Two summers ago, Radiohead's "Creep" was a surprise slacker anthem. Frontman Thom Yorke's painful, groaning introspection - "You're so (bleeping) special, but I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo" - suddenly contrasted with a menacing, sputtering guitar break.

Great stuff.

But according to Yorke, the hit song was a handicap.

"We'd just finished doing a tour in Britain that hadn't gone very well, and we were feeling as low as we'd felt since we started - it would have been more useful to make the next record because there seemed nothing else to do," he said recently.

"And then 'Creep' started taking off. It was frustrating, being judged on just that song when we felt we needed to move on. We were forced on tour to support it, and it gagged us, really.

"We were on the verge of breaking up. It was a lesson. The way that modern music culture works is that bands get set in a period of time, and then they repeat that small moment of their lives forever more - that's what everybody wants. And that's just what we weren't going to do."

On the fine new album "The Bends" - the title reflects the pressure and pain caused by the British quintet's rapid rise to fame - the rejuvenated Radiohead hasn't stood still.

Blending process

Veteran producer John Leckie adds depth to the sound, alternating between smashing guitars, lulling melodies and Yorke's sweet lassitude.

The lush, provocative "Fake Plastic Trees" proves that "Creep" wasn't a fluke.

The ballad is No. 11 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the video (in which the band travels through a surreal, futuristic supermarket in shopping carts) is in MTV "Buzz Bin" rotation.

"It was very much a breakthrough on the album," Yorke said.

"The day we recorded that song was a complete nightmare - I had a complete meltdown, so everyone left the studio.

"It was just me and my acoustic guitar, but there was something chilling hanging around in the air. We'd been there for a month, and that was the first time I felt any connection with what Radiohead's about.

"The funny thing is it took bloody months to get everything else on top of it to sound natural. All the bizarre keyboard noises were done at Abbey Road using an old Hammond organ Paul McCartney used on 'Magical Mystery Tour.'

All cylinders

"We had it plugged into all the guitar amplifiers, every single effect, all the knobs and switches going.

"It was deafeningly loud, filling up the whole studio.

"That song could have easily sounded like Guns N' Roses. We wanted it to sound like Phil Spector."

Tracks like "My Iron Lung," "Just" and the beautiful "Black Star" aren't easy hits, but they prove Radiohead belongs in the big leagues.

"It's amusing to watch new British acts shoved at Americans, but at the same time it's sad, because it's to the detriment of true musicians. We have this running joke that we've successfully managed to miss every scene by at least half a year. So now we don't even bother."

Radiohead has kicked off a summer tour and will perform at the Mercury Cafe tomorrow night.

It's tough on Yorke, a bedroom-poet type.

Trials of traveling

"It's like being one of those Russian astronauts who stayed out circling the Earth for a year in a metal fuselage - it's a physical and emotional challenge. The only constructive element is the limbo aspect - it's quite useful for writing and reading and general brain stuff.