June 11, 2019
Radiohead gets hacked, releases over 15 hours of demos from OK Computer era
Radiohead, one of my all-time favourite bands, has posted over 15 hours of previously unreleased demos and other recordings from the years leading up to the release of their seminal album, OK Computer. A hacker stole frontman Thom Yorke's minidisc collection and demanded $150,000 in ransom for its safe return. In response, the band posted the following:
https://www.facebook.com/radiohead/posts/10155954042367245
I'm only a few minutes in, but already fascinated with this deep dive into the band's creative process behind one of their best albums. The fact that they circumvented a greedy thief and put the profit toward a worthy cause is just icing on the cake.
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The Guardian's article on the release had some interesting details on what's contained within:
Redditors in /r/radiohead have also compiled a OK Computer Minidisc track listing document which identifies all the songs contained within and tracks the history of each.
The Guardian's article on the release had some interesting details on what's contained within:
The files are a treasure trove for Radiohead fans. Along with demo versions of OK Computer tracks, they feature a full-band version of True Love Waits, a live favourite that was finally recorded in a piano arrangement for 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool. Much praised on the Reddit forum is an alternate version of Lift, a song that was eventually included on the 20th anniversary reissue of OK Computer – the alternate version, at the 10-minute mark of the MD125 recording, features an anthemic arena rock arrangement.
The collection opens with a version of Exit Music (For a Film) with alternate lyrics, including the line “living in a glass house”, which later cropped up on Life in a Glasshouse on Amnesiac. Disc three meanwhile contains an 11-minute version of OK Computer’s lead single Paranoid Android, while entirely unreleased songs include Attention and Hurts to Walk. There’s also a brief snippet of Thom Yorke beatboxing.
Redditors in /r/radiohead have also compiled a OK Computer Minidisc track listing document which identifies all the songs contained within and tracks the history of each.