archived by citizeninsane. It’s easily most vulnerable I’ve ever seen him in an interview, and given that this was essentially a transcription of his internal conflicts and obsessions at the time, it’s really interesting to see how many turns of phrase and anecdotes would eventually become Radiohead songs. Follow Me Around, Nude, How to Disappear Completely, and Myxomatosis are all in there to some extent, but what really struck me was the anecdote about accidentally letting his partner’s fish die, which made its way into the chorus of Lift:
It was during a Christmas and I bought this house and there were these two beautiful oriental fish that lived in a pond at the bottom of the garden and my other half went away for a few days and one of the things that was left on a note was 'look after the fish', because at that time there was ice and snow covering the ground. It was like two foot deep or something ridiculous. Now I let these fish die because I couldn't even be fucking bothered to get my shit together to go down to the bottom of the garden and knock a little hole in the ice to keep these fish alive. So when I eventually remembered that they were there, I saw them belly up in the ice and one of them was, his little mouth was right next to the last hole that had been made there in the pond. A last gasp for breath of air and I couldn't even fucking manage that.
Maybe this is common knowledge but I’ve never seen it mentioned before.
The first time I had read this interview long ago, I was confused as to why the interviewer was so aggressive, and then later I came back and realized that it was a self-interview. I went “huh” so hard and was mystified by the whole thing because I hadn’t read anything like it, and it ended up being part of the start of me getting into Radiohead.
I’ve never seen this. This is amazing
The fact he picks a fight with himself is absolute gold.
Thanks for sharing this. Never read it before.
Geez, that’s a painful story.
Who do you think is the man who wanted to punch him during the Christmas special ?
He talks about this in his CBC Vancouver session from March 1996 after the interviewer asks him about buying a house and settling down.
It’s one of my favourite interviews of him as he’s self-admittedly so exhausted from touring he comes across pretty unguarded which was unusual from him in that period.
"I can't breathe I can't breathe
There's no water There's no water"
(Anima, Traffic)
When he talks about not recognising your own reflection, and having the same tiny thought stuck in your head for hours, just believe me when i say that shit really sucks and i hope Thom is on some good antidepressants
Why is so much of that quote implying that fish breathe air, and that taking care of them would require knocking a hole in the ice? Didn't they just freeze to death?
I'm no fish expert, so correct me if I'm wrong, but...
They need new oxygen from the air to dissolve into the water (and for carbon dioxide to leave), and the ice prevents that from happening
God he really was completely insufferable at that time.
I totally disagree. I love this interview, I connected with it a lot when I first got into Radiohead and I completely get where he’s coming from on everything he talks about.
Interesting…..
What is that supposed to mean?
For as much as discussion of mental health has become more accepted in popular culture, this kind of extreme vulnerability and open expression of neurotic thoughts and self loathing in a public ‘interview’ is still basically unheard of among anyone at his level of fame. It meant a lot to me as a teenager, many many years after it was released, to hear these feelings expressed by somebody whose work was (and is) so important to me.
I hope they at least ate the fish.