Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Radiohead & LCD Soundsystem Release Surprise Songs For Christmas
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 25, 2015
Modified Dec 25, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Original photo by Sachyn Mital, Xmas-ized by Yen Bakas
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 25, 2015
Modified Dec 25, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
It's Christmas 2015, but it may as well be Christmas 2008—both Radiohead and LCD Soundsystem have dropped surprise new tracks for the holidays. First up, listen to Radiohead's gorgeous unused theme song for the last James Bond film, Spectre. Suffice to say, it is much, much, much better than the Sam Smith song which ended up as the theme to the very adequate recent Bond film.
Obviously, all those rumors about Radiohead being asked to write a theme to the film were absolutely true. "Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre," the band said of the song. "Yes we were. It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas. May the force be with you."
Radiohead have previously performed a live version of "Nobody Does It Better," Carly Simon's theme song for the Roger Moore-era Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me; they also worked on a theme song for the 1998 film The Avengers which was a very Bond-ish tune.
Next up: LCD Soundsystem have been dodging and denying all rumors of them reuniting in 2016, but that doesn't mean they haven't been at least a little active. Listen to their new Christmas tune, "Christmas Will Break Your Heart," below.
James Murphy explained the song's long genesis:
so, there’s been this depressing christmas song i’d been singing to myself for the past 8 years, and every year i wouldn’t remember that i wanted to make it until december, which is just too late to actually record and release a christmas song... but this year, al doyle had a short break between hot chip tours where he could be in nyc, and pat and nancy were home, and tyler agreed to fly out from berlin for a few days, so we all recorded this together, reserved a pressing plant slot, and our friend bob weston was available to master it quickly—so that means, less than 2 weeks after we recorded it, there is actually a christmas 7", which feels like something that could only have happened a very, very long time ago.
anyway, for the holidays we give you the previous, very long run-on sentence, and this song: “christmas will break your heart”, which is another one of those songs which had about 75 lines of lyrics, though we’ve knocked down to 8 to keep the suicide rate in check.
have fun!
Consequence of Sound, the website which first reported (and "confirmed") that LCD would reunite next year, maintains that the band will play shows next year, starting with a show at Coachella: "LCD Soundsystem has yet to formally announce their reunion. However, Consequence of Sound has learned that the band’s festival tour will kick off at Coachella in April."
Tagged
christmas
lcd soundsystem
Music
radiohead
spectre
surprises
original
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November
Also: Books!
By
Alec Hamilton
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m. ET
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.
By
Hannah Frishberg
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
By
Sonia Rao
Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain
By
Sonia Rao
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
By
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .