released The Best Of

Days after Radiohead signed to XL, EMI announced a box set of Radiohead material recorded before In Rainbows , released in the same week as the In Rainbows special edition. Commentators including the Guardian saw the move as retaliation for the band choosing not to re-sign with EMI. In June 2008, EMI released a greatest hits album, Radiohead: The Best Of . It was made without Radiohead’s involvement and contains only songs recorded under their contract with EMI. Yorke was critical of the release, calling it a “wasted opportunity”. As social media expanded around the turn of the decade, Radiohead gradually withdrew their public presence, with no promotional interviews or tours to promote new releases. Pitchfork wrote that around this time Radiohead’s “popularity became increasingly untethered from the typical formalities of record promotion, placing them on the same level as Beyoncé and Kanye West “.