Think back, way way back, when MTV was cool. Remember seeing cool bands like The Butthole Surfers, Ween, and, ahem, Radiohead, that you’d never hear anywhere else? Remember when they’d run old Speed Racer cartoons at 1am? Remember when they actually played music videos, more than five of them at that? I do, and the downfall of MTV (and SPIN Magazine, which, I kid you not, was really really great like 12 years ago) signifies the absolute and utter destruction of my glorious youth.
Anyway, I’m not alone, because Altmusictv.com has an article detailing these salad days, with a particular focus on a lovely show called 120 Minutes. Former hosts Matt Pinfield and Dave Kendall sat down to talk about their experiences on the show, and Matt mentioned Radiohead’s performance on the show:
Matt Pinfield: “We would sometimes tape literally as early as 7 or 8 in the morning. And you know what was an amazing thing? Radiohead came to record some live songs from The Bends, and they showed up at 9AM, and did “High and Dry” and “Street Spirit.” It was impeccably beautiful. I can’t believe Thom Yorke sounded so amazing at 9 in the morning. It was incredible!”
Q: Speaking of Radiohead, what’s your favorite Radiohead album?
Matt: “The Bends was the greatest record. I remember Thom Yorke almost being in tears when he was presented with The Bends gold record here-we all got ’em. And he walked up to me and Andy (MTV) and Lewis, and said, “I know how much shit you guys got for staying behind us, and I just want to say how much it means to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” And literally, there were almost tears coming out of Thom Yorke’s eyes when he walked out. We looked at each other and said, “That was one of the most amazing fucking moments since we started working here.” Just to see Thom Yorke being so affected by the love that we gave them for The Bends. Then the critics caught on, and hailed OK Computer to be the greatest album of all time. They wrote the band off after “Creep” thinking they were a one-hit-wonder, so they ignored The Bends and lost out on a great record. I love OK Computer, but The Bends is the album.”
(Thanks to CUTW.)
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