Overview
Merry Christmas, music lovers! Radiohead have gone and dropped a brand new track in time for the holidays, and we don't mind saying that it's pretty damn spectacular. Turns out that Thom Yorke and his bandmates were commissioned to write the theme song for the recently released James Bond movie, although for some baffling reason the producers didn't end up using it. But the group finished the song anyway, and released it via SoundCloud overnight. So, without further adieu...
First impressions? This is definitely how we'd expect a James Bond tune by Radiohead to sound. Which is to say that it won't be for everybody, although personally we like it a hell of a lot more than Sam Smith's eventual effort.
The existence of this track, which shares a name with the movie, isn't entirely surprising. Rumours that Radiohead would be composing the Spectre tune circulated on the internet for months prior to the film's release, before it was eventually revealed that Smith had been tapped instead. As it happens, Radiohead were approached, but according to York "it didn't work out."
Last year we were asked to write a tune for Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were ...........
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
... It didn't work out ... but became something of our own which we love very much .... — Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
.. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas. May the force be with you ... https://t.co/BXN8MQKJyQ
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
Bit weird that he finished that tweet with a Star Wars reference, isn't it? Unless...wait a minute...could Radiohead be working on a track for Episode VIII? You heard it here first people. Let the rampant speculation begin.