Prince and Thom Yorke both share a healthy skepticism toward music consumption in the digital era. But while the Radiohead frontman does his best to work with/around the changing times, Prince has attempted to resist the Internet — which he once described as a passing fad — almost entirely.
That’s why you’ll never find Prince’s music on YouTube — and if you do, it doesn’t stay there long. (Also, 2015 saw Prince scrub most of his back catalog from Spotify.)
Well, it seems the Purple One has relented in one instance: His cover of Radiohead’s breakthrough hit “Creep” at Coachella 2008 is back online, and he seemingly approves.
A YouTube clip of the performance surfaced in late October, and Prince Rodgers Nelson tweeted out a link to it this morning (Dec. 8). According to the NME article he tweeted and the YouTube clip’s description, Yorke himself demanded the “Creep” cover return to the Internet, saying, “Tell him to unblock it. It’s our… song.”
Prince’s version is actually a fairly faithful cover until his heavenly falsetto starts in with some shoo-do-ba-doos just before a scorching guitar solo takes over around the six-minute mark.
As with so many things Prince, it’s jaw-dropping and basically perfect. Watch it above (before he changes his mind).