Creep – Megan Bakewell
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk&w=740&h=422]
For me personally ‘Creep’ is one of those songs that make me smile down to the memories that come along with it. However the angst-ridden, self-loathing anthem of the 1990s teenagers is one that still now we can instantly connect too. Now, I’m not saying that our generation is any more angsty than the next but everyone has felt that alienated lonely feeling at some point and ‘Creep’ is definitely one of those songs you can play and howl along too after a bad week. ‘Creep’ broke Radiohead into the mainstream, ironically enough since they themselves are no fans of the song, 16 years after originally debut it was still loved enough to go up into UK charts when their greatest hits album was released in 2008 – pretty impressive for somebody who hasn’t died to do that.
Musically speaking, ‘Creep’ is nowhere near their best, it’s a simple repeated chord progression with one of their more simple drum patterns. The shift between verse to chorus features the guitar blasts we’ve all come to know are iconic of the song. However supposedly in Greenwoods attempt to spoil it, after disliking the first run through of the song, he literally just slammed on his guitar. The piano that features at the end is only used then because it was forgotten for the majority of the song so even the mix itself is a self-loathing mess. It’s no secret that Radiohead disliked their hit ‘Creep’, at one concert in Montreal after a fan requested it he replied with “F*** off, we’re tired of it.”
Unfortunately for them, as their fans we are not tired of it and in the future even more decades of angsty teens will be locked in their rooms learning it on their guitar after they got dumped just like us.