Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has released a downbeat remix of the band's classic single Creep.
Creep was originally recorded for the band's debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1992. Released as a single the same year, it failed to chart, but was rereleased in 1993 after American college radio picked it up.
The song went on to become a classic, but Yorke has always had a difficult relationship with Creep, frequently dropping it from Radiohead's live set. In 1995 he told Vox magazine, "People have defined our emotional range with that one song, Creep. I saw reviews of My Iron Lung that said it was just like Creep. When you're up against things like that, it's like: 'Fuck you.' These people are never going to listen."
So now he's gone and remixed it. Originally reworked to soundtrack "Creep Very", the autumn/winter collection from Japanese designer Jun Takahashi - who provided the artwork for the single - the Very 2021 Remix is nine minutes long and finds the song slowed down dramatically, with strummed acoustic guitar giving way to waves of synth and Yorke's vocal sounding even more disconsolate than it did on the original.
At its peak the remix of Creep is woozy, discombobulating, and the kind of thing David Lynch might have used to soundtrack one of the more terrifying montages on Season Three of Twin Peaks. Suffice to say, it's not exactly If You're Happy And You Know It.
Earlier this year, Yorke announced the formation of a new Radiohead side project, The Smile, which also features guitarist Jonny Greenwood and producer Nigel Godrich, alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The band played a set as part of this year's Glastonbury livestream, but have yet to release any music.
