Are Radiohead dead? Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s latest album as The Smile sparks rumours...

News that Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are releasing a second album as The Smile has been a source of joy for some Radiohead fans. Other die-hard acolytes suspect the snowballing of the duo’s side project spells the end for the most successful art-rock band of all time. Ed Power digs into fan theories – and argues that calling it quits sooner rather than later may be good karma

Is this the end of Radiohead? Die-hard fans seem to think so (Pat Pope/Shutterstock)

Is it curtains for the Karma Police? The announcement that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – the Lennon and McCartney of indie miserablism – are to release a second album as The Smile has been widely welcomed. But there are some naysayers: a segment of diehard Radiohead fans who have reacted to the news with outpourings of despair.

“I used to think Ed and Colin and Phil got thrown out of the group but I think they might have just left because they didn’t want to participate in Thom and Jonny’s nonsense,” grumbled one cynic on Reddit, referring to guitarist and backing vocalist Ed O’Brien, bassist Colin Greenwood, and drummer Philip Selway. “Radiohead are over,” groused another. “Not gonna listen to this diet version.”

So, are Radiohead truly done and dusted? Does the continuation of The Smile spell the end of arguably the most successful art-rock band of all time? Have Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood left their audience high and dry? As ever, with the most enigmatic collective to ever fill a stadium, the answer is cloaked in ambiguity.