After some months of doubt, members of Radiohead have reportedly been confirmed to attend the ceremony for the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame 2019.
Radiohead are among seven acts who have been announced as the inductees for 2019, with the official ceremony set to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on March 29. The Cure, Janet Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard and Roxy Music are also set to be inducted.
While frontman Thom Yorke said that he wouldn’t be able to attend this year due to a show in Paris nine days later and guitarist Ed O’Brien previously said that the band wouldn’t show up in the past because they “didn’t understand” what the Hall was for, now Clevaland.com report that The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in New York has confirmed that “every artist being inducted, except for a few members of Radiohead, will be on hand” at the event.
NME has contacted a Radiohead spokesperson for comment.
“So we don’t want to offend anyone,” said Yorke of being inducted. “We just think that we just don’t quite understand it. We’ve had it explained to us, so it’s cool,” he said. “But we don’t really understand it as English people.
“I think our problem is essentially that every awards ceremony in the UK stinks. We grew up with the Brit [Awards], which is like this sort of drunken car crash that you don’t want to get involved with. So, yeah, we don’t really know what to make of it.”
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Meanwhile, O’Brien previously described the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame as “a very American thing”.
“Us Brits are very bad at celebrating ourselves,” he continued. “One of the things I’ve always loved about coming over to America is American bands you can always have a really good chat with and you could talk. With British bands, there was a lot of hostility. It’s in our DNA to be a little ambivalent with award ceremonies. We haven’t had great experiences.
“I would never want to disrespect anything because obviously some amazing artists have been nominated. But if I’m honest I don’t understand it. It’s just kind of a British person going, ‘Okay, thanks, what does this mean?’”
Meanwhile, it was recently announced that Talking Heads legend Byrne will provide a fitting introduction for Radiohead, while Nine Inch Nails frontman Reznor will do the duties for The Cure. They’ll be joined by Harry Styles, who will induct Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, and Janelle Monae for Janet Jackson.
Other high profile introductions including Brian May for Def Leppard, Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Simon Le Bon for Roxy Music and The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs for The Zombies.
It’s going to be a huge year for The Cure, who just confirmed that they’ve finished their first album in 11 years, ahead of a busy summer of touring that includes a headline spot at Glastonbury this June.