Fake Plastic Trees

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There was this Top 100 songs of all time countdown on Today FM today (voted by viewers) and this tune was in the 40's or so. I never liked the song, it never moved me just sounded like one long whinge to me. Yeah, it sounds sad and it's aiming at some grandiose despair but it can't stand it. And whenever I hear that opening line I always think of Lego. And Lego isn't depressing! But yeah it's a very popular song, I remember watching the video with a friend and he said "when I split up with my girlfriend a year ago, I listened to this again and again and again. I was just torturing myself...Why couldn't i have listened to something uplifting?"..."Or something good even!" says I.

― Michael Bourke, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 18:48 (twenty-three years ago)

This song is urgent and key for that that fourth leap up to the high held note. Beautiful and breathtaking (and a moment where Thom holds his own when compared to conventional standards of good singing, tonewise).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 19:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I quite liked it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

this thread is just here as me and mel bait...

― masonicboom, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 19:40 (twenty-three years ago)

despite being 'miserable and maudlin' it's still ultimately quite reassuring and uplifting in the melodic structure and textural arrangement. nick will never let it on the stereo, so i can't give you a dissection of *why* i like it. [apart from the image of thom in shopping cart, that is.]

― masonicboom, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 19:47 (twenty-three years ago)

The Bends was one of the first CDs I ever bought, so my copy's not in very good shape. FPT skips every time on "A green plastic wa-wa-wa-wa". I haven't listened to it on my own for years because of this. It wasn't one of my favorite tracks from the album, so it doesn't bother me too much, but, yeah, I did miss the comfort of it when I was sad for a while.

― Adam A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 19:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I never got this song at all. It sounds like a third-rate U2 impression to me minus any interesting guitar stuff.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 20:47 (twenty-three years ago)

The interesting stuff is in the atmospherics, I think. If you don't like The Note Dan refers to, you probably don't like the song.

― Adam A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 21:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I am ashamed to admit this, but Duncan Sheik's cover of FPT is an excellent version which allows the melody to really shine throughout the piece.

― bahtology, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 23:07 (twenty-three years ago)

It's not my favorite Radiohead song by a long shot, but it has a nice glowing quality to it. The reverb-drenched Hammond always makes me happy, and just the way Thom sings "it wears me out" never fails to have an impact upon me. The guitars at the climax are annoying though. They make me think of November Rain ever-so-slightly. There's something about the song though, I can't pinpoint what, something that allows it to rise above your typical strummy acoustic guitar song. I think it's the majestic weariness of the whole song.

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Wednesday, 1 January 2003 01:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with you, Melissa, though I think I'm a little more impressed by the song than you are: the way Yorke draws out fully articulating how completely his situation (whatever it is, the song's not real clear about it) fills him with dread...really gets to me. I think FPT is sort of the blueprint for OK Computer with its look-at-me-see-how-long-you-can-stand-itisms.

The chorus of "High and Dry" stabs me rather harder, though.

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Wednesday, 1 January 2003 01:44 (twenty-three years ago)

no sundar: its a first rate U2 impression. Which is why it sucks.

I think the whole thing is very comical actually.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 1 January 2003 10:24 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

On Saturday 13 May 2006 I will conduct the funeral of a young man who recently ended his life. It has been suggested that we play a piece of music that was important to him, Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead as part of the ceremony. It's way outside my area so can anybody tell me the words please? Thanks in anticipation. Wendy

― Wendy Adams, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 05:31 (twenty years ago)

Er. Did you try googling "fake plastic trees lyrics"?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 05:33 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

so i was cleaning out my hard drive tonight -- and i found an mp3 of myself covering fake plastic trees while in high school. for context, this was beginning of junior year, right before i saw radiohead live for the first time. i had been playing (i.e. fucking around with a) guitar about 3 months, and had been singing since, well...never...but i sure did like the song!

so, click here to listen but i'll warn you, it's not pretty and i'm not posting it to show off, rather quite the opposite: i think it's awful, but interesting nonetheless - an young dude who couldnt care less if he could sing or play, covering his favorite band/song at the time.

i love music, indeed.

― stephen, Sunday, 13 January 2008 07:26 (eighteen years ago)

this is the one radiohead song i still have a severe soft spot for. totally otm re: the like 1st or 2nd post to thread -- thom's voice actually sounds kind of naturally beautiful.

― Surmounter, Sunday, 13 January 2008 09:42 (eighteen years ago)

It is kind of overwrought (Radiohead? Overwrought? Never!). I love the 'If I could be all you wanted' bit though.

― chap, Sunday, 13 January 2008 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry, that should be 'who you wanted'.

― chap, Sunday, 13 January 2008 17:37 (eighteen years ago)

It mostly avoids the showy bombast which hampers much of the rest of that album, I still like it.

― Mister Craig, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

I would hardly call The Bends an example of showy bombast...

― stephen, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:11 (eighteen years ago)

It's the most showy, bombasty thing on the album! Besides maybe "Sulk".

― Simon H., Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:12 (eighteen years ago)

The title track is pretty bombastic. I like it, though. I'm actually quite a fan of bombast.

― chap, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

the song that got me into Radiohead

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

I would hardly call The Bends an example of showy bombast...

― roxymuzak, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:20 (eighteen years ago)

it isn't, when compared with what came later.

many of the songs are pretty simple pop (albeit a bit noisier at times)...

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, bombast doesn't mean the same thing as complexity.

― roxymuzak, Sunday, 13 January 2008 23:05 (eighteen years ago)

(bangs head on table)...

that isn't the ONLY reason it isn't bombastic, but since "bombast" is such a subjective term, it means different things to everybody......christ

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 23:28 (eighteen years ago)

perhaps I shoulda said it doesn't smack you across the face as much as other Radiohead albums...

besides, who gives a fuck. it rules.

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

ya rly. It's totally sassy.

― W4LTER, Sunday, 13 January 2008 23:33 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, and calling it bombastic doesn't mean the same thing as "I don't like it." :)

― roxymuzak, Monday, 14 January 2008 01:56 (eighteen years ago)

Beautiful song, pointing towards what was to become the even greater "OK Computer" album.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 14 January 2008 01:58 (eighteen years ago)

"what was to become"

― roxymuzak, Monday, 14 January 2008 01:59 (eighteen years ago)

seven months pass...

It's such a well-adressed ache and the band do create a beautiful melancholic atmosphere. What impresses me the most about it is how yorke's voice sounds incredibly lost and broken. I feel this is Thom at his most sincere just before going all artsy and weirder.

― Moka, Friday, 15 August 2008 22:13 (seventeen years ago)

best his voice ever sounded.

― Surmounter, Friday, 15 August 2008 22:15 (seventeen years ago)

I don't know, I think he sounds just as good on "The Eraser" EP and large swathes of Hail To The Thief.

― HI DERE, Friday, 15 August 2008 22:18 (seventeen years ago)

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