I’m old enough to remember when Radiohead first came on the scene in the 1990s with their hit song “Creep”. I remember liking the song, and I remember also thinking “Huh, one-hit wonder.” The 90s churned out a lot of seemingly-similar alt-rock bands who only stuck around for one or two hits and then disappeared. It was months later when I heard Pablo Honey that I was like, “Oh, okay. They’re better than I was expecting.” And then My Iron Lung. And then The Bends, which is still one of the best albums to come out of the 90s (IMO). And then OK Computer brought it home.

I’m talking like I’m some major Radiohead fan – I was in college, but I’m not crazy-obsessed with them these days. I like listening to The Bends and OK Computer because those albums take me back to a simpler time in my life, and because they’re simply GREAT albums. I like the fact that Radiohead came out the Grunge Era and have been able to maintain their quirky, weird, anti-glam, punk edge. I like that when Thom Yorke is offered the cover of Dazed & Confused magazine, he poses like this for the photoshoot. I mean, he looks gross. I would not hit it, not even when I think he’s one of the most talented dudes in music today. He looks greasy and imbalanced. I can still love him and what he does and not want to get near him, right? Thom is promoting Atoms for Peace, which is one his side projects, and their album (Amok) will be out next month. Some highlights from the interview:

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has admitted that he doesn’t care if David Cameron likes his music. In a rare interview with Dazed & Confused magazine, the 44-year-old singer disagreed with musicians like Morrissey and Paul Weller, who have attacked the British Prime Minister for listening to their songs.

“I can’t say I love the idea of a banker liking our music, or David Cameron,” Yorke said. “But I also equally think, who cares? As long as he doesn’t use it for his election campaigns, I don’t care. I’d sue the living —- out of him if he did. I can’t believe he’d like [experimental Radiohead album] King of Limbs much,” he added.

Yorke was talking to the British magazine to promote his new side-project, Atoms for Peace. The band, which also features Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea and long-term Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, will release debut album Amok next month. It is the first album made by Yorke with a full band other than Radiohead – though he released the Mercury Prize-nominated solo effort The Eraser in 2006 – and will be released almost 20 years to the day since Radiohead’s debut, Pablo Honey.

Since then, Radiohead have become one of the most influential – and popular – bands of their generation, releasing a further seven acclaimed albums, including OK Computer (1997) and Hail to the Thief (2003).

Yorke also revealed in the interview that he almost had a brush with US President Barack Obama at the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009.

“I went to the Copenhagen summit, and that permanently flipped my lid, because the whole thing was so wrong. Obama stormed straight past me after the meeting he had with China, and it was just horrible. It sort of spun me out permanently to be honest. When you’re presented with that level of stupidity it kind of blows your mind.”

However, despite writing a song about the death of weapons expert David Kelly in 2006, Yorke said he was unlikely to start including more politics in his lyrics.

“The David Kelly thing was very much an exception. I thought it was just so horribly English, so f—-d up. [But] politics is not a fun thing to write about.”

Radiohead completed their most recent tour last November, and despite Atoms for Peace having no scheduled gigs to promote their album, Yorke said he has a strict yoga regime for not succumbing to post-tour blues.

“I do a minimum of an hour’s yoga a day, usually an hour and a half. Coming off tour you have this mad adrenalin, so it’s a way of stopping the adrenalin crash. It stops me dropping.”

Amok by Atoms for Peace will be released on February 25.

[From The Telegraph]

I always feel a bit queasy when politicians start talking about their favorite bands, and when the musicians start talking about how pissed off they are about those politicians. It’s almost enough to make me feel badly for David Cameron – he can like Radiohead’s music without having to agree with Thom Yorke’s politics, and Thom Yorke can accept the prime minister as a fan without agreeing with his politics. But whatever. I guess that’s what Thom was getting at.

Also: I’m SHOCKED that Thom does yoga. SHOCKED!

Photos courtesy of Dazed & Confused Magazine.