“A fat, talentless bastard”: Five musicians hated by Thom Yorke
Radiohead emerged at a time when alternative rock was significantly changing, becoming considerably more mainstream than before, thanks to the rise of Seattle grunge. Over in the United Kingdom, shoegaze was gaining traction, but Radiohead took more inspiration from the sounds emanating from across the pond, with echoes of grunge apparent in their debut album, Pablo Honey.
However, as Britpop began to dominate the United Kingdom, Radiohead carved out their own unique sound, refusing to be pigeonholed into any genre or movement. With The Bends and OK Computer, they proved themselves to be one of the most singular, essential bands of the ‘90s.
The band’s frontman, Thom Yorke, has shown himself to be a man of many talents over the years. Not only has he got a voice that stands out compared to many of his alt-rock contemporaries due to his frequent use of falsetto, but he is a multi-instrumentalist and extremely talented writer, often singing about issues such as political discontent, war and consumerism.
Naturally, then, the confronting nature of many of his lyrics indicates that Yorke isn’t scared to ruffle a few feathers. Over the years, the singer has feuded with or expressed hatred for certain artists, even those you might expect him to love.
From The Doors’ enigmatic frontman Jim Morrison to his ‘90s contemporaries Oasis, here are five artists that Yorke has spoken negatively of.
Five artists Thom Yorke dislikes:
Jim Morrison
If there’s one artist that Yorke has expressed extreme hatred for, it’s The Doors’ frontman, Jim Morrison. The singer died when he was just 27 in 1971, leaving behind a legacy as one of rock’s wildest and controversial icons. Yorke has always been less than impressed. Talking to The Scene fanzine in 1992, the Radiohead member revealed that he has a “pathological disrespect” for Morrison and “the whole myth that surrounds” him “because it affects and has affected the people in bands and in the rock business, in that they think they have to act like fucking prats in order to live up to the legend.”
He also called Morrison “a fat, talentless bastard,” adding, “and he’s dead”.
If that’s not enough evidence, you only have to watch the infamous MTV Beach House performance of ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’, which sees an incredibly unhinged Yorke scream “FAT! UGLY! DEAD!” after singing the ironic lines about wishing he was Morrison.
Muse
Muse have never been a particularly cool band to like, with people often calling them a “shit version” of Radiohead, which has caused feuds between the fanbases. While we can’t deny Muse’s success over the past two decades, they certainly haven’t achieved the same levels of critical acclaim as Radiohead. It’s unsurprising that Yorke’s not a fan, seeing them as a poor imitation of his band, and he once made his stance on them abundantly clear.
During a backstage interview from 2001, Yorke said, “I draw the line at Muse because they openly slag us off, as well as openly rip us off. And that’s like, ‘How fucking dare you?’” It seems as though Muse tried to follow in Radiohead’s experimental footsteps, but it never really worked out. Remember when they went dubstep?
The Spice Girls
While Yorke making music steeped in melancholy and disillusionment – or as Alicia Silverstone’s Cher calls it in Clueless: “maudlin” and “crybaby music” – The Spice Girls were dominating the pop sphere with their take on female empowerment. “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,” they sang, building up a devoted army of fans in the process.
Yorke was less convinced by them, telling Rolling Stone in one of his most brutal takedowns, “I agree with whoever said they’re soft porn. They’re the Antichrist. I don’t want any part of it, and if I had kids, I wouldn’t want them to have any part of it, either. I’d move to an island where you can’t get hold of any Spice Girls stuff.”
Oasis
Radiohead hated being labelled as Britpop because they simply weren’t. Oasis and Blur were the top dogs of the movement, battling it out to be crowned the kings. Radiohead kept out of the Britpop battle, and it can even be argued that there’s little about Radiohead’s music that identifies them as a distinctively British band. Meanwhile, Oasis focused heavily on British and, more specifically, working-class culture, with the Gallagher brothers’ Manchester accents instantly recognisable.
Yorke wasn’t impressed with the way they were “applauded” by the middle class, stating in London Calling, “They’re a joke, aren’t they?” He elucidated, “It’s just lots of middle-class people applauding a bunch of guys who act stupid and write really primitive music. Then people say, ‘Oh, it’s so honest.’”
Sam Smith
Now, this one is a little more complex because subtle comments have been thrown from both sides of the ring here, with Sam Smith and Yorke appearing to care little for each other’s work. The issue seems to stem from Smith getting their song, ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ picked as the theme for Spectre instead of Radiohead‘s. Clearly, Yorke was more cut up about not soundtracking a Bond movie than he let on after he made some comments about Smith after they sat behind him at a Billie Eilish gig.
Smith had seemingly made a dig at Yorke at a press conference after appearing not to know who he was, stating that they hadn’t listened to Radiohead’s ‘Spectre’ because “I did the Spectre theme song.” In an interview with The Sunday Times, Yorke gave Smith a taste of their own medicine by appearing to forget Smith’s name, too. “We sat down and what’s-his-name — the guy who did the Bond film we didn’t do?” he said. Then he expressed his annoyance with the fact that Smith was there, adding, “Suddenly everyone goes, ‘Saaam!’ I’m, like, ‘Aaaargh!’”