Context of the times. It came out when openly admitting to being a creep and a weirdo and being sad and outcasted in a rock song was still uncommon. This wasn’t very many years after the peak of hair metal where the most popular rock was about getting blowjobs and being a badass cool guy who parties all the time. Nowadays the biggest pop singer in the world can make her lead single off a new album about being a sad outcast and no one thinks twice but in the early 90s, it was revelatory.

That said, Radiohead made far more interesting music later on, and became a beloved and well respected band, so it boosted “Creep”’s profile.