Category: Radiohead

Of all the types of Radiohead fans, the most interesting to me is “The Completist” (for brevity’s sake, let’s call him Josh). Josh will obsessively collect each and every thing that is officially released by Radiohead. It doesn’t matter if Josh pays $90 for a CD single featuring songs he already has on other CDs- it is Radiohead, it is an official release, therefore Josh must own it. This is an expensive lifestyle, and, with the recent proliferation of 10,000 versions of each single, no doubt a fairly frustrating one.
So, Josh will be no doubt shocked and awed to learn that the Colombian version of HTTT came with a special 5-track live disc. Only 1,000 were available, and you could only get them A) on the release date and B) in Tower or Prodiscos Records. The disc included live versions of: Paranoid Android, Karma Police, My Iron Lung, There There and Go to Sleep. We have no artwork, information, or reviews of the CD, because it’s so rare WE’VE just heard about it. Should you have any of the above, send it on in, won’t you?
(Thanks to Climbing Up the Walls. Good peoples.)

Rolling Stone’s 2004 Rock Rich List is out, and Radiohead clocked in at #49- right between the Trans Siberian Orchestra and Eros Ramazotti (!).
Here’s what RS had to say-
Radiohead
$10 million
Despite a relatively low average-ticket price of thirty-seven dollars, Radiohead grossed $13 million on their U.S. tour and moved about 500,000 albums.
You can see the entire list (topped, naturally, by The Rolling Stones) here.
(Thanks to Nic.)

On the 2/25 episode of The West Wing, a character (Josh Lyman) made a reference to Radiohead. He made the analogy that sitting in a meeting about base closures all day “is about as mind-numbing as a Radiohead concert”.
(Thanks to Chad.)

This (NOTE THAT THE LINK HAS CHANGED) may be the best link ever, so if you click on only one of our “go check this out” links, make this one it.
Following the above link will take you to a RealAudio file (note: it’s 20MB and on the slow side, so be patient) featuring a video of George Bush, Aznar (Spanish president), and Tony Blair performing Creep- in Portugese!
The lyrics have definitely been reworked (“pet-rooooooooooooooooooo-lio”, so anyone would like to translate and send it in, we’d love to post it.
(Thanks to At Ease.)
UPDATE:
Daniel was kind enough to translate the new lyrics for us, and provide some background info on the show. It was originally part of a Portuguese TV show called “Contra-Informa??o” (Counter-Information), a sort of variety program that makes fun of politicians and other public figures.
NEW LYRICS-(Translated)
When I was a kid
My old man used to say
“You’re gonna be important”
But I was an asshole.
I looked like a sponge.
Always drinking.
I wanna be special.
So special.
CHORUS:
But I’m a creep
I’m disgraceful
What am I doing here?
I’m going to drink again.
You can call me stupid
Or even filth.
But I’m president
And I rule the world.
I want you to know.
I’m a God fanatic.
I wanna be special.
So special.
CHORUS
I want an oil wellllllllllllllllll
I want an oil well
Oil…oil…oil…ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil!!!!
Oooooooooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil!
That’s what makes me happy.
Even if I have to use bombs.
I’m so fucking special.
So fucking special.
But I’m a creep
I’m disgraceful
I’m going to drink again
To try to forget
The shit that I’m doing.
(BIG thanks to Daniel!)

This month’s Filter magazine features a decent interview with Jonny, mostly about Bodysong. Alas, the interview is not available online.
(Thanks to Tim Tam.)

At Ease reports-
Radiohead are mentioned in a ‘New Statesman’ article on Curtis White’s book ‘The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think for Themselves’: The Highway of Despair. Oprah Winfrey and J K Rowling are the villains; Radiohead are the cultural revolutionaries. The latest howl of rage against capitalist culture and American mediocrity exemplifies the sentimental, self-indulgent non-thinking it sets out to attack.
Elsewhere in review: “With the public safely elided, it is a straight fight between capitalism and its stooges and cultural revolutionaries such as Radiohead. ‘In these inspired moments of Mahlerian sweetness the band rises above the shit of our shared condition. (What else does Mahler try to do, in symphony after symphony, but dramatise this shared desire?)’ Right, and Wagner is heavy metal. Radiohead, it should be said, are not with Rupert Murdoch. They are with EMI. ‘We are obliged to create our art though international mega-corporations,’ White imagines them explaining themselves, adding that maybe they are self-indulgent – ‘But hey, some folks are.’ A genuine radical would have paused to wonder whether being ‘obliged’ to pocket millions might make their sweetness part of the shit.”
The Curtis White book has an entire chapter on Radiohead – mostly in defense of Kid A, and the artistic risks that the band took while making it. The full article will be published in ‘New Statesman’ on February 23rd.
(Thanks to At Ease.)