In early June ’93, Chicago’s Q101 first played a song that would, for me, come to forever signify that summer: Radiohead‘s “Creep.”

Almost immediately, I told an out-of-town friend about this new, wonderfully weird song I’d heard from a band I’d never heard of. Radiohead’s Pablo Honey album wasn’t out yet (that would happen a month or so later), but Brian quickly tracked down the “Creep” import single.

After listening to the song and liking it too, he was also puzzled, wondering how it was possible that I’d heard it on the radio. Not understanding his question, he informed that the song’s real lyrics were: “You’re so fucking special,” not the “so very special” I was familiar with.

The censored version also played in the video:

The song, which so stood out from everything else at the time, garnered Radiohead much attention. So when the band toured the States, audiences came out to hear the hit, and soon “Creep” became something of a bother to the band. (An especially incongruous MTV Beach House performance couldn’t have helped matters.) Radiohead would eventually release a song about their “Creep” problem, “My Iron Lung”: This is our new song / Just like the last one / A total waste of time / My iron lung.

So it’s no surprise that Radiohead has played “Creep” live only rarely since 1998. Considering their body of work to date, the song is something of an anomaly now. While the band has transcended the success of that monster single (they’re no one-hit wonders), Radiohead’s output has occasionally been a bit too self-consciously arty for me, so I’m a little hot and cold about ’em. The Bends, yay! Kid A, not so much, even though I opted for the deluxe package. Free or not, I haven’t downloaded or listened to the whole of In Rainbows.

Tonight, Radiohead takes the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park, headlining the first night of this year’s Lollapalooza festival. I won’t be among the adoring throngs battling the wicked humidity and each other. I doubt “Creep” is on the setlist, though had I heard even the slightest whisper of a rumor to the contrary, I might have reconsidered.

[Thanks to Brian, for the buttons. Yep, I still have ’em.]

Purchase Radiohead – “Creep” via iTunes.