Thom Yorke tells Alec Baldwin he chose Ed O'Brien for his socks

Thom Yorke has told Alec Baldwin how he picked Radiohead, in an hour-long episode of Here's The Thing on WNYC, out on 1 April. At 16 he went round Abingdon School choosing people. I got Ed [O'Brien] because he was dressed like Morrissey and he had some cool socks, and I saw he had a guitar.¹

Whether O'Brien could actually play, Yorke had no idea and didn't care. Colin Greenwood played very well but had never played bass. His brother Jonny was this mythical musical prodigy¹, and Phil Selway was the only drummer they knew, with a house down the road to rehearse in. The first demos were made in Selway's sister's bedroom.

Last year's tour played to 30,000 or 40,000 people on some nights, so the band built a stage of screens to make it feel intimate. Before a show Yorke stands on his head for a bit and keeps to himself until five minutes before they go on, and then we're all in a room together pacing up and down like wild animals and then we're on.¹

He recalls Nokia offering Radiohead millions of pounds in the early 2000s because it wanted “content” for its phones. Baldwin tries a hypothetical of his own, a million pounds from the Sultan of Brunei for one “Creep”. Yorke wants to know why the Sultan keeps a house near his that he never uses, and says no. He doesn't recognise the voice on that record any more. You sort of get to the point where you're like, what's that, oh it's me.¹

Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin, WNYC, Thom Yorke interview (segment), April 2013· WNYC Studioswatch on youtube →