In 2008, Prince, who was found dead today, surprised the crowd at Coachella with a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’.
It was a thoroughly Prince version of course, filled with little embellishments - vocal squeals and guitar trills - and had everyone of course rushing to their smartphones to film it.
Notorious Luddite that he was, Prince initially had live recordings of it pulled from YouTube, but then Thom Yorke stepped in.
Hearing about this, the Radiohead frontman told AP the same year: "Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our... song."
The band’s blessings, along with the adoration for the cover among fans, clearly reached Prince eventually however, with NPG Music Publishing eventually reinstating the YouTube video in 2015.
They issued a statement on behalf of Prince, telling the uploader: "Hi. As you can see below the video has been restored and is now playing again thus removing the strike. I am sorry it took so long to resolve this matter but happy it worked in your favor. Please except our apologies for the delay. Sincerely, NPG Music Publishing”.
Both Thom Yorke and Prince are/were fierce opponents of internet streaming, but this cover you can at least enjoy guilt-free.
