Well, I have to say that this radiohead fellow has me quite impressed. Not only did his band, Radiohead, at one point, propel a song about human cloning to the #1 Billboard Chart spot (no mean feat), but now, he's bringing his eerily and hauntingly beautiful musical prowess to the debate surrounding global warming.
This time, it's a solo effort, an in between project, called "The Eraser," which I just picked up. When pressed about the content and perhaps most notably the album art, he's quoted as saying:
In the paper one day, [Friends of the Earth activist] Jonathan Porritt was basically dismissing any commitment that the working government has toward addressing global warming, saying that their gestures were like King Canute trying to stop the tide. And that just went "kaching" in my head. It's not political, but that's what I feel is happening. We're all King Canutes, holding our hands out, saying, "It'll go away. I can make it stop." No, you can't.
Which is a pretty astute comment (and also hence the image), as I think it partly refers to the general apathy one is faced with when things of a scientific naure (no matter of what import) are discussed. Anyway, here's a good article from Grist to follow up on, and for those who like a feast for the eyes, click here for a large jpeg file (~400k) of the album art by Stanley Donwood (it's beautiful, no really, it is).
The big question, of course, is that despite making #2 on the Billboard charts, is this sort of thing going to amount to anything? Unlike the Kid A/human cloning connection, Mr Yorke seems to be a lot more open to talking about the global warming connotations this time around.
Comments
Only one problem - Canute didn't think he could order the tide to turn back. The real point of the story is that he went down to the beach and told it to turn back to demonstrate to the nobles that there were limits to power.
Posted by: Alex | August 3, 2006 9:51 AM
I think Alex that is Mr. Yorke's point. That we shouldn't be complacent and reliant on the government's will to "fix" this, and that perhaps it's best not to be apathetic in this regard, and do something ourselves. It's a great merge of a myth to knock a point home, or at least make the audience think a little more.
Posted by: David Ng | August 3, 2006 10:19 AM
radiohead has always been ahead of their time. i hope this helps stem the tide, along with the flurry of local activism that seems to be springing up. too late? who knows.
Posted by: drcharles | August 3, 2006 10:40 AM