Radiohead to Release Free ‘Newspaper’ in Conjunction With The King of Limbs Release

If Radiohead wasn’t one of the most talented and uncompromising mainstream music acts since The Beatles, they’d surely be subject to mockery for being more gimmicky than a can of Coors Light. While no one will complain about their “pay what you want” policy on In Rainbows, Thom Yorke’s occasional bouts of needy art-student eccentricity can distract us from the fact that, well, he’s a brilliant songwriter.

Case in point: according to Spinner, the band plans to mark the release of physical copies of their latest album The King of Limbs by treating lucky fans to a free, um…newspaper. Cool?

Although The King of Limbs is already available for download, it will be released on vinyl and CD in North America on March 29 (though given the lukewarm reaction its already received, we can’t be certain it will sell too well).

To mark the occasion, Radiohead have produced a limited edition newspaper entitled “The Universal Sigh” which will be given away to customers of various vendors throughout the world. An official website, theuniversalsigh.com, has been set up to provide interested parties with more details regarding where, when, maybe even why, etc.

The site stresses the fact that this paper is NOT the same one that will come bundled with the special edition “Newspaper Album” version of The King of Limbs.

So, what’s the significance of this? Will the newspaper reveal the inner thoughts of Thom Yorke for all the world to see? Will it explore the pressing issues that us fans insist drive Radiohead’s “socially conscious” music? If you read it backwards will it explain the meaning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Who knows. It’s just another little Radiohead quirk, but when a band is this damn good, we can overlook the fact that they’re a little weird.

Maybe that’s what makes them good.

Do you think all of these media stunts are part of the Radiohead experience, or do they shift our focus away from the most important aspect of the band: the music?