In Rainbows
Five quid. That's my first confession - the amount I paid to download Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows. I could have coughed up a small fortune for it if I'd wanted to, or I could have paid diddly squat. As no doubt has already been discussed ad nauseam round your nearest watering hole, Radiohead have asked us to name our own price.
My second confession is that I hadn't bought a Radiohead CD in 10 years. OK Computer sits on my shelf, but their subsequent albums, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, are all missing.
Genius marketing, then. Irresistible novelty and hype that money can't buy, and a call home for stray sheep like me who have forsaken the Radiohead fold for so long. More than this, though, Radiohead have now become truly 'rock'n'roll'. The music industry has for a long time been staid - it has sold 'rebellion' for so long that all it is capable of delivering now is pastiche: Goth in a bottle, Nu Metal in a can. The Kaiser Chiefs, perhaps the most honest and insightful of contemporary British bands, said it so well in their recent single: 'Everything is average nowadays.'
Now, here come true rebels - or, at least, true auteurs: remaining faithful to their vision and at the same time asking the unnumbered masses to pick up hammer and nails and seal down the lid on the coffin of the music business.
It's been done before - back in July, Prince gave away his album 3121 through the Daily Mail. But this is Radiohead: postmodern prophets, media darlings and trend-setters. Already rumour has it that the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Oasis and Jamiroquai intend to follow suit and offer their albums for free.
Of course, it's been pointed out that Radiohead can afford to do this. Smaller artists who have not won as much popularity couldn't make a living by going it alone. But throughout their career Radiohead have been at pains to point out that making music in order to make money is simply not living.
Their purpose seems clear in the new song 'House of Cards':
Forget about your house of cards and I'll deal mine ...
the infrastructure will collapse.
Something has been torn down, and in its place something beautiful, something colourful presents itself. In Rainbows hints that after the flood there is a promise of new life.
Jason Gardner
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