THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

33-Radiohead-Creep.

1992-Number 78 single. When it was re-issued in 1993 it reached Number 7.

Best Bit-At 0.58. Back in the early 1990’s I can remember making one of my regular weekly trips to the record shop in Leeds and seeing a box full of approximately 200 copies of this song on 7 inch clear vinyl, in a flashy picture sleeve. No one had heard of Radiohead at that time, but the disc looked so attractive that I bought a copy for 50 pence. The current going rate for a copy in mint condition starts at £50. Needless to say, I wore my copy out many years ago.

Radiohead were formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, in 1985, by Thom Yorke, (vocals) Jonny Greenwood, (guitar) Colin Greenwood, (bass) Ed O’Brien, (guitar) and Philip Selway (drums.) All five band members attended Abingdon School, which is a day and boarding independent school for boys, where they would rehearse in the school’s music room once a week, leading to the quintet initially calling themselves ‘On a Friday.’ They would stick with that name until signing with ‘EMI’ records, who in early 1992 insisted on a name change, they chose ‘Radiohead,’ which was a song by the American Rock band ‘Talking Heads,’ (see also best songs 540) from their 1986 Album ‘True Stories.’ Thom Yorke has said,’The name sums up all these things about receiving stuff. It’s about the way you take information in, the way you respond to the environment you’re put in.’

‘Radiohead’ have always experimented with their music, and are credited with being major players in the advancement of ‘Alternative Rock’ music. They have sold in excess of 30 million records worldwide to date, having released nine studio Albums between 1993-2016, and 33 singles between 1992-2021. In the UK, 17 of their singles have made the top 40, with ‘Paranoid Android’ from 1997 charting the highest at Number 3. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles chart, they have charted twice, with ‘Creep’ reaching Number 34 in 1992.

‘Creep’ was the first of three singles released from Radiohead’s debut studio Album ‘Pablo Honey’ from February 1993, it was written by Radiohead, with lyrics by Thom Yorke, and produced by Sean Slade, and Paul Q. Kolderie. Thom Yorke had written much of the track as far back as 1987, he had based the melody on the 1972 song ‘The Air That I Breathe,’ which had been written by Albert Hammond, and Mike Hazelwood (1941-2001) (see also best songs 369.) That songs publishers sued Radiohead for copyright infringement, and a settlement was reached where Hammond and Hazelwood were given co-writing credits, as well as a portion of the songs royalties.

Rarely are song lyrics so personal, and to the point as they are in ‘Creep.’ Thom Yorke has said,’This is about being in love with someone, but not feeling good enough. He describes the feeling as, “There’s the beautiful people, and then there’s the rest of us.” According to ‘Hysterical and Useless,’ a book written about Radiohead by the author Mark Blake in 2000,’This song was inspired by Thom’s obsession with a stranger. He was infatuated with a woman who was out of his league, who he’d never met but frequently saw in bars, and he found himself following her around. When he finally got himself drunk enough to build up the courage to confess his obsession, she freaked out.’

On the Album version of ‘Creep’ Thom Yorke sings ‘You’re so f..king special,’ but in order that the song could receive radio play their record label insisted on a lyric change to ‘You’re so ‘very’ special.’ Yorke has said that he regrets changing the line for radio, saying it disturbed the sentiment of the song, he said,’The song lost it’s anger as a result.’ Over the years Radiohead have grown to hate their most successful song, saying that in the early days many of the crowd would leave after they had performed the song at a gig. They played the song so often that they grew tired of it, and for many years dropped it from their playlist. Even going back to the songs conception, the bands guitarist Jonny Greenwood played those three blasts of guitar noise that precede the chorus in order to beef it up, as he considered the song too ‘Wimpy.’

‘When you were here before, couldn’t look you in the eye. You’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry. You float like a feather in a beautiful world. I wish I was special, you’re so f..kin’ special.’