Pitchfork Defends Radiohead Over Inane Issue

In this posting about file sharing, Lily Allen argues on behalf of a British government proposal to cut illegal file-sharers' internet connections. The dispute stems from Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), a British musicians' advocacy group that includes members of Radiohead, Blur, and Pink Floyd.

"Every generation has a different method," said Radiohead guitarist and FAC Board of Directors member Ed O'Brien. "File sharing is like a sampler, like taping your mate's music."

Lilly Allen, on the other hand, thinks that bands like Radiohead don't care because they're already wealthy and that up-and-coming musicians have a hard time enough time making money to sustain themselves. She went on to argue that the only artists who will be able to make music in the future will be people from Simon Cowell's assembly-line.

What really got Pitchfork upset was Lilly Allen calling out members of FAC for having "the biggest Ferrari collections in the world." The Pitchfork writer wrote: "[That] doesn't quite sound like Radiohead, but whatever."

No, not whatever. What does theat mean? Radiohead members are so down-to-earth that there's no way any of them could own a Ferrari? They gave a free CD so they couldn't own a Ferrari? The message in their music is so pure that they couldn't own a Ferrari? Does Thom Yorke have a song on the New Moon soundtrack? Yes. Is he doing that out of his deep respect for vampire movies? No, he's doing it so he can own a Ferrari.

It just seems like a really, really silly editorial flourish on Pitchfork's part. But I guess it's kind of silly to comment on it, too.