Another Radiohead Revolution
Posted Fri 18 Jul 2008 12:30PM BST by Johnny Famethrowa in Touching The Void
We're used to Radiohead doing things differently. This is a band who didn't even need a record label to release their last album, the near career high-water mark of "In Rainbows" last October. In doing so, they not only threw two fingers at the decrepit business workings of old school music industry, as their deal with EMI crumbled, but also offered a brave new world, albeit one perhaps reserved to those acts with a knockout track record, capable of doing their own marketing so spectacularly.It's for these reasons that Thom Yorke was this week placed at number 63 in The Guardian's highly-regarded ‘Media Top 100 2008'. Recognising the impact of the band's actions and calling him "a pioneering example of the new business model in today's digital landscape", there are few acts in rock'n'roll who have the imagination and bravery to challenge such out-moded thought so emphatically. Even famous luddite Noel Gallagher, who's never heard of hip hop and wishes it could be the swinging ‘60s all over again forever, recently proclaimed Yorke "a rebel and an outsider".
For evidence of this, check out the astounding new Radiohead video, for "House Of Cards", which was apparently, somehow, shot without any cameras. Which is in itself enough to make Famethrowa's mind melt. Over to Thom: "I always like the idea of using technology in a way that it wasn't meant to be used, the struggle to get your head round what you can do with it. I liked the idea of making a video of human beings and real life and time without using any cameras, just lasers, so there are just mathematical points - and how strangely emotional it ended up being." So there you have it. It's all about lasers...
Today's Famethrowa's
New: XX Teens "Only You"
Old: Interpol "NYC"
