Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees 

Heard this blasting out of my teenage daughters room last night. My work is done here

I’m jealous of anyone who listens to this tune for the first time.

この曲を聴きながら、日光がちょうど私の体を覆うような時間帯で床に寝そべっています。このまま眠りたい

I called into work sick the day this came out, bought the cd and drove around the back country roads all day. This album is the soundtrack of my 17s, love it!

"why did you take so long to buy groceries?" me:

"If I could be who you wanted all the time." Hits hard

"She looks like the real thing She tastes like the real thing My fake plastic love" That is the climax, the painful truth. My blindness and all those fake ideas, people, emotions and things I believed and wanted to believe are real...

It was 1995 when this masterpiece came out. 1995 and life was already “fake”; if only they knew what would happen in the end, Facebook, Instagram, having to buy countless things to “fit in.” Radiohead, they were always ahead of their time. Always excellent, brilliant.

“If I could be who you wanted, all the time…” Kills me every time man..

I am 65 and just discovered this band. I love it.

Radiohead: the only band to successfully use polystyrene in a song

"And if I could be who you wanted......if I could be who you wanted......all the time.......all the time." Just KILL ME ALREADY. My god, this pulls at my heart strings like no other.

Shortly after my wife died, I drove passed where she was buried, and I heard this for the first time. We had marriage struggles, but we worked them out, we loved each other very much, & had a daughter, 11 months later bone cancer took my wife. The song was like us. I had to pull over. Its been over 20yrs, since and I still Love her.

When i'm in a supermarket, with my caddie, I always see Thom singing in the middle of my groceries. Always and forever.

"If i could be who you wanted," this line gets me

One of the greatest songs ever. Heard it when I was 7 in 95. Listen to it all the time at age 36. Wish I could have seen them in concert.

It doesn't take more than the first chord for the nostalgic feeling to take over. A pure classic.

they go so far deep into sadness it's almost happy again that's catharsis

I can still feel the cellophane wrap in my hands when I opened this album for the first time.

still one of the most beautiful songs ever...

I was driving around Boston with my girlfriend listening to this song when she told me she loved me for the first time, she passed away 3 years ago and this song will always bring me back to her, I love you forever sweetheart

For 25 years, Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" has been in the background, but it's only now that I truly listen to it, truly feel every word. After eight years with my wife, at 42, I suddenly grasp the full weight of this song. It's strange how a familiar melody can suddenly hit differently. The tears I shed now aren't just for lost moments or past disillusionments, but for the painful acknowledgment of what I've experienced and felt in my relationship. Thom Yorke's voice, heavy with melancholy, touches me deeper than ever, resonating with my own fractures and revealing truths I had long ignored. It's a poignant revelation, sad yet beautifully unexpected.

My father was an exceptional man, he was a seaman, a captain, so naturally he would leave home, come back after some time, then leave again etc. The strange thing now is that since he passed away 6 years ago, hes been visiting me quite frequently in my dreams. My dreams are very lucid, sometimes i get confused if i dream or not, so i ask him why hes back since hes dead. Its like he comes back from one of his trips abroad and then he leaves

Radiohead is one of the few bands that make me feel melancholic, nostalgic and euphoric all at the same time. They're honestly like a drug to me. I can listen to them when I'm sad, happy or anything in between and I always come out feeling better afterwards. They're honestly one of the greatest bands in existence.

I think this is the most human song ever written

This song reminds me of the feeling of trying to hold on to something you know was never real in the first place. Something that you try and prop up with an illusion of reality but deep down you feel it’s as illusory as the waking dreams you have of how things should be but never will be. Then it comes to a point where it all comes crashing down shattering in a myriad different pieces of what you thought was but never is. It can be anything. Love. Hope. Life. Your self image.

One of the most exquisite songs you could ever treat your ears to. Heartbreaking beauty here. 💔

Freezing cold morning at 2am in 1995 and we had left the cd playing all night, i woke up and this song was playing with the sound of the fire burning in the background... it was one of those surreal moments time stood still...i just listened with this melancholic feeling before drifting back to sleep. My life has been a series of ups and downs and twists and turns since then, sometimes it helps to go back to that moment in my mind to find the peace i once knew as a teen in the 90's.

I was 20 when this came out. I was lost, reaching for my identity. Now I'm 47, a dad of 4 and my wife is leaving me. That feeling of being lost is still here.

Thom Yorke saw Jeff Buckley live & said he was a big influence on his singing style i.e. using the whole range of his vocal abilities & the use of subtleties in his singing. He said this was the first song where he applied the inspiration he got from hearing Jeff Buckley. If anybody reading this has not heard Jeff Buckley's album Grace & you like Radiohead & Thom Yorke's singing style & range, then check out the full album on you tube. I'm not saying it sounds like a Radiohead album, but you can hear what Thom Yorke meant about the use of vocal range & expression, with power & with subtlety. It's a masterpiece of an album, great songs & a majestic vocal performance. What a loss Jeff Buckley is to the world of music. Great songwriter too.

I am sad to say I forgot how brilliant Radiohead were, until my 15 year old son reminded me. He started listening to them and reintroduced his mother to their brilliance.. Love love love.❤❤❤

Radiohead is one of those rare bands that's perfect for the expanse between waking and sleeping. Too tired to stay up, but not tired enough to pass out. There are only a few bands that can properly fill those hours, and Radiohead's definitely one of them.

Radiohead comment section is the most depressingly wholesome place on the internet

in mere weeks i became literally obsessed with radiohead, completely new to almost every song that werent no surpises, creep, or karma police. ive learned the bends is one their most phenomenal albums and this song is just amazing. if i ever have kids, i really want them to listen to this funky band

“If I could be who you wanted, all the time…” I can't say anything about this part, it's simply kills me

Here’s my interpretation. I think it’s about how we hold onto relationships that are disappointing and ultimately fake. Deep down we know they are fake, but the idea of leaving them behind and being alone makes us feel that we would blow through the ceiling. We might think to ourselves “Maybe it really doesn’t get better than this”. So instead we keep watering our fake plastic trees in the hopes that they become something real. This process wears us out everyday because no matter how much we water that plant, the tree will never become real. We trade being alone with the feeling of dissatisfaction and emptiness because we can’t seem to let them go. We then realise we aren’t who they need either and become insecure about our place in their life, just as they are in ours. Two people destined to stay together who should’ve always been apart.

Thom York has one of the greatest voices in the history of rock music.

was listening to this endlessly the day my dad died in april. don't know how i'm gonna listen to it ever again, to be honest. thinking about how my dad just never could be the guy any of us wanted him to be, no matter how much he wanted to. how much i wanted to run screaming from the hospital room he was laying unresponsive in. my mind has put up a block where his memory is and i just can't push past it. dunno how i feel about it. rest in peace i guess.

i listened to this song while i was on the plane, looking at the sky. and suddenly i realized, that it’s really magical how we get to meet people in our lives with the same interests as us. in this vast, diverse, world, the universe allowed me to meet you ♡

This song kisses all my scars.

"If i could be who you wanted If i could be who you wanted All the time All the time" Always hits me really hard

In the late 90s everytime I saw a new Radiohead music video I was taken to a magical world rampant with raw emotions. I’m 46 now and they will always remain my favorite band

One of the few Radiohead songs to consistently make me cry, it's just too real

I am 97 years old and just discover this band I hope that have a little more time to hear their songs

This is one of the most important songs of my life.

absolutely amazing. i have no more words. absolutely fucking amazing.

Thank you for sharing this video with others - I needed to see it this evening

I have never heard a more mood altering song like this... If you are happy, this song brings you down a notch or two... If you are sad, it picks you up... powerful

I totally understand listening to "sad" music while depressed would seem to only reinforce the depression, but sometimes "sad" songs help a depressed person feel understood and less alone. I am also a fan of Portishead, and everyone hearing me listen to it would assume that it was depressive... I found it tremendously uplifting.

This song continues to be in my daily playlist! I can’t listen to it enough and love singing with my heart and soul. It speaks to our inner child who wants real love in a fake world. What could be more cathartic ?

I know these lads have moved well beyond this song and this album. But I really hope they realize how awesome this song is. This is the one that got me started on my Radiohead journey. And it still gives me goosebumps all these years later.

2023, this song makes even more sense than in 1997. I was 12 years old, poor kid in Brazil, and this song gave me the desire to learn English just to understand what the song was saying. I wanted to read the feelings in the lyrics. Radiohead changed my life for better for sure. 🇧🇷

How can a song I have heard a million times still break my heart like it was the first time?

Guess I didn’t know why I had this on repeat years ago, but then again, I definitely did.

September 2023 and I've just discovered this absolute gem. Thom Yorkes voice is unreal.

"If I could be who you wanted, all the time..." *_I'M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE_*

this is definitely my favorite Radiohead song

I've been listening to and singing this song for 20+ years, and it's still blissful to hear ❤

I remember when this video premiered on MTV. Absolutely loved it since ❤❤❤

This song gets more relevant with each year.

The Bends is my favorite album of theirs. EVERY song is good. A rare acheivement.

I remmeber listening to this one morning on MTV on the way to middle school and it sincerely changed my life since

I listened to this a lot many years ago when my best friend died. People who don't understand think Radiohead would have made those times worse. It didn't. It got me through. This song released a feeling inside me that no other song ever will. A feeling of hope and peace. Thank you for this song and the help it gave me in the darkness ❤

Lyrics: [Verse 1] A green plastic watering can For a fake Chinese rubber plant In a fake plastic earth That she bought from a rubber man In a town full of rubber plans To get rid of itself [Chorus 1] It wears her out It wears her out It wears her out It wears her out [Verse 2] She lives with a broken man A cracked polystyrene man Who just crumbles and burns He used to do surgery For girls in the eighties But gravity always wins [Chorus 2] And it wears him out It wears him out It wears him out It wears [Verse 3] She looks like the real thing She tastes like the real thing My fake plastic love But I can't help the feeling I could blow through the ceiling If I just turn and run [Chorus 3] And it wears me out It wears me out It wears me out It wears me out [Outro] And if I could be who you wanted If I could be who you wanted All the time All the time

First time I went to London, my friend took me to Camden. We walked around and then went to a small coffeeshop. The coffeeshop was empty. My friend went to the bathroom and I sat at a table by the window. I remember the water of the Regent's Canal flickering under the night lights. Suddenly, this song began playing in the radio. In the building by the other side of the canal, people were having a dance lesson (salsa, it seemed). I sat there in silence, just mesmerized at all the beauty this world has to offer. The right song, at the right place, at the right time. It was unforgettable.

Got to be the best Radiohead track ever. Absolutely love the lyrics and the music. Awesome.

Absolutely stunning, from start to finish. Will always be my favourite Radiohead song.

UNPOPULAR TAKE: I'm really not depressed. I just listen to this song cause it's an absolute banger.

Radiohead tried to record this for months and couldn't figure it out, until they went to see Jeff Buckley live. 'Thom sat down and played it in three takes, then burst into tears afterwards. And that's what we used for the record' Colin, 1997

Unforgettable Masterpiece

Probably one of the most emotional song in the rock alternativ history. The melody, the lyrics, the voice.

Gotta admit, things get sad once you grow up.

No matter how many times I listen to this... the haunting, heartbreaking notes... gets me everytime...

“It wears me out” this song is awesome

i listened to music like this when i was in some of the darkest times of my life, including this song. Im glad i can listen to it now with a different mindset of growth and nostalgia

every single time he sings "if i could be who you wanted... all the time" i cry

''I wish they would only take me as I am.' - Vincent van Gogh

how beautiful..

“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams.

Being an angst ridden teenager when this came out in the 90s this really expressed my melancholy emotions perfectly. I felt imperfect and misunderstood and this expressed what I couldn't express. Radiohead defined me as a teenager growing up when other groups couldn't. They got me and I got them. They gave me the validation I craved and wanted. It was music for the jilted generation.

timeless song 😌

I genuonely dont know why but the shot of thom waving goodbye to the child make me sob very suddenly

I was in a bar in Florida and they had an empty piano sitting there. In walked a very large Russian guy speaking broken English and he asked the bartender if he could play the piano. He started playing popular show tunes and no one was really paying attention to him . He saw me looking at him and he said to me what would you like to hear and I said I'm sure you don't know the music that I like and he replied try me. I said Radiohead. He started with Paranoid Android and played about 10 songs by Radiohead before he left. I asked the bartender who he was and he said I have no idea I've never seen him before. It was great almost like a ghost walked in played Radiohead and then disappeared. It was an interesting night that I enjoyed immensely. I think this memory of mine pretty much indicates how universal and overarching the music Radiohead makes.

Rediscovering this song after years away is like being reborn.

This song is from my youth. I was listening alone in my room. I can still remember my adolescent heart.

it's comforting, then tears open your heart and soul to bleed and somehow seals you back up again into the womb of quiet meloncholy. A release few songs can give. And the hammond organ that helped it along was a perfect compliment.

"She looks like the real thing, She taste like the real thing, My fake plastic love" , "And if i could be who you wanted" these parts hit me so hard right now..

When you lose your mom at the supermarket

Feels like im travelling back to a place, era i once knew. I can truly feels those vibes within me. Yeah, ive been there before, once. Time passed.

If you don’t get goosebumps throughout this killer masterpiece, then you are half dead! I think it’s their best song and it’s not even close.

sometimes we need sadnees to make us apreciate happiness and sometimes we need darkness to fall in love with light....

I’m high asf this song just made me cry I ain’t gon lie

I love this song so much.

"She looks like the real thing , She tastes like the real thing, My fake plastic love" Idk why but that part gives me so much chill and sadness in same time..

The best 240p video ever.

It's not easy to be unique these days with so many different styles out there, but nobody sounds like Radiohead. Fantastic music

Man, I remember first seeing this video and hearing this song back in the late 90's. I was frozen, knowing that something truly special had been added to my life.

That crescendo in the 3rd verse to the ending.. goosebumps every single time.

There's no way to describe this. Is it rock? Folk? Grunge? Alternative? Psychedelic? It sounds like all of them put together ... and it's beautiful

Nostalgia , lembro que acordava de madrugada com minha irmã e meu irmao , ficávamos gravando clipe ma MTV , 😢 saudades demais dessa época que não volta mais .. Saudades dos meus irmãos 😢