Are Radiohead dead? Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s latest album as The Smile sparks rumours...

Is it curtains for the Karma Police? The announcement that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – the Lennon and McCartney of indie miserablism – are to release a second album as The Smile has been widely welcomed. But there are some naysayers: a segment of diehard Radiohead fans who have reacted to the news with outpourings of despair.

“I used to think Ed and Colin and Phil got thrown out of the group but I think they might have just left because they didn’t want to participate in Thom and Jonny’s nonsense,” grumbled one cynic on Reddit, referring to guitarist and backing vocalist Ed O’Brien, bassist Colin Greenwood, and drummer Philip Selway. “Radiohead are over,” groused another. “Not gonna listen to this diet version.”

So, are Radiohead truly done and dusted? Does the continuation of The Smile spell the end of arguably the most successful art-rock band of all time? Have Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood left their audience high and dry? As ever, with the most enigmatic collective to ever fill a stadium, the answer is cloaked in ambiguity.

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Time is certainly marching on. Radiohead’s last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, came out in 2016 – and primarily consisted of songs written years previously (the single “Burn The Witch” originated during the Kid A sessions in 2000). It was a fine record – but it was muted and low-key, a sort of glorious damp squib. For the last truly essential, earth-shattering Radiohead release, you have to rewind to In Rainbows circa 2007 – those halcyon days when Pete Doherty was considered a serious artist and the Pigeon Detectives had bright days ahead. Radiohead may have headlined Glastonbury as recently as 2017 and put out lavish anniversary editions of their landmark trilogy of OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac – creatively, though, their glory days are a long way in the past.

The musicians themselves seem up in the air about their future. “The thing with Radiohead, we could do something in a couple years. We might not,” said Ed O’Brien, who, as “EOB”, released a solo long-player in 2020. “At the moment, because we’ve done it for so long, we’re all reaching out and having different experiences.” Some of these experiences are notably more different than others. While EOB’s Earth drew comparisons to U2 and Badly Drawn Boy, and Philip Selway’s three solo LPs were praised for their cool atmospherics, it is The Smile that cleaves the closest to Radiohead, musically and emotionally.

The project is a collaboration between Yorke, Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner of the experimental jazz quartet Sons of Kemet. With Yorke’s songwriting to the fore, The Smile is, to many, Radiohead in all but name – and the sense of the trio as a slimmed-down Radiohead is set to continue when they put out their second studio album, Wall of Eyes, in January.

“[The Smile] sounds the most like Radiohead than anything else they have done on their own,” said Steven Hyden, author of This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s Kid A and the Beginning of the 21st Century, in an Uproxx podcast last year. He described the group’s 2022 debut, A Light for Attracting Attention, as “methadone” for Radiohead fans. “Something about working under The Smile moniker [means] Yorke and Greenwood both feel liberated to sound like their older selves.

In theory, side-projects are a perfectly healthy element of Radiohead’s musical journey, says Sean Perrin, founder and host of OK Podcast, which covers all facets of the group’s career – including Yorke’s solo work and Greenwood’s parallel life as Oscar-nominated film composer who has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson, Lynne Ramsay, and Jane Campion.

“I’ve always felt that Radiohead side projects are necessary for the musical and personal growth of the band members,” he says. But with their latest solo undertakings, something has changed. Yorke and Greenwood have The Smile; Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway have gone solo; Colin Greenwood, Jonny’s older brother, is touring with Nick Cave. “One difference now is that all five band members seem to be pursuing other projects,” Perrin continues. “This is all great – when it loops back to Radiohead. The concerning element for fans lately seems to be that this latter part of the equation doesn’t seem to be on the minds of the band anymore.”

The Smile came together during a bout of lockdown restlessness, during which Yorke and Greenwood grew bored of staring at the walls and decided to work together again. At some point along the way, they roped in Skinner, with whom Greenwood had become friendly while scoring Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master in 2012.

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The Smile were born of “the frustration of having not had access to playing in a band for a couple of years, [it] just built up a big backlog of ideas”, Greenwood elaborated last summer, while promoting his album Jarak Qaribak, a collection of Arab pop covers made with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. “We’re still firing off each other, and it feels productive. So, while that’s happening, we just wanna keep moving forward, I think.”

Some watchers regard The Smile as a strong indicator that Yorke and Greenwood are quietly decoupling from Radiohead. Others believe the opposite is the case. They suggest that Radiohead’s hiatus is instead down to Ed O’Brien wanting to take time away; The Smile is Yorke and Greenwood’s attempt at keeping the home fires flickering. That theory is supported by the few public statements the group have put out. “I know Ed’s making another solo record at the moment and Colin is on tour with Nick Cave,” said Greenwood earlier this year. “Who knows? We’ll have to wait until everyone has time and inclination.”

Regardless of the future, some Radiohead followers feel the musicians should give it to them straight. “They don’t owe much to their fans but I do feel it would at least be an appreciated courtesy to make a decision about the future of the band,” said Sean Perrin. “One way or another, for better or worse.

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Still, if it turns out that Radiohead have indeed sent their final transmission, there is a silver lining. Think of the alternative – of the many great “alternative” outfits who eventually slip into mid-life dotage. Look at REM, who released several duff records before coming to their senses and calling it quits in 2011. Most depressing of all are U2, who morphed into a $1bn karaoke act, desecrating their vaunted reputation by performing from inside a giant digital snow globe on the Las Vegas strip. Whatever the future holds for Radiohead, fans can at least console themselves in the knowledge that they won’t defile their legacy as U2 have theirs. Nor are they likely to emulate Coldplay and try to get down with the kids by hooking up with pop stars such as BTS.

“I want Radiohead to truly be Radiohead. And if that means there’s no more Radiohead, then so be it,” said Perrin. “Would I welcome more Radiohead music? Of course, if done tastefully and within the current vision of the band. I don’t think the world needs Radiohead to go Coldplay and start recording Christmas music and collaborating with major pop acts to regain relevance and capture a younger audience.” In other words, all good things must come to an end eventually. Maybe now is the right time for Radiohead to strike up the exit music and take their final bows. Just ask the thousands of ex-U2 fans.

‘Wall of Eyes’ is out on 26 January via XL Recordings