My Iron Lung is the third EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 26 September 1994 by Parlophone Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It was produced by Radiohead, John Leckie and Nigel Godrich. It comprises the single "My Iron Lung" and various B-sides, recorded while Radiohead were working on their second album, The Bends, released the following year.
Radiohead wrote "My Iron Lung" in response to the success of their debut single, "Creep" (1992), which had both sustained and contrained them. Unsatisfied with the version recorded at RAK Studios, they used an edited performance recorded in May 1994 at the London Astoria.
My Iron Lung marked Radiohead's first collaborations with Godrich and the artist Stanley Donwood, who have worked on every Radiohead release since. The "My Iron Lung" single reached number 24 on the UK singles chart, and was included on The Bends. Critics likened its verse-chorus dynamic to the 1993 Nirvana song "Heart-Shaped Box". Retrospective reviews described it as a growth in Radiohead's songwriting.
Recording
Radiohead recorded most of the songs on My Iron Lung at RAK Studios, London, during the sessions for their second album, The Bends (1995). The songwriter, Thom Yorke, said the EP was "just for fans", and described it as a collection of songs that did not fit the album rather than outtakes: "We think they're good, otherwise we wouldn't have plugged them on." The EP also includes an acoustic version of Radiohead's debut single, "Creep" (1992), from a performance on KROQ-FM on 13 July 1993. My Iron Lung was Radiohead's first collaboration with the producer Nigel Godrich, who was assisting the producer, John Leckie, at RAK as a tape engineer. The caustic lyrics use an iron lung as a metaphor for the way "Creep" had both sustained and constrained them: "This is our new song / Just like the last one / A total waste of time / My iron lung". Yorke said in 1995: "People have defined our emotional range with that one song, 'Creep'. I saw reviews of 'My Iron Lung' that said it was just like 'Creep'. When you're up against things like that, it's like: 'Fuck you.' These people are never going to listen."
According to the journalist Mac Randall, "My Iron Lung" transitions from a "jangly" opening hook to a "McCartney-esque verse melody" and "pulverising guitar explosions" in the bridge. Ed O'Brien used an EBow, an electronic sustaining device, to generate a drone on his guitar.
Radiohead recorded versions of "My Iron Lung" at RAK, but were not satisfied with the results. Instead, they used a performance recorded in May 1994 at the London Astoria, with Yorke's vocals replaced and the audience removed. Leckie said: "Considering it was recorded in the back of a truck outside the hall – not the best sound to get something from – we did quite well." The Astoria performance was included in the video Live at the Astoria, released in March 1995.
Artwork
My Iron Lung was Radiohead's first collaboration with the cover artist Stanley Donwood, whom Yorke enlisted as he was unhappy with their cover artwork. Donwood was not a fan of rock music, and said he took the work because he knew Yorke from their time as art students at the University of Exeter. Donwood and Godrich have worked on every Radiohead release since. To encourage fans to buy multiple copies, while the other included the B-sides "Lewis (Mistreated)", "Permanent Daylight", and "You Never Wash Up After Yourself". The My Iron Lung EP compiles "My Iron Lung" and all the B-sides. In the US, it topped the college radio charts, but sold only around 20,000 copies. Randall noted that, unlike the UK, the US was not a major market for singles, and that the sales instead indicated that Radiohead had built an audience there. He argued that "My Iron Lung" boosted Radiohead's artistic credibility, creating commercial opportunity for The Bends. On 31 August, 2009, EMI reissued The Bends in a "Collector's Edition", including the My Iron Lung tracks. Radiohead had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered. The EMI reissue was removed from streaming services after Radiohead's back catalogue was transferred to XL in 2016.