The Abridged Alec Baldwin and Thom Yorke Interview

We spent an hour listening to today’s episode of Alec Baldwin’s Here’s the Thing so you don’t have to.

Disclaimer: All quotes from Thom Yorke were spoken in a British accent. We advise the use of your imagination.

• Alec Baldwin asks listeners: “What’s in your wallet?” (A whopping $2, Al, what’s in yours?)
• Radiohead “thumbs its nose” in stuff. (What does that mean?)
• Thom Yorke has a new band, Atoms for Peace, but he doesn’t like to do press. (Oh. Oops)
• He emailed some friends, like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to get the project going. (#Casual)
• Mr. Yorke has a troubled relationship with his guitar. (At least he’s doing better than Lindsay Lohan)
• Mr. Baldwin throws some stones at the Stones and the Yankees simultaneously; both birds are killed. (“[The Rolling Stones have] changed partners over the years like they were the New York Yankees, you know, there’s somebody else playing third base every four or five years.”
• Mr. Baldwin fondly recalls the knowledge imparted to him by Paul McCartney: “Even the Beatles got tired of being the Beatles!” (First world problems are always exhausting)
• Radiohead songs bring Al closer to spirituality. There’s a “vibe.” (*Crickets*)
• Mr. Baldwin: “The studio is a whole different animal.” (Like, a spirit animal?)
• Mr. Yorke, on his not-so musical family members: “My great-grandmother she’s get really hammered and then stay up playing her pump-organ thing downstairs, all night. And keep the family up. That’s it.” (Kid [A] got it from his Grandma.)
• Mr. Yorke started his first band at the ripe age of 11, but they broke up due to creative differences: “That sort of fell to bits; I kept fighting with the drummer.” (Over what? Legos?)
  • Mr. Yorke then describes how, at 16, he put Radiohead together and made it a thing. (Pull Quotes:)
    • “I got Ed cause he was dressed like Morrissey and he had some cool socks.”
    • “I got Colin because I knew he could play very well, and I needed a bass player who could play very well, but he had never played bass before.”
    • “[Colin’s] his brother Jonny was this mythical, musical prodigy.”
    • “Phil was the only drummer we knew anyway—and he had a house down the road that we could rehearse in.”
    • (Voila)

Then Thom Yorke says something about “bollocks,” which are like balls, but more British.