LimeWire Music Blog

What have we learned from this week’s Fiery Furnaces vs. Radiohead tempest in a bitter teapot? Personally, what I get out of it is that not enjoying a certain British “rock” band is veritable sacrilege. When did personal taste become so controversial? For those who aren’t up on the world’s silliest controversy, here’s what happened: In an interview with Spinner, the Furnaces’ Matthew Friedberger mentioned that the band’s song “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” didn’t impress him. Well, okay, it sounds like he even got a bit animated about it. “You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool,” he said, addressing Thom Yorke & Co. “That is bogus. That’s a put-on. That’s a branding technique and Radiohead have their brand that they’re popular and intelligent.” Friedberger also kind of made a joke conflating Patch with Harry Partch, the avant-garde composer. Since then, the media firestorm just hasn’t stopped.

Now, the Fiery Furnaces have issued a press release to clarify their feelings on Radiohead. (Yes, I know: mind-boggling.) “Like most creative musicians, Matt Friedberger is not a fan of Radiohead and their various chartbusters,” the statement begins, before going on to admit that “Matt has not heard the Radiohead song about Harry Patch, as opposed to his imaginary one about Harry Partch, but if he did, he is sure he wouldn’t like it. No doubt Radiohead and their fans can ignore his opinion of this matter and the band can continue with their triumphant artistic interventions.”

While I find this kind of back-and-forth pretty entertaining (not to mention geeky! Harry Partch, folks!) — and clearly The Fiery Furnaces are getting more than their fair share of publicity out of it — it’s also kind of troubling. Is it that hard to believe that not everyone loves Radiohead? Even if it were, do we really care who Matt Friedberger chooses to listen to on his own time?