I was 15 when I attended my first Radiohead concert in Dublin and was thrilled to see a Free Tibet banner hanging on the stage. In 2000, this was a cause celebre and my little activist heart – usually the butt of ridicule at home and in school – felt a deep sense of validation that my favourite band were unabashedly political.
Radiohead remained my favourite band – an affection deeply entwined with unresolved teenage angst which turned out to be undiagnosed autism – long past their sell-out-by date. Meanwhile, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ later albums became the sound-track to my 20s, a decade marked by profound grief from multiple family losses.
My adoration has now turned to anger and disdain. In 2017 Radiohead publicly refused to respect the cultural boycott of Israel, called for by the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, despite pleas from peers such as Roger Waters and Ken Loach.
A few months later, Nick Cave also came out strongly against the BDS movement in a public response to personal correspondence from legendary producer Brian Eno, urging him to respect the boycott and not play in Israel. The hypocrisy of musicians known and loved for wearing their politics on their sleeves was glaring.
No boycotts here
Eight months into the latest onslaught of genocidal violence against the Palestinian people, the call for cultural boycotts has expanded beyond playing in Israel. Audiences and artists are now targeting massive cultural events such as the Eurovision, SXSW, The Great Escape, Download and Latitude festivals largely over sponsors’ investments in the companies supporting Israeli occupying forces.
High-profile musicians from Macklemore to Pillow Queens are publicly supporting Palestine. Meanwhile, Radiohead maintained a resolute silence, apparently refusing to make pronouncements of any kind about the conflict. Then, on May 26, as Israel launched airstrikes against tents in Rafah filled with refugees, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood played a concert in Tel Aviv.
In response to the outcry, he posted a statement on X/Twitter that sidesteps the issue of playing in a country accused of committing genocide. Instead, it focuses on his collaboration with Arab-Jewish musician Dudu Tasa, before referring in vague terms to the ‘silencing of Jewish Israeli artists’.
The continued silence of Radiohead and Nick Cave in the face of ongoing genocide signals a profound cynicism
Greenwood’s statement echoes arguments previously made by frontman Thom Yorke in a June 2017 Rolling Stone. There, Yorke claims the boycott ‘creates divisive energy’ and that ‘[i]t’s deeply disrespectful to assume that we’re either being misinformed or that we’re so re****ed we can’t make these decisions ourselves.’ Note the heavy, offensive dose of ableism, as if he was scripting a Farrelly Brothers’ movie.
Nick Cave’s 2017 statement champions Israeli democracy, minimises Israeli violations of human rights and international law against the Palestinian people and questions the very nature of boycotts as a way to ‘bully and censor’ artists.
Radiohead and Nick Cave have both stated that playing in Israel is not an endorsement of the Netanyahu government. Yet, their concerts in Israel and public positions on the boycott have been used in state propaganda. And as long-time colleagues and peers have distanced themselves from Radiohead and Nick Cave, the two have since become frequent collaborators.
Conflict of interest
Yorke’s principal justification for objecting to BDS was Greenwood’s relationship with Sharona Katan: ‘The person who knows most about these things is Jonny. He has both Palestinian and Israeli friends and a wife who’s an Arab Jew.’ By invoking Katan as a moral authority on the issue Yorke hints that Radiohead, rather than maintaining a neutral stance, have personal and political sympathies that align with the Zionist project, given Katan’s own statements.
Katan’s X/Twitter feed since October 7, 2023 has been full of Israeli warmongering and genocidal propaganda, from the debunked allegations of mass rape and beheaded babies to the smear campaign against UNWRA. Her unabashed support for the Zionist project, Islamophobia and equation of Palestinians with terrorists has, however, been visible on her feed since 2017 – long before the current escalation, and just as Radiohead came out against BDS.
There is a certain bitter irony in discovering that Greenwood and Katan have their own olive oil company – among Radiohead’s many side projects and extensive merchandising (see also: china teapots, Christmas baubles, cross-stitch sets and endless t-shirts). Eponomously titled Greenwood, a 250ml bottle costs a mere €40. In early 2024, Greenwood and Katan publicly lamented this year’s small harvest. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have increasingly targeted Palestine’s ancestral olive trees in Gaza and the West Bank over the last eight months.
The emperor has no clothes
The 15-year-old me, who idolised Radiohead above all other musicians, could never have imagined that I would one day write these critical words. She might even have considered it a betrayal. But the real betrayal is committed by musicians who have forged careers out of making music that is often overtly political now chosing silence and complicity in the face of genocide.
Over the last eight months, Yorke has tweeted repeatedly about climate change, the War in the Ukraine and UK immigration restrictions – very palatable causes for the liberal mainstream – while the word ‘ceasefire’ remains absent.
Nick Cave joined the cultural boycott against Russia as soon as it invaded Ukraine. When called out on the apparent contradiction with his 2017 stance, he claimed that the situations were not the same: ‘one is a brutal unprovoked attack on one state by another, in the hope of revising the entire security structure of Europe, and the other is a deeply complex clash of two nations that is far from straightforward.’ Yet in the face of the current genocide, he has only maintained his objections to current calls to boycott Israel. He has said nothing about the current conflict – except to extend his condolences to the Israeli victims of Hamas’ 7 October attack.
The continued silence of Radiohead and Nick Cave in the face of ongoing genocide signals a profound cynicism. The artists seek to maintain their predominantly liberal-minded, white, middle-class and middle-aged cohort of followers – a group who seem able to overlook their objection to BDS, but might take exception to explicit Zionism.
They however can’t hide the fact that have descended from cultural symbols of disaffection and dissent to liberal mediocrity – mostly dedicated to selling cringe-worthy merch. Both will tour Europe and beyond this summer and, no doubt, expect to sell out their gigs. Whatever their politics may be, their primary concern seems to be to keep this revenue stream open.
Nick Cave and Radiohead members’ side projects are all set to tour this summer. Some gigs have already sold out but concerned fans can still chose to boycott their gigs and merch – and to support musicians and other artists who have spoken out against the genocide, often to the detriment of their careers.
