Bit embarrassing, this one. Earlier today, Matthew Friedberger launched into a furious tirade against Radiohead by describing their Harry Patch tribute song as "bogus".
"Fuck you!", he said to _Spinner.co.uk. "You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool. That is bogus. That’s a put-on. That’s a branding technique and Radiohead have their brand that they’re popular and intelligent. So they have a song about Harry Patch.”
Friedberger wasn’t finished, adding: "How’s the song? Is it 48 notes to the octave? What does it have to do with Harry Patch?
“Oh, my wife says I am being very rude. She doesn’t like me insulting Radiohead. She’s afraid they will send their lackeys through the computer to sabotage us. But they needn’t worry – we are a band that sabotages ourselves."
But the band’s publicist has now released a statement claiming that Friedberger thought the song was about Harry Partch, the American composer, and not the WW1 veteran.