Radiohead ProfileRadiohead’s 1995 single, High and Dry, is very pretty. Ultimately, it’s a pretty conventional pop-rock acoustic tune that proved that, after a major hit with Creep, the British rockers had much more than grunge up their sleeves.
However, in a new interview, frontman Thom Yorke indicates that it’s a Radiohead song he wishes he never wrote – there’s a reason that High and Dry hasn’t been performed live since 1998.
Yorke shared his feelings about High and Dry in a new interview with Harry Styles as part of Rolling Stone’s annual Musicians on Musicians series.
During the conversation, Styles recalled Yorke discussing songwriting in a podcast interview, where he said he likes to think of his voice as one of the instruments in a song.
Styles put it to Yorke: “Is that something you noticed, when that changed for you? Because you say you don’t so much sit and write a song, like, ‘I’m going to sit here, and this is a song, and this is how it goes’ — you think of how it sits in the production. But obviously, if you go back to The Bends, for example, like High and Dry, that is a song.”
While Styles meant that as a compliment, Yorke doesn’t see the song the same way. “Yeah, a guy with an acoustic guitar. Singing his song. That particular one I wish I hadn’t [winces in pain], but there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Yorke continued:
I don’t listen to a lot of singer-songwriters. I listen to a lot of mad old folk music, or I listen to film music, or I listen to electronic music. The banging away on the guitar thing is sometimes when it really speaks to me, but not a lot. I’m not quite sure why that is — probably because we grew up when there was a real renaissance of that, and The Bends was that.
You can check out the full interview on Rolling Stone.
Radiohead are returning to Australia in May 2027, recently announcing their first shows in the country in nearly 15 years. The band will perform six arena shows in Melbourne and Sydney, plus four nights in Perth. All shows have sold out, with the official re-sale opening in April 2027.
Radiohead last toured Australia in 2012, supporting their 2011 album, The King of Limbs. However, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Thom Yorke toured Australia solo in 2024, where he debuted material from a new collaborative album with Mark Pritchard.
Check out The Music’s review of Yorke’s show at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl here.
Meanwhile, Harry Styles returns to Australia in November and December to perform in stadiums in Melbourne and Sydney. The singer is touring in support of his recently released album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
