myweedsaretakingroot:

antiantimatter:

Happy birthday, Thomas Edward Yorke.

Forty-three years ago, on this date, in Northamptonshire, a baby was born with his left eye shut. That baby would grow into the genius we all know, love, hate and worship today.

I understand that people think I’m flippant when I talk about Radiohead as being like a religion, or a marriage. And yes, they’re true, in some aspects: many teenagers go through band infatuations (although, running on to about five years of Radiohead devotion, it can safely claim to be the one thing I’ve really stuck at through life so far), and many of them wax hyperbolic on their band of choice for hours on end. A perfectly harmless form of teenage tribal identity that everyone exhibits.

And those people might be right. But that doesn’t mean I agree with them.

There’s a school of thought that says religion fills a gap in the human psyche, which is why it’s always returned and sprung up in every culture, in some form. For me, as an atheist, I do think Radiohead has filled that gap.

A good deal of my friends - and I count many of you among them - I met because of Radiohead. I’ve had conversations with people on here that have brightened my day, given me advice when I needed it, given me confidence to continue with the few things I enjoy. I look forward to every Radiohead squee-fest in the knowledge that we’re all united in the glee of it.

Listening to Radiohead is the best form of escape I can conjure out of nowhere. Some days, some moments, are automatically special; you build up to them for weeks, maybe months, enjoy them in all their fleeting glory, and then they’re gone and it’s back to drudgery again. Radiohead are the cause of many of those; they’re the best way for me to remember what they felt like. The emotional impact of their music goes beyond tears and into the spiritual: being transported into another world: disappearing completely. If anyone else has had that religious moment of… being utterly lost in intense feeling, because of Radiohead, they’ll understand me when I say it changes your life completely.

That’s not being blase, or over-the-top. That’s just a statement of fact.

But Thom Yorke is more than just the music he creates. Love him sometimes, hate him sometimes, you have to admit that one of the reasons he appeals to us is he knows what it feels like. He’s been to the same places we’ve been, and fashioned them into art. Who hasn’t reblogged a quote from interview and thought He’s taken the words out of my mouth again? Who hasn’t secretly felt like they know him as a person?

I don’t think it’s a mass delusion. I don’t think it’s a teenage fantasy. I think it’s something you have to experience to understand. You’re no worse off if you don’t - of course! - but if you’re the sort of person who’s receptive to it, Thom radiates genius. Here’s to 43 years of that, and many more to come.

This is beyond beautiful.