This blog needs more fangirling.

[hmpf]

Here, have my favourite-ever pic of Thom Yorke.

This is still my favourite, after nearly a year of this. I like how serene and lost in the music he looks, like he's on another planet entirely. Also, Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood doing guitar stuff in the background (playing into each other's pickups to create some effect, I think? Not enough of a guitar nerd yet to understand all this stuff.) And his untidy hair - you can just tell he's buried his hands in it recently (he's always doing that. Also, rubbing his beard, scratching his nose, massaging his face... it's a nervous tic, I think.) But yeah, it's mainly the expression on his face that gets me. I get nearly the same charge of vicarious serenity out of it as I get out of watching a sleeping cat.

BTW, I know nearly exactly what moment in what song during what concert this is. That's how much of a Radiohead live video geek I've become. :D

Here's the concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8bYybUQQM ; and it's somewhere between 9:10 and 9:30 or so. So, okay, a 20 second interval, not the exact moment... Speaking of nervousness and strange behaviour resulting from it, check the song starting at 33:25 for an amazing display of acute shyness on stage by Jonny Greenwood. Seriously, sometimes it's hard to believe that these guys have been on stage for something like 20 years. And after reading and watching a lot of interviews, I really can't believe that scenes like that are just for show. I think they really are this deeply weird and shy. (Although I also do think that they're savvy enough to milk their peculiarities, to some degree. But not to the point where it's all show.)

Oh, may as well go the whole hog now. Here's Thom Yorke oscillating between annoyingly and endearingly unprofessional during an interview. Also, calling himself "the hairy mascot" of Friends of the Earth. :D - Count the face/head/neck-touching behaviours! ;-)

Comments

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

The interview is just too cute. For some reason, I'm quite into that kind of awkwardness.;) Great music, too.:)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how happy you just made me.

Also, I'm fighting hard against my urge to tell you all about the fascinating personality of Thom Yorke now, and then bury you in a million Yorke-related links. :D

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

You know what, self-control is overrated.

Because it's kind of a propos here, here's Yorke talking about depression. Video, 2003. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3wGbBRxcZQ)

Some silliness, for balance. 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC9-xPAvv70)

N.B.: The following articles are transcribed from scans; some of the transcriptions are a bit faulty, so if the scans are provided as well, it's better to read those. Another thing to keep in mind is that all these articles are, somewhat inevitably, examples of what even the writers themselves admit is "rock'n'roll mythmaking"...

More about his depression here, as well as a history of the band. Long article. 2001. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2001-08Uncut.htm)

Another long, but very good, article from the same period. Less about Yorke, more about the band. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2001-1xJuiceYearbook.htm)

Another from 2001; the most Yorke-focused of the three articles here. Some things that feel like genuine insights and some things that feel like bullshit. Middling length. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2001-05-19NME.htm)

A few years later. Yorke solo interview, for his solo album. 2006. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2006-06-18OMM.htm)

Another Yorke interview from 2006. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2006-08Paste.htm)

Another from 2006. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2006-06-18OMM.htm)

2008, about the creation of "In Rainbows". More band-focused than about Yorke. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2008-02Mojo.htm)

Another article of that sort; same year. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2008-06TheWord.htm)

Published in 2008, but is actually about the album and tour of 2003. (http://citizeninsane.eu/s2008-07-23TheQuietus.htm)


Okay, I'll admit this was far too much. I'm sorry.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

That was a very Asperger's thing to do, wasn't it? :D

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

LOL. Yes, indeed.;) But it's fascinating stuff, a great band and a complex guy. Apropos Asperger's, quite a few people suspect - or even claim - he is himself an aspie. While I don't think every creative person who has had some psychological 'issues' should be 'labelled' in that way, I'm sure quite a few are 'neurologically different' in some way or another. And, in my impression, he has 'Aspie eyes'.;)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, people claim him for all kinds of psychological and neurological disorders. I think just about anyone can see that *something* about him is a bit... weird. The only thing that's been confirmed by him is depression, though (and he doesn't appear to be the type to make a secret of stuff like this). Oh and also, according to him, he had pretty severe bouts of hallucinating in 1999 - if there were drugs involved, and if so, which, is anybody's guess. Nothing very "hard", I would wager, based on what I know about him. But of course you can trip pretty badly on some of the "soft" stuff, too. (Generally speaking they seem to be a band without drug-related scandals - but that doesn't mean they never took any, of course. And two of them (Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood) are quite into weed, at least - to the point of having been interviewed by a marihuana-advocacy magazine.) I also think he probably drinks fairly heavily, though perhaps not necessarily much more heavily than the average British male.

He may well have Asperger's without being aware of it, of course. So many people seem to, after all. I don't know, though - some things I've read in interviews seem rather un-Asperger's. He's *really* into cuddling, for example, and generally into physical contact. The "Thom Yorke hugs/cuddles someone/puts his hands on people's arms/shoulders/backs/butts" ;-) pics and gifs are legion, and it seems to be something that comes really naturally to him. Isn't that something that's fairly untypical? It's certainly something I rarely do... Also, by all accounts he's actually pretty good at doing several things at once; in fact, there always seem to be several things going on with him at the same time, with him switching between tasks very frequently (writing and stargazing; composing and painting...).

Anyway, he seems to be coping fine these days, so whatever he *may* have, it's apparently not a big issue. :-)

Regarding his eyes: keep in mind his left eye is partly paralysed. That can make him look a bit strange, too. I'm not sure there's anything going on beyond that.

(BTW, I love you for letting me blather at you like this. I'm having a ball...)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Some Yorke hugs and cuddles:

http://fuckyeahthomyorke.tumblr.com/post/869336829 (Hugging Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich)

http://fuckyeahthomyorke.tumblr.com/post/2644334861 (Hugging Friends of the Earth/UK Green Party's Tony Juniper)

http://blackboxdisco.tumblr.com/post/9424933911/next-up-should-be-pics-of-yorke-hugging-four-tet (Fanart of TY hugging L.A. electronic music artist Flying Lotus. There's video of these guys hugging, too, but the quality's kind of bad. Also, the fanart is cute...)

http://bornandraisedforthejob.tumblr.com/post/3496561570/the-thom-yorke-exception (Hilarious explanation of "The Thom Yorke Exception" to male social etiquette, including two gifs of TY snuggling up to Ed O'Brien.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWrJNhOiW4 (At 4:22; hugging Colin Greenwood, bass player of Radiohead)

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

LOL. Indeed, that really ... well ... cuddly. Someone, given his awkwardness, it's nothing you would expect, but that only serves to make him more endearing.;)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Ya know... actually guitarist Jonny Greenwood trips my Asperger's sensors more strongly than Yorke does. Come to think of it.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz13rmSasx1qldt0qo1_400.jpg (Not the most relevant pic, it just reminded me of my Asperger's suspicion because he's surrounded by electronic components there... geeky! ;-))

He's the guy who hugged his guitar in the centre of the stage for half a song in that concert vid from a few days ago. His body language is incredibly weird. Yes, even weirder than Yorke's. He tends to look as if he wants to bodily crawl into whatever instrument he happens to be playing. (He also plays about a dozen instruments, and composes modern classical music, as a hobby, you could say.)

Here he is playing (yes, playing) a radio: http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/entertainment/07/10/11_greenwood_lgl.jpg

Watch the righthand corner of the stage for Jonny Greenwood trying to fold himself around a variety of instruments: http://www.twitvid.com/GPYRV

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

LOL. Indeed.;) His gaze on the first pic is really 'weird', and I agree on the body language on the second, particularly concerning his arms and hands.;)

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not surprised he's been claimed for several 'issues' and conditions. I agree, given his candid interviews on his depression, you could expect him to be open about Asperger's as well if he knew about it. Still, as you mention, he might not even be aware of it himself. That's not at all uncommon, after all. And not all Aspies are averse to touch.;)

Still, I agree, pathologising creative or just slightfly off-beat people is in itself problematic, of course.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you're vaguely curious but don't want to read the mountain of articles I just linked you to, you could probably do worse than reading the third of the 2001 articles, and the second of the 2006 ones. They'd give you a fairly good idea of two sides of his personality, or at least, the two sides of his portrayal in the media.

Also, I just noticed that the last of the 2006 articles is redundant. Ooops. Wish I could edit comments.

And here's what I still think is the best live video of them on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8byXSML4bY).

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

That's really a good one. And thanks for the recs.:)

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

You are so much more than welcome.

[diotimah.livejournal.com]

:);)