Category: Radiohead

The Sun ran a story stating Bob Geldof was working with Bono to put together a new version of the 1985 Live Aid concerts. Radiohead, Oasis, Robbie Williams, and Coldplay were mentioned as bands we could expect to see at the concert, organized by Tony Blair.
Reuters now has a response article featuring Bob Geldof stating that the story was untrue. The quote-
“I told the Sun this afternoon it was not true. This only serves to undermine the concerted efforts of those concerned with the tragedy of poverty in Africa.
“However, if the Prime Minister wants to organise a Live Aid II, then good luck to him”.
Chances are most of us (I’m included) don’t remember the first Live Aid in 1985, but it was a massive undertaking that raised 60 million pounds to ease famine in Ethiopia. The highlight was Phil Collins playing the concert in the U.K., then hopping on the Concorde and playing the U.S. concert. Seriously.
(Thanks to Treefingers.)
UPDATE: Now, however, multiple news outlets are saying that Bono himself is the one doing the planning, which is why Geldof is denying it. In addition, the concert proceeds will go to relieve third world debt, a cause Radiohead has been known to support. Since there are no quotes anywhere that can confirm any of this, file this under rumour for the now.
UPDATED AGAIN: Bono’s now on the record saying this isn’t happening. So file this under “not happening”.

Remember a few months ago, when we politely begged you to go vote for us over at the IMA People’s Choice Awards? Well, they’ve announced their full list of results, and we are a very proud #6! Of course, since the official and fansites were lumped together in the list, we actually seem to be the #2 fansite…only behind Ade’s At Ease (#3 altogether). In addition, Miro and the fine people over at Treefingers scored a spot at #145, although we fully expect to see them up in the top ten for 2004.
So a big thanks from Jonathan and I to everyone who vote, as well as to everyone who didn’t, but stops by or says hi from time to time anyway (and put up with our month of downtime). Congrats again to Ade, Miro and crew, and let’s not forget CUTW next year as well- a 1-2-3-4 punch of Radiohead fansites at the top would be a lovely sight.
You can go take a look at the entire list of winners here.

The July edition of Q Magazine, which isn’t quite available yet, has a staff poll on the top 50 British albums of all time. OK Computer comes in at #4, with Oasis’ Definitely Maybe grabbing the top slot.
Here’s the complete list-
1. Oasis ? Definitely Maybe
2. The Beatles ? Revolver
3. Sex Pistols ? Never Mind The Bollucks ? Here?s the Sex Pistols
4. Radiohead ? OK Computer
5. The Clash ? London Calling
6. David Bowie ? The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
7. The Rolling Stones ? Beggars Banquet
8. The Smiths ? The Queen Is Dead
9. Led Zeppelin ? Led Zeppelin III
10. Massive Attack ? Blue Lines
11. Van Morrison ? Astral Weeks
12. Blur ? Parklife
13. Primal Scream ? Screamadelica
14. Pink Floyd ? Dark Side of the Moon
15. The Specials ? The Specials
16. Queen ? A Night At The Opera
17. The Stone Roses ? The Stone Roses
18. The Who ? My Generation
19. Coldplay ? A Rush of Blood to the Head
20. The Jam ? All Mod Cons
Debate how Oasis beat out The Beatles, The Stones, The Clash, Led Zep, Bowie, Floyd, The Who, and The Smiths (not to mention our boys) amongst yourself. My guess is bribery.

Several more interviews have surfaced from the Ivor Novello awards. Here’s the goodies:
Channel 4’s teletext has an interview with Jonny & Phil. ?It?s good that the Ivors recognize writing? says Jonny. ?That?s were it all starts, experimenting, making mistakes, breathing new life into what we do. Sorry, it’s very dull interviewing us at the moment. We really have nothing new to say as we?re on holiday?.
Phil Selway was asked about Radiohead?s future: “It?s not very rock and roll, but we all have families, so we?ll be with them until at least the end of summer. We need to press the reset button on everything before we work out what to do next. We?ve no new songs, not one.?
There?s been talk that Radiohead?s next release would be a series of EP?s rather than an album. What does Phil have to say about that? ?Sorry?, he chuckles. ?Again, we simply don?t know. We could do the EP?s, we may do an album, it could be a regular release, it might be just via the web. After a year in tour, we need to not think about the band for a couple of months.?
And the BBC has more, this time from Ed-
“We just haven’t made any firm plans about what we’re going to do yet. We just wanted to get this past year out of our systems then sit down and once we’ve had some time to think about it, then actually make some decisions about what comes next.”
“We’re just recharging our batteries and we know that we want to come back and make some music together, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. But we just want to take our time and make sure it’s the right time for us.”
(Thanks to At Ease.)

At Ease reports that comedian Chris Hardwick and his band mate Mike Phirman have recorded a “Radiohead bluegrass medley” under the moniker Rodeohead. Songs included are Everything In Its Right Place, The Bends, 2+2=5, No Surprises, Optimistic, You And Whose Army, Karma Police, Knives Out, Creep, Morning Bell, The National Anthem, How To Disappear Completely, Fake Plastic Trees, Nice Dream, Paranoid Android Planet Telex, Just, and Subterranean Homesick Alien.
You can hear it for yourself (and you would need to) here.
(Thanks to At Ease.)

NME reports that Radiohead won the award for International Achievement at the Ivor Novello Awards today in London. These awards honor British songwriters, composers, and music publishers.
Other awards went to Will Young, Amy Winehouse, Errol Brown, Goldfrapp, Dido, Jamelia, and Gary Jules.
The BBC asked Jonny why the band bucked their usual trend of not showing up for awards ceremonies. Jonny said, “This award ceremony is more about song writing which is something we enjoy very much as a band – watching songs change and having Thom turn up with songs that we can either finish up or ruin.”
“That’s the most core process for us, in terms of being in a band, so anything that celebrates that is great.”