Ed O'Brien on The 11th Hour

One of six parts of a television conversation with Thom Yorke and Ed O'Brien around In Rainbows, with a live “Karma Police” in the middle.

There was no plan for the next trick after leaving the label, and that was not the point. “We saw a cliff and we wanted to jump.” It reminded them of the 1960s and 70s music business, maniacs with too much money who were at least into the music, where EMI is now run on venture capital and a record is a product. Yorke says that since art college he has wanted the band's work to stay in public consciousness, as Rothko's has, and he has always had a problem with the art world's elitism, its collectors and rising values. After OK Computer had sold millions, the label commissioned a study of who to target next. He and Stanley Donwood got hold of it and used it as artwork, though he cannot remember for what.

Asked whether Kid A, after the trips to Paris and Copenhagen, caused fights, O'Brien says it began with self-doubt about where he fitted if he was not playing guitar. Yorke's idea was right for the time, and once everyone found a way in, it worked. Will it always be torturous? They have told each other it cannot be, and are not sure yet what that means. Perhaps they just put out one song.