The Bends - Radiohead

the bends

Released in 1995, The Bends, for me, is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. A veritable two fingered salute to all that was grunge in the mid nineties, this record was the saving grace of rock music.

From the opening noises of ‘Planet Telex’, (originally named Planet Xerox, but changed due to fear of a law suit from the photocopying manufacturer), through the emotional roller-coaster of tracks like ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, ‘Just’ and one of my top ten rock songs of all time, ‘My Iron Lung’, this record is a definitive statement from Radiohead about their individuality and their dissatisfaction with the blandness surrounding them.

‘The Bends’ is a condition also known as ‘decompression sickness’ that can affect scuba divers if they rise to early from the depths of deep sea to the surface. It can be argued that Radiohead were themselves suffering their own kind of bends due to their meteoric rise to global stardom on the back of their previous album ‘Pablo Honey’ and the subsequent two years of constant touring around the world. Singer Thom Yorke’s lyrical content matured greatly on this record from their previous outings as did the bands sound. In direct contrast to Brit Pop’s pin-up boys ‘Oasis’, Radiohead rocked harder and sang sweeter with more genuine angst than all of Grunge’s ambassadors put together. Oh, and they were also really good at playing their instruments, which was a breath of fresh air in 1995.

radiohead

Yorke has since admitted the only time he has ever buckled to record company pressure was the inclusion of ‘High and Dry’ on ‘The Bends.’ A track that was kicking around on an old demo tape from a college band Yorke was in, ‘High and Dry’ remains one of the bands most popular pop hits and reached #17 on the charts. It’s rumoured to have been written about the motorcycle daredevil, Evel Knievel, Yorke once said about the song “It’s not bad… it’s very bad.”

Produced by John Leckie, engineered by Nigel Godrich, (who went on to produce just about everything Radiohead and Thom Yorke have done since, as well as Paul McCartney, Travis, Beck, Pavement, U2 and REM), ‘The Bends’ was voted one of the 50 Albums That Changed Music by The Observer and #110 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

This is one album you need to own.

Radiohead are:

• Thom Yorke – vocals, guitar, piano, string arrangements
• Jonny Greenwood – guitar, organ, synthesiser, piano, recorder, string arrangements
• Colin Greenwood – bass guitar
• Ed O’Brien – guitar, vocals
• Phil Selway – drums

The Bends Wikipedia

Radiohead Website

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