Were it not for the worldwide success of Creep, it is very possible that Radiohead might not have been given the green light to make a second record. The Oxford quintet’s debut album Pablo Honey, released in 1993, was the sort of middling success that major labels didn’t bother uncorking the champagne for, but its lead track was. Creep became a big hit around the globe, reaching number 34 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and going Top Ten in the UK charts. Their label wanted more of that. “Write and record another album,” they said. “Write and record another Creep,” they probably added.
But Radiohead had no such ambitions to repeat themselves. Instead, they embarked on a sort of music revolt that would help turn them into one of the best and most forward-thinking bands on the planet. At a point when everyone expected another Creep, Radiohead came up with the freaky, malevolent brilliance of My Iron Lung. The song, with its warped, psychedelic guitar line, falling-down-a-flight-of-stairs chorus and seething vocal, was a direct response to the fact that Creep had become a sort of tyrannical life support machine for the group, a declaration that Thom Yorke & co. were unwilling (to say the least) to keep the hamster wheel turning.
In that song, released 30 years ago this month, Radiohead set a blueprint from which their true selves would emerge. It was not an easy process. The band has been working on the album that would become their gamechanging second record The Bends at RAK Studios in London but were struggling to nail My Iron Lung. The take that features on the finished album was mostly lifted from a live version performed at The Astoria in London in May 1994, patched together with some elements from the studio.
Asked in a Melody Maker interview at the time if the song was about the suffocation of fame caused by Creep’s success, Yorke revealed an unease with the sort of coverage their hit had led to. “It’s more a statement about some of the people who come to see us, or certain members of certain audiences we’ve experienced,” he said. “They haven’t really got beyond toilet training as far as I can see… I'm not very good at ignoring people who slag us off. I won't just laugh it off. To my cost.”
Released on 26 September, 1994, the My Iron Lung EP was a crucial springboard for Radiohead. Creep was behind them. They never looked back. Watch the version from which they lifted key parts for the finished recording below:
