Art & Creativity Quote by Jonny Greenwood

Greenwood is describing a problem that only sounds technical until you realize it is really about audience trust. He frames songwriting and arranging as a tightrope walk between two kinds of boredom: the flatline of repetition and the fatigue of constant novelty. The candor is the point. Instead of romanticizing inspiration, he admits that attention is a resource you can squander in opposite directions.

The subtext is a quiet rejection of rock orthodoxy. Pop tradition prizes the hook you can return to; avant-garde tradition prizes disruption. Greenwood is allergic to purity tests from either camp. His language - "wear them out" - treats listening as physical labor, something the body experiences as much as the mind. That phrasing also hints at Radiohead's broader ethic: experimentation is only worth it if it still feels navigable. Complexity can be inviting, but it can also become a flex.

Context matters because Greenwood came up in a band that made its name by pivoting. Radiohead's post-OK Computer era trained audiences to expect left turns, yet even adventurous listeners can feel punished when change becomes the entire message. His "balance" is basically a contract: surprise me, but don't strand me. Keep a thread - a rhythmic motif, a harmonic center, a vocal line - so the shifts read as narrative, not random.

What makes the quote work is its humility. It treats boredom not as the listener's flaw but as the artist's responsibility. Greenwood isn't chasing novelty; he's pacing it, shaping time so the music stays alive without turning restless.