Radiohead have told The Word magazine of their anger at EMI's decision to release a Greatest Hits album (older news) against their wishes.
Now signed to XL following their departure from the label that released all their albums bar their latest, In Rainbows, the band's Thom Yorke said of EMI's forthcoming release: "We haven't really had any hits so what exactly is the purpose?"
The singer continued:
"There's nothing we can do about it. The work is really public property now anyway, in my head at least. It's a wasted opportunity in that if we'd been behind it, and we wanted to do it, then it might have been good."
Yorke also criticised comments from EMI, suggesting Radiohead had asked for £10 million to re-sign with the label: "The idea what we were after so much money as to stretching the truth to breaking point... it was a clear indication that the relationship was over."
Is it not called The Best Of though?
I'll just get the DVD.
I think it is...
...and it's two discs innit.
Hence the non-italics of 'Greatest Hits'.
Oh, I was referring to Thom's use of the word "hits"
It'll still sell like a bastard
How's about a double disk B-sides comp?
If they're so 'annoyed'
at their old labels release of a cash -in 'best of' that why don't they do something like donate the royalties they'll get from it's release to a charity or something? Not saying they should do that - but rather than carp on about it... oh fuck I don't even care what they do:)
Check your local record fair
I picked up a 40-track double B-sides of songs clearly culled from the internet from a record fair for about £3. It was pretty hit and miss.
Calling bullshit
If Radiohead aren't happy about this then perhaps they shouldn't have signed away their rights to the songs? I'm so sick of bands complaining about this kind of thing after taking all the benefits of the corporate record deals.
Anyway, they are easily one of the greediest bands in the country today, a proper bunch of businessmen, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they really had asked for £10m. After scamming fans on the new album with 160kbps mp3s, then trying to scam people into remixing their single, they have little sympathy from me. They're a great bunch of musicians but they have no sympathy from me, and they can piss off for trying to milk their fans so frequently and so cynically.
Hahah what the fuck
how does the fact the the MP3s weren't of the highest quality (although they sounded absolutely fine to me..) mean that Radiohead were trying to rip people off, when said MP3s were offered for the price of 50 pence?
.
the giving away/honesty box policy was just a way of getting a little chunk of money out of the people who would have just dowloaded it anyway(and then to insult those who choose to pay they offer sub quality mp3s), they bleed their harcore fans dry with the disc box thing, then they release normal cd. It was cynical three pronged campaign to get as much money as possible.
imagine how much
people would be bitching if the normal cd never came out. it was always obvious it would if you were paying attention. it's become a bit of a myth that it wasn't, but i was there a couple of hours after it announced and saw the 'will be available in this format FOR NOW'... it was officially clarified within a day or so... jeez.
hardcore fans don't tend to moan about deluxe sets with extra songs and vinyl and huge artwork etc etc. it was fairly priced for what it was- maybe a little over if you lived in the uk 'cos the cost included free delivery anywhere in the world, but if you lived in south america or something you were sorted. i was very happy with it, except for the little plastic knobs that hold the cds.
the mp3 moaning is a bit indulgent. the fact is those mp3s were perfectly listenable and of a quality that people had traditionally paid proper money for on itunes etc. whether it was the sourcing or the production or what, it sounded better than any leak i've ever downloaded. it has everything that is on the cd. if they'd been flacs or whatever a small minority of audiophiles wanted then the online distribution would have fucked up, like it did for Nine Inch Nails weeks later, and people would be bitching about THAT to this day.
realistically it was a three pronged experiment to get material out to three distinct kinds of consumers and not get ripped off. you can probably feel annoyed if you paid a decent amount of money for the download and still felt compelled to buy the cd, but who actually did that? and who had a gun to
your head?
i'm tired of cynicism masquerading as intelligence when they did such a empowering, exciting thing and basically GAVE A FREE ALBUM TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE in the process. seriously. go and bitch about the real cynical businessmen in the world, such as EMI and their psuedo the-only-Radiohead-product-you-ever-have-to-buy 'best of'.
radiohead
to me have always come across as a really cynical band, their appropriation of other types of music, their short lived affiliation with political movements (no logo tent tour to V festival!?!), then this big publicity stunt, I think they lack geniune passion for anything and just always want to be seen as the most credible band around
Well
If they are so bitter about it, why don't they just fuck EMI over by releasing the compilation for free on their website?
yeah
i bet when they started writing jazz and electronica informed stuff they were really thinking with their wallets. 'oh man, the kids are gonna love this ambient bit! oh and let's chuck in some free jazz for the guys at drowned in sound, we're gonna get the best review ever!'