Thom Yorke remembers when he heard “Nevermind” for the first time
The frontman of Radiohead, Thom Yorkesaid the music world should stop focusing on the past and start promoting new music instead. He declared this during an interview with BBC 6 Music.
Yorke recalled how he was blown away the first time he heard the album Nirvana of 1991 “Nevermind” (read the review here), and that I understood at that moment that Kurt Cobain and his bandmates were about to change the musical landscape.
With an industry that now seems reluctant to bet on new artists, the 57-year-old British musician hopes that something will change, so that young musicians and music fans can feel the same excitement that he and many others like him felt when the Nirvana broke through in the 1990s. Yorke also argues that tech billionaires who are buying up music catalogs should put some of that money into supporting new artists.
After receiving the Academy Fellowship Award at the 71st Annual Awards Ivor Novello AwardsYorke said: “I find it really interesting that the same people who did all this are now speculating on these old catalogs as if they were valuable objects, like Picasso paintings sitting in a safe, without realizing that their entire economic model will collapse if they don’t do some redistribution. For a very modest amount of money, you can support an artist you care about and see them through their early career. With limited support, you can really allow artists to grow and find your own path. The truth is that you only learn from mistakes. Today all it takes is one mistake and you’re done for.”
Thom Yorke he continued, “In the real world, people need to hear that every couple of years an artist comes along that makes them say, ‘Damn!’. I remember when I heard ‘Nevermind’ for the first time and thought, ‘Okay, here we go.’
