The British band Radiohead has been loved all over the world for over 35 years. She works in the style of alternative rock, releasing songs in various sub-genres of rock music. The melodiousness of the tracks, their texts filled with meaning, excellent instrumental accompaniment – it is for the excellent quality of music that the performers deserve such wide recognition. For their talented compositions, the musicians were awarded many prestigious awards, and the name of the group is immortalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over the decades of its existence, the group has released nine studio albums. Radiohead songs are often covered.
The song Creep was released in 1993 and earned wide public attention. It is the very first single in the artist’s discography. Even after thirty years, the track attracts the attention of listeners. It was so popular that it was on the first lines of the Billboard chart, and was also in the top positions of various charts in Norway, France, Belgium, the UK and other countries. Let’s figure out what the meaning of this great song is.
The history of the track and its meaning
More than once in the history of music it was such that musicians were forced to “pay” for the excessive popularity of their composition. So it was with the band Radiohead after the release of the song Creep. Fans fell in love with the track with all their hearts and simply could not appreciate all the charm of other works of the authors, although there are a lot of great songs in their discography. And music critics in their works called the team nothing more than a “creep band”. All this eventually led to the fact that the performers began to feel a strong dislike for their own song.
Did Thom Yorke, who composed the song Creep back in his student years, know that it was this composition that would bring the group such fame and settle in the hearts of millions of people? Then it was difficult to imagine what fate awaited this track. But the moment the band went to audition with him, the record company thought it was a cover (of another artist’s song) of some great musician. And the guys had to prove that it really belongs to them.
The first time after the release of the song did not receive due attention. They did not want to let her on the radio, because she seemed too “mournful”. For the first time after the release, the track barely got into the top 100 singles of the British chart. But a year later, when the band released Creep as part of their studio album, it was finally noticed by the general public. She literally “flew” into the charts, taking the honorable seventh place in the UK chart, and then other top positions in the domestic and foreign charts.
But the overwhelming popularity of the song made the members of Radiohead not only rejoice, but also worry. After all, there was a risk that they would become a “one-hit group” and their work would not be fully appreciated. For several years, they refused to perform the Creep song at concerts so that fans would pay attention to other, equally talented compositions.
What did the authors want to say in their song? Thom Yorke, who wrote the text of the composition, said that this is the story of a young man who is desperately trying to gain recognition from his beloved. The musician admits that this is due to his life experience: he experienced a lot of failures in trying to start relationships with women.
Unrequited love is a very painful feeling, so it is not surprising that the song is permeated with such minor tones. It conveys all the pain of a person who feels that he is not worthy of becoming the second half of his chosen one. It was for this that the fans loved the song so much: York chose the words in the most successful way to describe the whole gamut of negative emotions that almost every one of us has experienced at least once.
Conclusion
Radiohead’s “Creep” is a composition with a rich history and meaning that can be relevant to all of us. Love can cause both unearthly joy and mortal sorrow. It is very scary to be rejected and realize that your feelings are not mutual. This is the kind of pain that is very difficult to endure without losing trust in people and the belief that you can be loved.
