The Bends was Radiohead's first masterwork– and the perfect Britpop record. Consumerism, depression, and overnight fame seem like common topics for Radiohead at this point, but all they had in 1995 was the promising yet shallow Pablo Honey.

"She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyrene man"

Decompression Sickness

   Believe it or not, there was a time when I did not really like Radiohead. I know, how can someone be a music nerd and not love Radiohead? There's a reason OK Computer has a 4.25 on RateYourMusic (not to mention the #1 album of all time), but for the longest time I thought it was idiotic. Don't get it twisted, I thought they were great musicians, but I couldn't stand the fact that they were held so highly. I didn't get what was so special about OKC, I didn't understand why Kid A was the greatest left turn in music history, and I really didn't get why Pitchfork gave like 4 of their albums a perfect 10. I didn't always feel this way though. When I was first getting into RYM-core stuff, ITAOTS and OKC were constantly in my rotation. Something about Radiohead was so crazy to me, since I had only heard "Creep" before then. I thought they were a mystical creature, and OK Computer was a crazy piece of music. I quickly moved on from it after discovering Modest Mouse (more on that at a later date), though, and ever since I haven't really enjoyed Radiohead too much. Until recently. A few months ago, maybe April, I decided to take a listen to that stupid 1997 album again, and I finally decided that Radiohead is worth my time. I've thought Kid A was a solid record for a while, but this cemented the group's legacy in my head. I had hated on them for so long, but now I finally understand. Yeah, sure, I think it's still a bit overrated but I get why people would think this is the best album of all time. Definitely in my top 20. Anyway, this post isn't about that album. It's time to talk about The Bends. 

    I can't say that The Bends is forgotten or underrated because if we're being honest, nothing in Radiohead's discography is underrated. Shit on any album of theirs and plenty of people will come crawling to defend it. But I will say that I misunderstood it. I always liked a few of the tracks off of it, like "High and Dry" and "Just," but it never really stood out to me or resonated with me in any way. It was, to me, what Coldplay was doing in 2000, which I liked well enough but didn't care for. It wasn't crazy, it was just there. I didn't get it.  Like I said, I've been listening to a lot of OK Computer so I decided to give another album a try. I listened through it again a few nights ago, after it being 2 years since I listened through it all the way. And guess what. I get it now. I really do get it now. I know, I'm about 27 years too late, but I finally understand what it is about The Bends. The guitars and the overdubs and the drums and the bass-lines and the song writing and every single thing about The Bends is masterful and connects in such a beautiful way. Something about every single one of those tracks hits me deep in my soul like nothing else has ever done. I can't believe I'm saying this about a Radiohead album. Freshman year me would be so ashamed. This album's tracks just join together as a whole so perfectly. Not to say that that the unnamed 1997 album doesn't come together, because it most certainly does, but it's just different on The Bends. It's a perfect journey. It's like experiencing a part of yourself that you've never known before. It is ego death. It is realizing that you are not who you think you are.

    My thing with OK Computer (there I go) is that I feel like the group dives too deep into the whole "I hate technology and I'm going to kill myself" (me too) thing that it just comes off as pretentious and rage-inducing. As much as I love that album I would be lying if it doesn't frustrate me sometimes. It's like Father John Misty's Pure Comedy, which is an album I can only listen to at certain times. It feels like I'm being preached to. As wonderful as that record is, I just cannot stand it. It makes me too angry. OK Computer is the same way, but it just makes me angry in a different way. I get tired of hearing Thom Yorke's welping and crying and I feel bad for saying that because he's been going through it for the last 30 years of his life but I'll be damned if it isn't true. I just feel like the depression and anti-consumerism are both at a pretty good level on this record, a level where I'm not feeling like I'm drowned in it. It's good, it's nice, I dig it. It just hits a balance that everything else I've listened to fails to hit. It strikes something inside of me, and that means it's good. The way the tremolo hits on "Planet Telex," the way Thom's falsetto lulls on "Fake Plastic Trees," Jonny Greenwood's guitar on "Just," the opening riff of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," everything. I could go on and on and on about how wonderful this album is and how it just connects perfectly. From point A to point B to point C and so on. Everything is perfect. Every single note feels like it matters. This album is a beautiful, and perhaps the most beautiful, record from Radiohead's discography. And I have no clue how they did it.

Selected Listening: