Creativity Quote by Colin Greenwood

There is a whole biography hiding in that blunt little “but.” Greenwood’s line is a neat act of self-editing: he offers a credential (“classical guitarist”) and immediately fences it off (“but that was it”), as if to say the training mattered, and also that it didn’t get to define him. For a musician best known as Radiohead’s bassist, the quote reads like a quiet rejection of the tidy origin story fans love - the conservatory-to-genius pipeline. He admits the foundation, then shrugs at its authority.

The specific intent feels practical: to downplay virtuoso mythmaking and locate skill where bands actually live, in collaboration and taste rather than formal pedigree. Classical guitar carries connotations of discipline, hierarchy, and sanctioned “proper” music. Greenwood’s quick dismissal punctures that prestige without being anti-intellectual. It suggests the training was a tool, not an identity; a set of muscles he built, then moved on from.

Subtext: a slight suspicion of technique as a kind of trap. In rock culture, “classically trained” can be a badge or a punchline, implying stiffness, showing off, or being emotionally over-processed. Greenwood navigates that minefield by acknowledging his past and refusing to fetishize it. The line also speaks to Radiohead’s broader ethos: the most interesting sounds often come from misusing knowledge, not obeying it.

Contextually, it’s a reminder that musicians aren’t fixed genres; they’re itinerant workers with uneven histories. Training happens. Then life - bands, gigs, instincts - happens louder.