Radiohead fans, a lot that love to obsess over the intricacies of their favorite band, faced an interesting moral quandary last week: 18 hours of outtakes and demos from the OK Computer sessions leaked online, forcing them to choose between digging through it or respecting the fact that the band chose never to release it. If you’re still struggling with that choice—or simply haven’t been able to carve out an 18-hour window of free time—you are in luck. In an to fans—one that references The Big Lebowski in its subject line—the band’s revealed that it’s uploaded the music in question to Bandcamp, where fans can buy it for £18, which comes out to roughly $23. It will be available for only 18 days, and all proceeds go to Extinction Rebellion, an environmental movement.
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood also announced the news via Twitter, adding that the band was blackmailed for $150,000 following the hack of the material.
“We got hacked last week—someone stole thom’s minidisk archive from around the time of OK Computer, and apparently demanded $150,000 on threat of releasing it. So instead of complaining—much—or ignoring it, we’re releasing all 18 hours on Bandcamp in aid of Extinction Rebellion. Just for the next 18 days. So for £18 you can find out if we should have paid that ransom. Never intended for public consumption (though some random clips did reach cassette in the OK Computer reissue) it’s only tangentially interesting. And very, very long. Not a phone download. Rainy out, isn’t it though?”
Per Spin, the leaks include previously released outtakes like “Lift” and “I Promise,” but there’s also a slew of unreleased live-only tracks in addition to ambient snippets, short riffs, and alternate versions of “True Love Waits,” which eventually appeared on 2016's A Moon Shaped Pool.
A trimmer message accompanied the music on Bandcamp:
we’ve been hacked
my archived mini discs from 1995-1998(?)
it’s not v interesting
there’s a lot of it
if you want it, you can buy the whole lot here
18 minidisks for £18
the proceeds will go to Extinction Rebellion
as it’s out there
it may as well be out there
until we all get bored
and move on
Check it out below.
37 Comments
“In an to fans”, the best Radiohead song that doesn’t exist.
Now presenting Mediocre Computer, the stuff that wasn’t good enough to go on OK Computer.
Like their cover of Toto’s “Africa”?
What Pavlovian subtext is embedded in that song that makes people under the age of 25 lose their minds every time they hear it?
It’s been a classic rock radio staple for decades. It’s probably woven into the public consciousness the same way your mother’s voice in is woven into yours.
Sorry, you’ll have to wait for Shitty Computer.
The Commodores?
You shut your damn mouth.My Vic 20 made my Brick House anything but basic.
The Ataris?
Best song is a cover of Don Henley?Agreed.
The Commodore 64s
Underappreciated comment.
You can’t print that!
‘Alright Spectrum’
Apparently the version of “Lift” on there (previously unreleased) was left off the album specifically because it was too catchy and anthemic and they didn’t want to have another Creep-sized hit.
“Not OK Computer”
If you’re looking for the good version of Lift, it’s at 1:00:10 on MD126 and the full band True Love Waits is at 15:40 On MD111. This document is still pretty accurate, just change the numbering from Disk 1-18 to MD111-128, although it looks like a lot (probably the orchestra samples and field recordings) was cut from MD116 and MD123.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kA8u6UhjbutZ-b7TXzmX4qkOTg6nGC1vPg50WwCcZyo/preview
Is the blackmail story a joke? I’m just trying to figure out the rationale of the theoretical blackmailers. “Give us money or we’ll release these tracks that you had no plans of releasing, which will have no effect on you since most people will be indifferent to its existence.” I hope that at least someone’s toe really did get cut off.
Attempt at a publicity stunt?
Wonder who plays Bel, Biv and DeVoe on that first track.
Can’t trust big synth and a smile.
There was a similar issue with U2 and their Achtung Baby sessions sometime in the 90s. My u2 buddy and I were obsessed with finding it, whispered about and rumored about here and there. Then one day we were at some mom-n-pop music store (remember those?) and there it was. Several discs, something like 13 hours of material, for a not-insignificant sum. I didn’t have the money; my friend did so he bought it and promptly taped it for me. I didn’t even make it an hour in. I’m not musically inclined so there just isn’t much there for me. My friend on the other hand listened to it obsessively for the next few weeks, always making me listen to some unrecognizable riff that would become one of the AB tracks later.
I loved those tracks. Getting to hear the process that album went thru was such a thrill to me. I was so pissed someone stole my set of those recordings.
Maybe it was the Karma Police.
Wooh that first graf is tortured.
In solidarity with Radiohead, AVC chose to publish the article without any editing.
Got ‘em
Haven’t bought “new” music in ages. There are no more Record Stores, well 2 or 3 left in Philadelphia. Think will splurge for this. Bought tix for Purple Mountains/Silver Jews. Have never seen a show @ World Cafe. Live in NE Philly. Am stranger to ‘West Philly’ etc.
I don’t even go record shopping, and I could name 3 in Philly off the top of my head. Here’s a list of some: https://phillyviews.com/best-philadelphia-record-stores/.WCL is a nice venue, good sound. And yeah, I wouldn’t really place it in West Philly, as it’s literally just across the river from downtown, but maybe that’s why you used the quotation marks.
Thank You for Reply 🙂
The most notable thing about these minidiscs is that Jonny’s cat wrote the tracklisting on the label
Some worthwhile stuff is sprinkled about. A killer version of “Lift” and an eleven minute run at “Paranoid Android” amongst them.
A CONTRARIAN! GUYS WE HAVE A CONTRARIAN HERE!
Yes, for the eightieth time, we know you hate Radiohead. Fine, as long as you don’t consider Muse or Coldplay superior. Or Oasis. Blur is fine.
OOh, don’t you worry about that, friend. No love lost here for those clowns either!
Eighteen hours is a bit much. Can they whittle it down to twelve tracks and release it as an album?
Zappa pulled a similar move with the Beat the Boots box sets