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Rating: "Pablo Honey" is the debut album by Radiohead, one of the most influential and innovative bands of recent years.
The year is 1993, and Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, and Phil Selway, known up to that point as On A Friday, become Radiohead (named after a song by Talking Heads) and enter the studio to release their first record. The result is a somewhat raw work that nevertheless clearly hints at the undeniable talent of the five guys from Oxford, which will emerge in all its splendor with the subsequent "The Bends" and "Ok Computer," authentic gems of the '90s.
Raw, youthful, and emotional: this is how this debut can be broadly described, driven by the extraordinary success of the hit "Creep," a track that became a kind of "anthem" for many young people who identified with Thom Yorke's bitter words ("I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here.."), first just whispered and then shouted, highlighting an inner unease here emphasized by unrequited love. In the same vein is the acoustic "Thinking About You," an extremely melancholic and poignant track, and "Vegetable," with a violent chorus that breaks the calm and best expresses the protagonist's frustration, a victim of domestic violence.
Completing the list of the most interesting tracks is the punk experiment of "How Do You?", the passionate and energetic tribute to the guitar "Anyone Can Play Guitar," and "Stop Whispering." Listening to "Pablo Honey" today, it would be quite hard to associate its creators with those of "Hail To The Thief": a journey that has seen Radiohead in continuous evolution, never stuck in a style that would have guaranteed them success, but always in search of new experiments.
A journey that, without passing through the anything but banal pop-rock of this debut, most likely would not have been the same.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Creep (03:55)
When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fuckin' special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here
I don't care if it hurts
I wanna have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh
She's running out the door
She's running out
She runs, runs, runs, runs
Runs
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here
I don't belong here
04 Stop Whispering (05:25)
And the wise man say I don't want to hear your voice
And the thin man say I don't want to hear your voice
And they're cursing me, and they won't let me be
And there's nothing to say, and there's nothing to do
Stop whispering, start shouting
Stop whispering, start shouting
And the mother say we spit on your son some more
And the buildings say we spit on your face some more
And the feeling is that there's something wrong
Because I can't find the words and I can't find the songs
Stop whispering, start shouting
Stop whispering, start shouting
Dear Sir, I have a complaint
Can't remember what it is
It doesn't matter anyway
It doesn't matter anyway
05 Thinking About You (02:41)
Been thinking about you, your records are here
Your eyes are on my wall, your teeth are over there
But I'm still no-one, and you're now a star
What do you care?
Been thinking about you, and there's no rest
Shit I still love you, still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself, and what do you care
When the other men are far, far better
All the things you've got
All the things you need
Who bought you cigarettes
Who bribed the company to come and see you honey?
I've been thinking about you, so how can you sleep?
These people aren't your friends, they're paid to kiss your feet
They don't know what I know and why should you care
When I'm not there
Been thinking about you, and there's no rest
Should I still love you, still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself, what do you care
When I'm not there
All the things you've got
She'll never need
All the things you've got
I've bled and I bleed to please you
Been thinking about you
06 Anyone Can Play Guitar (03:37)
Destiny, destiny protect me from the world.
Destiny, hold my hand, protect me from the world.
Here we are with our running and confusion,
And I don't see no confusion anywhere.
And if the world does turn and if London burns,
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar.
I want to be in a band when I get to heaven,
Anyone can play guitar and they won't be a nothing any more.
Grow my hair, grow my hair, I am Jim Morrison,
Grow my hair, I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be Jim Morrison.
Here we are with our running and confusion,
And I don't see no confusion anywhere.
And if the world does turn and if London burns,
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar.
I want to be in a band when I get to heaven,
Anyone can play guitar and they won't be a nothing any more.
07 Ripcord (03:09)
Soul destroyed with clever toys for little boys
It's inevitable, inevitable, it's a soul destroyed
You're free until you drop
You're free until you've had enough
And you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord
Aeroplane do I mean what I mean?
Oh it's inevitable, inevitable, oh aeroplane
A thousand miles an hour
On politics and power
That she don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord
The answer to your prayers
We'll drop you anywhere
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no no no no ripcord
Oh yeah
08 Vegetable (03:12)
I never wanted anything but this
I worked hard, tried hard
I ran around in domestic bliss
I fought hard, died hard
Every time you're running out of here
Every time you're running I get the fear
I never wanted any broken bones
Scarred face, no home
Your words surround me and I asphyxiate
And I burn all hate
Every time you're running out on me
Every time you're running I can see
I'm not a veg'table
I will not control myself
I spit on the hand that feeds me
I will not control myself
The waters break, the waters run all over me
The waters break, the waters run
And this time you're gonna pay
I'm not a veg'table
I will not control myself
I spit on the hand that feeds me
I will not control myself
09 Prove Yourself (02:25)
I can't afford to breathe in this town
Nowhere to sit without a gun in my hand
Hooked back up to the cathode ray
I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
I want to breathe, I want to grow
I'd say I want it but I don't know how
I work, I bleed, I beg, I pray
But I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Woah
11 Lurgee (03:07)
I feel better, I feel better now you've gone
I got better, I got better, I got strong
I feel better, I feel better now there's nothing wrong
I got better, I got better, I got strong
Tell me something, tell me something I don't know
Tell me one thing, tell me one thing, and let it go
I got something, I got something, heaven knows
I got something, I got something, I don't know
12 Blow Out (04:40)
In my mind and nailed into my heels
All the time killing what I feel
And everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]
Turns to stone
And everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]
Turns stone
I am fused just in case I blow out
I am glued just because I crack out
Everything I touch turns to stone
Everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]
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Other reviews
By Sallu
Creep represents, in this case, just the tip of an iceberg.
This album is far from the paranoia of the later works, it is very youthful, carefree, and unpretentious.
By JohnWinston
It's as if Radiohead were searching for their soul but could not find it.
'Creep' is probably the most famous song of the entire Radiohead catalog, as well as one of the few peaks of the album.
By Superbia
"'Pablo Honey' is not a bad album at all."
"Radiohead will continue their career brilliantly, and even though 'Pablo Honey' will prove to be the band’s worst work, it must be acknowledged for being the right starting point."
