Like Nine Inch Nails before them, Radiohead are making the individual tracks to their new single “Nude” available on iTunes for use in crafting homemade remixes. However, the one caveat to this seemingly fan-appreciative jesture is that the “stems”, or individual components, for each song have to purchased separately. That sound you just heard was Thom Yorke’s bank account getting stacked with loot:

Radiohead, iTunes and Garageband are giving fans the opportunity to remix the band’s new single “Nude” at http://www.radioheadremix.com

To make remixing easy, the separate ’stems’* from the song will be available to purchase from iTunes. The ’stems’ available are bass, voice, guitar, strings/fx and drums. Fans can mix them in any way they like, either by adding their own beats and instrumentation, or just remixing the original parts.

Fans who purchase all five ’stems’ from iTunes during the first week they’re available, will be sent an access code to a GarageBand file ready to open in GarageBand or Logic. However, you don’t need GarageBand to do a remix, all the stems are available in iTunes Plus and compatible with several music software platforms.

Finished mixes can be uploaded to http://www.radioheadremix.com where the public will listen and vote for their favourite remix (voting ends May 1st). Fans can also create a widget allowing votes from their own website, Facebook or MySpace page to be counted as ‘mix votes’ back on radioheadremix.com.

Sounds like a lot of work to me. I’d rather just teach my shitty band the chords to “High and Dry” and play that shit for free.

British paper The Independent has finally said what a lot of people are thinking, that America is facing it’s biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. I guess if you have to choose between the rest of the world hating us, and the rest of the world feeling sorry for us, the latter might be a little better. Just a little though:

We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.

Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.

All I have to say about that is: where can I sign up for some of that food stamp action? That shit isn’t even that bad now that they give you debit cards.

It’s hard to imagine it’s been 20 years since New Kids on the Block paved the road of boy band-dom (boy band-dumb?) with hit album Hangin’ Tough. Ever wonder what happened to them? Donnie Wahlberg and Joey McIntyre became actors and Joey kept crankin’ out the solo albums that never were really good. Break dancer Danny Wood worked as a music producer, and Jordan Knight is still recording, his biggest solo hit being “Give It To You” in 1999. And what about your favorite, the dreamy Jonathan Knight? He went into real estate developing.

Check them out for yourself - they’ll be performing on the Today Show this Friday. OMG! Can’t WAIT!1