Thom Yorke and Radiohead helped to popularize the unorthodox music release strategies that have come to seemingly dominate the world of music. It feels like every time somebody drops a surprise album or releases it through non-traditional means, they owe a debt of gratitude to Yorke and company. The band’s album In Rainbows was released online as a “pay what you want” thing. Yorke released a solo album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, through BitTorrent. It makes you wonder what Yorke might try next. Well, to hear him tell it, it will just be something boring and traditional.
Yorke will be appearing on BBC Radio 1 Wednesday night, but in the lead up to that interview, a snippet of it was released. In it, Yorke discusses how he has grown tired of idiosyncratic music releases. When asked about Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, Yorke said:
“Whatever. Enough of that now. I’ve entirely had enough of that. […] Just put it out, man, no more fuss, just put it out. I’m getting too old for that bit. It takes away from things a bit, it is sometimes frustrating. […] The energy of trying to figure out how to do it differently and circumvent the monsters … Whatever, whatever.”
It would seem that Yorke’s overarching feeling about unusual album drops is “whatever.” It’s not surprising to hear this from Yorke. He’s never been the most, um, upbeat guy, and he seems to get tired of certain aspects of his music career after a while. There’s a reason Radiohead didn’t play “Creep” for years, after all. At least Radiohead fans don’t have to worry about cryptic releases anymore, it seems. Until Yorke gets tired of traditional releases, at least.
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