Radiohead have released 18 hours of previously unheard material made during the studio sessions for the 1997 album Ok Computer. The decision comes after a Minidisc archive was confirmed to have been stolen and hacked by an anonymous individual last week.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, guitarist Jonny Greenwood verified the theft, stating that the Minidisc archive stolen from front-man Thom Yorke was being held to ransom by an individual demanding $150,000 to keep the material private and out of the public domain.
However, things didn’t quite go according to plan for the hacker. Radiohead decided to simply release the material themselves for a small fee, with proceeds going towards climate-change activist group, Extinction Rebellion. Greenwood explained the move in the same Facebook post: “Instead of complaining – much – or ignoring it, we’re releasing all 18 hours on Bandcamp in aid of Extinction Rebellion. Just for the next 18 days. So for £18 you can find out if we should have paid the ransom. Never intended for public consumption (though some clips did reach the cassette in the OK Computer reissue) it’s only tangentially interesting. And very, very long. Not a phone download.”
Extinction Rebellion were quick to thank the band, describing the donation as a “gift of unprecedented support.” Radiohead have previously shown their support for the activist group after allowing their song Idioteque to be used in an official promotional video about the organisation.
Extinction Rebellion (often abbreviated to XR) is a nonviolent activist group seeking to fight climate change. They gained prominence in recent months after holding a number of protests in London that saw the capital coming to a stand-still, with some activists glueing themselves to the London Stock Exchange in protest of corporation’s impact on the environment.
