The greatest guitar sound ever

In its review of the new Jonny Greenwood solo disc, Pitchfork has a paean to one of the greatest guitar sounds ever:

CH-CHUNK. CH-CHUNK. When Radiohead burst into British and American living rooms in 1993 with their now infamous ode to alienation, "Creep", it was only Jonny Greenwood's frenetic guitar stabs that hinted at the inspired musical legacy of the band that would soon follow. They were two jagged electric spasms of sonic sledge that not only foreshadowed the majesty of the anthemic guitar-drenched chorus to come, but also marvelously served to heighten the emotional content of the song; in this case, the unbearable and mounting anger of the self-defeated and alienated.

Posted by Gene Smith on Dec 9, 2003

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Mike says...

I read in an interview with radiohead recently that Johnny's guitar sounds weren't part of the original song. Thom wrote Creep and Johnny didn't care for it all that much, especially because of the pop attention it was getting.

To annoy Thom and sabotage the song he would add his CH-CHUNK, CH-CHUNK during the passages where Thom was singing. Needless to say, his plan didn't work out as he intended. Instead of ruining the song, he added a new element which ultimately is one of the most rememebered aspects of the song. And some would say the element that vaulted it to an even higher popularity.

Posted on Dec 14, 2003

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Posted by Gene Smith on Dec 9, 2003. Before this there was The New Harpers.org: Scary. Next up is Radio message from HQ....

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Gene Smith is a principal with nForm, one of Canada's leading user experience consulting firms. He writes about information architecture, interaction design, community, the web and other such topics. More >

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