Thom Yorke: Great Songwriter, Pretentious Twat

I was listening to Radiohead’s The Bends earlier today, and it struck me what a good record it is. And also fired me up, with bugger all else to do in the office, to do a bit of research into Radiohead, the members and their songs.

Then it struck me what a pretentious cock head Thom Yorke is. Pretty much everything he says is in some way obtuse, self-serving, or revealing quite shocking delusions of grandeur. Take one of his comments about the Radiohead song Street Spirit (Fade Out):

“Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don't realise what they're listening to. They don't realise that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he'll get the last laugh. And it's real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I'd crack.”

Clearly Thom Yorke has a different version of that song in mind to the one I know. Street Spirit is standard Radiohead in most regards, albeit a little slower and a little more depressing than usual. It has moments of lyrical incoherence, such as “Cracked eggs dead birds/Scream as they fight for life” (err, how can dead birds scream for life? And can birds actually scream?) but generally speaking it is a well constructed song and one of the better ones in their back catalogue. But that’s it. Nothing more. So where the frigging hell does this talk of the song being about “staring the fucking devil right in the eyes” come from? I mean, really, where does it come from? It’s a bit miserable, making it not exactly unique for Radiohead. Some of the imagery is negative, but it ends on the relatively upbeat repeated refrain of "Immerse your soul in love". There is nothing to suggest the overblown hyperbole of Yorke’s comments. If you don’t believe me then go have a listen to Street Spirit and see whether you think it is

a) An above average, downbeat indie pop song
b) A confrontation with the Prince of Darkness, Satan himself.

Most sane, well-adjust people will go with the former, I would have thought.

Of course, a lot of people are overly pretentious when they are young. Perhaps Yorke has become more sane in his opinions as he has got older. Sadly, no. Take a look at his comments on his recent solo single, Harrowdown Hill:

"The government and the Ministry of Defence... were directly responsible for outing him and that put him in a position of unbearable pressure that he couldn't deal with, and they knew they were doing it and what it would do to him... I've been feeling really uncomfortable about that song lately, because it was a personal tragedy, and Dr Kelly has a family who are still grieving. But I also felt that not to write it would perhaps have been worse.”

I sort of agree with his appraisal of what happened to David Kelly, and can understand why someone would want to write a protest song about it. Quite why Yorke chose to make that song lyrically vague and backed by the sort of fragile, electronic bleeps and squeaks that wouldn’t frighten a paranoid mouse, let alone the more violent and brutal parts of the British establishment is beyond me. But it is the final sentence that makes me want to scream in frustration. “But I also felt that not to write it would perhaps have been worse”. What sort of toss is this? How can it be worse not to write the song? A song that, by Yorke’s own admission, may be intruding on a private tragedy. Is Yorke so arrogant that he thinks that the world will suffer if he doesn’t put his thought in song and on a record? Was his collection of semi-coherent cut up lyrics so dramatic that he had to get them out of his head before they damaged him? Because, if they were, then God help him if he ever comes up with something really powerful. His head will probably explode!

When you listen to other bands, like the Manics or the former members of Joy Division, talk about their music they come across as unpretentious and very down to earth about their music. When you read what Yorke has said about his music, you get the impression of a man even more overbearing, serious and dour than his most ponderous music. My advice – listen to the music, ignore the man.