Thom Yorke has revealed that when Radiohead get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March, he will not be there to deliver an acceptance speech.
Last month, it was revealed that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was set to induct quite a number of acts into its class of 2019, including The Cure, Stevie Nicks, Roxy Music, Janet Jackson, Def Leppard and The Zombies. One notable addition to this list is Radiohead, who made the grade in their second year of eligibility.
However, Radiohead have let their feelings be known about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the past, with guitarist Ed O’Brien saying he thinks Dr. Dre is more worthy of induction than his band.
“As a British band, it’s one of those things that it’s very lovely to be nominated, but we don’t quite culturally understand it,” O’Brien explained. “It’s a very American thing. Us Brits are very bad at celebrating ourselves.”
Likewise, the other members of the band expressed their indifference prior to being nominated in 2018, with guitarist Jonny Greenwood simply summing it up by saying, “I don’t care.”
“Maybe it’s a cultural thing that I really don’t understand,” he continued. “I mean, from the outside it looks like… it’s quite a self-regarding profession anyway. And anything that heightens that just makes me feel even more uncomfortable.”
Check out Radiohead’s ‘Daydreaming’:
Now, in a new interview with Variety, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was asked whether he would be showing up at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, only to respond in the negative.
“I can’t. I know I can’t, because of these piano pieces that I’ve written,” Yorke explained. “There’s the Paris Philharmonic, so I have to be there for that.”
As Variety clarify, “The piece he wrote for Katia and Marielle Labèque premieres at Philharmonie de Paris on April 7, nine days after the Hall of Fame induction.”
However, elsewhere in the interview, it sounds as though his packed schedule is something of a blessing, with Thom Yorke again expressing his thoughts on the honour, explaining “we’ve always been very blasé about that stuff.”
“So we don’t want to offend anyone. We just think that we just don’t quite understand it,” he continued. “We’ve had it explained to us, so it’s cool. But we don’t really understand it as English people.”
“I think our problem is essentially that every awards ceremony in the UK stinks. We grew up with the Brits, which is like this sort of drunken car crash that you don’t want to get involved with. So, yeah, we don’t really know what to make of it.”
Check out Thom Yorke’s ‘Suspirium’:
Despite this, Thom Yorke didn’t write off the concept of awards ceremonies completely, saying he hopes that his soundtrack for Suspiria ends up receiving an Academy Award nomination, having already made the shortlist for Best Original Song.
“The Oscar thing makes a bit more sense, I guess, because I’ve had it explained to me a bit more,” Yorke stated. “I mean, I hope it gets nominated. That would be great, because it was a year and a half in my life, and I worked bloody hard on it.”
“So, you know, sometimes it’s nice to be recognized. Sometimes, if you understand what it means.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set to take place on March 29th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Check out Radiohead’s ‘Burn The Witch’:
