James Bond fans have long hoped that Radiohead would record the new Bond theme—a rumor that has resurfaced again and again over the past few years.
This week, those fans got what they’d been hoping for.
In an unexpected Facebook post, Radiohead revealed that they had already recorded a song for Spectre, but “it didn’t work out.”
The band shared the track on SoundCloud, titled simply “Spectre.” While it does share some familiar motifs from other Bond soundtracks, it’s very clearly a Radiohead song—and one that fits well with the darker, more Jason Bourne-influenced tone of the recent Bond movies.
Sam Smith’s Spectre theme music provoked mixed reactions from fans of the James Bond franchise, with many saying that it felt like a bland pastiche of earlier 007 theme songs. But that doesn’t mean it was a flop.
Smith’s track, “Writing’s On The Wall,” was the first Bond theme to reach number 1 on the British singles charts, but we suspect there are plenty of Bond fans who now wish the film had used Radiohead’s song instead.
Photo via James Bond 007/YouTube