“RADIOHEAD BATTERED BY PRESS; Turn inward." So reads the imaginary floating headline above Meeting People Is Easy, the 1999 film documenting Radiohead's exhausting OK Computer world tour. See Thom Yorke force smiles. See Jonny Greenwood fumble with a Japanese interviewer. See the band members not say five words to one another for the film's 99-minute duration. Drawn to the scent of drama at a time when modern rock's kitchen had nothing else cooking, pundits - you, too, can join our club if you purchased all the import singles - worked the overexposed/vulnerable angle until it was no longer possible that maybe Radiohead just found itself in a very public, plain-old bad mood.
Then things got complicated. Kid A came out in 2000 like Rosemary's Baby, spooking the guitar-rock traditionalists and delighting the beep-beep freaks. Lines seemed to be drawn within the band as well; stray comments to the media led us to believe Yorke was taking too-hard left turns into electronic/ambient soundscapes and his mates were getting queasy. You want awkward band-rehearsal moments? Jonny Greenwood in the corner itching to wail on a power chord, a sad Phil Selway worrying he's going to lose his job to a drum machine. But of course, this is that blind/deaf/dumb/anything-but-mute speculation working again.
Far more serious accusations followed this year with Amnesiac, which, culled from the same recording sessions as Kid A, got treated like microwaved leftovers by critics who seemed uninterested in digesting it. (For the record, Amnesiac is Radiohead's thorniest crown, burrowing deep enough to draw blood emotionally radiant even - or especially - when you're on the cross and quite possibly a holy relic.) The worst charge leveled? Radiohead is no rock 'n' roll fun and if the band - as a recent cover of Rolling Stone so guilelessly put it - is out into destroy rock 'n' roll," well, its members might be attempting to bore it to death. Or bore themselves to death (Note it was never mentioned the group was boring us, the listeners to death. As far as we're concerned everything is just fine, thanks.) Given the monumental hoo-ha surrounding the band's early enshrinement in the classic-rock mausoleum (you know, the very same edifice they're holding the wrecking ball to), a few questions were raised: is Thom Yorke having any fun? Are rock bands supposed to be fun? Is Radiohead a rock band? Notified Yorke was willing to conduct an e-mail interview, the MAGNET Staff workshopped our cunningest inquiries. Contrary to Radiohead's reputetion as a band impacted by the media in the same way, oh, a malevolent pair of strong hands and a good heavy pillow impacts an unwanted sleeping toddler, we witnessed neither reticence nor apprehension.
And despite his artful lyrical dodges of late, Yorke isn't an elusive person; his responses proved forthcoming on the big issues and humorous on the small ones. The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. And the only thing worse than that is being talked about for not talking about yourself. Yorke answered all our questions, save this one: "Why do you insist on an e-mail interview?" He seems fitter, happier and more willing to cuddle with his interrogators, perhaps, but still wary should we stray anywhere within 500 feet of his computer terminal.

"I'm a reasonable man/Get off my case." Who's on your case, and can we do anything about it?
It's not my case. I don't write mini-autobiography. It's everybody's case. It's the person who fears for her job. It's the tramp being moved on, it's the courier who is late with his delivery. It's the executive who overtook when he shouldn't have because he was late for work that morning and had had a row with his wife. Don't worry about me, I got methods.

Is it tiresome to have so many critics salivate over your every musical utterance? Have you considered issuing a double album of fart sounds just to gauge reaction?
We just did. "The National Anthem" (from Kid A) is as good as farting in your face as it gets, I would say. There are too many people being paid to tell you what to feel. For every salivation, there is a spitting in your face waiting 'round the corner.

Amnesiac continued the rather jarring themes and soundscapes Kid A introduced. Are you worried that this might continue to isolate or pare down your fan base? Or that there's only so far you can go with this kind of music?
Er, perhaps this is as far as we'll end up down that particular route. Though I doubt it. In retrospect, there is a lot of vicious anger and destruction that I didn't really understand at the time but now I'm quite surprised about. The soundscapes, as you call them, reflected our state of mind at the time. I have no idea whether that will sustain into something else, or whether we will turn off that road completely. Despite its jarring (qualities), I still think the music we wrote in this period is joyful, the sum being better than the parts. I also think that this is where we were always supposed to end up. Like a new beginning in a way, the initial trials over with.

It seems Radiohead no longer behaves as a popular rock band, that it doesn't write music for its audience; rather, it's the more traditional artistic stance of creating from inner directives and letting the world follow. Where are you taking us?
I don't agree that we are not writing music for our audience at all. Our whole reason for doing this is to communicate with people. I still think we write pop music. If all you do is listen to your own inner voice, what you create ceases to have relevance and becomes sadly narcissistic. However, music that is so desperate to please turns my mind to porridge - oatmeal with lots of milk - dripping slowly out of both ears.

"Dollars & Cents" is the first time you've seemingly embraced money-is-bad lyricism. Why express it now? Isn't this an odd sentiment when you consider all the money you've made?
That's just a bullshit question. If "Dollars & Cents" is about anything, it's about a force that is higher than god and less open to question. It's also complete non-sense and should be read as such. Are you calling me a hypocrite? Money is bad? This is not about money at all. Money is a thing. What I'm talking about is much worse. But then I would say that now wouldn't I?

"Airbag," "Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box": the stench of death, the claustrophobia of cars. Are you preoccupied with dying as it relates to the supposed control/protection level of inanimate objects?
I think a lot about the Buddhist thing, about objects weighing you down so it is very hard for you to rise up and leave when you die.

You've suggested in some interviews that much of what you write about is inspired by conversations you overhear, dialogue snippets from television and film, etc. Can you give us an example of an Amnesiac lyric and what specific source inspired it?
"Packt Like Sardines": Um, I was watching TV and I think lines just kept coming out the box. "Like Spinning Plates" ("While you make pretty speeches ... "): Most of the time if I hear the same line come up somewhere/anywhere more than twice then I know I'm being told something. All the lyrics to "You And Whose Army" were found sounds in one way or another.

"Pyramid Song" recalls that time in pop-culture history when folks succumbed to the idea of creating new life/reinvigorating dead cells (literally and figuratively) through the power of the pyramid. Have you ever bought into any theories like this? Any gurus at all - real or imagined, deified or not, heaven-found or otherwise?
That shit interests me yeah but I know very little about it, really. I am very into dead empires what they knew that has been forgotten. Technology that we will never understand that may well have been more advanced than our own. The idea that it all gets reduced to rubble and hidden under sand and eroded beyond all explanation fascinates me. Especially the idea that maybe the pyramids were originally covered in gold. Imagine that. Each empire/dynasty/age always seems to gain special knowledge that is lost when it dies, knowledge that the next one could really do with. I'm not very good with the guru thing. I also think that pure scientific research is not necessarily all that pure and correct, considering how much of that research is paid for increasingly by corporate money; money with a very specific agenda. Perhaps that is what will kill our empire.

In the past, you have suggested that you think much of today's music is boring. What records, if any, have been inspiring to you recently? Or, if you prefer, what reissues? (The first three Neu! albums come to mind, since the band's record label prominently used a quote from you to pitch the reissues.)
Do you consider rock to be a musical form in need of life support? No. I think it needs to be a little more aware of where it comes from, and a little less aware of its stage moves and tragic endings. If it dies, it was of natural causes.

You became a father in February, which for many people signifies a shift from self-absorption/self-obsession to a new perspective. It involves teaching your- self how to let go of your own quirks through the ongoing ritual of seeing the world through your child's eyes and being forced to attend to all his needs. How do you feel this will affect your art?
Hopefully I'll enjoy it for what it is now. Which is a blessing rather than a curse. Less time worrying can only be good.

Does Capitol Records ever pressure you to write another "Creep"? As the OK Computer critics'-darling frenzy dies down, how long do you figure Radiohead can release "challenging" music on a major label before the ax of commercial interest falls? Would you even care if it did?
We don't have those conversations now and never will.

Have you ever given any thought to breaking off from Capitol altogether and running your own show, business-wise?
Ha ha ha ha.

Do you read your own press?
No.

In assessing the incomprehensibility and general gray-area meaning of some of Amnesiac's lyrics, an American journalist recently compared you to George W. Bush in terms of inscrutability. You must find this either abhorrent or highly amusing.
I identify verv heavily with Chauncey Gardener (played by Peter Sellers) in the film Being There. I think Georgey-boy would identify with the character as well.

Do you read fan mail? Are you ever surprised at what fans have to say?
Yes. Yes. Our fans are the best. There was a phase of letters pleading with us not to split up for a while. That was a shock. But a nice one.

Amnesiac ends with the lyrics, "Well of course I'd like to sit around and chat/well of course I'd like to stay and chew the fat... Is someone listening in?" Isn't this a strained sort of goodbye?
Very. That was where I was at for quite a while. Couldn't hold a conversation without being aware of listeners. Not like that now. It is a bitter pill at the end, I think.

Are the rumors of Radiohead's demise true? The persistence of these questions (internet stuff, but still pretty pervasive) is striking for a band that's supposedly doing better in terms of Internal dynamic.
It could go anytime. Who knows? I don't. Neither do they. Neither do you.

Are there plans for further albums? Amnesiac feels like a logical end point. It's hard to imagine what the next Radiohead record would be like. If you're writing music already, What does this stuff sound like so far?
We are working on b-sides that I am well excited about. But I won't tell you what it sounds like. Make up your own mind.

Which do you think is more powerful: lust or guilt? Why?
Guilt. Lust is easily dealt with, whereas guilt is just malignant. Although it's done me a lot of good on and off.

When was the last time someone told you to be constructive?
The last time was me telling me me me me me me me.