So the rumor was false, it was a hoax! Radiohead did not play a concert in support of Occupy Wall Street as everyone, included a spokesperson for the ongoing protests happening on Wall Street, was announcing it on Friday morning.
Imagine the excitation of these people!
But what surprised me the most is this 1993 black and white picture, that I stole from the great blog Dangerous Minds… It sure does not look like the Radiohead I know, with the aggressive pose, a shaved-head Thom Yorke looking like a punk figure of the 70s, posing à la Johnny Cash and giving the middle finger to the camera?
I had never seen him like this, but there are actually a few stories about Thom York’s middle finger:
• In 2004, Thom Yorke’s middle finger was sold for £248 on ebay. Or close to it, it was actually the finger he had smashed off his NME Award, which is a sculpture of a golden hand giving the middle finger, Yorke had found it to be offensive,… err I am confused!
• Thom Yorke said that 'Karma Police' was a big middle-finger to corporate bosses everywhere; actually the release of ‘In Rainbows’ was the real middle finger to big corporations.
• In October 2009, he played an intimate show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, and ‘responded by flashing both middle fingers’ to a fan asking him to play ‘free bird’,… ‘Shouldn’t you be calling out Stone Temple Pilots or something more current? ‘Freebird’ is so 80′s!’ added rebel Thom.
So punk-rebel Thom should have supported Occupy Wall Street on Friday.