Creep (Radiohead song)

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"Creep"

Single by Radiohead

from the album Pablo Honey

Released
21 September 1992

Format
7", 12", CD, cassette

Recorded
1992

Genre
Alternative rock, grunge[1][2][3][4]

Length
3:59

Label
Parlophone, EMI

Writer(s)
Radiohead, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood

Producer
Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie

Radiohead singles chronology

"Creep" (1992) "Anyone Can Play Guitar" (1993)

Music sample

"Creep"

"Creep" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. Radiohead released "Creep" as their debut single in 1992, and it later appeared on their first album, Pablo Honey (1993). During its initial release, "Creep" was not a chart success. However, upon re-release in 1993, it became a worldwide hit. Attendees of Radiohead's early gigs often exhibited little interest in the band's other songs, causing the band to react against "Creep" and play it less often during the mid-to-late 1990s. In 1998, halfway through their OK Computer tour, the band dropped the song from set lists altogether. "Creep" was not played live again until 2001, but it has since reappeared several times on the band's live sets.

In 2008, the song was included in the Radiohead: The Best Of compilation album.

Contents [hide]
1 Background and recording
2 Composition and lyrics
3 Release and reception
4 Performances
5 Covers
6 Track listing
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

Background and recording[edit]

According to Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, Thom Yorke wrote "Creep" while studying at Exeter University in the late 1980s.[5] Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said the song was inspired by a girl that Yorke had followed around who showed up unexpectedly during a show by the band.[6]

In 1992 during rehearsal sessions with producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, Radiohead spontaneously performed "Creep". Yorke described "Creep" to the producers as "our Scott Walker song"; Slade and Kolderie mistook the singer's remark and believed the song was a cover.[7] After tension arose due to unsatisfactory attempts at recording other songs, Slade and Kolderie tried to improve morale by requesting Radiohead to play "Creep" again. The band recorded the song in a single take; after the performance everyone in the room burst into applause. Once the band assured Kolderie that "Creep" was an original song, he called EMI to tell them to consider the song as Radiohead's next single.[8] While the recording had minimal overdubs and the band did not intend to release it, the producers were impressed with the song.[5][9]

Due to similarities to "The Air That I Breathe", a song recorded by The Hollies in 1973, Radiohead was successfully sued for plagiarism. Consequently, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood are credited as co-writers of "Creep".[10][11] "Creep" uses a chord progression used in "The Air That I Breathe" in its verse and a melody from "The Air That I Breathe" in the bridge following the second chorus.[12]

Composition and lyrics[edit]

Ostinato from Radiohead's "Creep" features modal mixture, common tones between adjacent triads (B between G & B, C and G between C+ & C−, see: Macro analysis), and an emphasis on subdominant harmony (IV = C in G major).[13]About this sound Play (help·info)
The G–B–C–Cm chord progression is repeated throughout the whole song, just alternating between arpeggiated chords in the verses and last chorus and loud power chords during the first two choruses. In G major, these may be interpreted as "I–III–IV–iv".[13] According to Guy Capuzzo, the ostinato musically portrays "the song's obsessive lyrics, which depict the 'self-lacerating rage of an unsuccessful crush'." For example, the "highest pitches of the ostinato form a prominent chromatic line that 'creeps' up, then down, involving scale