Sunday, February 20th, 2011
"The Headmaster Ritual"
Radiohead covers The Smiths
YouTubeThose scamps in Radiohead did it again. After ambushing music fans with their last album In Rainbows, the existence of which was revealed just 10 days before it was put up for sale at a pay-what-you-will price, the band did the same for their new record The King Of Limbs, announcing last Monday that it’d be available to download as of Saturday and then surprising yet again by moving the release ahead 24 hours, allowing fans to devour and digest the eight-song offering as of Friday morning.
The release of In Rainbows was followed almost exactly a month later on November 9, 2007 with a webcast of a live studio performance by the band for producer Nigel Godrich’s From The Basement television series and amidst performances of all of In Rainbows, they threw in a couple of covers that were like manna from heaven for fans of their old pop-structured, guitar-driven sound – one of Joy Division’s “Ceremony” and this one of The Smiths. A reminder that they’re perfectly capable of sounding like their old, twentieth-century selves… they’re simply choosing not to.
It remains to be seen if Radiohead have any such plans to follow The King Of Limbs – history certainly implies that they’ll do something interesting and unexpected, and a fresh world tour seem inevitable. As for The Smiths, the closest they’ve come to a reunion is Morrissey and Marr teaming up to agree that cruelty to animals is bad. The Huffington Post had a chat with former bassist Andy Rourke.
MP3: Radiohead – “The Headmaster Ritual”
Video: Radiohead – “The Headmaster Ritual” (on From The Basement)
Video: The Smiths – “The Headmaster Ritual”
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2/20/11 4:27 pm
didn’t radiohead go to some “posh” boarding school for rich kids. not manchester schools.
2/21/11 12:53 am
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