"Creep"--Radiohead's Iron Lung - Adrian S.

One of the most influential independent bands of all time, Radiohead, has been loved by millions of people for years. The single that started it all came from Radiohead's first album, Pablo Honey, released February 22nd, 1993. The first single, "Creep", was released September 21st of the previous year. It was pushed aside in the U.K. but found success in the U.S., skyrocketing the band's popularity before their first album ever released. Even through 30 years and 9 albums, "Creep" remained their biggest song. It sits at over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify, 974 million views on Youtube, and 2 million units sold on the original album. However, this major success was a subject of resentment from the band itself. 

The song was seen by the Radiohead as not representative of their sound. While "Creep" does have a place in their discography, Radiohead's sound is more melancholic, nuanced, and less focused on emulating the grunge sound. Often, a band's biggest song is seen as an introduction to their whole discography, but the direction the band wanted to go in was not the direction the song went in. The angsty and simple lyrics about obsession and feeling alienated were relatable, but disliked by the singer of the song, Thom Yorke, "I wasn't very happy with the lyrics; I thought they were pretty crap". Their later projects with more profound lyrics found acclaim, but they were still known as "the band that made Creep". 

This misconception of being a band with a "one-hit wonder" status led Radiohead to hate the song, not playing it live for years. The name of "Creep" was still suffocating them even during live performances. It gave them mainstream popularity and success in the U.S., but was also stifling them creatively. This inspired them to make the single "My Iron Lung" for their 1995 album, The Bends. Released September 26th, 1994, they used an iron lung as a metaphor for Creep's affect on the band. 

An iron lung is a mechanical respirator which artificially pumps air to assist patients with breathing. The iron lung is a restrictive case which doesn't allow the patient to move, but also keeps them alive. This is used as a metaphor throughout the song for "Creep", which kept Radiohead afloat financially, but constricted the band creatively and tainted their reputation. This paradoxical dependence and resentment of "Creep" inspired one of their best songs, ironically. 

Despite the misconception from some listeners that Radiohead is a "one-hit wonder", their many other successful songs like No Surprises, High and Dry, and Jigsaw Falling Into Place cement them as a critically acclaimed band with substance across multiple albums.

Works Cited 

Yorke, Thom. "Creep". Pablo Honey. Radiohead. Parlophone Records, 1992. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creep_(Radiohead_song)

Yorke, Thom. "My Iron Lung". The Bends. Radiohead. Parlophone Records, 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Iron_Lung

Mensah, Jenny. "Why did Radiohead hate creep? The story of the band's biggest song". Radio-X. 21 September 2023. Accessed 25 February 2024. https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/radiohead/why-hate-creep