And what a cover that was! The man seems possessed and the crowd’s response shows how good that performance was. Even the legend that was is Prince favors their biggest hit “Creep”, how can Radiohead themselves not like it?
Radiohead’s “Creep”
Radiohead is widely known as one of the best alternative rock bands of all time. Thom Yorke and the Greenwood brothers, Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway started rocking out in the middle of the eighties. Since then they’ve released nine albums together as Radiohead and defined the alternative rock scene. Their biggest hits “Let Down”, “Paranoid Android”, “No Surprises” and “Karma Police”. But “Creep” swept the whole planet and made them one of the most famous names in rock. They released it in 1992 and never looked back.
This song became so popular Radiohead hated the song and stopped performing it at their concerts for many years. In fact, according to the band members, “Creep” almost broke up the band. This song became their biggest success and their worst nightmare. Fans would come to their gigs to hear the song and then leave the place.
Due the song’s huge unexpected success, the record label gave the band more freedom for their subsequent albums. You can see it in the ever-changing style of music they release with each new album that they took this freedom and used it completely. For me, they remain one of the best rock bands of all time.
Coachella 2008 features Prince with one of the best covers of a Radiohead song
Prince is a musical legend of the caliber of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. There is no need to introduce the man or his oeuvre. However, while Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson is known for his musical experiments, he is not really known for alternative music covers. So when he spearheaded Coachella on April 26th 2008 nobody expected him to follow The B-52-s’ “The Lobster” with this song.
The song begins quite ordinarily, like some random kid off YouTube or a reality TV show, doing a silent, poignant cover of their favorite song. But then he comes alive and shows everybody why he is who he is. The Artist Formerly Known As Prince takes his sweet time before he starts electrifying the song. After one false alarm around the 2 minute mark of the video, he starts absolutely annihilating those guitar solos and making the song his own. The real Prince comes alive at the end of the fourth minute of the video. Oh wow!
Mr. Nelson’s performance blew away Coachella that year no doubt and people really wanted to share their experience. But he made YouTube block the videos of his performance until Radiohead intervened. They disagreed with the legend and as the man behind the song, Thom Yorke so eloquently put it: “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our song.”
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