San Francisco, California
October 18, 2000

Dear Readers,

Today’s letter is by Julie Shapiro, a new resident of Chicago and an employee ofReckless Records, the one on Broadway. Her letter is about selling the new Radiohead record.

If you are like my drummer friend Kim, in Toronto, then you know all about the phenomenon that is Radiohead; Kim sent me an email yesterday that said, “I’m going to see Radiohead tonight at the Air Canada Centre. I’m like a giddy schoolgirl.”

If you are like me, though, you have only a vague notion of who Radiohead is, and why they currently have the number one album in the world. In which case, may I recommend that you take a look at this account, by Joachim Rosenquist, 18, of Bjarred, Sweden, of a dream he had about a Radiohead concert; at this FAQ, which explains that during “that loud bit in ‘The Trickster’ that nobody can understand,” what they’re actually singing is “Truant kids, a can of brickdust worms, who do not want to climb down from their chestnut tree”; and this news report from August, from an Italian music magazine, which describes “Il nuovo Radiohead” as “un vulcano dark, pronto ad esplodere il 3 ottobre.” (As Julie so vividly describes in today’s letter, come October 3, esplodere it did.)

Or you could just read Julie’s letter.

Tomorrow: another tale of stoking the star-making machinery behind the popular song.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough