"Creep" is the debut single by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 21 September 1992 by EMI. It was included on Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). It features "blasts" of guitar noise and lyrics describing an obsessive unrequited attraction.
Radiohead had not planned to release "Creep", and recorded it at the suggestion of the producers, Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, while they were working on other songs. They took elements from the 1972 song "The Air That I Breathe" by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Following legal action, Hammond and Hazlewood were credited as co-writers.
Kolderie convinced EMI to release "Creep" as a single. It was initially unsuccessful, but achieved radio play in Israel and became popular on American alternative rock radio. It was reissued in 1993 and became an international hit, likened to "slacker anthems" such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana and "Loser" by Beck. Reviews were mostly positive. Rolling Stone later named "Creep" one of the greatest debut singles and included it in the 2021 and 2024 editions of its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
The success gave Radiohead freedom on their second album, The Bends (1995). EMI pressured Radiohead to match the success, which created tension. Radiohead departed from the style of "Creep" and grew weary of it, feeling it set narrow expectations of their music, and did not perform it for several years. Though they achieved greater commercial and critical success with later albums, "Creep" remains Radiohead's most successful single. It has been covered by numerous artists. In 2021, the Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, released a remix with synthesisers and time-stretched acoustic guitar.
Recording
thumb|The former [[Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire]]
Radiohead formed in Oxfordshire in 1985 and signed a record contract with EMI in 1991. Their 1992 debut, the Drill EP, drew little attention. For their debut single, Radiohead hired the producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. They worked on the songs "Inside My Head" and "Lurgee", but without results. Yorke jokingly described it as their "Scott Walker song", which the producers misinterpreted. As they left the studio that night, Slade told Kolderie, "Too bad their best song's a cover." While mixing the song, Kolderie forgot to add the piano until the outro, but the band approved of the result.
Lyrics
According to the critic Alex Ross, "Creep" has "obsessive" lyrics that depict the "self-lacerating rage" of an unrequited attraction. John Harris, then the Oxford correspondent for Melody Maker, said "Creep" was about a girl who frequented the upmarket Little Clarendon Street in Oxford. According to Harris, Yorke preferred the more bohemian Jericho, and expressed his discomfort using the lines "What the hell am I doing here / I don't belong here". Yorke said he was not happy with the lyrics, and thought they were "pretty crap". Greenwood said "Creep" was in fact a happy song about "recognising what you are".
Composition
thumb|upright=1.591|The [[ostinato features modal mixture, common tones between adjacent triads (B between G & B, C and G between C & Cm, see: chord letters), and an emphasis on subdominant harmony (IV = C in G major).]]
Like many Radiohead songs, "Creep" uses pivot notes, creating a "bittersweet, doomy" feeling.
The middle eight originally featured a guitar solo from Greenwood. When the guitarist Ed O'Brien pointed out that the chord progression was the same as the 1972 song "The Air That I Breathe", Yorke wrote a new middle eight using the same vocal melody. According to Greenwood, "It was funny to us in a way, sort of feeding something like that into [it]. It's a bit of change."
Before the chorus, Jonny Greenwood plays three blasts of guitar noise ("dead notes" played by releasing fret-hand pressure and picking the strings). O'Brien said: "That's the sound of Jonny trying to fuck the song up. He really didn't like it the first time we played it, so he tried spoiling it. And it made the song." Yorke said the sound was like the song was "slashing its wrists. Halfway through the song it suddenly starts killing itself off, which is the whole point of the song really. It's a real self-destruct song, there's a real self-destruction ethic in a lot of the things we do onstage."
Music video
The "Creep" music video was directed by Brett Turnbull and filmed at the Venue, Oxford. In the audience was the electronic musician Four Tet, then a teenager, who years later supported Radiohead on tour and collaborated with Yorke.
Release
- UK release (CD, cassette, 12-inch)
- Australian release (CD, cassette)
- European release (CD)
- "Creep" – 3:53
- "Lurgee" – 3:05
- "Inside My Head" – 3:07
- "Million Dollar Question" – 3:10
- US single (cassette)
- "Creep" – 3:53
- "Faithless, the Wonder Boy" – 4:14
- US jukebox single (7-inch)
- "Creep" – 4:00
- "Anyone Can Play Guitar" – 3:37
- French limited edition (CD)
- "Creep" – 3:53
- "The Bends" (live) – 3:58
- "Prove Yourself" (live) – 2:28
- "Creep" (live) – 3:50
- UK reissue (CD, cassette, 7-inch)
- Japanese release (CD)
- "Creep" (album version) – 3:58
- "Yes I Am" – 4:24
- "Blow Out" (remix) – 4:18
- "Inside My Head" (live) – 3:06
- UK limited edition (12-inch)
- "Creep" (acoustic) – 4:19
- "You" (live) – 3:39
- "Vegetable" (live) – 3:07
- "Killer Cars" (live) – 2:17
- Dutch release and European reissue (CD)
- "Creep" (album version) – 3:58
- "Yes I Am" – 4:25
- "Inside My Head" (live) – 3:07
- "Creep" (acoustic) – 4:19
- French reissue (CD)
- "Creep" – 3:55
- "The Bends" – 3:58
Credits and personnel
Sources:
Radiohead
- Thom Yorke – vocals, guitar
- Jonny Greenwood – lead guitar, piano
- Ed O'Brien – guitar
- Colin Greenwood – bass
- Philip Selway – drums
Technical
- Sean Slade production, engineering; mixing
- Paul Q. Kolderie production, engineering; mixing
Artwork
- Icon design
- Steve Gullick photography
- Maurice Burns painting
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (1992–2025)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard)
| 22
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
| 42
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Greece International (IFPI)
| 99
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Lithuania (AGATA)
| 71
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|UK Airplay (Music Week)
| 32
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100
| 37
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1993 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (1993)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)
| 91
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
| 97
|-
!scope="row"|US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)
| 4
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1996 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (1996)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
| 30
|-
!scope="row"|France (SNEP)
| 94
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2012 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (2012)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|France (SNEP)
| 191
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2023 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (2023)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Global 200 (Billboard)
| 176
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2024 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (2024)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Global 200 (Billboard)
| 137
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2025 year-end chart performance for "Creep"
!scope="col"|Chart (2025)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
| 152
|-
! scope="row"| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
| 194
|-
! scope="row"| France (SNEP)
| 169
|-
! scope="row"| Global 200 (Billboard)
| 43
|-
! scope="row"| UK Singles (OCC)
| 64
|}