Radiohead's Thom Yorke doesn't particularly "love" it when people he dislikes enjoy his music, but as long as someone like British Prime Minister David Cameron doesn't use the band's music for a political ad, he won't be too upset. But if Cameron did use Yorke's music for political purposes? Well, Yorke would "sue the living sh-t out of him."
That's the rubric the singer set forth in an interview with Dazed & Confused (via NME), and it's one that shouldn't come as a surprise to longtime Radiohead fans. Yorke has been an ardent critic of many a politician and argued environmental causes. What's more surprising, perhaps, is the number of conservatives who attest to loving his music.
Cameron is a longtime fan who has reportedly named the band's "Fake Plastic Trees" as his favorite song. Jenna Bush attended a concert, causing Yorke to quip that his team elected not to tell him "who was in the building before we went on." "Probably a good idea," he remarked.
"Even back in college, you get involved in [political thinking] initially and then you see all the petty wranglings going on, and you think, This is so pathetic, and you want to get the f-ck out really," Yorke told The Comment Factory in an 2008 interview, noting that though he may have famous fans, he doesn't have any influence over them. "You’ll never change them," he said.
It's a message he took up again in his Dazed & Confused interview: "Politics is not a fun thing to write about… I can’t say I love the idea of a banker liking our music, or David Cameron. I can’t believe he'd like [Radiohead’s last album] 'The King Of Limbs' much. But I also equally think, who cares?"
Cameron and Yorke both appeared in a 2010 video, "2 Minute Silence," which honored the sacrifices of the British armed forces.
Yorke's hard at work on music for Atoms for Peace, the supergroup of sorts he and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. The band recently released their second single, "Judge, Jury and Executioner," and their debut album, "Amok,' lands in stores Feb. 25.
