Le film Romeo+Juliet, réécriture de la pièce de Shakespeare utilise deux chansons de Radiohead sur sa Bande Originale, dont “Exit Music”, écrite spécialement pour la scène de fin, qui conclut magistralement le film.

Radiohead a été contacté en 1996, tandis qu’ils ouvrait pour Alanis Morrissette aux Etats-Unis, pendant l’été. Baz Luhrman leur a envoyé quelques rushes, et demandé d’écrire une chanson pour son film, plus précisément la music de fin de film.

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / KCRW ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’, 9 juin 1997″]Well the- there was- the Romeo and Juliet is sort of a good way to, uh, kick our arses into gear, ’cause we were kind of, uh, we had this thing about, um, when we finished The Bends and it was like, um, it- When we came down off that, it was, we said, well basically we’re gonna have as much time as we want, and everybody gave us as much time. We said we wanted to produce ourselves, and they said ok, you know, and basically let us do whatever we wanted, and um, the Romeo and Juliet thing was actually- We went out on tour for a bit with Alanis Morrissette to rehearse our stuff in front of people, which is a bit weird, but that, it worked out all right. And while we were there we got a tape from Baz Luhrman, the, the, the director of Romeo and Juliet. And it was great, because he said, you know, ‘Do you want to do the exit music for it?’ And it was a real, it was a real kick, because it real kick- you know- it sort of made us get up, made us get our shit together.[/quote]

Au départ, Thom avait pensé inclure des paroles de la pièce de Shakespeare, qu’il adore, mais comme ça ne collait pas bien, il a finalement écrit sa propre chanson : Exit Music.

[quote cite=”Thom Yorke / Q #295, février 2011″]Exit Music (For a Film)
This morbid ballad was written for Baz Luhrrnann’s 1996 movie Romeo + Juliet. As a 13-year-old Yorke had been moved to tears by Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation, and he calls this “a song written for two people who should run away before all the bad stuff starts.” The description of the double suicide as “everlasting peace” puts a sinister spin on OK Computer’s frequent demands for quiet. The stark intimacy of the opening minute was modelled on Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, while the rest of the band’s stormy arrival nodded to Portishead. It was recorded on a stone staircase at St Catherine’s Court, the Tudor manor house near Bath where they relocated in September 1996. Yorke called this song “the first performance we’d ever recorded where every note of it made my head spin.”[/quote]

Radiohead proposa également Talk Show Host pour la BO du film « Romeo & Juliet » de B. Luhrmann.

La chanson est remixée par Nellie Hopper et figurera ainsi sur la BO officielle du film (alors qu’Exit Music n’y sera pas, le groupe a décidé en effet de se la réserver pour son futur album). Sur cette version, la guitare est utilisée différemment, et il y a beaucoup plus de bruits de fonds, ce qui en rend l’atmosphère plus inquiétante….

Cette Bande Originale se vendra très très bien, si bien qu’un CD2 sortira, avec la version instrumentale de Talk SHow Host utilisée pour la piste « Introduction to Romeo »