James Bond, one of the most storied franchises in cinematic history, has always been notorious for its theme songs. Released late this year, Spectre hit the theaters with Daniel Craig as Bond - his fourth stint as the worlds top secret agent. Along with the release of Spectre came the early announcement that the multi-Grammy winner, Sam Smith, got the nod to sing the theme song to the movie, however, in a recent report, it's been released that Radiohead originally recorded the theme song for the movie, but went unreleased, due to Sam Smith's role in the film, until now.
This morning, as the news broke from Pitchfork, Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, released a song titled "Spectre" onto their Soundcloud and followed it up with a series of tweets, explaining what it meant.
Last year we were asked to write a tune for Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were ...........
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
... It didn't work out ... but became something of our own which we love very much .... — Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
.. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas. May the force be with you ... https://t.co/BXN8MQKJyQ
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) December 25, 2015
Through the tweets, it seems like Radiohead was originally asked to compose the score for the Bond theme song, however, Sam Smith and his composition, "Writing's On The Wall," ultimately ended up being released along with the film.
According to Forbes, Spectre itself brought in around $83 Million in ticket sales during its first five days of being released in the States (worldwide numbers have yet to be calculated). As Forbes speculates in regards to Spectre, "...if it has similar legs to Quantum of Solace, it will end its run with around $176m domestic. That would make it the second-biggest 007 grosser, well behind Skyfall ($304m) and just ahead of Die Another Day ($160m)."
Impressive numbers to say the least, but one has to wonder if Radiohead had received the "green-light" to release their rendition of Spectre's theme song, would it have made any difference in ticket sales or gross income for the movie - positively or negatively?
In any case, the movie is still in theatres and Sam Smith is still the artist who sings its theme song. As seen in the tweets from Yorke, he ended the last one with, "May the force be with you..." Fans can only speculate at the moment, but unless Yorke is a die-hard Star Wars fan and loves Star Wars: Episode VII, which came out a week ago, it's plausible to think that Radiohead might be involved with the next Star Wars movies as the next one - Star Wars: Episode VIII - is set to drop sometime in 2017.
Like the Radiohead version better? They put the track up on Soundcloud for free, which you can download here.
