Time & Perspective Quote by Colin Greenwood

Colin Greenwood lands a whole personality in the word "really": a soft shrug that doubles as a defense mechanism. Dropping "Mass For The End Of Time" (Messiaen’s apocalyptic, sacred chamber work written in a POW camp) is a flex, but it’s a carefully moderated one. He signals he’s the kind of musician who goes to hear modernist liturgy in a concert hall, then immediately punctures the pretension with sibling self-deprecation. Taste, meet humility. Or at least the performance of humility that keeps rock musicians from sounding like they’re auditioning for a grant.

The intent feels social as much as sincere: to register curiosity and credibility without taking up too much oxygen. Greenwood isn’t saying he lacks musicality; he’s acknowledging a hierarchy inside his own family and band culture where virtuosity and formal knowledge often get assigned to the “real musician” (and if you know Radiohead lore, you can hear the gravitational pull of Jonny’s reputation). That’s the subtext: expertise is relational, not absolute. One person’s “I play arenas” becomes another person’s “my brother knows why that chord hurts.”

Context matters because Messiaen functions as shorthand for high seriousness - music that carries catastrophe, faith, time, and endurance in its DNA. Greenwood’s line reframes that seriousness as lived taste rather than credentialism. It’s an artist telling you he’s listening widely, and also reminding you that reverence can coexist with an eye-roll at your own mythmaking.