Photo: Matt Crossick
You can’t beat a good wind-up and it seems that the folk at Fox News are elevating it to an artform. Following the assertion by comedienne Katherine Timpf on The Greg Gutfield Show that Radiohead fans are “strange, malnourished and sad”, the programme has called the band “the poor man’s Coldplay”.
The original comments have upset certain sections of the media and, of course, Radiohead’s legions of fans. Speaking last week of Radiohead’s nomination for the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame, Timpf quipped: “Seeing as it’s about fame and not talent, I think that Radiohead is definitely going to get in, and should get in.”
So cue much outrage online but what most people seem to have forgotten – or are simply unaware of – is that The Greg Gutfield Show is a comedy show. Admittedly, it’s not a particularly funny one but it’s a comedy show nonetheless and one that takes a sideways look at politics and current affairs.
The new comments by host Greg Gutfield now have elements in the media who should know better getting their knickers in a twist. After ribbing Katherine Timpf by saying that she should celebrate Halloween by dressing as a Radiohead fan, Gutfield then joked: “You know, Radiohead is a fine band but they stole everything from Coldplay… like Radiohead is the poor man’s Coldplay. ”
So there you go: a rubbish joke that has been taken as a factual comment elsewhere. You can chortle away at the 36-minute mark:
More importantly is that Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame list of nominees that features some genuinely ground-breaking and culturally significant acts:
Bon Jovi
Kate Bush
The Cars
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Eurythmics
J Geils Band
Judas Priest
LL Cool J
MC5
The Meters
Moody Blues
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Nina Simone
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Link Wray
The Zombies
Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this year, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien said of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: "I don't want to be rude about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame because for a lot of people it means something, but culturally I don't understand it. I think it might be a quintessential American thing. Brits are not very good at slapping ourselves on the back.”
