Thom Yorke calls music industry "retards"

[Elvis Presley]

Radiohead's Thom Yorke calls the music industry "a bunch of fucking retards" in this week's issue of NME.

The singer has launched a scathing attack on record companies and radio stations as he believes they are only just now looking at the internet for new talent.

Speaking about Arctic Monkeys' rise to fame, Yorke said: "A good thing for new music would be more of the mainstream loosening up a bit and letting stuff through. Radio 1 won't play anything fucking decent. You need to sort the radio out."

He added: "The fact that poor Arctic Monkeys are getting so much attention is purely based on the fact that the mainstream music business is such a bunch of fucking retards as far as I'm concerned."

 

[LMP]

did I mention that Thom Yorke is my new hero

 

[Aygo]

He's totally right.
This is the situation in the UK market, we better not remember the US market one...

 

[barlowdog]

I've been saying this for years, but no one listens to me.
Right on, Thom!

 

[Layton]

He's pretty much stating the obvious. What I find more interesting is why anyone would ever expect a record company not to put business interests ahead of everything else.

Let's face it, for 20 some years now packaging has been the way record companies break artists into the mainstream. The tactics have just gotten better and better. These companies know exactly what a targeted audience wants out of their music listening experience and they deliver it.

Music as art has been defeated by business and marketing brilliance. Good old-fashioned capitalism at work. There's no way anytime soon that's gonna change. That's a battle, not even Yorke can win. Maybe the best he can do is to get in there and show the music listening clones there's something better out there.

 

[Zoomerang96]

yeah, i read this before, good stuff.

odd though, rumour has it that the arctic monkeys are to open for radiohead this year.

i'd never believe it though.

 

[Elvis Presley]

yeah, i read this before, good stuff.

odd though, rumour has it that the arctic monkeys are to open for radiohead this year.

i'd never believe it though.

well, look whos the regular rumor mill!

 

[IWasBored]

trent reznor said the music industry was a bunch of ass-licking...hang on, the actual quote:

"The Grammys make me hate music, and certainly everyone in the ass-licking music industry."

but i guess you'd expect that from him moreso than mr. yorke.

 

[mikal]

oh my god!!!11 thom yorke is so controversial!!!111

i can't believe you guys can't see through him.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Too true, Thom.

As for this...

oh my god!!!11 thom yorke is so controversial!!!111

i can't believe you guys can't see through him.

What, exactly, do you see in Thom Yorke? He's only pointing out a very accurate fact of the artistically decrepit mainstream music business.

 

[Zoomerang96]

oh my god!!!11 thom yorke is so controversial!!!111

i can't believe you guys can't see through him.

lame.

 

[the rockin edge]

Radiohead's Thom Yorke calls the music industry "a bunch of fucking retards" in this week's issue of NME.

 

[VertigoGal]

ooh he is SO kewl!

what, is he bitter or something?

Yeah so businesspeople are primarily concerned with making money. What fucking retards. I'm shocked.

 

[typhoon]

The music industry is an easy target. There are entire albums dedicated to bashing it. There's nothing particularly daring or insightful about calling it fucked. It's like calling politicians corrupt.

 

[indra]

The music industry is an easy target. There are entire albums dedicated to bashing it. There's nothing particularly daring or insightful about calling it fucked. It's like calling politicians corrupt.

Better than sucking up to it. At least he is calling it what it is.

 

[Zoomerang96]

who said what he said was "daring"?

 

[mikal]

who said what he said was "daring"?

probably Thom Yorke, after he made himself a smug sandwich.

 

[typhoon]

who said what he said was "daring"?

No one said it was anything, so I had to infer something from all the praise in this thread. What is it then that makes this comment special?

 

[AtomicBono]

The music industry is an easy target. There are entire albums dedicated to bashing it. There's nothing particularly daring or insightful about calling it fucked. It's like calling politicians corrupt.

 

[Zoomerang96]

No one said it was anything, so I had to infer something from all the praise in this thread. What is it then that makes this comment special?

i said it was "good stuff". fuck sakes.

if you guys wanna act like knobs, then fine. i'll ask this - is he wrong? do you honestly think he's wrong?

of course not.

it's not news, it's not important, it's stating the obvious.

 

[lmjhitman]

it's not news, it's not important, it's stating the obvious.

 

[VertigoGal]

Do I think he's wrong? Sort of. Lacking integrity in many cases, maybe. But "fucking retards" isn't the term that comes to mind when I think of people who market a product for a living. If anyone else said it I doubt there'd be a thread on it.

 

[typhoon]

Forget it, arguing on the internet is dumb.

 

[VertigoGal]

^no it's not...as long as you don't actually get upset about it.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Do I think he's wrong? Sort of. Lacking integrity in many cases, maybe. But "fucking retards" isn't the term that comes to mind when I think of people who market a product for a living. If anyone else said it I doubt there'd be a thread on it.

Funny, it's exactly the kind of term that comes to my mind. We live in a world where the majority of the record-buying public (the teen market) will only pay attention to music if there's a bare ass shaking to it on television, if the guys and gals who play it look hawt on MTV , and if it goes down easy on the ears - nothing they have to think too much about, in other words. To have these executives cranking the mainstream machine while their wallets get thicker and the real artists get poorer...yeah, "fucking retards" does come to mind. There was a time when bands didn't have to be good looking or fit nicely into a popular radio genre to get a record deal. The only thing that mattered was the music. The music doesn't matter anymore, and that's very unfortunate.

 

[got_edge]

He's only pointing out a very accurate fact of the artistically decrepit mainstream music business.

You're face is 'decrepit'.

 

[melon]

But "fucking retards" isn't the term that comes to mind when I think of people who market a product for a living.

I'd think of something far more repugnant.

Melon

 

[VertigoGal]

All I'm saying is "conniving bastards" is a better fit.

(not very repugnant I know. )

 

[namkcuR]

This reminds me of a Lewis Black bit...he starts off talking about the 2000 Superbowl Halftime show(the one with Aerosmith, NSync, etc), and then goes on a tangent...

"It(the halftime show) was brought to you by MTV, because when I think music, oh yeah, I think MTV - the people who, during my lifetime, have done everything they can to destroy music. *loud audience applause* Well then I'll contine for those of you who DIDN'T applaud, just to prove my point! MTV is not music. Music is a wonderful thing. It's like a drug, really. It's played and it goes in our ear, and we get a vision. MTV is a video. And that goes where? In your EYE. This is an EYE *points to his eye*, EAR *points to his ear*. There's a BIG FUCK DIFFERENCE. AND, if you get a vision in your head after you listen to some music, and you go home and turn on MTV, and the video they show is the vision you had.....kill yourself. You're better off coming back as a lobster."

In another bit he also gave us this analogy:

"MTV is to music as KFC is to chicken."

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Ah the contradictions of life, seeing this thread on the same forum where there were threads 10 pages long congratulating U2 on winning five Grammys a few months ago.