The 1995 Radiohead song so bleak Thom Yorke can barely sing it: “I didn’t write it. It wrote itself”
As alternative rock gained prominence in the 1990s due to bands like Nirvana bringing the genre to the mainstream, Radiohead emerged from Oxford with an unexpected hit: ‘Creep’.
Initially blacklisted by many radio stations for being too depressing, the song eventually became incredibly popular, although their debut album, Pablo Honey, was received with less enthusiasm.
While Pablo Honey reached number 22 in the UK Albums Charts, few critics at this point would have predicted that Radiohead would gain the legendary status they now hold. It wasn’t until they released The Bends in 1995 that the band garnered more respect, carving out a style that was much less derivative, teasing their innovative future output.
The band stunned fans with 1997’s OK Computer, which was followed by the predominantly electronic Kid A. With every album Radiohead has released, they’ve proved themselves to be vital players in the modern music industry. Regardless of the instruments they find themselves experimenting with, Thom Yorke always delivers an impressive vocal performance, often singing poignant lyrics with both personal and political themes.
Yorke has written an abundance of sad songs, from ‘True Love Waits’ to ‘Motion Picture Soundtrack’, yet he once picked out a track from The Bends that he believed to be the saddest. The album was a momentous occasion for the group; it didn’t just signify a change in pace for the group, veering deliberately away from Britpop toward something far more cerebral, but, in doing so, allowed the Oxfordshire group to lay out a blueprint for their entire career.
Artistic evolution wouldn’t be the only motion carried by the group, though. They would also employ melancholy with a more dexterous touch than any of their 1990s counterparts. One song would be known as their most brutally sad, according to Yorke. ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’, one of the band’s most popular songs from the early years of their career, was described as “hopeless” by Yorke, stating, “I didn’t write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers.”
He explained, “Its core is a complete mystery to me. I wouldn’t ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve – ‘Street Spirit’ has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end.”
The song, released in 1995, was a significant turning point for the band. Truly signalling a change in direction from their previous releases, ‘Street Spirit’, which features dramatic guitars that feel almost apocalyptic, was a huge success for the group.
Yorke added, “I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it. I’d crack. I’d break down on stage. That’s why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That’s what’s meant by ‘all these things are one to swallow whole’. I meant the emotional entirety because I didn’t have it in me to articulate the emotion. I’d crack.”
Whether you find ‘Street Spirit’ the band’s saddest song, or prefer to wallow in tracks like ‘How to Disappear Completely’ or ‘Bullet Proof … I Wish I Was’, for Yorke, nothing can top it. According to the frontman, many fans “don’t realise that ‘Street Spirit’ is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes… and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he’ll get the last laugh.”
