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Thom Yorke gives his thoughts on Glastonbury Festival
To put it simply, Thom Yorke is a genius. As the frontman of alt-rock heroes Radiohead, he has carried them throughout their existence, and like the rest of the band, has enjoyed a creative career that saw them go from an out-and-out rock group to one of the most pioneering bands of all time. A complex combination of challenging lyrical themes with cerebral yet enchanting music ranks the band among the very finest of all time.
An incisive lyricist, able guitarist, and astounding vocalist, Yorke is close to establishing himself as a flawless musician, one who takes as many cues from indie legends such as R.E.M. and The Smiths as niche acts such as John Coltrane and the influential composer Penderecki.
Alongside his bandmates, Yorke is acutely aware of the need to never grow stale and to always progress, and it is this sentiment that has made Radiohead one of the most lauded acts of all time, appealing not only to a niche audience but to the masses as well.
As well as being a contemporary musical icon, Yorke is also one of rock’s most fascinating personalities, which is not surprising given the volume of lauded works he’s released. When speaking to High Profiles in 2004, he indicated just how sharp he is when discussing the point that he is a hero to kids.
He said: “There’s a good way to be a hero and a bad way to be a hero. There was a weird point during the OK Computer period when it was getting a bit psycho, a little extreme, and the sort of people who were following us around would project things onto us that we absolutely had no responsibility for at all, and it took me a long time to realise that actually this was nothing to do with me.”
Continuing, Yorke added: “But we’re lucky now that the people who tend to be into us or in any way find us heroes are people who are prepared to go off and find out things for themselves. Hopefully. That’s what Chomsky always says at the end of his lectures: ‘Don’t take my word for it! Go and read it up yourself!’”
It’s this kind of attitude that has made Yorke’s opinion one of the most sought after and cherished in the entire industry, as he invariably produces sage insight, something that cannot be said for many of his other most prominent peers.
When appearing in the 2022 documentary Glastonbury: 50 Years and Counting, Yorke provided a comprehensive account of the world’s most famous music festival and one that Radiohead happen to have headlined four times. Yorke suggested that there’s so much going on at the event that there’s not enough time to take it in and appreciate it properly. For any music fan that has visited the festival, it’s an agreeable point, as whilst Glastonbury’s size is one of its strengths, paradoxically, it’s also its main weakness.
Giving his thoughts on the Worthy Farm extravaganza, he said: “It’s like too much… Too many sweets, too much stuff all in one go. It’s like, here’s everything happening in music this year, really, really fast.”
