Thom Yorke tells Magnet the band are bored of making albums

Thom Yorke tells Matthew Fritch, in a Q&A for Magnet's tenth-anniversary issue, that Radiohead are getting bored of being an album band. Asked whether Apple's iTunes, which sells single songs for 99 cents, worries him, he says, No, we're so fucking into that. We've been trying to get the record company to do it for ages.¹

Much of what is wrong with the music business, Yorke says, is built around the album: the reviews, the shops' mark-up, and a label that pays the same however many tracks go on the record. The format is dying anyway, as people pick the songs they want, and for Radiohead that will be liberating. What wears the band down is the scrutiny every album gets and the stress of deciding what goes on it and in what order. They would like to put out things that are more throwaway, though they still want an object at the end.

He confirms that Hail to the Thief refers to George W. Bush, though the record is not only about him.

I think we've entered an era of utter absurdity, where we're quite prepared to let the loonies take over.

Thom Yorke¹

Britain, he adds, is no exception. Bono told him the other night that most of the best things he had done came out of anger, and that he should get on with being angry.

Yorke cannot remember when he last listened to The Bends, and whenever the band dig up “Bones” it never works and sounds a bit like Status Quo.

He was always hopeless at the meet-and-greets of the band's early American promotion. Colin Greenwood was the best of them at it.

He could smile while putting a knife in your back and you wouldn't know.

Thom Yorke¹