Tag: R.E.M.

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Radiohead

R.E.M. calls it quits

Stipe and Yorke, 1995
Stipe and Yorke, 1995

Yes, we know that this is a Radiohead site but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that after three decades, the members of R.E.M. have decided to break up. Radiohead and R.E.M. have a bit of history together that started when Thom and Co. were chosen to be the opening act for R.E.M. on their Monster tour in 1995. It was during that time that Thom Yorke and Michael Stipe became close friends; in particular, Stipe gave him advice on how to deal with the demands of being in a rock band. Thom wrote the following in a 1995 tour diary for Q Magazine:

“First gig with R.E.M. Mr. Stipe comes in before the show to say hello. ‘Hi, I’m Michael. I’m really glad you could do this. I’m a very big fan.’ Wonder how many times I will run this through my brain after today. I’ve never believed in hero worship and so on, but I have to admit to myself that I’m fighting for breath. I’ve had moments in the past two years when time has completely curved and space became a Hitchcock camera trick. At these moments, barriers seem to break in my head and I never see anything in the same way again. And for days and days all I want to do is run around jumping into people’s earshot waving my hands up and down like Bjork and pulling faces. This is one of those moments.”

“Feel 50 feet tall. Shit Shit Shit, this is R.E.M. and they really like us. No I mean they REALLY like us, they’re not just being nice. When someone you really admire gives you something you like that, your shoulders get a little lighter, you feel a little stronger, forever.”

We leave you with a few video highlights of Radiohead and R.E.M. after the jump.

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Radiohead

YouTube Friday: All about Thom

Since Thom’s album leaked this week, we thought we devote today’s YouTube Friday to some classic Thom videos found on YouTube.

The first one is a recent one, videotaped from the May 18th show in London. Apparently some heckler was in the crowd and told Thom to get off stage.

Oh wow.. remember when Thom collaborated with Drugstore on that song “El President”? His voice sounds great in this song. Remember the rumor that he and Drugstore lead singer Isabel were going to be naked in mud bound together for the video? We reported about it in 1998 and the rumor was squashed by Isabel shortly thereafter. Anyway, here’s the video they decided to do:


Next up: We don’t know what this is…

Back at one of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts (1998?), Radiohead and R.E.M. decided to swap singers for one song each. Michael Stipe sang “Lucky” with Radiohead and Thom sang “Be Mine” with R.E.M. This clip is from a R.E.M. documentary and shows Thom’s rehearsal.

Ahhh.. the golden years. We’re not just talking about Thom’s hair here either. We leave you with Thom’s 12 string performance of “Street Spirit”. Enjoy!

Categories
Radiohead

Ben Lee and Peter Buck’s opinion on Radiohead

In a recent interview, indie rock musician Ben Lee had this to say about Radiohead:

Q: Hi Ben. Just a quick question. Have you heard the new Radiohead albums ‘Kid A’ and ‘Amnesiac’? If yes, what do you think?
BL: I haven’t heard Amnesiac yet. I enjoyed Kid A. I have a lot of admiration for Radiohead as it’s fun to see artists challenging themselves and their fans. Plus, they’re good looking.

The entire interview can be seen at http://www.ben-lee.com/lists/interview0107.htm.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Q magazine, Peter Buck of R.E.M. was also asked about Radiohead:

What do you think of Radiohead?
They?re great. They?ve saved their career by not making the same record over and over again.

{thanks to Nick & Zach}

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke tour

News for June 12, 2000

Jonny made an appearance at the official Radiohead message board yesterday and was asked about how big the tent would be that they will be bringing on tour with them this Fall. “We can get 10000 in, apparently,” Jonny said,”but it feels tiny. The reading festival tent in about 8000, if you know it, so it’s not much bigger.”

[thanks to Middi]

VH-1 wants you!
Here is a press release for a new show on VH-1:

A new television series called SOUND AFFECTS, which will begin airing on July 21st, is looking for inspirational stories about how a particular song or artist/band has affected your life.

We want to hear specific stories on how Radiohead’s music has inspired you, motivated you, helped you get through a rough situation, or served as a “soundtrack” through a profound or difficult time in your life. Are you where you are today because of a Radiohead song? We want to know how. The more detailed the story, the better the chance of getting contacted for an on-camera interview. Interviews will be held in Chicago June 24/25, Detroit June 27/28, Cleveland June 30, Austin July 2/3, Waco July 6, Dallas July 8, New York July 29/30, Los Angeles TBD. Please e-mail your stories, name, contact number, age, occupation, and city and state where you live to: SoundAffects@vh1.com . Check out http://www.vh1.com/soundaffects for info. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thom in R.E.M. documentary
The Independent Film Channel is showing the R.E.M. documentary in which Thom makes an appearance. The documentary is called “This Way Up” and follows the band around during the making of their album Up and the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington DC in 1998. Thom is shown rehearsing with R.E.M., singing their song “Be Mine.”

Showtimes are:
Monday June 19, 2:30/1:30pm central
Friday June 23, 11/10am central
Saturday June 24, 4/3am central
Sunday June 25, 7/6pm central
Monday june 26, 5/4am central
[thanks to mARSHALL]

MPIE on Musique Plus
Canadian TV channel Musique Plus will be airing Meeting People is Easy on Wednesday June 14th, at 10:30 PM.
[thanks to Paul-Emile]

Thom’s site updated
Check out Thom’s page on the official Radiohead site. He’s updated it with some new pictures!

PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke
As we reported last month, it is rumored that PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke will be singing together on a track from Harvey’s new album, scheduled to be released later this year. NME is reporting that more credibility has been given to the rumor, and quotes a PJ Harvey site by saying that “there may just be some truth” to the rumor.

Stay tuned, as always, for more on this topic!

Categories
Radiohead

News for December 28, 1999

NY’s K-Rock recently had a interview with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe in which he denied rumors about the possible Radiohead/R.E.M. collaborations.

“Speaking of experimental, Stipe said that while rumors of he and Radiohead working on a project aren’t true, he does speak to frontman Thom Yorke often. Because of their frequent discussions about music and studio techniques he says it’s quite possible that new albums from both will be indirectly “inspired by one another.”

[thanks to Danny]

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Radiohead The Bends

News for December 21, 1999

A few weeks ago Yahoo! held a chat with R.E.M. Michael Stipe was asked about the R.E.M./Radiohead connection:

sadprofessor1460 asks: Michael, I read that you did some work with Thom Yorke recently. What did you work on and when will we be able to get a hold of hit?
rem_live: Stipe: We haven’t worked officially in the studio as musicians, we just talk a lot as friends.
rem_live: But REM and Radiohead actually talk a lot and kind of challenge each other musically as to what each of us are doing next.

[thanks to Nicholas]
Street SpiritThe Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has got the “promo list” for MTV Europe’s top 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made. Radiohead came in at #9 for their awesome video for “Street Spirit (fade out).”
“9. Radiohead – “Street Spirit”
Direction: Jonathan Glazer (1996)

Wonderful slowmotion effects in black and white. It’s not often a video fits perfect with its song, but this time it did.”