THOM YORKE'S OTHER BAND IS CALLED ATOMS FOR PEACE

In September, I wrote about Thom Yorke's sideproject. Up until now, he's been calling the band "?????" Well, he just wrote on Radiohead's "Dead Air Space" that they are going to be called Atoms For Peace. They are doing a bunch of gigs (which will be impossible to get tickets for) and then Coachella. He didn't mention doing any new music with them, but I know he is working on a Radiohead record, and of course Flea is working on a new Red Hot Chili Peppers record.

THOM YORKE DISSES PETER GABRIEL DISSES GENESIS

I've written about Peter Gabriel's upcoming album, Scratch My Back, where he covers songs by other artists.  He's also hoping to put together an album of those same artists covering his songs.  That may not happen: the NME reports that he's worried that Thom Yorke may not be digging his version of Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)." That's got to sting: he's always seemed a bit obsessed with having cred among younger rockers. 

On the other hand, he's always been very cavalier about the band where he got his start: Genesis. The AP reports that he won't be at the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's a bummer: I could understand his not wanting to perform. He has talked about his one reunion with the band in the '80s: they didn't really rehearse, and apparently it wasn't really that good. But I think it would be have been cool for his former bandmates, and the fans, for him to at least show up.

BEST OF THE '00s: RADIOHEAD

OK, I'm with the critics on this one. There's some things that bug me about Radiohead: singer Thom Yorke's pretentiousness mainly. He whines too much, "we're not 'rock'" as if "rock" is a dirty word. He seems incapable of enjoying himself. To quote Larry Flick, Thom have a Yoo-Hoo. You make Michael Stipe look like Jim Carey.


And yet, the band's music is so adventurous I respect it, and some of it is so undeniably great. Kid A was really a daring album, I don't love all of it, but it definitely had some great moments. For all their "we're not a guitar band, we want to experiment, blah blah blah" songs like "Knives Out" and "Optimistic" would be great no matter what instrument you play it on.

I have to admit, I mainly slept on Amnesiac, and definitely didn't pay Hail To The Thief much mind.  I wanted to love Hail, as it was a direct attack on bush II, but the thing is, if you are going to make a rebellious record like that, you should make it accessible. Wouldn't it be cooler there was a huge anthem like "Just" or "Airbag" that bashed an evil administration?  A left field album that ultra-liberals stroke their chins to, it just doesn't have the same effect. If you're going to rage against the machine, as it were, then rage. 

Back to the music: In Rainbows is probably my favorite Radiohead album of the decade, and the music got sort of overshadowed by the delivery of it. Yeah, the announced it eight days before it came out, let fans choose thier own price, put it out on their own, etc. and that was all great. (I actually didn't think that they thought out their plan as well as, say, Trent Reznor did for the last few Nine Inch Nails records), but the fact is, it was a great record.

I'm curious to hear what Thom Yorke does next: I guess he may be working with Flea on a new project, which I think would be great for him.  But it will be interesting (in theory) to hear where Radiohead goes next.

More Best Of The '00s: Bob Dylan
Willie Nelson
Aimee Mann
Jeff Tweedy
David Johansen
Levon Helm
The Beatles
Jim James
U2
Steve Earle
Ben Harper
Alicia Keys
Norah Jones
Trent Reznor

FLEA PLAYING WITH BRYAN FERRY

Apparently, Flea is going to be playing on Bryan Ferry's next album, which will also include Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. Of course, Flea recently played in Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's backing band on a few shows, and supposedly they will be working together next year on a new Thom album and tour. (Flea also plays on Slash's upcoming album.)

More than any of this stuff, I'm looking forward to a new Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which hopefully will come out next year. The Peppers are performing at the Neil Young tribute concert in January, and will probably also perform if they get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which they should).

I'm not a big Ferry fan, but wasn't he supposed to be doing a new album with Roxy Music? I remember reading that he took a break to do a solo album made up of Dylan covers, and then he toured for that, now he's making another solo album. I guess the Roxy Music reunion is over.

THOM YORKE FORMS BACKING BAND INCLUDING FLEA

Thom Yorke of Radiohead is going to do a few solo gigs to perform songs from his solo album The Eraser, and interestingly, Flea is going to be playing bass. I am a big fan of Flea... who else can jam with Metallica, Thom Yorke, Patti Smith and Young MC?