{"id":587746,"date":"2026-05-16T19:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/587746\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:01:11","slug":"the-1970-song-thom-yorke-couldnt-live-without","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/587746\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1970 song Thom Yorke couldn’t live without"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thom<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n

Sat 16 May 2026 13:00, UK <\/p>\n

Since meeting four like-minded music geeks at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, Thom Yorke<\/a> has helmed Radiohead through nearly four decades of unparalleled creative evolution. <\/p>\n

After beginning with a grunge-derived sound at odds with the 1990s\u2019 bustling Britpop scene, Yorke followed his nose into experimental electro styles, courtesy of Aphex Twin.<\/p>\n

In a 2013 interview with Dazed, Yorke described the British electro-pioneer as one of his biggest influences. \u201cHe burns a heavy shadow,\u201d he said. \u201cAphex opened up another world<\/a> that didn\u2019t involve my fucking electric guitar \u2026 I hated the Britpop thing and what was happening in America, but Aphex was totally beautiful, and he\u2019s kind of my age too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Radiohead\u2019s most electro-infused albums, Kid A and Amnesiac<\/a>, Yorke has returned to his rock domain but kept strands of the modern influence with him. Before stumbling upon the likes of Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Autechre, Yorke and his Radiohead colleagues were heavily inspired by Talking Heads, R.E.M. and Bj\u00f6rk. <\/p>\n

As their early sound might suggest, Radiohead were also informed by Neil Young, \u2018The Godfather of Grunge\u2019<\/a>. However, Yorke wasn\u2019t aware of the Canadian singer-songwriter until an exchange with the BBC in his teen years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Neil<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Reprise Records \/ Henry Diltz<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s influence on Yorke extended far beyond vocal similarities or acoustic songwriting. What truly resonated with the Radiohead frontman was Young\u2019s complete disregard for commercial expectations. Throughout his career, Young repeatedly swerved away from success whenever it threatened to become predictable, whether diving into abrasive, feedback-heavy rock with Crazy Horse or releasing starkly intimate acoustic records that challenged listeners rather than comforting them.<\/p>\n

That philosophy became central to Radiohead\u2019s own evolution. After achieving enormous mainstream success with albums like The Bends and OK Computer, the band could easily have continued refining the same emotionally charged guitar-rock formula. <\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n

Instead, Yorke and company deliberately fractured their sound on Kid A, alienating sections of their audience in pursuit of something more honest and creatively fulfilling. In that sense, Young\u2019s fearless artistic restlessness became just as influential on Radiohead as Aphex Twin\u2019s electronic experimentation.<\/p>\n

As he revealed in a 2008 conversation with the BBC, Yorke recalled that, as a 16-year-old, he had sent some homemade demo recordings to the corporation hoping to gain some attention for his early songwriting exploits. \u201cThey said, \u2018This guy sounds like Neil Young,’\u201d Yorke remembered. \u201cI was like, \u2018Who is Neil Young?’\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer soon found himself in a record shop and thought he would see just how similar this Neil Young character was. He stumbled upon a copy of Young\u2019s 1970 album After The Gold Rush. <\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately fell in love with his music,\u201d Yorke continued. \u201cHe has that soft vibrato that nobody else has. More than that, it was his attitude toward the way he laid songs down. It\u2019s always about laying down whatever is in your head at the time and staying completely true to that, no matter what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the conversation, Yorke revealed that he and Young had once chatted over a few beers before a show at Bridge School Benefit. He proudly noted that Young permitted him to sing \u2018After The Gold Rush\u2019 while playing the piano it was originally recorded on. <\/p>\n

When Yorke appeared on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Desert Island Discs in 2019, the Young classic appeared among his selections. Listen to Thom Yorke\u2019s wonderful cover of Neil Young\u2019s \u2018After the Goldrush\u2019 below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still Sat 16 May 2026 13:00, UK Since meeting four like-minded music geeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,23564,27498,27500,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-587746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-neil-young","tag-radiohead","tag-thom-yorke","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}