Finally, some Radiohead news with a hint of drama! It seems that two of the band’s members, Johnny Greenwood and Phil Selway, as well as Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, are now in a bit of legal trouble over their performance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dun dun dunnnn!
So here is what we know. During the film, Harry, Hermoine and a few of the other Potter goobers attend a school dance. Rather than having a DJ throwing down some jams, the filmmakers thought it would be fun to create a fictional band instead. The group, called the Weird Sisters, included Cocker, Selway and Greenwood. It turns out that there happens to be a real band from Winnipeg called the Wyrd Sisters, and they don’t want their name being used without some financial compensation.
According to an article on ChartAttack.com, the fifteen-year-old band was unaware of the Weird Sisters sharing/copying/using the same name. Supposedly Warner Brothers offered the band $5,000 to share the name, which was then upped to $50,000. Wyrd Sisters co-founder Kim Baryluk turned this offer down. Baryluk’s response to this offer was made on the band’s official website, where she said: “Do you know what I’ve spent on the band in the past 10 years. In the last 10 years I’ve spent more than a million dollars. Offering me $50,000 is more than an insult.”
It gets even better. Even though the two bands’ names are spelled differently, the filmmakers decided to let the fictional group go nameless once the real band decided to not allow use of their name. OK, so problem solved, right? NOPE! The Sisters’ lawyer responded with: “They’ve already created an association between the name and the band and that’s all you need.”
Ah yes, some juicy Britpop drama to start off your workweek!
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