I think of Radiohead, who they are, what they've done, the things they've refused to do, and I begin to feel engulfed in an uproar of feelings. Though, of all the feelings that arise, there is always one that ultimately trumps them all, and that is gratuity.
I've been following this band for so long, that at this point in my life, they are the only band that I truly "follow" anymore in a sense of that word. Previous curiosities have always left me in wonder about even the most minute of activities of a select few bands of my ever-so-brief lifetime. Namely, Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, and it wouldn't be fair for the Strokes to be absent from that list as well. I have bought not one of the four aforementioned bands' most recent album.
But for the last two Radiohead albums, which the band gave away for free, I paid $10 for each of them.
Presently, I find myself asking the question, "Why would I do that?" I don't buy albums anymore. And I sure as hell know that Radiohead don't need the money.
So just what the heck is it that makes Radiohead so special?
Well the answer is rather quite simple, it is the answer to why I haven't bought the last Pearl Jam, Strokes, Built to Spill, or Modest Mouse records, and it will always be the universal answer as to why people will support an artist:
Because of the quality of the art being created.
And for Radiohead, they have been crafting relevant high quality art for the most uncanny length of time. They are beginning to travel down a road that very few other artists have traveled. It's probably safe to say that most people would agree that Radiohead's first great album was The Bends. So between then and their most recent King of Limbs, we're talking the time period between 1995 - 2012.
That's seventeen years of mastery. Do you realize just how unprecedented that is in music today? Actually come to think of it, fuck just today, how about ever in the history of music? How many other artists can you name me that have come close to that? The Beatles were only around as a band for 8 years of recording time (although I'm pretty sure they could have done it forever if they wanted to). You can't convince me that the Rolling Stones were making good records through the late seventies. The only person I can think of who we can draw parallels to is Michael Jackson.
(On a side note, one might raise the argument that not all of the albums that Radiohead have made over the past seventeen years are of high quality, to which I would dispute that there are over 30 million people on this planet who would disagree with you, and that has to count for something in an argument such as the one I'm making considering we're talking about a subjective topic here. Not to mention the fact that they sold those 30 million records having only one "big" radio hit in "Creep").
It was chillingly interesting to hear Mike McCready speak about his fear of losing his creativity in Pearl Jam's standout Single Video Thoery DVD (about the 8:30 mark), which I find notably coincidental considering that documentary was for Yield, what I consider to be their last good album. I'd wager that musicians think about that more often than they would like to admit, and there were certainly moments when the future of Radiohead was a huge question mark in the public's eye as to whether they would or could ever release another record of such high artistic modern pertinence. But they did, and, amazingly, they continue to do so.
In "Giving Up the Ghost" Thom Yorke couldn't be more accurate when he claims that "life seems impossible". Everything had to happen at exactly the right time, in just the right format for all we know to have come into existence, which has always made me feel so fortunate to simply be, to have an existence in this ever precious journey we're all on. And it always makes me happy to think that I get that about life, because I don't think that everyone comes around to realizing that in their lifetime. Likewise, that, in a nutshell, describes how I feel about your band, Thom. Everything in its right place. I feel so thankful that I'm here with those I love, with you and the ones you love, and you've been able to share with all of us the great things that Radiohead has brought into this world.
So while over the last few nights, as I partook in the gentle washing of your "Separator" lyrics over and over us through the microphone, "If you think this is over then you're wrong", after all these years, I will reply that you couldn't be more right.
Thank you.
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