This is great. At Coachella, Prince does a mind-blowing, 7-minute rendition of Radiohead's classic hit "Creep," replete with falsetto screams of agony and a blazing guitar solo of pure catharsis. Amateur videos like the one posted above inundate YouTube. People love it. It might be the greatest cover since Hendrix did "All Along the Watchtower."
But his Purple Majesty orders the clips taken down. But Radiohead, which played Tampa May 6, owns the copyright to the song (it is their song) and wants the clips back up, so, you know, the songwriters can actually check it out. Not only is Radiohead the best rock band of its generation but also one of the coolest. From the Billboard.com article "Radiohead to Prince: Unblock 'Creep' YouTube Vids:"
In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince's performance from a text message and thought it was "hilarious." Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O'Brien, said the blocking had prevented even him from seeing Prince's version of their song.
"Really? He's blocked it?" asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. "Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment." Yorke added, "Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our … song."
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2008.