, SINGER SCOTT WALKER, ELECTRONIC ACTS APHEX TWIN AND AUTECHRE, AND KRAUTROCK BAND CAN. TALKING HEADS, QUEEEN , JOY DIVISION, MAGAZINE, ELVIS COSTELLO, THE SMITHS AND SONIC YOUTH. IN 2004, AT THE COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL, YORKE MENTIONED TO THE CROWD, “WHEN I WAS IN COLEGE, THE PIXIES AND R.E.M. CHANGED MY LIFE”, AND HE HAS
OFTEN MENTIONED BOTH BANDS AS INFLUETIAL EXAMPLES. HOWEVER THE MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS THAT INFLUECED YORKE AND RADIOHEAD DEVELOPED THROUGH THE YEARS. AS THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS STILL IN PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT OF WITH NEW STYLES OF DIRECTIONS TOWARDS CERTAIN GENRES OF MUSIC. ONE THE MAIN LATE INFLUENCES OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY, THAT REFLECTED WITHIN ALBUMS SUCH AS KID A AND ONWARDS, INCORPARATED MANY ELEMENTS OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC TO THEIR WORK. ON A RADIO SHOW IN 2003 TO PUBLICISE THE RELEASE OF HAIL TO THE THIEF, YORKE REMARKED THAT HE WOULD RATHER MAKE A RECORD JUST WITH A COMPUTER THAN ONLY AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR. HIS SOLO EFFORT THE ERASER FEAUTRED PIANO, BASS AND GUITAR BUT WAS BILUT PRIMARILY AROUND ELECTRONICS.
“WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE, THE PIXIES AND R.E.M. CHANGED MY LIFE”
MUSICAL ABILITIES APART FROM BEING A LEAD VOCALIST FOR RADIOHEAD, THOM YORKE HAS A RANGE OF OTHER MUSICAL ABILITIES THAT HE CONTRIBUTES TOWARDS THE BAND. AS A SINGER, YORKE IS RECONGISABLE BY HIS DISTINCTIVE TENOR VOICE, VIBRATO, FREQUENT USE OF FALSETTO TO REACH, AND SUSTAIN NOTES OVER A WIDE VOCAL RANGE. IN 1994, THE BAND WATCHED JEFF BUCKLEY IN CONCERT WHIHCED INFLUENCED YORKE’S VOCAL DELIVERY ON THE RECORD FAKE PLASTIC TREES. HOWEVER, YORKE HAS SAID, “IT ANNOYS ME HOW PRETTY MY VOICE IS...HOW POLITE IT CAN SOUND WHEN PERHAPS WHAT I’M SINGING IS DEEPLY ACIDIC. YORKE MAINLY PLAYS ACOUSTIC & ELECTRIC GUITAR AND PIANO. HE ALSO FEAUTRES IN CERTAIN RADIOHEAD SONGS WITH BASS AND PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT LIKE MARACAS, TAMBOURINE, PERCUSSION BLOACK AND MINI DRUM SETS. RECENTLY THE SINGER HAS BECOME INVOLVED
WITH ELECTRONIC/COMPUTERISED SAMPLED MUSIC AND DJING WITH CERTAIN MODERN ARTIST LIKE FLYING LOTUS. THIS NEW FOUND VOCATION FOR THIS STYLE MUSIC GENERE HAS TAKEN INFLUENCE WITHIN HIS OWN SOLO WORK AND EVEN WITHIN THE WORK OF RADIOHEAD. RECENT RADIOHEAD ALBUMS SUCH AS KING OF LIMBS, HAS BEEN NOTED FOR TAKING MORE OF AN ELECTRONIC DIRECTION TOWARDS IT. THIS IS DUE TO THE PARTICULAR MUSICAL INTEREST THE BAND WERE LISTENING TO DURING THE TIME OF RECORDING AND PRODUCING THE ALBUM. YORKE IS THE ONLY MEMBER OF RADIOHEAD THAT HAS NEVER LEARNED HOW TO READ MUSIC. YORKE SAID “IF SOMEONE LAYS THE NOTES ON A PAGE IN FRONT OF ME, IT’S MEANINGLESS...BECASUSE TO ME YOU CAN’T EXPRESS THE RHYTHMS PROPERLY LIKE THAT. ITS A VERY INEFFECTIVE WAY OF DOING IT, SO I’VE NEVER REALLY BOTHERED PICKING IT UP.”
“IT ANNOYS ME HOW PRETTY MY VOICE IS.. HOW POLITE IT CAN SOUND WHEN PERHAPS WHAT I’M SINGING IS DEEPLY ACIDIC.
RADIOHEAD THE MEMEBERS OF RADIOHEAD MET WHILE ATTENDING ABINGDON SCHOOL FOR BOYS IN OXFORDSHIRE. THOM YORKE AND COLIN GREENWOOD WERE IN THE SAME YEAR, ED O’BRIEN AND PHIL SELWAY WERE IN THE YEAR ABOVE AND JONNY GREENWOOD WAS TWO YEARS BELOW HIS BROTHER. IN 1985 THEY FORMED A BAND ‘ON A FRIDAY’, WITH THE NAME REFFERING TO THE BANDS USUAL REHERSAL DAY IN THEIR SCHOOL MUSIC ROOM. ‘ON A FRIDAY’ PLAYED THEIR FIRST GIG IN 1986 AT OXFORD’S JERICHO TAVERN, WITH JONNY GREENWOOD ORIGINALLY PLAYED HARMONICA AND KEYBOARDS, BUT WENT ON TO BECOME THE LEAD GUITARIST. YORKE WAS ALREAD THE VOCALIST WHILE ED O’BRIEN ALSO PLAYED GUITARS WITH COLIN GREENWOOD PLAYING BASS AND PHIL SELWAY PROVIDING DRUMS. ALTHOUGH YORKE, O’BRIEN, SELWAY, AND COLIN GREENWOOD HAD LEFT ABINGDON BY 1987 TO ATTEND UNIVERSITY, THE BAND CONTINUED TO REHERSE OFTEN ON WEEKEDN AND HOLIDAYS. IN 1991, WHEN ALL THE MEMBERS EXPECT JONNY HAD COMPLETED THIER UNIVERSITY DEGREES, ‘ON A FRIDAY’ REGROUPED, BEGAN TO RECORD DEMOS AND PERFORM LIVE SHOWS AROUND OXFORD. AT THIS TIME, OXFORDSHIRE AND THAMES VALLEY AREA HAD AN ACTIVE INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE. ON A FRIDAY WERE NOT SEEN AS FITTING IN WITH THIS ESTHABLISHED CULTURAL ATMOSPHERE, NEVER THE LESS, AS ‘ON A FRIDAY’ NUMBER OF LIVE PERFOMANCES INCREASED, THEY BEGAN TO GAIN THE ATTENTION OF RECORD LABLES AND PRODUCERS. PRODUCER AND CO OWNEER OF OXFORD’S COURTYARD STUDIOS, CHRIS HUFFORD , ATTENDED AN EALRY ‘ON A FRIDAY’ CONCERT AT THE JERICHO TAVERN. IMPRESSED BY THE BAND, HE AND HIS PARTNER, BRYCE EDGE PRODUCED A DEMO TAPE AND BECAME ‘ON A FRIDAY’S MANAGER. THEY REMAIN THE BAND MANAGERS TO THIS DAY. FOLLOWING A CHANCE MEETING, BETWEEN COLIN GREENWOOD AND EMI & AR REPRESENTATIVE KEITH WOZENCROFT AT THE RECORD SHOP WHERE GREENWOOD WORKED, THE BAND SIGNED A SIX ALBUM RECORDING CONTRACT WITH THE LABEL IN LATE 1991, AND AT THE REQUEST OF EMI, THE BAND CHANGED THEIR NAME TO RADIOHEAD.
PABLO HONEY PABLO HONEY IS THE DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD, RELEASED IN FEBRUARY 1993. THE ALBUM WAS PRODUCED BY SEAN SLADE AND PAUL Q. KOLDERIE AND WAS RECORDED AT CHIPPING NORTON RECORDING STUDIOS AND COURTYARD STUDIO, OXFORDSHIRE FROM SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER 1992. PABLO HONEY IS PRIMARILY AN ALTERNATIVE ROCK ALBUM AND IT IS IN THEIR LATER RELEASES THAT RADIOHEAD WOULD GO ON TO EXPERIMENT MORE HEAVILY AND DEVELOP THEIR TRADEMARK SOUND. THE ALBUM RECEIVED A GENERALLY FAVOURBLE CRITICAL REACTION, BUT CRITICISMS OF ITS DERIVATIVE SOUND AND INCLUSION OF UNDEVELOPED SONGS WERE RAISED. DESPITE THESE DRAWBACKS, PABLO HONEY HAS BEEN CITED BY LISTENERS AND CRITICS ALIKE AS ONE OF THE BEST DEBUT ALBUMS OF RECENT YEARS. THE ALBUM TITLE COMES FROM A JERKY BOYS PRANK CALL SKIT IN WHICH THE PRANK CALLER SAYS, “PABLO HONEY? PLEASE COME TO FLORIDA!” TO HIS VICTIM. THIS SNIPPET IS ALSO SAMPLED BY THE BAND ON THE TRACK ‘HOW DO YOU?’
THE BENDS THE BENDS IS THE SECOND STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD, RELEASED ON 13 MARCH 1995 BY PARLOPHONE. THE BENDS WAS PRODUCED BY JOHN LECKIE AT EMI’S STUDIOS IN LONDON, AND ENGINEERED BY NIGEL GODRICH (WHO WOULD GO ON TO PRODUCE ALL SUBSEQUENT RADIOHEAD ALBUMS). FEATURING FIVE CHARTING SINGLES, THE ALBUM ALSO MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A SHIFT IN AESTHETICS AND THEMES FOR THE BAND, WITH A GREATER USE OF KEYBOARDS AND EXPERIMENTATION IN MUSICAL DYNAMSM. THE INTROSPECTIVE LO-FI STYLE OF PABLO HONEY HAD EVOLVED TOWARDS A MORE EXPANSIVE AND MULTI-LAYERED ROCK SOUND FEATURING CRYPTIC LYRICS AND LARGER, MORE WELL-DEVELOPED IDEAS. ACCORDING TO THE MEMBERS OF RADIOHEAD, ‘THE BENDS’ MARKED THE START OF A GRADUAL TURN IN YORKE’S SONGWRITING FROM PERSONAL ANGST TO THE MORE CRYPTIC LYRICS AND SOCIAL AND GLOBAL THEMES THAT WOULD COME TO DOMINATE THE BANDS LATER WORK.
OK COMPUTER OK COMPUTER IS THE THIRD STUDIO ALBUM BY RADIOHEAD, RELEASED IN 1997 ON PARLOPHPONE AND CAPITOL RECORDS. OK COMPUTER WAS THE FIRST SELF-PRODUCED RADIOHEAD ALBUM, WITH ASSISTANCE FROM NIGEL GODRICH. RADIOHEAD RECORDED THE ALBULM IN OXFORDSHIRE AND BATH BETWEEN 1996 AD EARLY 1997, WITH MOST OF THE RECORDING COMPLETED IN THE HISTORIC MANSION ST. CATHERINES COURT. IN RECORDING OK OMPUTER THE BAND HAD MADE A DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM THE GUITAR-ORIENTED, LYRICALLY INTROSPECTIVE STYLE OF THEIR PREVIOUS ALBUMS. OK COMPUTER’S ABSTRACT LYRICS, DENSELY LAYERED SOUND AND WIDE RANGE OF INFLUENCES LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR RADIOHEAD’S LATER, MORE EXPERIMENTAL WORK. OK COMPUTER RECIVED CONSIDERABLE ACCLAIMUPON RELEASE AND PROMINENT BRITISH AND AMERICAN CRITICS PREDICTED THE ALBUM WOULD HAVE A FAR REACHING CULTURAL IMPACT. SINCE ITS RELEASE, THE ALBUM HAS BEEN FREQUENTLY CITED BY LISTENERS AND CRITICS ALIKE AS ONE OF THE GREATES OF ITS TIME.
KID A KID A IS RADIOHEAD’S FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM, RELEASED IN OCTOBER 2000 BY PARLOPHONE RECORDS. KID A WAS RECORDED IN PARIS, COPENHAGEN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE AND OXFORD WITH PRODUCER NIGEL GODRICH. THE ALBUM’S SONGWRITING AND RECORDING WERE EXPERIMENTAL FOR RADIOHEAD, AS THE BAND HAD TAKEN A DEPARTURE FROM THEIR EARLY “ANTHEMIC” ROCK SOUND TOWARDS A MORE ELECTORNIC SONIC ENVIROMENT. INFLUENCED BY KRAUTROCK, JAZZ, AND 20TH CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSIC, RADIOHEAD ABANDONED THEIR THREE-GUITAR LINE-UP FOR A WIDER RANGE OF INSTRUMENTS, UTILIZING KEYBOARDS, THE ONDES MARTENOT, AND, ON CERTAIN COMPOSITIONS, STRINGS AND BRASS. FOLLOWING THE MASSIVE CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS OF THEIR 1997 RELEASE ‘OK COMPUTER’, THE MEMBERS OF RADIOHEAD BEGAN TO SUFFER PSYCHOLOGICAL BURNOUT, AND ALMOST SPLIT UP BEFORE THEY BEGAN WRITING KID A.
ANMESIAC AMNESIAC IS THE FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD. THE ALBUM WAS PRODUCED BY NIGEL GODRICH AND RELEASED ON 5 JUNE 2001 THROUG PARLOPHONE RECORDS. RECORDED IN THE SAME SESSIONS AS PREVIOUS ALBUM ‘KID A’, AMNESIAC INCORPORATES SIMILAR ELEMENTS OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC, CLASSICAL, JAZZ, AND KRAUTROCK, AND EXPLORES LYRICAL THEMES OF MEMORY AND REINCARNATION INFLUENCED BY ANCIENT GREEK AND EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY. BASSIST COLIN GREENWOOD DECRIBED THE ALBUM AS HAVING “MORE TRADITIONAL RADIOHEAD-TYPE SONS TOGETHER WITH MORE EXPERIMENTAL, NON-LYRICAL BASED INSTRUMENTAL-TYPE STUFF AS WELL.” THE ALBUMS LINER NOTES STATE THAT “THESE RECORDINGS WERE MADE ON LOCATION AT THE SAME TIME AS KID A.” DRUMMER PHIL SELWAY DESCRIBED THE SESSIONS AS BEING DIVIDED BY “OUR OLD APPROACH OF ALL BEING IN A ROOM PLAYING TOGETHER AND THE OTHER EXTREME OF MANUFACURING MUSIC IN THE STUDION. I THINK AMNESIAC COMES OUT STRONGER IN THE BAND-ARRANGEMENT WAY.”
HAIL TO THE THIEF HAIL TO THE THIEF (OR THE GLOAMING), USUALLY REFERRED TO WITHOUT ITS SUBTITLE AS SIMPLY ‘HAIL TO THE THIEF’, IS THE SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD. IT WAS PRODUCED BY NIGEL GODRICH AND RELEASED ON 9 UNE 2003 AND WAS THE LAST ALBUM TO BE RELEASED UNDER RADIOHEAD’S SIX-ALBUM RECORD CONTRACT WITH PARLOPHONE. AFTER TWO RADIOHEAD ALBUMS INCORPORATING ELECTRONIC STYLES, HAIL TO THE THIEF PLACED A RENEWED EMPHASIS ON THE ‘TRADITIONAL’ GUITAR ROCK STYLES OF THEIR EARLY ALBUMS, WHILES STILL PRESERVING SOME ELECTRONIC ELEMENTS PRESENT ON THEIR MORE RECENT OFFERINGS. HOPING TO AVOID THE PROTRACTED RECORDING SESSIONS OF PREVIOUS ALBUMS, THE BAND WORKED DELIBERATELY QUICKLY, EMPLOYING A LIVE, ‘SPONTANEOUS’ APPROACH TO SONG DEVELOPMENT. LYRICALLY, THE ALBUM IS PREDOMINANTLY FRAMED AS A RESPONSE TO THE WAR ON TERROR AND THE EARLY-2000’S RESURGENCE OF RIGHT-WING POLITICS. SPEAKING ABOUT THE ALBUM, YORKE HAS EXPLAINED HOW IT IS AN EXPRESSION OF “FRUSTRATION AND POWERLESSNESS AND ANGER, AND THE HUGE GAP BETWEEN THE PEOPLE THAT PUT THEMSELVES IN CONTROL AND THE PEOPLE THAT ALLEGEDLY VOTED FOR THEM”.
IN RAINBOWS IN RAINBOWS IS THE SEVENTH STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD. UNLIKE PREVIOUS ALBUMS, THE RECORD WAS SELF-RELEASED VIA AGROUNDBREAKING PAYWHAT-YOU-WANT MODEL ON 10 OCTOBER 2007, FOLLOWED BY A STANDARD CD RELEASE IN MOST COUNTRIES IN THE LAST WEEK OF 2007. IN RAINBOWS WAS RADIOHEAD’S FIRST RELEASE SINCE BEING RELEASED FROM THEIR CONTRACT WITH EMI AND MARKED THE END OF THE LONGEST GAP BETWEEN STUDIO ALBUMS IN THEIR CAREER. RECORDING WITH PRODUCER NIGEL GODRICH, RADIOHEAD WORKED ON IN RAINBOWS FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, BEGINNING IN EARLY 2005. THE SONGWRITING ON IN RAINBOWS WAS MORE PERSONAL THAN PREVIOUS RADIOHEAD OFFERINGS WITH SINGER THOM YORKE DESCRIBING MOST OF THE TRACKS AS HIS VERSIONS OF “SEDUCTION SONGS”. FOR IN RAINBOWS, RADIOHEAD INCORPORATED A WIDE VARIETY OF MUSICAL STYLES AND INSTRUMENTATION, USING NOT ONLY ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND STRING ARRANGEMENTS, BUT ALSO PIANOS, CELESTES , AND VARIOUS OTHER INSTRUMENTS.
THE KING OF LIMBS KING OF LIMBS IS THE EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM FROM RADIOHEAD, PRODUCED BY NIGEL GODRICH. FOLLOWING THE PAINSTAKING RECORDING AND RELATIVELY CONVENTIONAL ROCK INSTRUMENTATION OF IN RAINBOWS, RADIOHEAD EMPLOYED A MORE SPONTANEAOUS PROCESS IN ORDER TO RECORD THE KING OF LIMBS, SAMPLING THEIR OWN RECORDINGS WITH TURNTABLES. THE BAND PROVIDED LITTLE INFORMATION ON THE ALBUM, NOT EVEN A TRACK LISTING, BEFORE ITS RELEASE, AND DID NOT DISCUSS IT IN ANY DETAIL UNTIL NEARLY EIGHT MONTHS LATER. YORKE DESCRIBED THE ALBUM AS AN EXPRESSION OF “PHYSICAL MOVEMENTS” AND “WILDNESS”. THE ALBUM TITLE IS THOUGHT TO REFER TO AN OAK TREE IN WILTSHIRE’S SAVERNAKE FOREST, THOUGHT TO BE 1000 YEARS OLD. THE KING OF LIMBS PLACES A MORE PRONOUNCED EMPHASIS ON PHIL SELWAY AND COLIN GREENWOOD’S RHYTHM SECTION. ACCORDING TO O’BRIEN; “THE RHYTHM DICTATES THE RECORD. IT’S VERY IMPORTANT (...) THE RHYTHM IS KING.” THE ALBUM MAKES PROMINENT USE OF SAMPLIN, LOOPING AND AMBIENT SOUNDS SUCH AS BIRDSONG AND WIND.
THE ERASER THE ERASER IS THE DEBUT SOLO ALBUM BY THOM YORKE, RELEASED ON 10 JULY 2006. YORKE HAS SAID THAT MUCH OF HIS SONGWRITING ON THE ALBUM WAS PERSONAL, BUT ALSO INSPIRED BY THE ISSUE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. YORKE FOR FRIENDS OF THE EARTH’S “THE BIG ASK” CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE CARBON EMMISSIONS, AND RADIOHEAD PLAYED THE FIRST GIG OF THEIR 2006 TOUR AT A BENEFIT FOR THE GROUP. IN DESCRIBING HIS MOTIVATION MOTIVATION FOR PRODUCING AND RELEASING THE ALBUM, YORKE SAID, “I’VE BEEN IN THE BAND SINCE WE LEFT SCHOOL AND NEVER DARED TO DO ANYTHING ON MY OWN, AND IT WAS LIKE, ‘THIS IS GETTING STUPID’. IT WAS LIKE, ‘MAN, I’VE GOT TO FIND OUT WHAT IT FEELS LIKE’, YOU KNOW? AND IT WAS GOOD. IT WAS A REALLY GOOD TIME.”
AMOK ATOMS FOR PEACE IS AN EXPERIMENTAL ROCK & ELECTRONIC SUPERGROUP FORMED IN LATE 2009 IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. THE GROUP CONSISTS OF RADIOHEAD LEAD SINGER THOM YORKE (VOCALS, GUITAR AND PIANO), RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS BASSIST FLEA, LONGTIME RADIOHEAD PRODUCER NIGEL GODRICH (GUITAR, KEYBOARDS, SYNTHS), JOEY WARONKER OF BECK % R.E.M. (DRUMS) AND INSTRUMENTALIST MAURO REFOSCO (PERCUSSION). THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, AMOK BECAME AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING ON FEBRUARY 18, 2013, AND WAS RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 25, 2013. THE BAND SHARES ITS NAME WITH BOTH THE 1953 SPEECH BY AMERICAN PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER AND A SONG FROM THOM YORKE’S DEBUT SOLO ALBUM ‘THE ERASER’.
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN IN 1997, RADIOHEAD’S POPULARITY HAD EXPLODED. THE RELEASE OF OK COMPUTER AND SUBSEQUENT TOUR HAD PROVOKED AN INCREDIBLE REACTION FROM YORKE AND HIS BANDMATES. A SPOTLIGHT HAD BEEN CAST ON THE BAND, AND A SUDDEN SURGE IN INTEREST PUSHED YORKE TO BREAKING POINT.: “I WAS A COMPLETE FUCKING MESS. WHEN OK COMPUTER FINISHED, YEAH. I MEAN, REALLY, REALLY ILL”.
THE WAKE OF OK COMPUTER ALMOST BROKE RADIOHEAD APART, AND AT ONE POINT THE BAND CONSIDERED SPILTTING UP. YORKE COULD NOT COPE WITH THESE PRESSURES AND THIS WAS CONSDERED TO BE ONE OF THE DARKEST CHAPTERS OF HIS LIFE: “NOT BEING ABLE TO CONNECT WITH ANYTHING. BASICALLY BECOMIING UNHINGED, IN THE BEST SENSE OF THE WORD. COMPLETELY UNHINGED”.
“I WAS A COMPLETE FUCKING MESS” “COMPLETELY UNHINGED”
CHAPTER 03:
ACTIVISM: THE POWER OF MEDIA ATTRACTION
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM THOM YORKE HAS BEEN OUTSPOKEN ON VARIOUS CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES. RADIOHEAD HAD READ ‘NO LOGO’ BY NAOMI KLEIN DURING THE RECORDING SESSIONS FOR ‘KID A’ (AND ‘NO LOGO’ WAS BRIEFLY CONSIDERED AS THE ALBUM TITLE), AND THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK, DEALING WITH RAMPANT CONSUMERISM IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE, HAD HEAVILY INFLUENCED THE BAND MEMBERS. YORKE IS ALSO OUTSPOKEN IN HIS SUPPORT OF FAIR TRADE PRACTICES, WITH AN ANTI-WTO AND ANTIGLOBALISATION STANCE; ONE THAT GARNERED SIGNIFICANT ATTENTION IN THE EARLY 2000’S. YORKE IS ALSO A FAN OF NOAM CHOMSKY’S POLITICAL WRITINGS, AND CITES THE AUTHOR AS A MAJOR INFLUENCE IN HIS POLITICAL ATTTUDES; “I HAD A REALLY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE AT UNIVERSITY WHO WENT INTO POLITICS BEHIND THE SCENED (...) I USED TO GO OUT WITH HIM ALL THE TIME TALKING ABOUT IT, BUT BY THE TIME I LEFT COLLEGE I WAS LIKE, FUCKING FORGET IT. AND THE THING THAT GOT ME BACK INTO IT WAS NOAM CHOMSKY...”.
YORKE IS ALSO NOTABLE AS A POLITICAL ACTIVIST ON BEHALF OF OTHER CAUSES, INCLUDING HUMAN RIGHTS AND ANTI-WAR MOVEMENTS SUCH AS JUBILEE 2000, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AND CND. IN BOTH 1998 AND 1999 RADIOHEAD PLAYED AT THE FREE TIBET CONCERT. IN 2005, YORKE PERFORMED AT AN ALL-NIGHT VIGIL FOR THE TRADE JUSTICE MOVEMENT. IN 2006, JONNY GREENWOOD AND YORKE PERFORMED A SPECIAL BENEFIT CONCERT FOR FRIENDS OF THE EARTH. IN THE SAME YEAR, YORKE ALSO MADE HEADLINES FOR REFUSING THEN PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR’S REQUEST TO MEET WITH HIM TO DISCUSS CLIMATE CHANGE, DECLARING BLAIR HAD “NO ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS”. YORKE HAS SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN CRITICAL OF HIS OWN ENERGY USE AS NO-ONE HAS YET FOUND A WAY TO HARNESS THE ENERGY FROM ALL THE CRAP HE SAYS. HE HAS ALSO BEEN VOCAL ABOUT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY’S USE OF AIR TRANSPORT, CALLING IT DANGEROUS AND UNSUSTAINABLE, AND HAS ATTEMPTED TO REDUCE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT PRODUCED BY RADIOHEAD’S TOURING SCHEDULE.
“ THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE. GLOBALLY, ARE MANIACS. THEY ARE MANIACS, AND UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DEPRIVE US OF A FUTURE”
“THE BLAIR YEARS I WAS MOST ANGRY WITH. STILL AM. JUST THE LEVEL OF HYPOCRISY. I ALWAYS FEEL STRONGLY THAT LINE IN THE GLOAMING:’YOU ARE MURDERERS - WE ARE NOT THE SAME AS YOU’. WE ARE STILL THE GENERATION WHO WENT INTO AN ILLEGAL WAR. AND THE GUY WHO TOOK US THERE IS GIVING LECTURES AROUND THE WORLD AND SITTING IN HIS LOVLEY HOUSE WITH AN ARMED GUARDS. EVERY TIME I SING THOSE WORDS, I THINK OF HIM SITTING THERE. I THINK, HOW DID WE LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT?
“IF I’M NOT ENJOYING THIS NOW, WHEN DO I START?”