Why Thom Yorke Would Rather Be Known for ‘The Bends’ Than “Creep”

Sometimes a band gets crushed by the weight of a massive single.

Videos by American Songwriter

Countless groups, from New Radicals to Harvey Danger, couldn’t escape becoming one-hit wonders. And Radiohead certainly felt pressured to recreate their breakthrough single “Creep.”

Though their record label, EMI, may have wanted another “Creep,” Radiohead weren’t giving it to them. On their second album The Bends, Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Philip Selway defiantly moved in a new direction. As Yorke told MTV in 1995, they may not have another “screaming hit single,” but they have “a screaming hit album instead.”

“My Iron Lung”

And the band made their intentions clear with the song, “My Iron Lung.”

This, this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung

With alternative rock’s cultural dominance in the 1990s, major record labels frantically signed bands. Radiohead benefitted from adopting an American grunge sound—against the Britpop of their UK peers. “Creep” contained the same arrangement of quiet verses and loud choruses heard on Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and many other popular songs then.

Kurt Cobain had borrowed the format from the Pixies and admitted at the time he was trying to write a Pixies song.

But Yorke refused to be pigeonholed. He said, “I’d rather be known as the band that did The Bends rather than the band that did “Creep.”

“Fake Plastic Trees”

However, Radiohead did enjoy another hit, “Fake Plastic Trees.” It didn’t chart as high as “Creep,” but it became a staple on MTV and alternative rock radio. It, too, sparked a reaction from Yorke, who soon noticed other bands on the radio sounding like him.

With the following album, OK Computer, Radiohead became something entirely different. They reimagined the possibilities of a rock band while grappling with alienation and technology.

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth

“High and Dry”

Still, Radiohead survived “Creep,” and Yorke abandoned rock music completely, leaving some fans lamenting his turn toward drum machines and avant-garde electronic music.

For years, the band didn’t perform “Creep.” And it doesn’t matter that it’s the most popular song on their Spotify page, nearing 2 billion streams. Look at the evolution of Radiohead. From “Creep” to “Just” to “Paranoid Android” to “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.”

Not since The Beatles or Pink Floyd has a band so thoroughly redefined themselves.

Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns