Ed O'Brien says the label would have dropped Radiohead without “Creep”

Ed O'Brien is frank about Radiohead's first album in Uncut's June issue, where he answers readers' questions ahead of his second solo album, Blue Morpho. We knew there were flaws with the first album, and it was propped up massively by Creep.¹ Without the single, he says, there's a very good chance we may never have made another record, because the record company would have dropped us.¹

The readers wanted to know when he felt Radiohead first made something completely new, and his answer is The Bends, from 1995. Pablo Honey made no secret of the bands it came from; The Bends went in many directions. He points to the way it is bookended, by the force of “Planet Telex” at the start and the emotion of “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” at the end.

Asked what comes next for Radiohead, the question the magazine puts on its cover, he says Everything's open³.