Thom Yorke fought to keep “Let Down” off OK Computer

Thom Yorke has told The Sunday Times that he tried to keep “Let Down”, the song TikTok has carried into the charts this year, off OK Computer. I find that especially bizarre. Because I fought tooth and nail for it not to be on the record, but Ed was, like, ‘If it’s not, I’m leaving.’¹

Yorke was talking to Jonathan Dean, in the band's only interview before their first shows since 2018, which open in Madrid on 4 November. “Let Down” was only a promotional single in 1997. This summer it entered the Hot 100 at number 91 on the chart dated 30 August, Radiohead's fourth entry there after “Creep”, “High and Dry” and “Nude”. In Britain it reached the singles chart in June and climbed to number 73 in September.

Phil Selway says he watched schoolboys at a station play “Everything in Its Right Place” on a piano, and follow it with “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

Ed O'Brien calls “Let Down” the emotional heart of OK Computer, and still its new popularity astonished him. So I told my kids, who are 18 and 21, and they said, ‘What do you expect? Teenagers are depressed. It’s depressing music!’¹