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radiohead’s complicity in israeli-occupied palestine

my feelings on radiohead are complicated these days, as i’m sure they are for many. i'm using this post as a method of sorting out my own thoughts & to provide sources.

for me, the bottom line is this: radiohead is both a brand & a musical group. the brand of radiohead has always had deep roots in the israeli colonial project - they have played many, many shows there throughout their career. their breakout single - creep, was intially only a hit in israel (x, x) & the personal choices of some of radiohead's members remain just as involved. jonny greenwood met his future wife - the israeli artist, antivaxxer & vehement zionist (x) sharona katan - at a show radiohead played in israel in 1993 (x). jonny consistently collaborated with zionist musician shye ben tzur & his projects continue to tour in tel aviv as recently as last september. as for jonny himself - his only statement in regards to the war on gaza has been in mourning for the israeli concert goers on october 10th - w no such empathy spared to the 100,000 palestinians dead, injured, or missing. as for thom, while he’s thrown a few bitchfits (x) through the years abt criticism of radiohead’s shows in israel, he has imo - only paid lipservice to the criticism, saying “playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government” going against the pleas of his peers & coworkers in the music industry. as well as the pro-palestine activism undertaken by his long term friend micheal stipe (x & x). (note: stipe stood by radiohead’s performance in israel in 2017, but his current political choices suggest his understanding of the situation has evolved). even his own son - noah yorke, a fellow working musician, has voiced his opposition to the genocide in gaza via instagram stories. as for the other members, rhythm guitarist ed o'brien has called for a ceasefire, as well as making a few tweets about "solidarity with palestinians & israeli peacemakers". while bassist colin greenwood reportedly refused to accept letters of dialogue from the fan-run organization radiohead fans for palestine. drummer phillip selway's commentary is similarly brief but defensive, saying radiohead's 2017 tel aviv concert "felt right"

to me, this paints a picture of a band who's members stances on israel range from abhorrent to simply not enough. & as a brand, their particular combination of action & inaction amounts to a fundamentally zionist perspective. you cannot separate radiohead as artists from radiohead as a brand name.

i've loved radiohead since i was 14. i was brought into it by another longtime fan. i cried & danced when i saw them live back in 2017 - it was, & remains, a moment that allowed me to live through the hardest parts of my life. i felt for the longest time, that radiohead's music & political positions encouraged my empathy - my questioning of conservative political authority. & while all celebrities are failures in some sense - it is still heartbreaking to know how wrong i was.

i don't think it's possible to disconnect the decade of connection & love i have for their music - I won't ask that of myself or anyone else. & the idea of scrubbing one's taste of the "morally impure" is useless effort & an inappropriate simplification of both art & our conceptions of what makes someone "bad". but i can say with certainty - i will not be giving them any more of my money, whether that be streaming their music or buying their merch - & i encourage you to do the same. silence is complicity - this is beyond silence.

in the words of nina simone - "an artist's duty, as far as i'm concerned, is to reflect the times. how can you be an artist and not reflect the times? that to me is the definition of an artist."

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children’s choir singing ‘jóga’ by björk (2009)

x

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it's funny when only one member of a band has a nickname. hello music fans i'm anthony kiedis and these are my colleagues, john frusciante and chad smith. and of course we got flea hopping around back here somewhere

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youre saying this radio gave you head ?

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FUN FACT! believe it or not, majority of those viewers are there to watch the lead singer, thom yorke, moan into the mic halfway into the video!

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Happy Birthday thOm Yorke and Flying Lotus.

Pics from Low End Theory.

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Round 1 Group D Match 2

m i c h a e l f i g h t (yes I know we already have a mike battle mini bracket but this is different bc it's MICHAEL vs MICHAEL)

Propaganda received:

Michael Stipe:

"If you rub Michael Stipe's bald forehead three times in a row, he'll grant you three wishes"

"he’s like a creature you’d see in the forest who’d just say something beautiful and wise you’d remember for the rest of your life and then disappear also I wanna slap his bald head"

"If the band’s energy and their music and their voice are all an influence on attractiveness, Michael Stipe should annihilate. REM is rad and Stipe’s voice is incredibly cool and I would kiss him in the 90s."

"submitting this without yet knowing if the photo you're looking at right now will be bald or unbald. that's called intrigue, my friend. stipe keeps you guessing."

"i want to smoke weed and talk about gender theory with that bald man"

"he’s bald and queer and a slut"

Michael Hutchence: no propaganda received :(

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