You may remember back in July, bookmakers stopped taking bets on who would recorded the theme for new James Bond film Spectre, as one punter placed £15,000 on Radiohead.
Well, it turns out that individual probably did have insider knowledge – while the 007 producers opted to go with Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, yesterday Thom Yorke released a series of tweets explaining that the Oxfordshire band had indeed been originally asked to provide the theme to Spectre.
https://twitter.com/thomyorke/status/680356135984041984
Of course, the band have form in this area, with their cover of ‘Nobody Does it Better’ from The Spy Who Loved Me much adored by fans. Writing in full on their Soundcloud, the band related a statement saying:
Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre.
Yes we were. It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much.
As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it.
Merry Christmas. May the force be with you.
It’s unfair to compare Radiohead’s ‘Spectre’ with Sam Smith’s theme, especially as the latter fits the film’s opening sequence much better than most people believed having judged it out of context on airplay alone.
That said, this really is a hauntingly beautiful piece from Radiohead, with airy strings and a soaring vocal that would’ve put it amongst the very best Bond themes. You can’t help but feel it’s a shame the film’s makers felt otherwise.