On this date in 1992, Parlophone Records/EMI released “Creep” by Radiohead as their debut single. Later, Radiohead hated their own song and avoided performing “Creep” in their live shows for years.
Thom Yorke & Co. had not planned to release “Creep”, but the producer, Paul Q. Kolderie, convinced EMI to release “Creep” as a single. It was initially unsuccessful, but achieved radio play in Israel and became popular on American alternative rock radio. It was reissued in 1993 and became an international hit.
Radiohead recorded a censored version of “Creep” for radio, which replaces the line “so fucking special” with “so very special”. Radiohead worried that issuing a censored version would be selling out, but decided it was acceptable since their idols Sonic Youth had done the same thing; nonetheless, the lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood said the British press “weren’t impressed”. 𝘉𝘉𝘊 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘰 1 found the song “too depressing” and banned it from playlists.
As Radiohead progressed musically over time, they felt that “Creep” pigeonholed them into a specific image of a grunge-era alt rock band, often associated with “slacker anthems” such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Loser” by Beck. Yorke grew tired of the song’s constant association with their identity, finding it reductive and not reflective of the experimental direction they wanted to pursue.
Moreover, the band struggled with playing “Creep” live, sometimes leaving it out of their setlists entirely. They disliked the audience’s fixation on it, feeling that it limited their artistic growth. During the 𝘖𝘒 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 and 𝘒𝘪𝘥 𝘈 era, when Radiohead was pushing their musical boundaries, they stopped performing “Creep” almost entirely. In a 1993 interview York said the song “crap” as well as referred to the song as “a bit of a self-loathing anthem” and admitted that he felt embarrassed by its success.
It wasn’t until later in Radiohead’s career, in the 2010s, that they occasionally brought it back into live performances, often as a surprise for fans. Even then, their relationship with the song remained strained, but they seemed more willing to embrace its place in their history.
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Featured image via Medium.
