Fake Plastic Trees

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"Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released in May 1995 by Parlophone from their second album, The Bends (1995). It was the third single from The Bends in the UK, and the first in the US.

Radiohead recorded "Fake Plastic Trees" at RAK Studios, London, with the producer John Leckie. They struggled to settle on an arrangement, and dismissed one version as "pompous and bombastic". The final version was influenced by the American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley.

"Fake Plastic Trees" reached the top 50 on the UK singles chart, the New Zealand Singles Chart, the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Canadian Rock/Alternative chart. In 2003, Rolling Stone included "Fake Plastic Trees" at number 385 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.

WritingEdit

Thom Yorke, Radiohead's songwriter, said "Fake Plastic Trees" was "the product of a joke that wasn't really a joke, a very lonely, drunken evening and, well, a breakdown of sorts".<ref name="blender">Black, Johnny. "The Greatest Songs Ever! Fake Plastic Trees". Blender.com. 15 May 2003. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. Template:Webarchive</ref> He said the song arose from a melody he had "no idea what to do with". He did not take his usual approach of keeping note "of whatever my head's singing at the particular moment" or forcing "some nifty phrases" he devised onto the melody, and instead "just recorded whatever was going on in my head". He said: "I wrote those words and laughed. I thought they were really funny, especially that bit about polystyrene."<ref>Randall, p. 158-59</ref>

RecordingEdit

Radiohead recorded "Fake Plastic Trees" for their second album, The Bends, in 1994 at RAK Studios, London, with the producer John Leckie.<ref name="BLACK3">Template:Citation</ref> The sessions were strained, as Radiohead were under pressure from their record label, EMI, to record a single to match the success of their debut, "Creep".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The guitarist Ed O'Brien likened one early version of "Fake Plastic Trees" to the Guns N' Roses song "November Rain", saying it was "pompous and bombastic ... just the worst".<ref name=":032">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

One evening, Radiohead attended a concert by the American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley at the Garage, London.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yorke later said that Buckley gave him the confidence to sing in falsetto,<ref name=":0" /> and Leckie said: "It made [Thom] realise you could sing in a falsetto without sounding dripping."<ref name=":02">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Inspired by Buckley, Yorke recorded a performance of "Fake Plastic Trees" alone on acoustic guitar.<ref name=":032"/> According to the bassist, Colin Greenwood, Yorke played three takes, then burst into tears.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Radiohead created the final version of "Fake Plastic Trees" by overdubbing their parts onto Yorke's performance. The drummer, Philip Selway, described following Yorke's fluctuating tempo: "Part of the beauty was the way it would actually slip in and out, but trying to follow it was a nightmare."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ReceptionEdit

Reviewing The Bends, the European magazine Music & Media wrote that "Fake Plastic Trees" "best illustrates [Radiohead's] ambitions".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Writing for NME in May 1995, John Mulvey felt that it lacked substance. Both magazines drew comparisons with the rock band U2.<ref name="NME Review">Template:Cite journal</ref> Mark Frith from Smash Hits gave "Fake Plastic Trees" two out of five, writing: "Mournfully slow and really unremarkable, this will probably only appeal to die-hard fans."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, whom Radiohead supported on tour in 1996, said "Fake Plastic Trees" was one of her favourite songs, writing: "It's this intangible, spiritual thing. It's a mood piece but lyrically [Yorke] delves into his own vulnerability and talks about materialism and fallibility .. His voice is fragile, but there's nothing premeditated about the way he performs."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Morissette covered the song on her 1996 tour.<ref name="Dalton-2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2003, Rolling Stone included "Fake Plastic Trees" at number 385 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2011, Rolling Stone readers voted it the third-best Radiohead song, with the critic Andy Greene writing that it was "one of Radiohead's most anthemic songs".<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2009, "Fake Plastic Trees" was voted the 28th-best song on the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

An acoustic version was used in the 1995 film Clueless and introduced Radiohead to a larger American audience.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In 2017, Pitchfork credited "Fake Plastic Trees" and another Bends song, "High and Dry", for influencing the "airbrushed" post-Britpop of Coldplay and Travis.<ref name="Pitchfork">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has been covered by the singers Hayley Williams and Vance Joy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>