My Iron Lung

My Iron Lung is the third EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 26 September 1994 by Parlophone Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It was produced by Radiohead, John Leckie and Nigel Godrich. It marked Radiohead's first collaborations with Godrich and the artist Stanley Donwood, who have worked on every Radiohead release since.

My Iron Lung
EP by
Radiohead
Released26 September 1994 (1994-09-26)[1]
Recorded1993–1994
Genre
Length28:23
Label
Producer
Radiohead chronology
Itch
(1994)		 My Iron Lung
(1994)		 The Bends
(1995)
Radiohead singles chronology
"Stop Whispering"
(1993)		 "My Iron Lung"
(1994)		 "High and Dry / Planet Telex"
(1995)

The EP consists of "My Iron Lung", from Radiohead's second album, The Bends (1995), plus several non-album tracks. Radiohead wrote "My Iron Lung" in response to the success of their debut single, "Creep" (1992). Unsatisfied with the version recorded at RAK Studios in London, they used a performance recorded in May 1994 at the London Astoria.

My Iron Lung was released in advance of The Bends and received positive reviews. "My Iron Lung" was also released as a single, and reached number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.

Recording

Radiohead recorded most of the songs on My Iron Lung at RAK Studios, London, during the sessions for their second album, The Bends (1995).[5] The songwriter, Thom Yorke, said the EP was "just for fans", and described it as a collection of songs that did not fit on the album rather than outtakes: "We think they're good, otherwise we wouldn't have plugged them on."[6] The EP also includes an acoustic version of Radiohead's debut single, "Creep" (1992), from a performance on KROQ-FM on July 13, 1993.[7]

My Iron Lung was Radiohead's first collaboration with the producer Nigel Godrich, who was assisting producer John Leckie at RAK as a tape engineer.[5] It was also Radiohead's first collaboration with the cover artist Stanley Donwood. Donwood was not a fan of rock music, and said he took the work because he knew Yorke from their time as art students at the University of Exeter.[8] Donwood and Godrich have worked on every Radiohead release since.[8][5]

"My Iron Lung"

Only "My Iron Lung" was included on The Bends.[9] According to the journalist Mac Randall, it transitions from a "jangly" opening hook to a "McCartney-esque verse melody" and "pulverising guitar explosions" in the bridge.[5] Jonny Greenwood used a DigiTech Whammy pedal to pitch-shift his guitar by one octave, creating a "glitchy, lo-fi" sound.[10] Ed O'Brien used an EBow, an electronic sustaining device, on his guitar to generate a drone.[11]

Radiohead wrote "My Iron Lung" in response to the request from their record label, EMI, to record a single to repeat the success of "Creep".[12] The caustic lyrics use an iron lung as a metaphor for the way "Creep" had both sustained Radiohead and constrained them: "This is our new song / Just like the last one / A total waste of time / My iron lung".[13] Yorke said in 1995: "People have defined our emotional range with that one song, 'Creep'. I saw reviews of 'My Iron Lung' that said it was just like 'Creep'. When you're up against things like that, it's like: 'Fuck you.' These people are never going to listen."[14]

Radiohead recorded versions of "My Iron Lung" at RAK, but were not satisfied with the results. Instead, they used a performance recorded in May 1994 at the London Astoria, with Yorke's vocals replaced and the audience removed.[15] The producer, John Leckie, said: "Considering it was recorded in the back of a truck outside the hall – not the best sound to get something from – we did quite well."[16] The Astoria performance was included in the video Live at the Astoria, released in March 1995.[17]

Release

"My Iron Lung" was released as a single in the UK in September 26 in four versions, each with different track order.[18] Two CD versions were released; one included the B-sides "The Trickster", "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong", and "Lozenge of Love",[19] while the other included the B-sides "Lewis (Mistreated)", "Permanent Daylight", and "You Never Wash Up After Yourself".[20] The double release was an effort by EMI to encourage fans to buy multiple editions of the same single.[18] My Iron Lung was later issued as an EP containing all the B-sides.[18]

The "My Iron Lung" single reached number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.[21] In the US, it topped the college radio charts, but sold only around 20,000 copies.[18] Yorke and Greenwood expressed disappointment that Capitol, EMI's American subsidiary, had not promoted it more.[15] The A&R VP Perry Watts-Russel said Capitol had not pursued radio play as it was "only meant to be a fan-based item" rather than a "proper first single" for The Bends.[22] Randall noted that, unlike the UK, the US was not a major market for singles, and that the sales instead indicated that Radiohead had built an audience in America. He argued that "My Iron Lung" boosted Radiohead's artistic credibility, creating commercial opportunity for The Bends.[18]

Critical reception

According to Randall, "My Iron Lung" initially puzzled fans and critics, confounding expectations, but "makes much more sense" on The Bends.[5] Though he felt Radiohead were right to omit the other tracks from The Bends, he identified a growing sophistication and diversity in their songwriting and felt that Radiohead were "gradually sounding more like themselves". He praised "The Trickster" and "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" as the most developed B-sides, likening them to Sonic Youth.[18]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Entertainment.ie[23]

The AllMusic critic Greg Prato praised the EP, writing: "Because of the tracks' consistency and sequencing, it plays like a real album rather than a collection of B-sides and outtakes thrown together haphazardly." He felt the acoustic version of "Creep", with a "surprisingly harsh and off-key middle section", was "the only weak spot".[9]

Entertainment.ie wrote: "While these off-cuts are inevitably more low-key and experimental than the classics we're all familiar with, the same spirit of anguish [of The Bends] and fragility is still thrillingly familiar."[23] In a retrospective review, the Pitchfork critic Scott Plagenhoef wrote that My Iron Lung had seen Radiohead finding "new ways to pick apart and re-construct the typical alt-rock template" and "demonstrated a band whose collective heads seemed to crack open and spill out new ideas".[24]

Reissues

On 19 October, 2007, "My Iron Lung" was released as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.[25] On 31 August, 2009, EMI reissued The Bends in a "Collector's Edition",[26] including the My Iron Lung tracks.[27] Radiohead had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered.[28] The EMI reissue was removed from streaming services after Radiohead's back catalogue was transferred to XL in 2016.[29]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Radiohead

No.TitleLength
1."My Iron Lung"4:36
2."The Trickster"4:40
3."Lewis (Mistreated)"3:14
4."Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong"4:40
5."Permanent Daylight"2:48
6."Lozenge of Love"2:16
7."You Never Wash Up After Yourself"1:44
8."Creep" (Acoustic)4:19
Total length:28:23

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes.[7]

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart performance for "My Iron Lung"
Chart (1994–1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[30] 100
UK Singles (OCC)[31] 24

Year-end charts
2001 year-end chart performance for "My Iron Lung"
Chart (2001) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[32]
Import		 22
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[33] 157
2002 year-end chart performance for "My Iron Lung"
Chart (2002) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[34] 28

Certifications
Certifications for My Iron Lung
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[35] Platinum 70,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[36] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Single Releases" (PDF). Music Week. 24 September 1994. p. 25. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. Hall, David Brendan (10 October 2016). "Austin City Limits: The five best of Weekend Two". Time Out. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  3. "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)". Spin. 11 May 2015. p. 4. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  4. "10 Essential Next-Level Albums". Treble. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  5. Randall, Mac (15 May 2015). "Radiohead's The Bends, 20 years later: reexamining a modern rock masterpiece". Guitar World. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. Malins, Steve (April 1995). "Scuba Do". Vox. IPC Media (55).
  7. My Iron Lung (booklet). Radiohead. 1994.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. Edmonds, Lizzie (25 March 2015). "Stanley Donwood: 'I didn't like Radiohead but they're OK with computers'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  9. Prato, Greg. "My Iron Lung - Radiohead | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
  10. "Iron man". Total Guitar. Future plc. 19 October 2018 – via PressReader.
  11. Brewster, Will (2 June 2020). "The Story of the EBow in 7 Tracks". Mixdown. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  12. Randall, p. 90
  13. Runtagh, Jordan (22 February 2018). "Radiohead's 'Pablo Honey': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  14. Malins, Steve (April 1995). "Scuba Do". Vox (55).
  15. Garcia, Sandra (July 1995). "Decompression". B-Side (51).
  16. Randall, Mac (1 February 2012). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story Updated Edition. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-4584-7147-5.
  17. Skinner, Tom (27 May 2020). "Radiohead to stream classic Live at the Astoria show in full". NME. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  18. Randall, Mac (12 September 2000). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. Delta. pp. 98–99. ISBN 0-385-33393-5.
  19. "My Iron Lung - Radiohead | Release Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  20. "My Iron Lung [#2] - Radiohead | Release Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  21. "MY IRON LUNG EP". officialcharts.com.
  22. "Radiohead creeps past early success". Billboard. 25 February 1995.
  23. "Radiohead – My Iron Lung". Entertainment.ie. 22 February 2005.
  24. Plagenhoef, Scott (16 April 2009). "Radiohead: Pablo Honey: Collector's Edition / The Bends: Collector's Edition / OK Computer: Collector's Edition". Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  25. Cavalli, Earnest. "New Rock Band DLC: Weezer, Radiohead, the Pretenders". Wired.
  26. McCarthy, Sean (18 December 2009). "The Best Re-Issues of 2009: 18: Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer / Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  27. Plagenhoef, Scott (16 April 2009). "Radiohead: Pablo Honey: Collector's Edition / The Bends: Collector's Edition / OK Computer: Collector's Edition". Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  28. McCarthy, Sean (18 December 2009). "The Best Re-Issues of 2009: 18: Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer / Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  29. Christman, Ed (4 April 2016). "Radiohead's Early Catalog Moves From Warner Bros. to XL". Billboard. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  30. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 228.
  31. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  32. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 January 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  33. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 July 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  34. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002". Jam!. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  35. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. 24 August 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  36. "British album certifications – Radiohead – My Iron Lung". British Phonographic Industry. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
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