Music

Radiohead’s Deleted Themselves From The Internet; Left Lots Of Room For Jokes At Their Expense

"Radiohead's latest album to be released exclusively on the feeling of existential dread that resides within us all."

by Meg Watson  2 May 2016

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In what’s expected to be the lead-up to their new album, Radiohead have spent the entire weekend methodically deleting every aspect of their internet presence and resultantly scaring the shit out of every white boy on the planet. Their official website is blank. Nine years of posts have been binned from their Facebook page. Every tweet from both their official account and Thom Yorke‘s personal page has also been cleared.

This is either a very creative marketing campaign or Yorke is covering his tracks after a terrible Dad-level tech error.

It’s also a move which comes after a fair amount of hype from the iconic band. Last month they announced their first big world tour since 2012 and confirmed a new album would be out in June; it was described by their manager as “nothing like you’ve ever heard”. Excitement has since been ramped up over the weekend with fans receiving not-at-all-creepy posters in the mail which read “we know where you live”.

Though “Burn The Witch” was first assumed to be the name of the new album, many have pointed out it’s actually the name of an unreleased song which was first scheduled to appear on In Rainbows in 2007. It’s never been heard in full but Yorke has teased parts of it at shows over the years and generally worked quite hard to shroud it in infuriating mystery.

Because of this, the Radiohead Reddit channel is in absolute meltdown with some fans nerding out for long enough to discover extra clues. As Stereogum noted, someone even deduced the flyers were released around the European Walpurgisnacht festival, or “Witches’ Night”. This day is now used to celebrate the arrival of Spring, but was first conceived in Germanic folklore as a meeting of witches. In the Czech Republic, huge bonfires are still burnt occasionally with an effigy of a witch at its centre.

It’s fair to say they’ve left themselves open to a fair bit of mockery.

While we wait for further news, let’s all join hands and be thankful for the important pieces of internet that Radiohead have left behind: