My Iron Lung
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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.
Radiohead recorded most of the songs during the sessions for their second album, The Bends, released the following year. Radiohead wrote "My Iron Lung" in response to the success of their debut single, "Creep" (1992). Unsatisfied with the version recorded at RAK Studios, they used an edited performance recorded in May 1994 at the London Astoria.
EMI initially released "My Iron Lung" as a single, which reached number 24 on the UK singles chart. The EP compiles "My Iron Lung" and its various B-sides. Retrospective reviews described it as a growth in Radiohead's songwriting. "My Iron Lung" was later included on The Bends.
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).<ref name="Randall-2015">Template:Cite web</ref> The songwriter, Thom Yorke, said the EP was "just for fans", and described it as a collection of songs that did not fit the album rather than outtakes: "We think they're good, otherwise we wouldn't have plugged them on."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The EP also includes an acoustic version of Radiohead's debut single, "Creep" (1992), from a performance on KROQ-FM on July 13, 1993.<ref name="httt notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
My Iron Lung was Radiohead's first collaboration with the producer Nigel Godrich, who was assisting the producer, John Leckie, at RAK as a tape engineer.<ref name="Randall-2015" /> It was also Radiohead's first collaboration with the cover artist Stanley Donwood, whom Yorke enlisted as he was unhappy with their cover artwork.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Edmonds-2015">Template:Cite web</ref> Donwood and Godrich have worked on every Radiohead release since.<ref name="Edmonds-2015" /><ref name="Randall-2015" />
"My Iron Lung"
Only "My Iron Lung" was included on The Bends.<ref name="allmusic-review" /> Radiohead wrote it in response to the request from their record label, EMI, to record a single to repeat the success of "Creep".<ref>Randall, p. 90</ref> The caustic lyrics use an iron lung as a metaphor for the way "Creep" had both sustained and constrained them: "This is our new song / Just like the last one / A total waste of time / My iron lung".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
According to the journalist Mac Randall, "My Iron Lung" transitions from a "jangly" opening hook to a "McCartney-esque verse melody" and "pulverising guitar explosions" in the bridge.<ref name="Randall-2015" /> Jonny Greenwood used a DigiTech Whammy pedal to pitch-shift his guitar by one octave, creating a "glitchy, lo-fi" sound.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Ed O'Brien used an EBow, an electronic sustaining device, to generate a drone on his guitar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="Garcia-1995">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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."<ref name="Randall-2012">Template:Cite book</ref> The Astoria performance was included in the video Live at the Astoria, released in March 1995.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Release
"My Iron Lung" was released as a single in the UK in September 26 in four versions, each with different track order.<ref name="EXIT">Template:Cite book</ref> To encourage fans to buy multiple copies,<ref name="EXIT" /> EMI released two CD singles; one included the B-sides "The Trickster", "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong", and "Lozenge of Love",<ref name="CD1">Template:Cite web</ref> while the other included the B-sides "Lewis (Mistreated)", "Permanent Daylight", and "You Never Wash Up After Yourself".<ref name="CD2"">Template:Cite web</ref> The My Iron Lung EP compiles "My Iron Lung" and all the B-sides.<ref name="EXIT" />
The single reached number 24 on the UK singles chart.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the US, it topped the college radio charts, but sold only around 20,000 copies.<ref name="EXIT" /> Yorke and Greenwood expressed disappointment that Capitol, EMI's American subsidiary, had not promoted it more.<ref name="Garcia-1995" /> The A&R vice president, Perry Watts-Russel, said Capitol had not pursued radio play as "My Iron Lung" was intended for fans rather than as the lead single for The Bends.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref name="Randall-2012" />
On 18 December 2007, "My Iron Lung" was released as downloadable content for the music game Rock Band.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On 31 August, 2009, EMI reissued The Bends in a "Collector's Edition",<ref name="MCCARTHY">Template:Cite magazine</ref> including the My Iron Lung tracks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Radiohead had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered.<ref name="MCCARTHY2">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The EMI reissue was removed from streaming services after Radiohead's back catalogue was transferred to XL in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Critical reception
Template:Album ratings "My Iron Lung" initially received mixed reviews, with critics likening its verse-chorus dynamic to the 1993 Nirvana song "Heart-Shaped Box".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Randall, it puzzled fans and critics, defying expectations, but "makes much more sense" on The Bends.<ref name="Randall-2015" /> Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that it was "brilliant, mind-bending rock ... The sensitive intro is soon interrupted by a crash of loud and grating guitars, which rage in a seemingly random explosive roar."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Music & Media wrote: "More psychedelic than before, but the 'two-headed' approach of a Nirvana-esque soft and a hard bit cycle within one song is a concept this lot already dealt with at the time of 'Creep'."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Leesa Daniels from Smash Hits gave "My Iron Lung" four out of five, calling it "magnificent" and "stupendous".<ref name="Smash Hits">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2020, the Guardian named "My Iron Lung" the 10th-best Radiohead song, writing that it "uses catchy hooks and brawny riffs to rally against commercialisation. It risks sounding bratty – it is bratty – but from insolence [Radiohead] fashioned a new identity: stadium-rock agitators declaring war on hypocrisy and greed – particularly their own."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The AllMusic critic Greg Prato praised the My Iron Lung 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".<ref name="allmusic-review" /> 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."<ref name="ie-review" />
Randall felt Radiohead were right to omit the other Bends tracks from the EP, but felt they were building their own identity and identified a growing sophistication and diversity in their songwriting. He praised "The Trickster" and "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" as the most developed songs, likening them to Sonic Youth.<ref name="EXIT" /> The Pitchfork critic Scott Plagenhoef wrote that on My Iron Lung Radiohead found "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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from the liner notes.<ref name="httt notes" />
Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Radiohead
Template:Col-2 Production
- John Leckie – production and engineering on tracks 1–4 and 6
- Nigel Godrich – engineering on tracks 1–4 and 6, production on track 5
- Chris Brown – engineering on tracks 1–4 and 6
- Guy Massey – assistance
- Shelly Saunders – assistance
- Jim Warren – mixing on track 5, recording on track 7
Artwork
- Stanley Donwood
- Thom Yorke
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (1994–1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite Ryan</ref> | 100 |
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 5 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2001) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Import |
22 |
| Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 157 |
| Chart (2002) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 28 |
Certifications
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