{"id":484050,"date":"2019-03-29T19:07:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T01:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=814063"},"modified":"2019-03-29T19:07:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T01:07:53","slug":"read-david-byrnes-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-tribute-to-radiohead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/read-david-byrnes-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-tribute-to-radiohead\/","title":{"rendered":"Read David Byrne\u2019s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Tribute to Radiohead"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/david-byrne-speech-for-radiohead.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/david-byrne\/\" id=\"auto-tag_david-byrne\" data-tag=\"david-byrne\">David Byrne<\/a> fittingly paid tribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/radiohead\/\" id=\"auto-tag_radiohead\" data-tag=\"radiohead\">Radiohead<\/a>, the band that got its name from one of his songs, at the 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame\/\" id=\"auto-tag_rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame\" data-tag=\"rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame\">Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> induction ceremony.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>When Radiohead first formed, they were known as On a Friday because they practiced Fridays. When it came time to change their name, the band found inspiration from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/talking-heads\/\" id=\"auto-tag_talking-heads\" data-tag=\"talking-heads\">Talking Heads<\/a>\u2019 1986 album,<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/true-stories-252710\/\">True Stories<\/a><em>, which featured the cut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=scdyR1L9uwM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cRadio Head\u201d<\/a>. (The song itself was reportedly inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stereogum.com\/1804981\/radioheads-name-was-inspired-by-the-guy-who-played-ned-ryerson-in-groundhog-day\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">actor Stephen Tobolowky<\/a>, so there\u2019s also him to thank). The Talking Heads have been a chief influence on the band ever since. In 2007, Byrne conducted an extensive interview with frontman Thom Yorke for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2007\/12\/ff-yorke\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Wired<\/a>, while in 2016, guitarist Jonny Greenwood <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/adam-buxton\/ep-22-jonny-greenwood\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cited<\/a> the importance of<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/remain-in-light-248604\/\">Remain in Light<\/a> <em>on Radiohead\u2019s album,<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-album-reviews\/a-moon-shaped-pool-202854\/\">A Moon Shaped Pool<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>While Radiohead themselves were always <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/thom-yorke-radiohead-rock-hall-induction-776808\/\">tepid<\/a> about their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Byrne delivered a glowing induction speech, which you can read below.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I was surprised and very flattered when Radiohead stated that, yes, they named themselves after a song I\u2019d written. But had to ask myself, \u201cWhy that song? That slightly goofy Tex-Mex song? Why that one?\u201d We\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, I\u2019m a huge fan of the group. They richly deserve this honor for two reasons: their music, the quality and constant innovation, but equally for their innovations in how they release their work \u2014 that has affected the entire music business, and there\u2019s quite a few people in the music business in this room tonight. They\u2019re creative and smart in both areas, a rare and inspiring combination.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a tidbit: Radio 1 in the UK refused to play their song \u201cCreep\u201d because they found it too depressing. But then it started getting played elsewhere all over the world, and, well, the rest\u2026<\/p>\n<p>And another: Capitol Records felt that what many consider to be their masterpiece, <em>OK Computer<\/em>, was career suicide and adjusted their release and marketing plan accordingly. It eventually went to Number 1 in the UK. \u201cParanoid Android,\u201d from that album, was considered the new \u201cBohemian Rhapsody,\u201d whatever that means. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing the movie, and seeing who will play Thom.<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"5\">\n<p>It proved to me that the artistic risk paid off and music fans sometimes are not stupid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>For me, their record after that, <em>Kid A,<\/em> was my conversion moment. The record joined together electronics with song forms blew me away. I\u2019d never heard anything like it. There are elements and influences of Can and Miles Davis\u2019s electric period, but this was very different.<\/p>\n<p>What was really weird and very encouraging was that it was popular. It was a hit! It proved to me that the artistic risk paid off and music fans sometimes are not stupid. Some of that will be attested to by those in the music industry in the room tonight. As experimental as it was, it went to Number 1 in the US. Business-wise, they were already innovating. This was in the year 2000, with an app that you could stream music on and access things.<\/p>\n<p>Now a few records later, with <em>In Rainbows<\/em>, the music that at one point sounded radical and on the edge now felt completely natural. And at that point they took the radical leap of selling the record for the price of \u201cpay what you wish.\u201d You could pay zero or one cent. You could pay the price that records were going for that year. It turned out most people did pay the going rate, and some people actually paid more. Which was, I thought, an incredible thing. They showed trust in the audience, trust in the public. They trusted them to place value in the music and say: You tell us what you think it\u2019s worth. And the audience responded and said: We think it\u2019s worth something. This was a wonderful social experiment, not just an experiment in the music business.<\/p>\n<p>Further release innovations: They released the rejected Bond theme \u201cSpectre,\u201d which was never used, on SoundCloud. And musically, they keep changing. Their last record, <em>Moon-Shaped Pool<\/em>, sounded very cinematic, sounded like a movie in your head.&nbsp;They\u2019ve both changed our idea of what popular music can be and how it can be released and marketed to us. For those things, I am honored to&nbsp;induct Radiohead into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/radiohead-david-byrne-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-induction-814063\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Byrne fittingly paid tribute to Radiohead, the band that got its name from one of his songs, at the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. When Radiohead first formed, they were known as On a Friday because they practiced Fridays. When it came time to change their name, the band found [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-484050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 06:53:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}