The kind of dialogue that they want to engage in is one that’s black or white. I have a problem with that. It’s deeply distressing that they choose to, rather than engage with us personally, throw shit at us in public. It’s deeply disrespectful to assume that we’re either being misinformed or that we’re so retarded we can’t make these decisions ourselves. I thought it was patronizing in the extreme.
Thom Yorke explains their stance on Israel to Rolling Stone 2017/06/02
Strap yourself iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!!!
Apart from the Joe Biden and the Neonazis, few people have as long and as enduring an affection for the state of Israel as the fellas from that there Radiohead. And I can kinda appreciate their reasoning, at least more than I can Nick Cave’s pathetic fanboy “OMG! This is the bar where Jesus shot Gredo first!” or whatever the fuck. It’s even arguable whether, without Israel, Radiohead would have even made it to a second album after the ridiculously of-its-time posh boy grunge karaoke of their debut.
In September 1992, Radiohead released their debut single, a pretty catchy deep cut that some of you dedicated Rad-Heads might have heard of called Creep. If we’re being completely honest, then we can admit that Creep is such a debut single. One of the dumbest and stupidest little songs the band ever recorded, it’s possibly the most one hit wonder sounding song ever that was actually nothing of the sort. Radiohead’s subsequent commercial and critical success is like if Deep Blue Something just happened to follow Breakfast At Tiffany’s with some of the most important and lauded music of all time. “You’re just like an angel/Your skin makes me cry”?? Geddafuggardahere!! That song is so bad! But it’s an absolute whingerock standard by this point, and – despite the band’s art being taken to places unimaginable at that stage – still the band’s most famous song. I’m sorry, but don’t expect to hear Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors at your sister in law’s wedding this weekend. And yet, in September 1992, nobody gave a shiny shite. It limped to number 78 on the charts, selling six thousand copies. I think it’s fair to say that in late 1992 the entire listening public thought:
The world moved on, Radiohead followed up with two absolutely fucking dreadful singles called Anyone Can Play Guitar and Pop is Dead that were even bigger flops – because, seriously, no sentient being in the world would choose to listen to those songs – and nice meeting you, posh boy grungers, but you are done.
Apart from with the [CHECKS NOTES] Israeli army. Specifically the Israeli Army radio station Galei Tzahal. The Robin Williams “Gooooooooooood mooooooooooooooooorning Deir al-Balaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!” character was DJ Yoav Kutner, who happened to be introduced to the song by an EMI executive and was the first notable person in world media to fall for it. Kutner played the song to death* for the Israel Defense Force, sometimes up to three times an hour, because that IDF are fucking freaks. It became a big enough hit throughout Israel through eventual word of mouth that EMI decided that this band of posh weirdos with the funny looking singer might not be a complete busted flush, and they arranged for the band to play some club shows in Tev Aviv and even to make a television appearance to capitalise on the hype around this one (semi) hit wonder, likely realising that they needed to strike while the iron was hot considering there was little to no longterm prospects for this band. They were received like demi-Gods in a country at that point starved of much real attention from Western artists “and reveled in the validation of any foreign rock act dropping by”, and for a short while ‘Radiohead in Israel’ was a bit of a ‘David Hasselhoff in Germany’ situation. Eventually though, American radio started to pick up on the song and it became a bit of a college staple, before finally being rereleased in the UK and making the top 10. Finally, Creep‘s place in rock history was solidified in 1994 when it was promoted to the real Hall of Fame: featuring on an episode of Beavis and Butthead.
(*I’m speaking figuratively here, not literally. Not like ‘The IDF is currently attempting to starve the entire populations of Gaza to death‘, more like “I’m sick to death of all this horror that’s being inflicted on an entire population of people that is being funded by my taxes”)
While playing one of those early Israel shows in 1993, Radiohead/The Smile guitarist Jonny Greenwood met the Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, whom he later married. In fact, in that previously quoted 2017 Rolling Stone interview, Thom Yorke is quick to point out how this proves the band aren’t supporters of violent imperialism:
The person who knows most about these things is Jonny. He has both Palestinian and Israeli friends and a wife who’s an Arab Jew. All these people to stand there at a distance throwing stuff at us, waving flags, saying, “You don’t know anything about it!” Imagine how offensive that is for Jonny. And imagine how upsetting that it’s been to have this out there. Just to assume that we know nothing about this. Just to throw the word “apartheid” around and think that’s enough. It’s fucking weird. It’s such an extraordinary waste of energy. Energy that could be used in a more positive way.
So no, Thom, I don’t think you’re necessarily misinformed (although Sharona Katan’s Twitter feed is quite a trip!), and I don’t think you’re (ahem) “so retarded we can’t make these decisions ourselves” (it was a different time). I think, with the genocide and systematic cleansing of the Palestinian people taking place live and in real time broadcast live on every corner of the internet, it’s kind of impossible to be unintentionally misinformed. Much like I think it’s impossible to accidentally believe that the world in flat. You really have to make the effort to surround yourselves with those kinds of conspiracies. I wouldn’t suggest for a second that you were all too (ahem) “retarded” to make any decisions yourselves. I mean… I wouldn’t say that for a variety of reasons, but that’s by the by… I think you big clever boys have absolutely made the choice for yourselves! And you’ve at best decided to take the “fine people on both sides” wet, cowardly, liberal choice of politely enabling the apartheid (and I am going to “throw that word around”) of Israel to carry on absolutely unquestioned. At worse, you’ve actually chosen support the violent genocide needed to complete the Zionist project of the expanding Israeli state.
Thom Yorke pointing to Greenwood’s “Arab Jew” wife as a permission slip to do whatever the fuck they want is extra gross. Part comparable to Nick Cave’s whimpering “Ah, mate, it’s really complicated!” abstention from opinion (or at least any opinion which might lead to lost gig revenue). It’s some complicated religion stuff, yeah?? Stuff that white, Oxford educated chaps like you and I couldn’t begin to comprehend! So let’s abstain from having an opinion by throwing all of our support behind one side. The only one’s claiming that it’s about religion are the side destroying whole cities and massacring populations 70% made up of women and children “For all Jewish people”. It’s like if the protests in USA were instead more generally about too many people being murdered by the security services and prompted the American police to come out with a statement that said “No, this is slanderous, we want to make it clear that we are only killing black people, for the glory of the wider white race”. And then a bunch of rock stars come out and say “Nah, but it’s really complicated though, white people and black people have been arguing for ages“. And the statement is part identity politics bullshit, which given the Zio-fascism gleefully engaged in by Greenwood’s wife may as well be “How can you call me racist?? Tommy Robinson and I have been friends with benefits for years now! He’s white and lives in the UK (for the next eighteen months at least), so I think he understand more about the issues than most people! And this is a guy whose celebrated by a white person who grew up in Apartheid South Africa, so you know their take on the troubles are legitimate! We can’t just throw words like ‘racism’ around and think that’s enough. You bunch of retards”.
Jonny’s Greenwood released ‘Jarak Qaribak‘ with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa last year, and album of Arabic language love songs. Arabic! Like that lot over there! Can’t we all just get along?? He has apparently participated in protests calling for the release of hostages and for a new general election. His nephew was apparently one of the 818 IDF soldiers who have died while working towards the eradication of over 44,786 Palestinian civilians. I’m not saying that there aren’t personal reasons behind Radiohead’s continued support for Israel, just that those personal reasons have made them blind to genocide. Greenwood and Dudu Tassa played in Tel Aviv on May 26th 2024, roughly seven and a half months into Israel’s final eradication campaign. “There are musicians here, not politicians”, Dudu Tassa said from the stage, “Music has always worked wonders, may we know better days and may everyone return safely”. While that gig was happening, Israel was launching an airstrike on a Rafah camp for Palestinian refugees already displaced by the bombing campaign, killing 45 people.
‘Wall of Smiles’ is brilliant, the best Smile project by a country mile, but I don’t really feel like talking about that right now.
God damnit! They’ve done a speed run! Now, technically, The Smile have all three of their studio albums feature on the Necessary Evil countdown so they are promoted to the Hall of Fame:
But less we forget:
(Thom Yorke)
(Atoms for Peace)
68 in 2016
5 in 2007
(Radiohead)
Album Title as AI Image
Necessary Evil 
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