Radiohead: "I Want None Of This"

I imagine that, late at night, plagued by that soul-crushing mix of paranoia and the pain brought on by unilateral American foreign policy, Thom Yorke worries about deep, important things. Out of that comes “I Want None of This,” Radiohead’s contribution to the recent War Child compilation. It’s a pretty little piano ballad, political without being overt and dark without being overly sullen or emotive. The production is nice, especially the chorus-of-Thoms effect for the backing oohs and aahs, and there’s an undertone of that vaguely sinister swagger that the band was honing on Hail to the Thief. Thom’s line of, “you can pack it up / and be gone” has a quiet immediacy to it.

This is not to say they haven’t done this sort of Thom-and-an-instrument ballad thing much better before. Most recently, it was the gorgeous “Gagging Order” (Ed: We, uh, disagree), but going back through the years we have “I Will,” “Melatonin,” “You and Whose Army?,” the amazing “Fog,” and any number of others. Perhaps the all-time best is perennial fan-favorite “True Love Waits.” “I Want None of This,” though it has its moments, never quite grabs me in the same way that these other tracks have.

Sometimes, late at night, plagued by that depressing mix of caffeine and insomnia, I worry about Radiohead. How many times do we expect them to keep reinventing the wheel? This year marks the 10th anniversary of The Bends. When does the creative well run dry? I loved Hail to the Thief, but will the next one be able to keep the streak alive? I’m sure there was plenty of concern about this after OK Computer, and everyone was effectively proved wrong, but that’s not gonna stop me from worrying. “I Want None of This” basically does nothing to answer the question of where Radiohead is going from here, but at least it keeps them moving, and we're still better off for it.