Thom Yorke says the crunch in “Creep” was Jonny testing his guitar

The burst of guitar before the chorus of “Creep” was Jonny Greenwood checking that his guitar was working and loud enough, Thom Yorke tells Rolling Stone in its issue of 16 September. Jonny did it during the take, he says, and when the band heard it back they kept it.

The whole song was recorded as a warm-up for another one. Yorke will say only that he wrote it at college, and that he was not happy with the words. In America the single has built slowly, helped by the video's run as an MTV Buzz Clip, which surprised him when singles at home last about three weeks. He calls its success a freak, and says it has brought some strange letters.

Glenn Kenny, who wrote the piece, expects “Creep” to get the loudest cheers when Radiohead tour with Belly later this year. Yorke already feels removed from it.

It’s like it’s not our song anymore; when we play it, it feels like we’re doing a cover.

Thom Yorke¹