Radiohead, or at least portion of them (Thom and Ed) were interviewed by Steve Lamacq at BBC6 Music on Monday. They spoke about the new album ‘In Rainbows’, and various theories surrounding it.
We also heard Thom talk about his solo effort, and his plans for the future. Most intriguingly, Thom revealed that, like so many of the band’s fans, he actually paid nothing to download the album.
The main two theories, which web dwelling people with lots of time on their hands, and probably tin foil on their heads, have come up with go as follows:
The ‘Binary Code/Tens Theory’
In a nutshell, this one tries to explain everything by assuming the band were obsessed with the number 10 during the making of the album. The album was indeed released on October 10th, or 10/10; ‘In Rainbows’ is 10 letters long and has 10 tracks; and posts on Radiohead’s website featured phrases like “March Wa X” and “Xendless Xurbia,” all using the roman numeral X, which is 10.
The ‘Golden Section Theory’
This theory centres around a work of ancient mathematics called the ‘Golden Ratio’, which architects and artists used during the Renaissance. The actual numbers involved are 1.618 to 1, a proportion used for objects in buildings and paintings to make the work aesthetically pleasing. On ‘In Rainbows’, this transcribes as 61.8% of the way through the album (or 1/1.618), the strings kick in and the album title’s name is sung in the background vocals.
Thom Yorke referred in the interview to “all these mad theories on the net.” Indeed Thom, they do sound like a pile of shit, but Radiohead fans are intrigued by the possible hidden meanings in your songs and albums, so you need to expect this kind of thing.
Later on in the interview, we also learnt that Thom Yorke actually downloaded the album without paying for it. The thing is, he had an excuse, unlike the thousands of fans who did the same and consequentially lost the band in revenue.
He explained ”I thought it would be silly to pay any money. I’d swap it from one pocket to the other.”
You can listen to the full interview here on the BBC6 website.