Songoftheday 1/2/19 - When you were here before couldn't look you in the eye, you're just like an angel your skin makes me cry...
from the album Pablo Honey (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 5
Well, after the holidays and my year-end countdown from 2018, I'm finally back with another Song of the Day, as I take you back to August of 1993...
Today's Song of the day comes from the British art-rock group Radiohead, who started out as a more conventional but still alternative group from the posh suburbs of Oxfordshire, where they met in school in the mid 1980s. After releasing an EP of demos, Drill, in 1992 to no notice, lead singer/guitarist Thom Yorke and the band regrouped to record a properly produced debut album, Pablo Honey, which was put out the following year. The first single, "Creep", was originally banned from BBC radio for being too much of a downer. The second release, the grungy "Anyone Can Play Guitar", was a modest hit in Britain, peaking at #32. But during that time, the loser blues anthem of "Creep" was getting buzz in California, where KITS and a bunch of other stations started playing the track, so much so that MTV got on board and starting playing the video. Soon, "Creep" was getting an international push, and became the band's first hit, although they were sued and settled with the writers of the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe" for that chord progression in the chorus...
"Creep" became Radiohead's first and biggest pop success in America, reaching the top-40 in September of 1993. The single spent a week at #2 on Billboard magazine's Modern Rock radio chart, while also appearing on their Mainstream Rock tally at #20. Internationally, the song reappeared on the British charts, eventually rising to #7, and also hitting the top ten in Norway (#3), France (#4), Australia (#6), Belgium (#8). "Creep" also made the top-40 in Ireland (#13), the Netherlands (#13), Austria (#15), Denmark (#18), New Zealand (#19), Canada (#30), Sweden (#35), and Switzerland (#39). Another track from Pablo Honey, "Stop Whispering", climbed to #23 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart.
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Here's the band totally out of their element appearing on MTV's Beach House doing a live promo of the song...
And a year later and more comfortable in concert in Germany...
Fast forward to a more recent performance, where Thom goes all out in the end...
In 2008, Prince covered "Creep" for his appearance at Coachella in 2008...
Singer Brian Justin Crum sang "Creep" on America's Got Talent in 2016 which not only advanced him but itself became a viral video success on YouTubes..
And finally, from a Radiohead show in 2016...
Up tomorrow: Piano man takes a cruise.
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