Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous received his greatest piece of musical advice from Thom Yorke
Before passing away in 2010, Mark Linkous enjoyed a prolific career as the lead singer of indie rock outfit Sparklehorse. The band released five albums during Linkous’ lifetime, as well as one posthumous record, Bird Machine, in 2023. Beginning with 1995’s Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, Sparklehorse impressed critics through their unique sound, incorporating odd samples into a lo-fi folk-inspired psychedelic indie blend.
Linkous used music as an outlet during his recovery following a drug overdose that left him unable to walk, something he needed to relearn over the coming years. With Sparklehorse’s second album, Good Morning Spider, Linkous explored his mixed feelings following the incident while experimenting with unconventional sounds, such as static, recording much of the record on old instruments retrieved from landfill.
Linkous was a dedicated musician who never compromised his artistic visions, and the result was an incredible body of work emanating with emotion and innovation. He was well-respected by his peers, working with a wide variety of artists, from PJ Harvey to David Lynch and The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.
From an early age, Linkous knew music could act as a guide and a mentor. He told The Guardian in 2006, “As soon as I saw Johnny Cash looking so cool in his black suit on television, I knew music offered a way out. My parents bought me a little plastic acoustic guitar, but I don’t remember writing songs. Later I worshipped Alice Cooper. Then Led Zeppelin. Punk rock. The first concert I ever saw was Blondie. Oh man, she was gorgeous … But I never got to see the Pistols, and I only saw Buzzcocks years later, when they reformed.”
As Sparklehorse rose to prominence in the 1990s, they toured with their contemporaries, Radiohead, during the OK Computer era. Around this time, lead vocalist Thom Yorke teamed up with Sparklehorse for a cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’, which was featured on an EMI compilation album, Come Again, in 1998. According to the album credits, Yorke provided the backing vocals over the telephone.
Yorke proved to be a significant inspiration for Linkous, providing him with “the best piece of advice” he’d ever received. Talking to NME in 1999, Linkous revealed the words of pearly musical wisdom that Yorke once shared with him that he carried with him through his career.
He said: “We [Sparklehorse] recorded a session for VH-1. It was really embarrassing – you know, close-ups of fingers on the fret, really cliched stuff – and they’d tried to dictate what songs we were gonna do. Thom Yorke said, ‘You better work that out beforehand. Otherwise, they’ll make you do it.’”
Listen to Sparklehorse and Thom Yorke’s collaboration below.
