Tell me about Pop is Dead.

Its not very long, its only two and a half minutes and is going to be backed with a new acoustic song called Banana Co and live versions of Creep and Ripcord. Pop is Dead is like an explanatic statement kind of thing, Oh no pop is dead it died a horrid death by back catalogue. It basically says that you can only sell so many albums before everyone has got one. It’s nice to make a few statements for people to react against it and say oh no it’s not.

Colin: “Yeah, there’s a chance of… for college, a limited edition thing being done of a new single we’re releasing in England, called ‘Pop Is Dead’, which isn’t on the album.”Thom: “Which is corking, it’s very, very good indeed, I think.”

The boys’ next single is out on May 10 and, contrary to all expectation, is not a track off the album. Why release ‘Pop is Dead’ instead of going for obvious singles on the album or re-releasing underexposed old singles?

Jonathan is adamant, “Because people have got the album. If they want to hear things from the album they can go and buy it.”

Colin: “Also, we’re a right-on bunch of people.”

Thom: “We’ve got a lot of new material that we want to release. Everybody who heard it said we should release it. Anyhow, we don’t want to do an REM.”

Colin: “ I mean, they’re releasing ‘Everybody Hurts”’ “Fourth track off the album?” Jonathan queries in the tone of a man who is giving someone the benefit of the doubt, “I mean they’ve sold the bloody album. It’s just an excuse for Stipe to do another video.”

Was there any resistance from Parlophone about releasing ‘Pop is Dead’?

Colin: “Yes, they said ’No’.”

Thom: “Did they?”

Colin, smugly, “But we had the statistics to back us up. Frank and Walters’ label carried out a survey which showed that releasing another single after the album came out did not increase album sales.” Jonathan: “And was also very, very expensive.” Thom: “‘Pop is Dead’ marks a point. It puts a full stop on what we’ve been trying to say for ages. And now we can move on as a progression rather than ‘that’s it, bye bye’. It’s a very vitriolic song and I think it homes in on what people think.”

Colin: “The kids will like it.”

Jonathan: “I’m a kid. I like it.”

Thom: “Our audiences now know all the words to it which is very interesting seeing as it’s never been played other than live. Perhaps there are some bootlegs floating around. It had different mixes one of which was done by Al Clay who did Frank Black. Wasn’t very good.”

Jonathan: “And Dave Bascombe – which was very expensive and even worse.”

Colin: “l liked it.”

Thom: “‘Cos it was radio-friendly.”

Colin: “It was. Very commercial. I’m the commercially-minded member of the band – along with Ed.”

Thom: “Jon refuses to sell out and I do occasionally.”

Colin: “Thom probably has the healthiest attitude.”

“Bollocks,” according to Ed, who should know. This shallow, gimmicky single sees them taking on Jam-like mod-pop – and it doesn’t suit them. ‘Pop Is Dead’ was written as an “epitaph for 1992”, a time when record companies sought to maintain sales during a torpid UK music scene by pushing old stock, and when magazine journalists were desperately proclaiming just about anything – comedy, computer games, plants – to be the new rock’n’roll.
Shallow and short, it never transcends its contrived feel of Making A Statement. Released at a time when Suede were raising standards with their initial triad of classic singles, this flimsy 45 helped label Radiohead as makeweights.