Radiohead have ignored hackers’ ransoms and released 18 hours worth of archives from Yorke’s collection to the public, donating profits to a climate change foundation.
Radiohead have come up against an unidentified hacker after having 18 hours of unreleased material stolen from lead singer Thom Yorke’s archives.
The hacker announced the unfinished recordings from the mid-’90s would be released to the public unless the band paid $150,000. Which, we must admit, is a pretty bold move.
As a response, Radiohead have chosen to upload the music themselves via Bandcamp for £18, with all profits going to Extinction Rebellion, a climate change movement. Extinction Rebellion is a global organisation that aims to encourage climate change action through three demands: tell the truth, act now and go beyond politics.
In addition to those earnings, Radiohead have authorised the use of their song Idioteque for the foundation’s promotional videos. Extinction Rebellion have thanked the band for their unprecedented support, and for using their huge platform to inspire courage, truth-telling and generosity. On their website, they shared, “words are inadequate but actions do change the world.” You can check out their promotional video below.
The material, consisting of a huge 1.8 GB, will only be available for 18 days according to guitarist Johnny Greenwood, who said “it’s only tangentially interesting. And very, very long”.
The archives span between the years 1995-1998 with 18 tracks, each one being around an hour long. As a wise Greenwood stated, “not a phone download.”
The MiniDisc collection includes demos as well as a full-band version of True Love Waits, a song that was only released for Radiohead’s 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool.
You can learn more about Extinction Rebellion on their website.
