Fake Plastic Trees

"Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on their second album, The Bends (1995). It was the third single from the album in the UK, and the first in the US. It charted on the UK Singles Chart, the New Zealand Singles Chart, the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the Canadian Rock/Alternative chart.

"Fake Plastic Trees"
Single by Radiohead
from the album The Bends
B-side
  • "India Rubber"
  • "How Can You Be Sure?"
Released15 May 1995 (1995-05-15)[1]
Recorded1994
GenreAlternative rock
Length4:52
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Radiohead
Producer(s)John Leckie
Radiohead singles chronology
"High and Dry" / "Planet Telex"
(1995)		 "Fake Plastic Trees"
(1995)		 "Just"
(1995)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

Writing

Singer Thom Yorke 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".[2] He said the song arose from a melody he had "no idea what to do with". He did not take his usual approach of either keeping note "of whatever my head's singing at the particular moment" or forcing "some nifty phrases" he devised onto the melody. Instead, "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 they were really funny, especially that bit about polystyrene."[3]

Recording

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." Frustrated at being at the studio for a prolonged period one day, Yorke "threw a wobbly" in his own description, after which producer John Leckie sent the rest of the band away while Yorke recorded a guide track for featuring only guitar and vocals. Yorke performed three takes of the song and cried afterwards, according to guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[2]

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".[4] Surprised that the slow-paced "Fake Plastic Trees" was seen as a potential single to follow up "Creep", Yorke realised that Capitol had Bob Clearmountain remix the track without the band's approval: "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."[5]

Critical reception

Writing for NME in May 1995, John Mulvey felt that "Fake Plastic Trees" lacked substance, and drew comparisons with the stadium rock of U2.[6] It placed at number 385 on Rolling Stone'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.[7] The acoustic version of "Fake Plastic Trees" was used in the 1995 film Clueless and is credited for introducing Radiohead to a larger American audience.[8]

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 shopping cart, 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."[9]

Track listings

All tracks are written by Radiohead (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, Philip Selway).

Personnel

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[30] Platinum 80,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Silver 200,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

Notes

Footnotes
  1. Same tracks appear on the two sides of the cassette tape.[12][13]
  2. Noted as (single edit) on the US promo.[18]

Citations
  1. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 13 May 1995. p. 39. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  2. Black, Johnny. "The Greatest Songs Ever! Fake Plastic Trees". Blender.com. 15 May 2003. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. Archived 14 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Randall, p. 158-59
  4. Randall, Mac (12 September 2000). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. Delta. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-385-33393-1.
  5. "Fake Plastic Trees – Green Plastic Radiohead". Green Plastic. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  6. Mulvey, John. "Review: Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees (Parlophone)". NME. IPC Media (20 May 1995): 54.
  7. "Hottest 100 – Of All Time". abc.net.au.
  8. Al, Horner; Twells, John; Lobenfeld, Claire (13 April 2016). "Radiohead on film: The 9 best uses of their songs on screen". Fact. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  9. "radiohead discography" Archived 10 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine. greenplastic.com.
  10. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1995. CDRS 6411.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. Europe: Parlophone. 1995. 7243 8 82161 2 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. Fake Plastic Trees (MC single liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1995. 7243 8 82161 4 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. Fake Plastic Trees (MC single liner notes). Radiohead. New Zealand: Parlophone. 1995. 8821614.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. Australia: Parlophone. 1995. 8821612.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1995. CDR 6411.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. Europe: Parlophone. 1995. 7243 8 82162 2 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. Fake Plastic Trees (CD promo liner notes). Radiohead. UK: Parlophone. 1995. CDRDJ 6411.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. Fake Plastic Trees (CD promo liner notes). Radiohead. US: Capitol. 1995. dpro-79567.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. US: Capitol. 1995. C2 7243 8 58424 2 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  20. Fake Plastic Trees (7-inch vinyl jukebox single liner notes). Radiohead. US: Capitol. 1995. S7-18728.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. Fake Plastic Trees (CD single liner notes). Radiohead. Netherlands: Parlophone. 1995. 7243 8 82203 2 3.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 9034." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  23. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 23. 10 June 1995. p. 19. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  24. "Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  25. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  27. "Radiohead Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  28. "RPM Top 50 Alternative Tracks of 1995". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  29. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 July 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  30. "Canadian single certifications – Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees". Music Canada. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  31. "British single certifications – Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
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