The Rolling Stone Twitter feed informs me that ‘Creep’, the first single by one of the greatest bands of all times, Radiohead, was released exactly 21 years ago. At first unsuccessful as a single, it then attracted more attention when Radiohead’s first album came out (Pablo Honey) in 1993. It has since become one of the greatest classics of the 1990s, in particular receiving countless cover versions, as it allows for an astonishing number of interpretations, ranging from ethereal to hard-core, from pop to experimental. (Everyone can recognize themselves in the lyrics, as everyone has had days of feeling like a creep/weirdo who doesn’t belong here.) In retrospect, it may well have been the first indie song to have become mainstream, even more than any of the Nirvana tracks of roughly the same period.
Radiohead has since notoriously taken up a more experimental approach (especially since the turning point that was Ok, Computer in 1997), and some of their early music seems quite far removed from what they have done since. (Heads-up for my two favorite songs from their latest album, The King of Limbs (2011): 'Codex' and 'Separator'.) Still, I’m a big fan of each of their albums, including The Bends (1995), which some current fans look down upon, but which has great tracks such as ‘High and dry’. Looking back to 21 years ago, we can only conclude that the promise of what was to come is already contained in ‘Creep’, which remains one of the best songs of all times IMHO. (In turn, some of the chord progression seems to have been 'borrowed' from ‘The air that I breath’ by The Hollies, but there’s really no comparison here between the ‘original’ and what Radiohead did with ‘Creep’…)
So I’m posting here the original version of ‘Creep’ (in a clip from the 2004 French film '... And they lived happily ever after'), and two covers (check here for a list of 7 (!!!) covers of ‘Creep’): one by Daniel Mustard (H/T my former student Rein van der Laan), a homeless man who pulled a record deal after performing this cover at a radio show, and one by Ingrid Michaelson (the pick of philosopher Mauricio Suarez among the 7 covers, over at Facebook). Please feel free to post your favorite covers of 'Creep' in comments below!
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