http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4832016.stm

Quote :

"Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he turned down an invitation to meet the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss climate change. Yorke is an ambassador for Friends of the Earth, who asked him to put his views to Mr Blair in September. The singer told the NME he declined because he thought the prime minister had "no environmental credentials". He also said he got "freaked out" by preliminary discussions with Mr Blair's advisers. As well as backing the Friends of the Earth Big Ask campaign, calling for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, Yorke has protested against global trade laws and the Iraq war. It was like talking to Blair's spin doctors - it was all getting weird Thom Yorke Explaining why the meeting did not take place, the star told the magazine: "Luckily, in the end the decision was kind of made for me. "There's this whole thing going on at the moment with Blair and the nuclear thing. "This all started kicking off about two or three weeks before I was supposed to meet with Blair, which I was not happy about anyway for obvious reasons, ie Iraq. "It was, 'If we could just have a meeting beforehand where we could go through how it would proceed...' "It was like talking to Blair's spin doctors. It was all getting weird. It was just obvious there was no point in meeting him anyway, and I didn't want to. "That was the illest I'd ever got. I got so stressed out and so freaked out about it. Initially when it came up I tried to be pragmatic. But Blair has no environmental credentials as far as I'm concerned. "I came out of that whole period just thinking, I don't want to get involved directly, it's poison. I'll just shout my mouth off from the sidelines. "It's a nasty business. It's up to people with pure integrity who know what they're talking about, like Friends of the Earth." 'Shallow' touts Radiohead will play a benefit concert for the Friends of the Earth campaign at London's Koko club on 1 May. Yorke has also attacked "shallow" people selling tickets for the show for up to £150 on eBay. "Might I suggest that those selling their Koko tickets on eBay for stupid money gives a contribution..." he wrote on the band's website. "Say 30% of their proceeds, back to Friends of the Earth, for whose benefit we are all doing this show. Seems only fair." The band are currently working on a new album and tickets for a UK and European May mini-tour will go on sale on Saturday. "

[Edited on March 22, 2006 at 2:58 PM. Reason : seems like a wasted opportunity to me]

3/22/2006 2:58:10 PM

Quote :

"The singer told the NME he declined because he thought the prime minister had "no environmental credentials"."

And what credentials does Mr. Yorke have??

3/22/2006 3:11:05 PM

he has plenty of experience as a whiny celebrity

3/22/2006 3:41:34 PM

^^maybe the fact that he's ambassador for an environmental group?

3/22/2006 3:49:57 PM

Quote :

""I came out of that whole period just thinking, I don't want to get involved directly, it's poison. I'll just shout my mouth off from the sidelines.""

what a douche..."making my desires known to someone who can actually do something about it is hard. screw that."

3/22/2006 4:35:21 PM

OH RIGHT BEING A SINGER OF A ROCK GROUP ALLOWS YOU TO DO NOTHING ELSE OTHER THAN WRITE MUSIC. THEY HAVE NO HOBBYS AND THEY DONT HAVE FEELINGS. HOWEVER WHEN YOU OWN A BASEBALL TEAM YOU CAN BECOME PRESIDENT. THIS MAKES TOTAL SENSE!!!!!!!!

[Edited on March 22, 2006 at 4:37 PM. Reason : ALSO IF YOU'RE A CEO IT GIVES YOU THE CRED TO BECOME A VICE PRESIDENT!! BETTER YET BEING A PEANUT FA]

3/22/2006 4:36:32 PM

^^The point wasn't that Blair wanted advice or an opinion, though. He wanted a photo op, and a chance to make it look like he takes the issue seriously.

Yorke wasn't interested in giving any credibility to the idea that Blair's done anything for the environment. It's that simple.

3/22/2006 4:43:51 PM

the article does make him sound like a total douche though

3/22/2006 4:57:51 PM

Radiohead wins, IMO

3/22/2006 5:09:51 PM

omg another UK thread

-ZiP!-

3/22/2006 5:10:19 PM

the radiohead singer is a douche, but yet somehow radiohead still kicks ass.

3/22/2006 5:23:59 PM

I don't think he sounded like a douche at all. he knows that blair was just using him so he said fuck it. I'd do the same thing if I were him. oh, and the guy is already a recluse. I can't see him doing anything like that anyways

3/22/2006 5:27:44 PM

the PM lends you an ear, and you cop out?

pussy

3/22/2006 6:51:37 PM

somehow I don't think that Tony Blair gives a damn, nor should he.

3/22/2006 7:10:50 PM

Quote :

" ALSO IF YOU'RE A CEO IT GIVES YOU THE CRED TO BECOME A VICE PRESIDENT!!"

umm... not saying that's the only qualification, but its certainly more of a qualification that singing in a band

3/22/2006 7:17:05 PM

i've kinda lost interest in radiohead ever since they started being all political. i only listen to pablo honey now

3/22/2006 8:16:08 PM

<--- pablo honey & the bends & OK Computer only

forget about Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the...

-ZiP!-

3/22/2006 9:01:09 PM

i like your style

i can handle a little kid A though, but nothing after that

3/22/2006 9:03:01 PM

i suppose you're right --

kid A wasn't bad. my personal association with it was spending long evenings in studio in late 2000 - early 2001 with several people in different areas simultaneously playing different songs from it - as if it was THE crap you were supposed to be listening to... definitely makes something feel old fast

-ZiP!-

3/22/2006 9:12:39 PM

Quote :

"umm... not saying that's the only qualification, but its certainly more of a qualification that singing in a band"

ooookkkkkkkkkkk maaaaaaybeeeee

but owner of a baseball team.

3/22/2006 10:53:40 PM

man, I felt the same way about the newer radiohead albums when they came out. but now I fucking love em. I'll sit in my room and paint/draw and that shit just takes you to a different place. Great stuff.

3/23/2006 9:31:48 AM

Hey you guys look thirsty, good thing I brought this cooler of Haterade. So what? Thom is supposed to be at Mr Blair's beck and call? I'm sure it wasn't an easy choice to turn down the invite, he has bigger balls than any of us.

3/23/2006 11:32:30 AM

Quote :

"he has bigger balls than any of us."

maybe one is bigger, the other one is probably all shriveled

3/23/2006 11:42:03 AM

Quote :

"<--- pablo honey & the bends & OK Computer only forget about Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the... -ZiP!-"

Oddly enough I've been acquiring radiohead albums in reverse order. Everytime I get a new one it has been better.

I guess I need to go get "the bends" now, because I definitely like OK computer quite a bit.

I can appreciate kid a and httt though, they're quite psychedelic (for lack of a better word) imo.

3/23/2006 1:00:11 PM

I think OK Computer is the pinnacle of Radiohead

3/23/2006 1:35:15 PM

^^ if you're going backwards, you'll notice they get more guitary and use relatively unaltered vocals (well, less altered compared to those psychedelic ones) -- more raw (but obviously studio-polished), as you go closer to Pablo Honey.

^ I think I agree. downhill from there. when my friend told me about a new file format called "MP3" I think some of the first stuff I grabbed were Radiohead tracks from OK Computer and some b-sides in this other format "VQF." I believe it was 1997, if I'm not mistaken.

-ZiP!-

3/24/2006 12:38:27 AM

im a huge fan of the bends personally...anyway..but i think you have to consider that there are not many celebrities that pass up huge photo opportunities and he did it because blair was contradicting environmental improvement with his nuclear dealings and he just stood up for what he believed in bravo my friend

3/24/2006 1:19:12 AM

People need to shut the fuck up about nuclear power being bad for the environment. Its a hell of a lot better than the alternatives.

Nuclear power is the 'cleanest' power source that can meet the energy consumption demands of the world at this point.

Renewable energy sources are great and all, but they just cannot make a real dent in the energy needs of the world.

Any realistic model for weaning ourselves off of our oil dependence requires a massive investment in nuclear power. Its the only current way to produce electricity in sufficient quantities to replace the fossil fuels that power our vehicles and homes.

[Edited on March 24, 2006 at 1:52 AM. Reason : 2]

3/24/2006 1:51:05 AM

Quote :

"It was, 'If we could just have a meeting beforehand where we could go through how it would proceed...'"

yeah sounds like the outcome of the meeting was pre-determined and he was just getting used, so i can understand why he would back out

if it were me though, i'd at least give it a try

3/24/2006 1:14:16 PM

i would have thought that yorke sounded a little douche-y if he hadn't said this:

Quote :

"It's a nasty business. It's up to people with pure integrity who know what they're talking about, like Friends of the Earth. "

i took that as him saying that he didn't really have what it took to be anything more than a face. he isn't an expert, and he admits that. he also says that blair isn't an expert either. so he thought the meeting would be a waste.

[Edited on March 24, 2006 at 2:39 PM. Reason : weird]

3/24/2006 2:38:46 PM