Even if they haven't, the music industry has collectively shat their pants. Along with chart biz...

 

All that pooping aside, reports are circulating around the Internet tubes that the English band has sold over 1.2 million copies of the album. When that info is combined with reports that the average fan has been paying 8 dollars for the album, Radiohead stands atop a mountain of pound notes.

 

Eight dollars sounds a little high for an average, but these calculations don't include the pricey (80+ dollar) discbox that is sure to be landing under many an audiophile Christmas tree.

 

If all of that isn't confusing enough, it's going to be a real mindfuck to see what Billboard et al. do with their calculations. Does $free.99 count as an album sale?

 

In other Rainbows news, The White House of The United States of America has chimed in on the disc. Yeah, that's right. Catch this Washington Times tidbit: "Deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said he is a big fan of Thom Yorke and the boys, and plans to get their new album, 'In Rainbows,' which came out yesterday. White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said that while he does not own any Radiohead albums, he is an 'appreciator' of their music. Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, said he is '90 percent sure' that he has a few Radiohead tunes on his iPod."

 

Holy shit. Could The Thief, himself (George W.), be rocking to some Radiohead right now? Mind explosion.

 

Moving on -- Thom Yorke has chimed in from old England about the release:

 

hard hats on..
hope you are enjoying listening to the download of In Rainbows.
its a relief to us all that finally its out there.
its been a mad couple of weeks.. as i'm sure you can imagine...

"I love pop music to death..... Most great composers rely on folk music. I rely on pop music.
I'm not saying I'm a great composer or that pop music is folk music. There's a whole endless thing going on out there.
You make your little pond but if your pond isn't connected to the river, which isn't connected to an ocean,
it's just going to dry up. It's just a little piss pool. I've lived too long to be happy in a pond."

I found this in WIRE magazine over a pint in the pub last night.. its Robert Wyatt
Thom
Wowzers.
And, last but not least, this album has been getting some amazing reviews (which makes sense -- it's amazing), but my favorite has to be over at Pitchfork today. Rate it what you want = LOL. No, but really, it's a 9.3.