Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich Give Relationship Advice to Teens

In a new video interview for Rookie’s “Ask a Grown Man” series, Thom Yorke and his Atoms for Peace bandmate Nigel Godrich sit down to answer fan-submitted questions. They advise on an array of topics you’d never expect the longtime, serious Radiohead collaborators to discuss, including breakups, crushes and first-date nerves.

Yorke is particularly sage about teenage love woes. “If you have a crush on him,” he says, “if you’re really, really, really, really shy, which is what I was at that age ”“ also, I was at a boys’ school so it was impossible to meet girls anyway ”“ how about just write him a note?”¦ Or throw him against the wall sometime.”

Other highlights from the 17-minute clip include Godrich reminiscing about his own adolescent fears (“I always had to wait for someone to do the risky stuff,” the producer/multi-instrumentalist recalls with a smile) and Yorke’s fantastic story about accepting his own physical imperfection, a lazy eye that was completely shut when he was born. “I worked in this pub and this old woman ”“ she was so funny ”“ she used to come in all the time,” he says. “And she was the first person who really said to me, ”˜It’s the nicest thing about you.’”

“She was pissed at the time,” Yorke adds with a laugh, “but I went with it.”