Fake Plastic Trees

"Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead
"Fake Plastic Trees"
from their second studio album The Bends (1995). It was the third single to be
released from that album in the UK, but in the US, it was released as the band's
first single from the album. The song charted on the UK Singles Chart, the New
Zealand Singles Chart, the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the Canadian
Rock/Alternative chart, but it did not make a substantial commercial impact
elsewhere.

Contents
Background and recording
Critical reception
Single by Radiohead
Music video
from the album The Bends
Track listing
Released 15 May 1995
Personnel
Charts Format CD · cassette
Weekly charts Recorded 1994
Year-end charts
Genre Alternative rock
Certifications
Length 4:52
Cover versions and other appearances
Label Parlophone · Capitol
References
External links Songwriter(s) Radiohead
Producer(s) John Leckie
Radiohead singles chronology
Background and recording "High and "Fake "Just"
Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said "Fake Plastic Trees" was "the product of a Dry" / Plastic (1995)
joke that wasn't really a joke, a very lonely, drunken evening and, well, a "Planet Trees"
breakdown of sorts".[1] He said the song arose from a melody he had "no idea Telex" (1995)
what to do with". Unlike his usual approach of either keeping note "of whatever
(1995)
my head's singing at the particular moment" or forcing "some nifty phrases" he Audio sample
devised onto the melody, Yorke said that creating "Fake Plastic Trees" was the
opposite. He said, "That was not forced at all, it was just recording whatever was
going on in my head, really. I mean, I wrote those words and laughed. I thought 0:00 / 0:00
they were really funny, especially that bit about polystyrene".[2]
file · help
Guitarist Ed O'Brien described early attempts to record "Fake Plastic Trees" at
London's RAK Studios as sounding "like Guns N' Roses' 'November Rain'. It was so pompous and bombastic." When recording
sessions for The Bends resumed at Manor Studios in July 1994, producer John Leckie convinced Yorke to record a take of the
song. Frustrated at being at the studio for a prolonged period that day, Yorke "threw a wobbly" in his own description, after which
Leckie sent the rest of the band away while Yorke recorded a guide track for "Fake Plastic Trees" featuring only guitar and
vocals. Yorke performed three takes of the song and cried afterwards, according to guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[1]
One source of frustration for the band at the time was their US record label, Capitol, which wanted a strong track for American
radio to follow the success of their previous hit single, "Creep".[3] Surprised that the slow-paced "Fake Plastic Trees" was seen as
a potential single to follow up "Creep", Yorke realised the label had remixed the track without the band's approval: "Last night I
was called by the American record company insisting, well almost insisting, that we used a Bob Clearmountain mix of it. I said
'No way'. All the ghost-like keyboard sounds and weird strings were completely gutted out of his mix, like he'd gone in with a
razor blade and chopped it all up. It was horrible".[4]

Critical reception
Writing for NME in May 1995, John Mulvey opined that the song lacked substance, and drew comparisons with the stadium rock
of U2.[5] The song placed at number 376 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and at number
28 on Triple J Radio's Hottest 100 of All Time countdown.[6]

Music video
The song's music video, directed by Jake Scott, is set inside a supermarket, where the band are pushed around in shopping carts
among several other characters, including clerks, children, an old man with a large beard who plays with toy guns, a woman in a
large black hat, art director Stanley Donwood in basketball jersey who shaves his head with an electric razor, a young man
playing with a trolley, etc. The director has said about the video: "The film is actually an allegory for death and reincarnation, but
if you can read that into it you must be as weird as the people who made it."[7] Actor Norman Reedus, who was then a model,
appears briefly as the young man playing with a trolley.

Track listing
Released over two singles, the b-sides accompanying "Fake Plastic Trees" include "India Rubber", a song in which Jonny
Greenwood can be heard laughing, and "How Can You Be Sure?" which dates from the band's earliest On a Friday days. It is
from the Shindig Demo and this finished version features backing vocals by Dianne Swann.[8] The B-sides on the second single
are acoustic versions by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood recorded live at the Eve's Club in London.

CD 1

1. "Fake Plastic Trees" – 4:52

2. "India Rubber" – 3:26
3. "How Can You Be Sure?" – 4:21
CD 2

1. "Fake Plastic Trees" – 4:52

2. "Fake Plastic Trees" (acoustic) – 4:41
3. "Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was" (acoustic) – 3:34
4. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (acoustic) – 4:26

Personnel
Thom Yorke – vocals, acoustic guitar
Jonny Greenwood – electric guitar, Hammond organ
Ed O'Brien – electric guitar
Colin Greenwood – bass
Phil Selway – drums
Caroline Lavelle – cello
John Matthias – viola, violin
Charts

Weekly charts Year-end charts

Peak Chart (1995) Position

Chart (1995)
position
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[14] 29
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[9] 7

New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[10] 22

Scotland (Official Charts Company)[11] 15

UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[12] 20

US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[13] 11

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales

United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Silver 200,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Cover versions and other appearances

An acoustic version of the song performed by Radiohead is featured in – and on the soundtrack of – the film
Clueless (1995).[16]
Alanis Morissette covered it in several shows of her Can't Not tour (1995–1996).
Marillion covered it for their live album Unplugged at the Walls (1999).
Show of Hands covered it for their album Covers (2000).
Lori McKenna covered it for her album The Kitchen Tapes (2003).
Tanghetto covered it in a tango style for their album Más Allá del Sur (2009).
The song is featured in a 2008 episode of Entourage, Season 5, Episode 7, "Gotta Look Up To Get Down".
Amanda Palmer covered it for her album Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her
Magical Ukulele (2010). Palmer's cover was listed by Paste Magazine as one of their "20 Best Covers of
2010".[17]
The song is featured in the film Something Borrowed (2011).
The song is featured in the film Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl (2011).
The song is featured in a 2013 episode of My Mad Fat Diary, Season 1, Episode 2, "Touched".
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real covered it for their EP I Ain't Mad Anymore Demos (2013).[18]
A player piano version is featured in a 2016 episode of Westworld, Season 1, Episode 6, "The Adversary".
Lewis Watson covered it for his 2018 EP nineties, noughties, tennies.

References
1. Black, Johnny. "The Greatest Songs Ever! Fake Plastic Trees (http://www.blender.com/guide/67167/greatest-son
gs-ever-fake-plastic-trees.html)". Blender.com. 15 May 2003. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. Archived (https://web.
 archive.org/web/20090614085905/http://www.blender.com/guide/67167/greatest-songs-ever-fake-plastic-trees.ht
ml) June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
2. Randall, p. 158-59
3. Randall, Mac (12 September 2000). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. Delta. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-385-33393-1.
4. "Fake Plastic Trees – Green Plastic Radiohead" (http://www.greenplastic.com/radiohead-lyrics/the-bends/fake-pl
astic-trees/). Green Plastic. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
5. Mulvey, John. "Review: Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees (Parlophone)". NME. IPC Media (May 20, 1995): 54.
6. "Hottest 100 – Of All Time" (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100_alltime/countdown/cd_21-30.htm).
abc.net.au.
7. "radiohead discography" (http://www.greenplastic.com/discography/videography/fake_plastic_trees/index.php)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20061210010313/http://www.greenplastic.com/discography/videography/fa
ke_plastic_trees/index.php) 2006-12-10 at the Wayback Machine. greenplastic.com.
8. Sam Coley (3 April 2010). "Dianne Swann / Radiohead Duet; "How Can You Be Sure" " (https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=jWbFipjsoXI). Retrieved 23 April 2018 – via YouTube.
9. "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 9034 (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordi
ngs/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.9034&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2f
obj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.9034.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.9034)." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
Retrieved 30 May 2018.
10. "Charts.nz – Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees" (https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Radiohead&titel=Fake+
Plastic+Trees&cat=s). Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
11. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100" (https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/scottish-singles-chart/19950
603/41/). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
12. "Official Singles Chart Top 100" (https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19950527/7501/). Official
Charts Company. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
13. "Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Songs)" (https://www.billboard.com/music/Radiohead/chart-history/alternati
ve-songs). Billboard. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
14. "RPM Top 50 Alternative Tracks of 1995" (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/
rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.9212&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%
2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.9212.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.9212). RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved
30 May 2018.
15. "British single certifications – Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees" (https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/). British
Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 May 2019. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the
Certification field. Type Fake Plastic Trees in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
16. "Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead Songfacts" (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5062).
www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
17. Jackson, Josh (December 7, 2010). "The 20 Best Cover Songs of 2010" (http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/li
sts/2010/12/the-20-best-cover-songs-of-2010.html). Paste Magazine.
18. "Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real" (http://www.promiseofthereal.com). Lukas Nelson. Retrieved 23 April
2018.

External links
"Fake Plastic Trees" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5h0qHwNrHk) on YouTube
Lyrics of this song (http://www.metrolyrics.com/fake-plastic-trees-lyrics-radiohead.html) at MetroLyrics

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fake_Plastic_Trees&oldid=902979886"

This page was last edited on 22 June 2019, at 18:10 (UTC).

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