When Radiohead released “Creep” in 1992, it wasn’t initially the smash hit, era-defining song it’s considered today. Upon release, it was actually banned on the BBC’s major radio channels for allegedly being “too depressing.” It wasn’t until 1993 that “Creep” really got going, climbing the U.K. charts, flooding U.S. college radio waves, and getting a re-release.
But the track’s subsequent success wasn’t exactly good news for Radiohead. Most likely, they would have preferred for it to languish in obscurity. The band came to hate “Creep” for its overwhelming mainstream success, calling it “crap” and dismissing fans who requested it in concert. Allegedly, Thom Yorke responded to one request by saying, “f—k off, we’re tired of it.”
Radiohead Refused to Perform ‘Creep’ Live for Nearly a Decade
What the BBC saw as “too depressing,” the American market embraced wholeheartedly. As “Creep” dominated airplay, Yorke and the band became inescapably associated with their first international Top 10 hit. Their U.S. record label pushed them to capitalize on the song’s popularity. So Radiohead embarked on long, grueling tours that had them quickly hating their biggest hit.
In a 1996 feature in The Guardian, per Consequence, Radiohead explained the evolution of their hatred for “Creep”. Specifically, the long touring schedule facilitated these feelings, as they became stuck playing old material.
“We sucked Satan’s cock,” Yorke scornfully told the publication. “It took a year-and-a-half to get back to the people we were … to cope with it emotionally.”
Jonny Greenwood noted that they were “operating in a kind of stasis. Thom was trying to shut off from everything. The rest of us weren’t communicating.”
The stagnation of constantly playing songs that they already saw as old news left Radiohead with a deep hatred of their own music for a time. After touring concluded, they didn’t even want to record anything new. They became consumed with panic, disgust, and self-doubt. “We were like paranoid little mice in cages,” Greenwood said. “We were scared of our instruments, scared of every note not being right.”
With the memories of that early stagnation lingering, Radiohead didn’t perform “Creep” again for nearly a decade. In 2016, however, they finally dusted it off again. The band played a show on May 23 in Paris, surprising the crowd with their most famous and most hated hit. “This is for the funny guy shouting ‘Creep’ in the back,” Yorke reportedly said at the show. “Only to shock you.”
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