The Bends

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The Bends
Studio album by Radiohead
Released	March 13, 1995
Recorded	August - November 1994
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	48:38
Label	Parlophone Capitol
Producer(s)	John Leckie Nigel Godrich
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Radiohead chronology
My Iron Lung (1994)	The Bends (1995)	OK Computer (1997)

The Bends, released on March 13, 1995 in the United Kingdom and on April 4 in the United States, is the second album by the English rock band Radiohead.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Musical style 3 Reception 4 Themes 5 Production and artwork 6 Song information 7 Miscellanea 8 Clips 9 Release history 10 External links

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Radiohead.

1. "Planet Telex" – 4:19
2. "The Bends" – 4:04
3. "High and Dry" – 4:20
4. "Fake Plastic Trees" – 4:51
5. "Bones" – 3:08
6. "(Nice Dream)" – 3:54
7. "Just" – 3:54
8. "My Iron Lung" – 4:37
9. "Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was" – 3:29
10. "Black Star" – 4:07
11. "Sulk" – 3:43
12. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" – 4:12

[edit] Musical style

The Bends has a reputation as Radiohead's most rock-oriented album for such songs as "Just" and "My Iron Lung," though its songs range from loud guitar anthems to slow and atmospheric ballads. Songs like "Planet Telex" showed increased experimentation with keyboard textures, pointing to the band's future, while The Bends also brought the group a wider audience with singles like "High and Dry", "Fake Plastic Trees" and the hypnotic "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" — a surprise hit which earned Radiohead's highest UK chart placement to that date.

The band credited producer John Leckie (The Stone Roses, The Fall, Pink Floyd) with allowing them the freedom to do things their own way on The Bends. Trying to follow-up the success of their 1992 single "Creep" with further hits, the band also developed their style in more subtle directions after the over-the-top sound of their debut Pablo Honey. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood said, "We did what we wanted for our second album, and we ignored all advice, unlike the first record."^[1]

Key influences cited by the band during the recording were Jeff Buckley, Magazine, Morrissey, R.E.M. and the Pixies. The band also covered songs by Carly Simon and Tim Buckley during this period.

[edit] Reception

Radiohead were already on their way to stardom thanks to the huge success of the single "Creep" from their first LP Pablo Honey, especially in the United States. The Bends met with much stronger acclaim from critics, and within the UK, it assured their role as a standard-bearer of "indie" Brit-rock bands. The album came out during the height of the '90s Britpop movement, benefiting from renewed press attention to British guitar music. However, in the band's home country, Radiohead's music was rarely grouped with Blur, Oasis, Pulp and other so-called "Britpop" acts, instead receiving some acclaim for diverging from the fashionable aspects of the scene.

Only an under-the-radar alternative success in America, where none of its singles caught on (the album debuted at #88 on the Billboard charts, the band's lowest ever showing), in the UK The Bends remains a bestseller. It is well known to listeners outside Radiohead's cult fan base, and apparently well liked by many who disavow their later material. In the 2000s, its musical style has increasingly been seen to form a template for recent British pop bands.

In summer 1995, Radiohead toured as an opening act for R.E.M. (who were by then one of the biggest bands in the world) playing songs from The Bends and extending their popularity with a mass audience.

The band commissioned surreal music videos (including an award-winning clip for "Just") which received airplay worldwide. Among the videos released to promote the album was an enigmatic clip for "Just", directed by filmmaker Jamie Thraves, which remains one of the most talked about rock videos of the 1990s. Jonathan Glazer, who would go on to work with the band on "Karma Police", created a dreamlike and award-winning black-and-white video for "Street Spirit". The band also worked with Jake Scott (who had previously directed R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts") on "Fake Plastic Trees", a video that depicts the band being pushed around a neon supermarket. These, along with a Pulp Fiction-inspired video for "High and Dry", were released later on the home video and DVD 7 Television Commercials, along with several taken from OK Computer.

[edit] Themes

According to the band, The Bends also marked the start of a gradual turn in Thom Yorke's songwriting from personal angst to the more cryptic lyrics and social and global themes which would come to dominate the band's later work. Although most of the album was seen to continue the lyrical concerns of Pablo Honey, albeit in more mature fashion (though one publication called it "music to slit your wrists to"^{[citation needed]}), the songs "Fake Plastic Trees" and in particular "Street Spirit" (together with that single's popular, more experimental b-side "Talk Show Host"), are often seen as a precursor to their next album OK Computer. "Fake Plastic Trees" was partly inspired by the commercial development of Canary Wharf, while Yorke took inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut on "(Nice Dream)" and Ben Okri on "Street Spirit" (see #Song information).

The album's title, referencing decompression sickness, is one of many references to physical illness and brokenness on the album, but has also been seen to tie into the band's own career trajectory. According to one biography, "For their second album, Radiohead chose an extremely symbolic title... Radiohead rose too soon (due to the success of 'Creep', which they were hardly prepared for) and had to suffer the unpleasant consequences (critical backlash, record company pressure, general confusion and dismay about how to continue meaningfully)."^[2]

Jonny Greenwood said, "It's funny, on one side ['Creep'] sped things up for us, because... we never felt that Radiohead was successful, we felt 'Creep' was successful, but it got our name put about, so that sped things up for us. But at the same time it meant that we recorded our second album about a year late, The Bends, most of it was written within months of recording our first record, and we had to tour and tour and we couldn't stop to record. So that slowed things down for us."^[1]

[edit] Production and artwork

The Bends was the first Radiohead album to include production assistance from engineer Nigel Godrich, though its main producer was Abbey Road veteran John Leckie. It was also the first of the band's full length records with artwork by Stanley Donwood, in collaboration with Thom Yorke, who went under the name "The White Chocolate Farm" (later shortened to Tchock). Originally Yorke had wanted to use an image of an iron lung as the cover, but he lost it.^{[citation needed]} The eventual album cover was created at the last minute by morphing a Donwood photograph of a medical dummy with Yorke's own face. It is also the last Radiohead album whose liner notes and artwork include pictures of the band members. The Bends is one of a minority of the band's albums to be recorded mostly in a traditional recording studio.

[edit] Song information

• "Planet Telex" was recorded when Thom was drunk after they had all gone out to a restaurant because the catering staff at RAK [studios] were having a day off. Thom was said to be slumping on the floor and a microphone was placed near his mouth. This also was the only song written in the recording studio. The song's title was originally going to be "Planet Xerox", but this was changed to avoid legal issues.
• "High and Dry" was originally played by Thom's band at Exeter University, the Headless Chickens. However, the Radiohead version came to being after drummer Phil Selway was testing his new bass drum. The song was demo-recorded before Pablo Honey came out, and the band had no plans to release it on their next album until receiving record label pressure. In 2006, Thom Yorke said it was the only time he had had his "arm twisted", to "put it anywhere". In 1998, Jonny Greenwood said, "Seems like there's always a song or two on every album, which is kind of a dead end, and isn't going anywhere... I always felt that 'High and Dry' on The Bends was a good pop song, and is alright, but it felt like it was the end of something, like we'd finished that kind of thing."^[1]
• For "Fake Plastic Trees" producer Paul Kolderie missed a cue during the final verse (the distorted guitars were meant to come in at the beginning of the bar), but the result was so pleasing that the mistake was left on the final mix.
• The lead vocal take of "Fake Plastic Trees" was recorded immediately after the band had seen Jeff Buckley playing upstairs at The Garage in London. Thom went straight to the studio after the concert, recorded the take, then broke down in tears.
• "My Iron Lung" was the band's response to the popularity of its song "Creep". The song has also been noted for similarities to Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box".
• The second of screaming feedback that can be heard in the second chorus of "Black Star" (at the 2.00 minute mark) was actually a mistake made during recording, but was kept due to Thom and Jonny's insistance.
• "Sulk" was written as a response to the Hungerford massacre.
• According to Thom Yorke, "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" was inspired by the book The Famished Road by Ben Okri.

[edit] Miscellanea

• The album is dedicated to the late stand-up comic Bill Hicks.
• The lyrics of The Bends, particularly "Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was", were cited in the British music press as an example of Thom Yorke's alleged depression^{[citation needed]}. Melody Maker ran an article during The Bends period suggesting Thom would be the next rock suicide, a la Kurt Cobain.^{[citation needed]}
• Songs on the album have received cover versions by music artists ranging from metal band Anthrax to Academy Award-winning Uruguayan songwriter Jorge Drexler. See Covers of Radiohead Songs.

[edit] Clips

[edit] Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue numbers
United Kingdom	March 13, 1995	Parlophone	CD	CDPCS 7372
			LP	PCS 7372
United States	April 4, 1995	Capitol	CD	CDP 7243 8 29626 2 5

[edit] External links

• Thom Yorke on Thom Yorke: 1995 "interview" about The Bends

v • d • e Radiohead
Thom Yorke • Jonny Greenwood • Ed O'Brien • Colin Greenwood • Phil Selway
Discography
Albums: Pablo Honey • The Bends • OK Computer • Kid A • Amnesiac • Hail to the Thief • TBA
EPs: Manic Hedgehog • Drill • Itch • My Iron Lung • No Surprises/Running from Demons • Airbag/How Am I Driving? • I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings • COM LAG
Singles: "Creep" • "Anyone Can Play Guitar" • "Pop Is Dead" • "Stop Whispering" • "My Iron Lung" • "High and Dry"/"Planet Telex" • "Fake Plastic Trees" • "Just" • "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" • "Lucky" • "Paranoid Android" • "Karma Police" • "No Surprises" • "Pyramid Song" • "Knives Out" • "There There" • "Go to Sleep" • "2 + 2 = 5"
DVDs: Live at the Astoria • 7 Television Commercials • Meeting People Is Easy • The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time
Related articles
Nigel Godrich • Stanley Donwood • Dead Air Space • Covers of Radiohead songs • Rare songs • Trivia
Other projects
Bodysong • The Eraser • Spitting Feathers
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