He went on to talk about why he likes Williams's score for Close Encounters so much:
"I think the tones of the instruments. When I was a child, I thought it was just synthesizers but it’s not… I don’t know why those particular sounds always stuck with me when I was a child. They’re relatively simple. The tuba is only one instrument but they make it sound so immense. The way that John Williams composes this piece is super modern as well. Melodically, I have no idea how he went about composing it, but the idea of one pattern being repeated and changed and then repeated and then changed… It’s happening a lot now in music.
But he admitted he’s not really into the rest of Williams’ massive oeuvre of soundtrack work:
"I’m allowed to be honest? I’m not a massive fan of John Williams except for this. Sorry. But then, to be fair, this is my ignorance coming out because I don’t really know much about… What I feel in a way sometimes happens with very successful soundtrack makers is that they get copied so much, that when you go back to the original work, you don’t appreciate it for what it is."
He went on to talk about why he likes Williams's score for Close Encounters so much:
"I think the tones of the instruments. When I was a child, I thought it was just synthesizers but it’s not… I don’t know why those particular sounds always stuck with me when I was a child. They’re relatively simple. The tuba is only one instrument but they make it sound so immense. The way that John Williams composes this piece is super modern as well. Melodically, I have no idea how he went about composing it, but the idea of one pattern being repeated and changed and then repeated and then changed… It’s happening a lot now in music.
But he admitted he’s not really into the rest of Williams’ massive oeuvre of soundtrack work:
"I’m allowed to be honest? I’m not a massive fan of John Williams except for this. Sorry. But then, to be fair, this is my ignorance coming out because I don’t really know much about… What I feel in a way sometimes happens with very successful soundtrack makers is that they get copied so much, that when you go back to the original work, you don’t appreciate it for what it is."
Love Thom and love Radiohead. But his statements on Williams being copied are invalid in light of the fact that Williams himself was copying others. Music just trades ideas back and forth as time progresses, occasionally adding new ideas or technologies to old paradigms to make something new.
I would be more curious to hear what Jonny Greenwood has to say about film music since he has had more success in the genre than his band's frontman.
He has a right to his opinion, but it's one of those times I want to slam IMAGES on the table. Unfortunately, I don't believe he has heard many of the smaller non-blockbuster scores by Williams.
I admire Yorke's work but this comment is just plain silly:
"The idea of one pattern being repeated and changed and then repeated and then changed… It’s happening a lot now in music".
It's happening now? It's happened ever since music was invented.
Alex
I think he's referring specifically to minimalism (and post-minimalist romanticism), which is all the rage these days. True, it's been around for decades, but the popularity in film music is immense now.
