Pitchfork

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Thom Yorke is one of the most important musicians in modern culture. His influence is vast. He deserves a legitimate, engrossing, authorized biography. Thom Yorke: Radiohead & Trading Solo is not that biography.

The author, Trevor Baker, has penned such straight-to-used-bin page-rippers as Steve Irwin: The Incredible Life of the Crocodile Hunter, the Kylie Minogue bio Kylie Fever, and the official companion tome to the 2003 UK reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!"

Not to be outdone, the book's publisher, Independent Music Press, is responsible for Moby: Replay - His Life and Times, System of a Down: Right Here in Hollywood and not one but two separate softcovers on the Prodigy. Pedigree, people, pedigree.

So get ready for 208 pages of second-hand interviews, "meaningful" chats with grade school mates and sentences like, "Yorke's eye might be lazy, but the same cannot be said of the man." (Note: That's not an actual sentence from the book, I just made it up. Which makes me think-- why didn't I just down a couple ginger ale 'n' speed 'n' Red Bull combos and crank this thing out myself? I read that Bends-era Mojo interview! Then I could make fun of my own book on Pitchfork, a win-win! Alas.)

If you must know, Thom Yorke: Radiohead & Trading Solo will hit England's finest supermarket magazine aisles February 26.