Thom Yorke says radio ignored even the clean version of “Creep”

Radiohead re-recorded “Creep” with a milder word in place of the swear word only because radio would not play it otherwise, Thom Yorke tells the fanzine Catharsis, and radio did not play it anyway. The censored version is not on sale. The alternative was a bleep, he says, and those who criticised the band for it should stop going on about it.

Alexis and Fiona, who edit Catharsis, talked to Yorke and Colin Greenwood on the band's last tour for the fanzine's second issue. Asked about their coming headline show at the Powerhaus, Yorke admitted he was very scared; Colin said they would be fine.

British radio, media and the music industry are terrible, Yorke says, and are hurting themselves by failing to see that they must bring on new acts to survive.

Commercial success never comes from sounding like somebody else. And the music industry's just forgotten that, as far as I can see,

Thom Yorke¹

he says.

They went with EMI because it was the first label to show real interest, and they got on. It let them tour for a year and put out EPs while they got good, a thing he says is only learned by losing 10 pounds in sweat every night at a gig. He writes best when he is wound up about something. Songs about being happy sell, he thinks, but nobody wants to hear them, and happiness comes from life, not music; The Housemartins were about the only band who ever got away with it.

Distortion and bigger amplifiers, Yorke says, made them a different band. On a Friday, the band they were before, were a little poppier, Colin says.

We used to have saxophone action. Everything just got louder, really. But we always were loud.

Colin Greenwood¹

Tour dates listed in the issue