The Bends

This was one of my favourite albums as a teenager and it's still as good as the first time I heard it. I've always liked Radiohead, but I'm not as big a fan as a lot of people. In my opinion, this is the best Radiohead album. Truly excellent from start to finish.

4.5 stars rounded up for sentimental reasons Full disclosure: this is my favourite band. I wasn’t a cool elementary school kid who was listening to this in 1995. I didn’t become a fan until university, between Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. I was a student figuring out who I was and my take on the world after my varsity hockey career ended. My laptop was full of Radiohead songs that I had grabbed from my brother’s computer. I threw them on shuffle on Windows Media Player with all my other music. Every time I’d hear an amazing song and had to check what it was - it was Radiohead. It happened so many times that I decided to properly dive in and never looked back. So my initial experience with The Bends was in a world where OK Computer and Kid A had already been established as classics. There was a big portion of the fanbase (ateaseweb, anyone?) that looked down on The Bends as an inferior precursor to those 2 masterpieces. Ultimately I think that’s snobbery. The Bends may not be as complex or conceptually unified as Kid A/OKC, but it’s an incredibly listenable record. I still listen to it all the time! It’s so difficult to talk about Radiohead albums without the context of what came before and after. As a follow-up to Pablo Honey, The Bends is a big leap forward. PH is ok, it has some overlooked good songs and a bunch of so-so stuff that sounds like second-rate versions of other popular rock bands. On The Bends they sound more confident, and Thom’s persona is more fully developed. Still, I don’t think anything on this album really predicts the even bigger leap they took after this with OK Computer. My main quibbles with The Bends are: Thom’s angsty lyrics didn’t age as well as I would’ve wanted. On some songs he comes across trite, a 90s Gen X cliche. And the gripes that resonated with me when I was in my early 20s don’t hit as hard anymore. But really, he was just capturing a zeitgeist and his own internal turmoil at the time. With Thom I’ve always felt it was more about the expressiveness of his voice than the literal words he sings anyway. My other critique is the reason I’d technically take a half star off: sequencing. They have two pairs of songs back-to-back that sound really similar: High and Dry + Fake Plastic Trees and Just + My Iron Lung. It doesn’t bother me as much for the first pair but the second two have a dated post-grunge sound so it’s more noticeable. I’m splitting hairs because I like all those songs but I guess I grade on a curve when it comes to this band. Planet Telex - Starting out very strong with one of my favourite tracks on the album. Thankfully, we have long since left behind its association with Jian Ghomeshi’s Q (yes, I was a regular listener before the shit came to light). When I saw them play this live I was ecstatic! The Bends - The Bends is ostensibly about the alienation Thom felt after rocketing to fame with the success of Creep. He starts off singing about finding his real friends, asking “where are you now when I need you?” By the third verse he’s making fun of himself - “they brought in the CIA / the tanks and the whole marines to blow me away” - until it all explodes into one of Jonny’s most satisfying solos. Thom belts out a final desperate cry for connection, “I wanna be part of the human race!” before deflating back down to ask again, “where are you now when I need you?” We don’t know who he’s searching for - his real friends, his girlfriend, any authentic human connection at all, all of the above? I don’t know if Thom ever really adjusted to being a star, but this is one of his only songs that seems to directly reference fame. It’s a total banger and I love it. They performed this on Jools Holland at the time and I’m probably personally responsible for 90% of the that video’s views on YouTube. Thom never sings this “straight” anymore. On the occasion they do play it, he sneers and mumbles his way through it as if he’s mocking his younger self. It’s too bad. High and Dry - I feel like there are 2 types of people: those who love this song, and those who spent too much time wanking on Radiohead message boards. This is clearly a great song and people should get over themselves. (I’m excusing the band themselves because I do sympathize with getting sick of your own songs) A lot of Radiohead songs are cited for “inventing Coldplay” and this is a prime suspect. Coldplay and their ilk took High and Dry’s acoustic guitar + falsetto formula, dialled up the romantic longing and turned down the bitterness to ride a wave of cash money. It’s fine - I like Coldplay’s first two albums! I actually came to Radiohead via Coldplay. The best part about the Radiohead clone army is that it pissed off Thom enough that he eventually blew up Radiohead’s sound and did something completely different. That intense commitment to innovation is what makes Radiohead great. Anyway I like this song and it’s too bad the band seems to hate it. Fake Plastic Trees - Even though I think this song influenced Chris Martin just as much as High and Dry, luckily the band have not disowned this one. The lyrics are pretty on the nose, but it’s Thom’s emotional delivery that gets me every time. Anyone who’s mystified that girlies are in love with Thom needs to watch videos of him singing this live in the 90s. I cried when I finally heard them play this live! Bones - One of the few songs where you can hear Thom’s English accent! (On “I used to fly like Peter Pan”) (Nice Dream) - An overlooked song that I absolutely love. Thom’s vocals sound angelic. There’s a video of him performing a solo acoustic version at Much Music that I’ve watched approx 100000x. Just - Thom and Jonny really went off on this one. The vague sinister tone, the sneering vocals, the screeching guitar, and that blistering outro solo. It’s so good! Iconic video. My Iron Lung - Despite my complaints about the sequencing, this song absolutely rips. I love that it’s a formulaic grunge song that mocks grunge (including their own song Creep). The “if you’re frightened” bridge and subsequent solo make the song for me. Bullet Proof - Not a song I put on outside the context of this album but I’m fine with it as an interlude. Black Star - I love the fade-in intro. This could have been a hit single! They had no business burying such a good song so low in the tracklist. This is where everyone puts their filler. Instead they pull out this melancholy gem that projects a failing relationship to celestial proportions. The juxtaposition of the mundane drudgery of daily life with interstellar imagery is so Thom. He does this on OK Computer with Subterranean Homesick Alien and on A Moon Spaced Pool with the devastating, perfect Decks Dark (2 of my favourite Radiohead songs!). Sulk - Thom never really sang like this after this album. I get that he changed his songwriting style but it’s kind of a shame. I guess he couldn’t have belted like this forever anyway. Street Spirit - I think this song/video helped earn them their enduring reputation of a depressing, self-serious band. It does kind of sound like a Metallica ballad. It’s a little heavy-handed but this is still a beautiful, impactful album closer. I’ll never love a band as much as I loved Radiohead in my early 20s. But that’s ok! Every time I listen to them I can get that feeling again.

The perfect soundtrack for my early 20's angst. I find it fascinating that they released this right after Pablo honey and creep... in my pretentious opinion it is so leagues ahead that it kind of tickles me. I LOVE RADIOHEAD!!

Radiohead is my favorite band. Ever. No contest. So this review is far from unbiased, but that's okay. I absolutely adore The Bends. It's not reinventing the wheel or anything like that, but it's such a solid guitar rock album. The song writing and guitar work are beyond amazing. Some of the best riffs land on this record. Being Radiohead's most accessible album (maybe besides In Rainbows), it does a great job at introducing who they are and what they're about. Playing well and intricately while delivering some kick ass songs. 5*, almost perfect. Standouts: The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees, My Iron Lung

Honestly one of the most beautiful works of musical art I've ever experienced. I can't believe I'd never heard "Bullet Proof..." before today. Gorgeous.

The album that launched the careers of Travis, Keane, and Coldplay. But let's not hold that against them... Angst meets pop. This album has tension in spades, bitter lyrics beautifully sung, punctuated by Johnny Greenwood threatening to break his guitar at any opportunity.

i love this album i wish british people were real

I'm incapable of separating this from my nostalgia, so...I won't try. 5/5

Dang, I forgot how good this album is. Haven't listened to it in years and just played it on repeat for a while. Great stuff.

I really do enjoy their first two albums, it really goes to show that even just starting out, they were really damn good but of course their best material is literally everything after from No Surprises and Exit Music for a Film, to the flawless perfection that is the whole Kid A album, to the rest of their neat electronic albums I don’t think they ever had a low point in their career despite being diverse as fuck, it’s all consistently enjoyable I think that’s why I like Swans, King Crimson, etc. Radiohead is right there with them as one of my favorite bands 10/10

I've never listened to much Radiohead, so I was very interested going into this. I was not disappointed! This album felt incredibly well crafted, from the production to the music to the lyrics. The album had an overall "sound" to it, but each song stood on its own and was interesting and unique. Thom Yorke's vocals on this album are nothing short of ethereal. His lyrics are not always understandable, but I didn't care; his stylings really lend something extra to the songs, and he knows just what style(s) and vocalizations to use in a given musical scenario to take the track to the next level. I found myself waiting to hear what he was going to do from track to track. Based on what I know about 90s music, I could quickly tell upon hearing this that there was not anyone else quite like Radiohead at the time. Though I was not really aware of who Radiohead had influenced in the music world, it is incredibly obvious upon hearing this album that it was setting standards for where alt rock would go for years to come following the grunge era. Bands like Muse, The Killers, and Coldplay were clearly influenced by this album in their own works, 10+ years after this album came out. This album was a definite win for me!

One of my most-listened-to albums of all times. Classic.

An immense, powerful classic!

One of the first alt-rock albums in a long time I’ve listened top to bottom. It’s great if you’re feeling a bit under the weather.

Great, never listened to them, can see why they are popular.

A nearly perfect album. One great song after another. The guitar playing throughout is amazing and that includes some of the best accoustic guitar strumming anywhere. This was my introduction to Radiohead and it remains my favorite. OK Computer and Kid A are more ambitious and perhaps greater accomplishments, but for me this is where Radiohead hit their sweet spot 5 🌟

I had never heard the whole album- I see why so many of my friends had it

Alternative rock at its best. Strong and catchy songwriting. I love Radiohead. Bye.

It's downright frustrating how this album gets no love in the shadow of Radiohead's later, more experimental work. This is an album which exemplifies guitar-driven brit-rock, full of incendiary licks and inward-looking lyrics. It's almost as though the sheer consistency of this album is held against it compared to the zigs and zags of the following albums, even the zigs and zags within the tracks of those albums.

great but i can’t give it a 5 bcs their other albums are better the first album here i’ve listened to in full multiple times before

Dude I've been missing out. I thought Radiohead was annoying like how Nirvana is annoying to me but they aren't. Oh my god my eyes are opened.

It is a noisy, grim album that will leave an impression.

My second Radiohead album on this journey. I like Radiohead but have really only listened to the hits and Kid A. I liked In Rainbows when I got it 6 months ago but now totally forget what it sounded like. Anyway, I liked this. Most of it was a little too slow and dreary for me to listen to regularly, but it's good stuff regardless. "Just" was the highlight for me.

Just a brilliant album, forgot how good

I used to listen to this one a lot as a kid. It's a great album, although it'll always be eclipsed a little by OK computer.

Overrated

In my opinion a very mediocre rock album. The guitar work and most instrumentals, were nothing particularly special, but I did enjoy the synths when they were used, and the lyrics were sometimes a little idiosyncratic. For me the record was overall just nothing really special, as a whole, but I did enjoy certain tracks a lot, I could listen to certain tracks, but the bigger picture was missing for me. Favorite song: Sulk. Overall score 5/10

There's three things you can do if you have a decently selling but not well loved album (well, five, but breaking up generally isn't anyone's first choice, and being dropped is less of a decision and more of something that happens TO you.). You can refine the style you've already got, you can try something new, or you can try to do both at the same time. The last one is the riskiest, but also possibly the most rewarding, and I think that's what happened with The Bends. The album isn't a million miles from Pablo Honey in its construction, though everything is more polished and with more thought put in And yet the vibe is very different. Thom's clearly in a melancholy mood, and while the biting sarcasm is still there it's much more balanced. If Creep is bare-bones angst, this one has some meat to it. If you love guitar, then you'll have a buffet-load to consume (Just has a ridiculous riff, and I mean that as a compliment) and the rhythm section is on point. There's also clearly an effort to make the songs distinct. It's almost sad then that The Bends struggles to get out of the shadows of the band's later albums. It would be unfair to call it monotonous when they do it so well, but it's distinctly lacking in lyrical and emotional variety and arguably about 10 minutes longer than it needed to be. It is a good next step, and I'd listen to a lot of these songs in isolation but I'm not sure it'd make my 1001 list. Probably shouldn't play it while you're depressed either (unless you're the sort of person who it helps) Tangent: My Iron Lung would be a better version of a 'complain about how famous we are' song than The Byrds managed, if the chorus wasn't near unlistenable. Fave: Just Least Fave: My Iron Lung (good lyrics though) Strong Bad Demerit Score: 1

Another one that's a perfectly nice vibe and not much else.

I haven't listened to much of Radiohead, so I'm not sure whether this album is typical or not for them (or at least typical for them in the mid-90s), but it's an interesting combination of very familiar-sounding mid-90s indie/alt-rock sort of stuff, yet without being at all distinctive beyond a song or two that might have made some air-time (like "High and Dry" or "My Iron Lung", I think, but then again it might just be very similar to some *other* mid-90s indie/alt-rock tune). I *was* a bit surprised that some of the songs were a little harder-edged (and a teensy bit less falsetto) than I expected of Radiohead. It kind of feels like this isn't really a great Radiohead album to include in the 1001 album collection, frankly, but maybe it was more influential than I appreciate, and certainly the "Influence" and "Legacy" sections of the Wikipedia article suggest I'm just ignorant of this album's majesty. Either way, entertaining enough, in a somewhat disappointingly generic way.

It was fine? I didn't love it and it got a bit samey but the sounds were nice. I can't decide if it gets points or loses points for the terrifying album art

favs: high and dry, bones, just, black star. bitch fuck you and tom pork

Sexually frustrated angst noise... It's punk and that is what I more or less expect. I just don't like it that much in a normal listening context. Probably makes for a fun show but not exactly for musical appreciation, rather a visceral emotional out cry. Not cerebral at all, pure brain stem in a reptilian way as if the Id itself made music.

Es unhörbar zu nennen wäre unfair. Es ist schon atmosphärisch und es sind schöne Momente auf dem Album.

i was cautiously optimistic after ok computer finally Did Something For Me recently but man i still rly rly dont get this tbh FHJFSHJFS. whatever combination of brain chemicals have to go off for me to find aching beauty in the guitar lines and weird winding melodies has not happened yet, i think im still just sitting here not understanding radiohead as a Guitar Rock band at all, i dont hate it but it just washes right over me in an entirely uninvolving way both sonically and emotionally. i thought thom yorke had clicked for me as a vocalist, for a chunk of this i genuinely thought he had somehow unclicked, but tbh maybe i just prefer his semi-inhuman ghost voice floating over those more adventurous, expressionist soundscapes...the physicality and grounding of a Real Band, even one playing in a haunted cavern as is the vibe here, just seems unflattering to me personally. street spirit is pretty undeniable, but other than that...its pretty flower-power

A few ok songs early on but goddamn is this boring as fuck.

Lame

Yay! Another opportunity to try to make myself appreciate Radiohead. And ... no, it isn't growing on me. Boring and I simply don't like Thom Yorke's voice. Having listened all the way through I don't loathe the whole album, High and Dry is pretty ok, a good use for Thom's upper register. Street Spirit is a perfect example of a song I really don't like at all. In between the album just slogs along, leaving me feeling a little sour and down, not at all what the album art promises. I hope this is Radiohead's last entry on this list but I suspect it isn't. 1.5 stars.

More straight forward then some of the later albums we've listened to. It's just not my thing. Fake plastic trees bugs me as much as when i first heard it. Thom Yorke's voice is still weird.

Sorry folks, I just plain don't get the fuss around this mob. Not awful, but where's the juice?

I don't like Radiohead.

Egentligen ganska bra rock men man tål ju cirka 1 min av den gnälliga rösten...

not more Radiohead.. this is just one dull indie tune after another, although the shitty whine vocals suit these better perhaps e.g. Bones than their try-hard wanna be avant garde later crap

God Damn Boring

Boring.

Every song sounded identical and I don't think I could remember a single bit about any song.

NOT ad Radiohead fan!! Super overrated!!!!

Mid. Not my thing. No songs saved.

i hate Radiohead. It's so god damn whiny.

Meh, never liked radiohead, a bit boring

Meh

I found this quite boring and repetitive in style and content.

Not my favorite. I gave this a try, but cannot stand Thom Yorke’s voice.

i just know there’s a fortnite kid out there somewhere with a grandpa who is so annoying about this album

high and dry single was alright.

Kanker

Hated it then… still hate it

Not a fan, skip.

"Repetitive Grunge Cacophony". I like Kid A and Amnesiac pretty well, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are musicians I admire, they generally do cool stuff with harmony and dissonance, but I found this album tedious.

Meh. Didn't like it 30 years ago. Sad to say I still don't.

Iron Lung is the only tolerable song on this album because it's about how much they hate the song Creep

Parempi pitää kuuntelijat uneliaina - muuten he saattaisivat kysyä liikaa kysymyksiä.

Never liked them, and I still don't now.

BAD

Met frisse tegenzin mijn grootste allergie aangegaan. Ok, ik heb niet de hele nummers beluisterd maar echt mijn best gedaan. Wat een zemelaars...

Many load of rubbish. Avoid

Don't even need to listen. One of the best albums of all time.

This is just a perfect album.

Bem massa Melhor música do álbum é (nice dream). Mudei de ideia, é 'Just'. Agora eu acho que é 'My Iron Lung'. 'Sulk' é bom demaaais. Street Spirit é fiiiiire. álbum épico, não sei por que adiei tanto pra ouvir, mas agora que ouvi, amei.

Easy five stars. And I probably wouldn't even count The Bends among my favourite Radiohead albums.

I know this album well. A great example of artistic growth and gambling done well.

A real edge here. I understand why Radiohead wouldn’t want to live here forever, but this is great.

One of my favorites. Fell in love with Radiohead from this album.

I’m tempted to dock this a star for all the Muse-hating Radiohead fans and say it’s just a rip off of REM or U2 or whatever but I’m not that lame. It’s a great album.

Personally no skips loved every song

5/5

One of the best albums of the 1990s that brings is an amazing combination of the dynamics and dissonance and melodicism of radio alt rock with indie/shoegaze texture and density, and the arena rock bombast of U2. Because it's 'just' guitar rock it doesn't get held up in the same way their more boundary pushing next few albums do, but these are some of the best songs they ever wrote - they perfected the style before outgrowing it.

The start of a perfect 6 album run. Loved this in high school, still love it now. Just a huge step up from their debut. Perfect blend of alt rock and art rock.

Adore this

absolute banger

9/10 cuz I can't find gf who listens to radiohead

Full disclosure, I love old Radiohead. This is a brilliant album, but it did make me go and listen to Pablo Honey, which in my opinion is better.

Fantastic.

This album is incredible!

In my opinion, it’s Radiohead’s best album.

I wonder when I last listened to The Bends in full, start to finish? More than a decade, maybe even 20 years, and yet from around 1996 to 2003 I bet it was something I did at least weekly. In the intervening time, I've probably talked it down, in the frequent Radiohead-based monologues I like to embark on, but this just reminded me that it's great. Muscular, emotional, raw, and with just a hint of the extraordinary path they were going to go on. For a bog-standard alt-rock band, The Bends would be as good as it gets, instead of a stepping stone. A few highlights on this listen - the whole of (nice dream), the wordless vocals that kick off the title track, the harmonies in Blackstar, absolutely bellowing the chorus to Sulk, and probably above all, really engaging in the guitars in Just - a superbly chaotic song. Tremendous stuff Thom and the lads.

A stonewall classic. From perfect guitar tracks like My Iron Lung and Just to the fragility of Fake Plastic Trees and Bullet proof...I wish I was. Radiohead are a band that hit differently to any other band. And there's an argument to say this is only their 3rd or 4th best album.

Yes

Ikonisch. Kein Song zuviel, keiner zu wenig. No Skips, all hits. Ist es das beste Radiohead-Album? Wahrscheinlich. Werden mir Menschen da widersprechen. Definitiv. Aber ich kann mit OK Computer und Kid A wirklich wenig anfangen.

my favorite album of all time

Yes sir. Don't leave me high. More like Sadiohead. Cant believe i hadnt heard this. I thought they were overrated b4 this. 5/5 In all seriousness the anger and wash of the guitar combined with the beautiful voice and melancholic content makes for an interesting mix

black star :(((

music is love

Gets better with every listen

I WANNA BE APART OF THE HUMAN RACE!!!

Whatever you do, do not listen to this album if your depressed, it will kill you.

My favorite Radiohead album.

One of the most immersive albums I've ever heard. The textures of the sounds show how well designed this project is, taking your ears for a 49 minute long adventure. Marks the true beginning of one of the best alternative rock bands ever.

Amazing album, not more not less

No Notes just perfection

Planet Telex is the opening song, an underrated song. It is a great start and progresses nicely through High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees, which are both sublime. Great start to finish, no complaints.

Arguably better than OK Computer. This is Radiohead taking a stab at Britpop, while also staying true to their form. It is a crime that this isn't regarded in the same realm as OK Computer and Kid A. 10/10

god bless radiohead one of my all time favorite bands - thom yorke <3 is not of this world! Great album I see no fault just beautiful from start to finish and grateful for the journey

What a beauty!

Freaking 10/10 abum, Street spirit really just overshadows any song that may not be so strong. Fucking love radiohead

This was the first Radiohead album I ever owned. I had only heard “High and Dry” and “Fake Plastic Trees” when I bought it, but it quickly became one of my all-time favorite albums. The crazy thing is, it might not even be my favorite Radiohead album. I genuinely don't think there's a bad track on here. Every song lands and the album never loses momentum. It's one of those records where you start it and suddenly realize you've listened to the whole thing without even thinking about skipping ahead. What makes The Bends so special is that it balances big emotional moments with straightforward rock songs better than almost anyone else, they pefected this sound. I've been listening to this album for years, and I still throw it on randomly all the time. It's just so damn good from start to finish.

As of writing, there are 1089 albums on this website's list, which includes six (6) Radiohead albums. I'm on album #74, and somehow...this is my 4th Radiohead album. Maybe the generator knows that Radiohead was once my favorite band of all-time. But because I recently wrote a lengthy review of Kid A where I dove into my history with the band...I don't want to do it all over again. I can tell you that this might very well be my favorite Radiohead album. OK Computer is the canonical favorite in their discography, but at this point, I am so familiar with that album, I know it like the back of my hand. The Bends? It's still at least somewhat fresh to me. Listening back to it today, I was surprised by Bones. I had forgotten about the song Bulletproof. I forgot that the song High And Dry preceded Fake Plastic Trees. Some lyrics tripped me up when trying to sing along. So the album as a whole is still at least a little exciting to me. Of course it's whiny, Radiohead have always sounded like that. But at least this came out before the pointless Thom started doing the pointless "ooouuuuaaagghh" sounds when he couldn't think of something interesting to say. The drumming is great, the musical progressions are interesting, the rockin' singles are great, the slow and soft ballads are beautiful...I think songs like (Nice Dream) and Bulletproof pretty handily outshine Just and My Iron Long. It's just a big and beautiful record. Not nearly as ambitious as their later work, but it's more than made up for by Thom's pretty little castrato voice.

Okay I get it now. Still dont understand why they decided to have the worst sound ever later on on Kid-A but whatever.

Ah, my favorite ever used store find. I knew Creep, this album had just came out and I saw it for 4.99. Had to cop it. Still one of my favorite albums to this day. 5/5

One of my favourite albums!

I feel like High And Dry is one of Radiohead's best known songs at this point, but there are so many good things in this album. I really enjoyed Fake Plastic Trees, (Nice Dream), and My Iron Lung the most, but this is just one of those albums I can probably put any of the songs on and be happy with it.

One of their many 5s and probably the most approachable of them. Street Spirit and Just got me into Radiohead and I will forever love this record.

Some people go through life not reading Harry Potter, and wearing this wilful ignorance like a medal. This cohort is blind to the daily cultural references to the wizarding kingdom: "he's such a Muggle!" ... "spitting image of the Weasley twins" ... "sort of dobby-like" ... "dementor? never even met her!" and so on. For me, Radiohead has always been my Harry Potter. I have skirted, avoided and shunned their music. "God no", I would say when someone pulled out a CD. "You can skip getting me tickets," after they announced a show. I slipped out of The Park at Glastonbury when I heard rumours that Thom Yorke was arriving for a surprise gig. It seems though, in spite of my self-imposed obliviousness to their craft, I have created a sort of radiohead-shaped web in my head from all the strands of music and culture that surround me. My wife and I would sing "you do it to yourself, you do!" when we encounter logistical problems of our own making. I hear my friend Marshall's typically strumming patterns in Fake Plastic Trees. Another dear friend chose to spell the shortened form of his name, Thomas, with an "h". Street Spirit has surely been played over the credits of film after film. And, dare I say it, but: Coldplay. Years of absorbing fragments from here, on repeat, have finally come together in my virginal listening of The Bends. And now I can listen to it in its entirety, free from late-adolescent stubbornness, I can appreciate that this is a masterpiece. It weaves a thick mesh of lyrics, melodies, and wide soundscapes, all brought to life by the beautiful vocals and tectonic arrangements. I can see why I blocked it out in my youth, as it lacks the screaming guitar solos and aggressive stance I sought then. But now, I can see the truth: Thom Yorke is a wizard, and we are all but feeble house-elves at his feet.

Always torn between this and OK Computer as my 2nd favourite Radiohead album (In Rainbows will always be no. 1). While this doesn't have anything as astonishing as Paranoid Android, and could be seen as a bit more generic alternative rock compared to what came after, The Bends is just jam packed with great rock songs. Just is as good as any rock song out there, singles like High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees are lovely, and Street Spirit feels like a sign of things to come.

Baby, does in fact, got the bends. Singular in the Radiohead catalog but just damn good songs.

They knew exactly what they were doing.

Street Spirit is the song that introduced me to Radiohead when I was 11-12 and the first song I learned picking on in a non-classical piece... this album even if wasn't great is special for just those reasons alone

awesome album, their most rock based album in my opinion, no bad songs, every song is a standalone banger, this is an essential album to listen to, amazing

Don't think a review really required.

My favourite Radiohead album, less conceptual perhaps (though not entirely) then their other classics, but the quality of the songs wins the day. And the playing is as ever, committed and fascinating. One might say that Radiohead made three leaps in their artistic journey. This is leap one, and an extraordinary one at that.

soft spot for radiohead, always❤️

Holds up so hard

lowk my favorite radiohead album ive listened to thus far on this list

its giving toy story 3

One of the best not only rock albums … but all albums. This is one of the GOATS!

I’m biased going in as a Radiohead fan and it was a joy to be asked to listen to this from start to finish after a very long time! And it was even better than I remembered. No skips. So so so good.

Best

Listened to before? Yes Context? Radiohead’s second album and what’s considered to be their first masterpiece. How does one, in the span of merely two years, go from writing songs like “Thinking About You” to masterpieces such as “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”? How do lyrics transform from the blatant sneers of something almost as Sex-Pistols-esque as “How Do You?” to the cleverness of “My Iron Lung”? Was it belated puberty? Extensive devotion to the songwriting craft? Exhaustion? It wasn’t like Radiohead didn’t have songwriting ability beforehand. Just look at songs like “Creep” or “Anyone Can Play Guitar”. In the former, you had Yorke’s wide vocal range and raw lyricism on full display, as well as odd chord progressions and experimental guitar technique. In the latter, you have biting satire that manages to be both personal and political (as things often are) as well as drenched in noise. But there’s something so much greater about The Bends. Maybe it’s the pauses taken throughout—something lacking in Pablo Honey—or maybe it’s the heights they reached for. Maybe it was a newfound awareness of the surrounding world. Radiohead’s roots are present. There’s still the band with the spazz of a singer who called Jim Morrison fat, ugly, and dead before nearly drowning himself. There’s still the guy who plays guitar like he’s trying to ride a bucking horse. But they’re stepping up to the studio with the wisdom of seasoned people-watchers. The songs unfold like a pulse reverberating against a fingertip. Yorke tends to write about others more than himself. The album is full of grocery store personalities. Wives and husbands. Reckless young men. It’s all very empathetic; he mourns the situations of those around him. This is what makes the song “Bullet Proof” so particularly shocking. It’s entirely in first person. It’s the people-watcher going home after a day out. You can picture the barren kitchen—the dark room. There’s all this exhaustion from seeing so much bad. Masterfully located after it is “Black Star”—the climax of the album: the point where this defeated observer attempts to reach out after all this time as a bystander. It revolves around this central figure who is deeply unhappy, but refuses to acknowledge the true root of that unhappiness. The observer is begging them to see what is truly wrong, but ultimately has to step away from the situation. And, of course, there’s the perspective change in “Fake Plastic Trees”—arguably the best song on the album. A beautiful ballad about consumerism, it tells the story of a deeply unhappy woman, who lives in a place folding in on itself—who’s married to a man who’s life work is defeated by something as basic and constant as gravity. Neither of them have a purpose, and they both claw desperately at a passionate, reckless way out. By the end of the song, the previous third person refrain of “it wears [her/him] out” switches to the first person “it wears me out”. Listening, you can imagine Yorke seeing this couple in the grocery store, using them as vessels for this emotional critique before turning inward to examine the weight all this bears on him as well. When the song builds to a downpour of acid rain, obscuring the details of the events in favor of raw emotion, everyone involved is soaked. When the downpour stops, you’re reminded that the observer is there as well. Whether you as a listener identify with the third or first person narrative doesn’t matter. Just as what is presented later in “Black Star”, this is a collective suffering. “Fake Plastic Trees” almost feels like the natural conclusion of the “I don’t care if it hurts/I want to have control/I want a perfect body/I want a perfect soul” part of “Creep”, as well as the thesis of the album as a whole: the artificial against the real. This is even presented in the album cover; it looks like the crash test dummy has found Nirvana. This theme is pretty strong throughout, but there’s never quite a consistency to how it’s presented. “Kill yourself for recognition”. “I don’t want to be a krippled kracked”. “Prozac painkillers”. “A lack of oxygen from my life support/my iron lung”. The observer struggles as much as their subjects. Of course, all of this vulnerability and despair is tempered with anger and snark. “My Iron Lung” practically predicted the modern day Facebook aunt or the teen using ChatGPT for an essay. “Just” has the famous refrain of “you do it to yourself/you do/and that’s what really hurts”. The observer even pulls himself out of mourning the lives of these sad people, straight-up saying “you don’t get my sympathy”. “Sulk”—which is probably the weakest song on the album, despite still being quite good—contains the biting line “just like your dad/you’ll never change”. This is what really makes the emotional depth and nuance of the album. For all the empathy the observer has for the people trapped in the box of consumerism and conformity and mental illness and performative nonsense, they’re also rightfully angry at the stupidity and lack of courage that led them into that trap in the first place. There’s no single way the observer feels about everything; it’s all in conflict. The observer even fears falling into that trap themself on “Bones”, which laments the physical and mental toll of life and how that wears on youth. Which, as a retail worker with chronic pain. Yeah. Accurate. While “Bones” was written about the negative effects of touring, its emotional connotations extend well beyond that context. After all, if you’re Jonny Greenwood, you’re probably pretty worried about getting carpel tunnel or crippling neck pain. Not only because it leads to physical pain and means you can’t play your instrument on the same technical level, but because that instrument and your dynamics and the way in which you play it in a live setting is an emotional expression. The same could apply to any young person wanting to make a change, but worn down and afraid the world will steal their passion. “The Bends” (title track) captures a similar anxiety, holding all of the subject matter of the album in the palm of its hands. There’s political unrest. Nostalgia. A sense of waiting for something bad to happen. And, again: an artificial life support, as he’s “lying in the bar with [his] drip feed on”. There’s such anxiety in it—a sense of “just let it happen already—get it over with”. Anxiety is a feeling Radiohead does extremely well. While it’s brought to new heights as the emotional foundation of OK Computer, it’s also what makes much of The Bends so lyrically rich. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” is a perfect closer. The main riff sounds like trying to run from impending death. It’s probably the bleakest the band gets to. The observer has snapped and spiraled. While it offers no hope, it does offer catharsis. While the observer, the subject, and the listener blur into a muddled haze, what stays constant is the shared emotional experience; they can descend together. On a sonic level, Radiohead takes things to a much more complex level than on Pablo Honey. It’s not that Pablo Honey didn’t already have its fair share of technical playing, but it was pretty much pure noise. The Bends takes deep breaths. It knows how to build. “My Iron Lung” does this the best, with the octave-shifted arpeggios slowly building to distorted choruses, complete with slap bass and all. Then there are the ballad-y builds in “High and Dry” as well as “Fake Plastic Trees”, and the insane dynamics of “Just”. “High and Dry” has what’s probably the most tasteful guitar solo of Radiohead’s career. And it’s hard to imagine that Jonny Greenwood, who’d been so angry about how quiet “Creep” was, had matured enough to include the great number of slow acoustic songs on The Bends. Not that he still doesn’t make himself heard loud and clear, of course—and thank god for that. The Bends is, at its core, just an amazing guitar album, from the songwriting to the experimentation to the tone. There’s also the use of some more effects, with a lot of octave shifting and delay. It seems to be the first album where Ed O’Brien stepped beyond simply gluing together Yorke’s and Greenwood’s guitar parts with distortion, and started adding more dynamic textures. Thom Yorke brought out some of his higher vocals as well. It was clear from songs like “Creep” that he knew how to sing that high, but it seemed as if he was almost ashamed of it. He was going for that more angry, snarling sound. After all, it was ‘93: the successful alt rock vocalists were people like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, with low, ugly voices. Was there any place for an anti-rock-star, anti-society alt-rocker who could sing falsetto? Sure, he could sing lower just fine, but it would’ve been a waste if he hadn’t made use of his full vocal range. Thankfully, it was one of the elements brought into the expanded sonic palette of The Bends. There’s also more experimentation with genre. “Bones”, dare I say, has a bit of a bluesy touch to it. “Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry” could be classified as singer/songwriter. On songs like “Nice Dream” and “My Iron Lung”, they take the loud/quiet dynamics popularized by the grunge movement outside of their original context to emphasize a sense of growing frustration. It’s also the first of their albums where the label of “art-rock” starts to truly make sense as a way to describe their sound. The Bends may not be Radiohead’s masterpiece in the same way OK Computer is, but it is their album that arguably best reaches the sweet spot between art, craft, and emotion. There’s a reason it’s continued to resonate through later generations—and not just because of the band’s uncanny ability to predict the future. The songs are accessible, timeless, raw, and well-written. Everything from the tilt of the dummy on the album cover to the falsetto on the chorus of “High and Dry” was destined to become ubiquitous. In other words, The Bends is Radiohead’s album that’s most accessible while also being extremely well-written. Sure, Amnesiac is a good album and all, but it’s an acquired taste. In contrast, anyone from the most pretentious critic to a ten year old can appreciate “High and Dry”. If you haven’t already, give this album a listen. Not only is it just fantastic, but Radiohead does societal critiques and political songs much better than most other bands. And even outside the lyrics, you can appreciate a lot of these songs for just being bangers.

a legendary album

Already very familiar with this album, sitting as definitely one of my top 50 albums. Relistened to some songs I was more unfamiliar with, however i remembered why i was unfamiliar with them. 9/10, a couple songs ruin that 10/10.

Whilst I appreciate that they did more musically adventurous things, in some ways it's a shame they didn't stick as a more typical guitar band because this album fucking rocked! The Bends, Black Dtar, Just, even Sulk all have incredible crescendos

I Love IT!

Tremendo disco. Increíble. No sé si sea por la edad, pero me encantan los discos de Radiohead, desde su primero hasta Ok Computer, y después como que les fui perdiendo el gusto. Ya no conecté con los que vinieron después, justamente por lo diferente que se escuchan a sus primeros álbumes. No es que quiera lo mismo, pero este Radiohead era el que me gustaba, con el que crecí y cuyos discos me siguen pareciendo una absoluta gloria. Genial.

Bien.

The pivot away from Pablo Honey and especially Creep into whatever this is to avoid becoming pigeonholed might be one of the most important decisions made in music history. The first of many masterpieces by arguably the greatest rock band of all time (at least to me). Hard to pick a favourite track but (Nice Dream) did something to me on relisten. 4.5/5

favs: black star, street spirit (fade out), just, fake plastic trees, (nice dream)

eh fuck it

Este album es una L O C U R A Lo que a mi en lo personal me hace darle 5 estrellas a este album es que es el primer gran paso que tuvieron hacia descubrir su sonido y lo que más adelante los termina haciendo una de las mejores bandas de todas. Hay variedad pero a la vez este album tiene un sonido destacado como tambien pasa con OK Computer. Fácil 5 estrellas y no se para de escuchar este tremendo album.

Primera vez que lo escuché quedé en parte decepcionado, porque no podía no compararlo con okcomputer. Pero pero pero, me encantó. Siento que es muy facil de escuchar, hay temones y muchos y para cualquier momento del día. “Just” temón, la tengo pegada. 9.1

Es un álbum sencillo de escuchar corto y el álbum con mejor crítica de la Banda. Al ser el segundo álbum y ya habiendo tenido un gran éxito como Creep, tuvieron que armar algo que estuviera a la altura de la misma. Lo que sucede con muchas bandas o cantantes que tienen un hit mundial es que tienen que armar proyectos sólidos, The Bends fue ese proyecto sólido que trata de mostrar el lado de la banda más sensible y profundo al chocarse con esa realidad de éxito temprano pero que tienen mucho para dar desde lo musical pero mejor aún que es el fuerte, la profundidad de las canciones y de las letras. Top 3 🌟 1- Fake Plastic Tree 2- High and Dry 3- Just

Esse é o álbum acessível de Radiohead pra fãs de rock. Tem algumas das mais "pops" deles mas já mostra pra onde eles tavam indo com o som deles. Acho que é meu top 3 deles. Trabalho fenomenal de guitarras e riffs sólidos malucos.

RAD IOH EAD

I revisit this one all the time. It always reminds me of getting ready for the Alex G show in Brooklyn because Cheyenne put this record on.

The start of one of the greatest album runs of all time Not my favourite Radiohead album (in rainbows) but makes it close to my top ten from anyone ever. From start to finish immaculate, hard to pick a favourite track and changed and influenced British guitar music from its release. Just stunning. Favourite track: Street Spirit (Fade Out)

A classic. People seem to look down on it because it's not OK Computer, Kid A or In Rainbows. Almost any other band though, this would be their magnum opus and the fact that it isn't as good as those other albums doesn't mean it's not still 5 stars. Brilliant

Es radiohead, obvio que iba a estar buenísimo

If you’re younger than Gen X, I need to explain this. Radiohead had a huge hit with “Cresp”, but just about everyone thrift they were one hit wonders on the early 90s alt-rock beat. Instead, they ho back in the studio and create an introspective, critical album that is the new British Rick sound of, in the words of Nick Hornby, “… a cocktail of rage, sarcasm, self-pity, exquisite tunefulness and braininess.”. Radiohead the band that people know as the genre-pushing artists started here.

own

Another masterpiece. No sophomore slump with this album.

The one where the band single-handedly saves stadium rock. Who knew the levels of creativity they would go on to demonstrate. Sounds as good now as it did the day I bought it. 5* (and anyone who says it isn't is just wrong ;-)

Discazo

Nu zit ik lekker te genieten van Caissonziekte, het voor mij 5e Radiohoofd album in deze lijst. Ondertussen krijg ik een teneergeslagen whatsappberichtje van iemand zo'n 80 kilometer verderop in het land, die voor de pak 'm beet 19e keer naar Elvis (ja, nee, die andere dus) moet luisteren en ik snap zijn emotie als geen ander. Later vandaag danwel begin morgenochtend zal ik zelf klagen dat dezelfde lijst 5 keer met The Byrds komt aankakken. Ik ben dus hypocriet. Het zij zo. Spreek me er gerust op aan. Ik ben ook maar een mens met bijbehorende deukjes en vlekjes. Moet je vijf keer Radiohead hebben gehoord? Nee, ik denk dat je na 2 albums prima zelf had kunnen bepalen of je meer van ze had willen horen. Misschien dit album voor het minder tot niet experimentele geluid en dan Kind A erbij voor het wél experimentele. Dat is uiteraard veel te logisch beredeneerd; zo werkt de lijst nou eenmaal niet. In dit geval heb ik er schijt aan dat Ome Robert en z'n minions me vijf keer naar één band laten luisteren want Radiohead scoort hoog bij mij, zo ook deze keer, maar kijk morgenochtend voor de grap nog maar eens op m'n profiel. Neppe Plastic Bomen, Hoog en Droog, Zojuist, M'n IJzeren Long, Straatgeest (Decrechendo)... 5 sterren!

I'm not sure why I didn't listen to this sooner, it's right up my alley! Odd and pretty in so many ways.

10/10 album. rock anthem vibes with great guitar cords and solos. one of my favourite Radiohead albums

Good

This might not be considered the best Radiohead album, but to me it's their strongest collection of songs. I can't believe 'Bones' is the second least played track (on Spotify); it's one of my favourites.

The Bends by Radiohead is widely considered one of the defining rock albums of the 1990s, marking the band’s emergence as something far more ambitious than a one-hit wonder. It blends raw guitar-driven energy with emotional depth and poetic introspection, delivering anthems that feel both intimate and vast. The production is lush and dynamic, giving space for Thom Yorke’s haunting voice to move between vulnerability and soaring defiance. Songs like “Fake Plastic Trees,” “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” and “High and Dry” showcase a mastery of melody and melancholy that set the stage for Radiohead’s later experiments. The Bends endures because it captures that rare balance between heart and precision—an album that sounds just as vital decades later.

Incredible as always. Always forget how good it is before listening again. Love the changes in dynamics throughout the album and instrumentation.

4.5/5, 9/10

Rustgevend

Super natuurlijk

So AMAZING!!!!!

From one hit wonder to critical darling. What can I say, deserved it

Wow! I own “Pablo Honey“ and “Kid A“, but had somehow never managed to hear this album. I am simply blown away. This may be the best thing I have listened to so far (about 75-80 albums in) in my 1001 Albums journey. Easy 5 stars for me. What I find more impressive is that everything else I’ve given five stars is something I already had heard before, so I already had an idea of its worth before listening for this exercise. This album was, on the other hand, a “cold“ listen, played once straight through. To be that impressed on a first listen is quite something.

Love radiohead

Peak Radiohead album. This is definitely one of their best. The whole album is a nice melancholy journey with some banger tracks in there.

I think OK Computer remains my favourite, but this is awfully close. Very high 4s so giving it a 5

Another banger. 5.

Swag

Best driving album ever made

Peak britpop

Good Shit

A strong album with nice vocals and a smooth flow between songs. Definitely one of their more mainstream works; the title track and High and Dry are my favorites. It's not the best album I've heard from them, but it's certainly one I'll keep coming back to.

Yeah good

mon dieu oui, vive radiohead et vive radiohead

One of my favorites from Radiohead and only second to OK Computer. "Fake Plastic Trees" is my favorite but there is a myriad of tracks to pick from that could be a contender for the best track. It has a nice blend of more quiet, dynamic, and acoustic songs, as well as louder, distorted and more energetic ones. A 10/10 for sure.

They make the leap from Pablo honey….Then proceed to blast into the stratosphere with OK computer…Then completely reinvent themselves with kid A. One of the all-time three album runs. The bends to OK computer is the closest modern equivalent to dark side of the moon to wish you were here. Mark it a 5, dude.

The Radiohead catalogue continues to age well. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this one multiple times and then diving back into OK Computer and Kid A. Fantastic.

Thoughtful, deep and sad but a Masterpiece of an album.

Probably my fave radiohead album atm in terms of not having played it to death. Some great great rocking tunes paired with some classic sad ones like fake plastic trees and fade out

Love it

just…. excellent!

Wow, greatness

I always run through this countdown on a month-by-month basis - i.e., what was the average rating this month, how many 5-star albums were there, etc. This was a strange month for me for the first 3+ weeks without a single 5-star album. Nothing really hit for me, and then a deluge came. From the unexpected (Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs), to the undeniable (Fear Of A Black Planet by Public Enemy), to the underrated (Pump by Aerosmith), it suddenly was a series of tremendous albums. This record continues that trend. I get that Radiohead isn't for everyone. Some, like my daughter, think they are the best band ever. Others just don't like their sound. While I sit in between, they are undoubtedly an incredibly talented band who make the take risks which almost always pay off. This album is very much in the "it hits" category for me. The first five songs on this are all great tracks. I've always been a fan of High and Dry, but Fake Plastic Trees is every bit as good. Nice Dream is good as well, it just isn't as good as what precedes it, mainly because it just floats along until we get to the strange guitar later in the tune. Meanwhile, Just fits squarely into that mid 90s alternative sound that I really like. My Iron Lung is all over the place, but I kind of dug it. Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was ended up being a solid track. Nothing amazing though. Black Star might have been the highlight of the back half of the album for me. This reminded me of something I might hear from Our Lady Peace. Really liked it. Sulk wasn't far behind. A bit more of a straightforward angsty alt rocker. Sounded excellent. Street Spirit was an excellent way to close this album. It almost had a Metallica type of feel to it to begin with. Actually, upon a second listen, this might be my favorite song on the back half of the album, surpassing Black Star. All wrapped up, tons of tracks to really like on this. A great, great album. 5 stars.

I adore this one! It's the first record I ever listened from Radiohead. This one will forever be one of my favourites, I enjoy it more than OK Computer actually. Great guitar work, and a huge improvement from Pablo Honey.

At one point this was my favourite radiohead album which is now moon shaped pool these 2 albums couldnt be further apart in sound tho. This album has a very consistent tracklist of alt rock, oasis sounding tunes whic h are all really really catchy (seriously these songs get stuck in my head on a daily basis). This also marks where radiohead started taking music a bit more seriously as they were actually get a lot of attention. Its also of course a huge step up from the grating "Pablo Honey". 9/10 Favourite: Street Spirit Least Favourite: (Nice Dream)

A lot of y’all are probably more familiar with Radiohead than I am. As a newbie, I’m struck by the range of emotion conveyed by the lyrics, the instruments, and the overall song construction. Easy early favorites: “High and Dry,” “Bones,” “Just,” and “My Iron Lung.” In the long run I don’t know if I’ll ever be a Radioheadhead. But, I respect what I’ve heard so far - here and on OK Computer. And I respect that they refused to stand still, always challenging themselves with new directions. Strong 4/5 but rounding up to 5/5 as I expect to enjoy this album and band even more as I give them more time and attention.

I don't know enough about Radiohead or their career/discography, but this is a fantastic album. The lyrics are compelling and honest, and I found myself caught up in it. I have typically been a reluctant listener based on the hype, but this is a great album. My stubbornness may limit my fandom, but I can't deny the strength and emotion in The Bends. I wish that I were bulletproof.

Fake Plastic Trees alone makes me rate this a 5. I always loved that song - this whole album is representative of the unique sound Radiohead brought to the scene during the mid-nineties. And I love it.

It’s really strange, but I used to think I didn’t like Radiohead. I was especially convinced of this after coming across their 2000 album *Kid A*, which I found absolutely awful. However, this album is a completely different experience. It turns out that Radiohead used to make really good music (which reminds me a lot of Oasis or the Stereophonics). All in all, this album gets a solid 5, and it’s a real shame that the band went off in the wrong direction after that.

i just luv this album that's all x

Tää löytyy omasta hyllystä ja tätä on tullut kuunneltua paljon. Hyvä levy! Suosikkejani on ”Street Spirit (Fade Out)”, ”The Bends” ja ”Fake Plastic Trees”.

Another Radiohead album I've already listened to. This one my be a tie for my favourite with OK Computer, but I haven't listed to In Rainbows for a while to really make that statement.

The second best Radiohead album, in my opinion (second only to OK Computer). Great pop song after a great pop song after a great pop song. Easy 5 stars although I have to admit that since I've listened to The Bends hundreds of times over the past 25 years or so, I don't feel like listening to it very often anymore.

Excelente y obra maestra

Love this album. Great songs!!!

154 albums in and finally got a Radiohead album! My favorite band and know the album well. I love The Bends because it shows the different directions the band could go sonically. 12 songs with imo 3 grunge bangers (Bends, Just, My Iron Lung), 3 beautiful slow songs (High & Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Blackstar), 3 airy-dreamy nightmares (Planet Telex, Nice Dream, Street Spirits) and 3 kinda off kilter boring ones (Bones, Bulletproof, Sulk). I think 'Street Spirits' in the best song and always reminded me 'Blackbird' by the Beatles. I read that Paul wrote it and had to step back and almost admire the power of the song he'd just written. I think Street Spirits is that song for Radiohead and showed them anything is possible... next up was OK Computer!

Very good

Mi fa pensare ai jigsaw, bellissimo album, divertente stupendo. Ricordo il concerto e la felicità che muta in malinconia.

And not even their peak

Átti þessa á geisladisk, frábær!

This is the Radiohead album that first grabbed me. I absolutely love this record! Top to bottom, a force. It lacks the pervasive polyrhythms that define later Radiohead, but OMG this album blows me away. The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees, My Iron Lung… list goes on. It’s thematically consistent throughout, a complete work. Melancholic, rousing, powerful, heartbreaking, passionate, stirring, cathartic … all at the same time. Desert island disc for me. A true all time great!

Radiohead are just the best.

absolute cinema

Excellent album avec beaucoup de très bons sons. Peut-être pas le meilleur album de Radiohead mais un classique

Incredible. I cannot believe I have not heard this before

absolute tunes

For a long time, this was my favorite Radiohead album, until it was finally usurped by In Rainbows. Still, this album is SO. DAMN. GOOD. I think I still might like it more than Ok Computer. And an easy 5 star album.

Probably the best recording in the history of the medium. Plus I already had this one on vinyl!

One of my favorite albums of my teenage years

All the songs are good and it works cohesively as an album, no skips. Added everything to the keepers playlist and The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees, and Just to the top 10 of the first 10 list

This is a great album. I really liked it and recommend it.

One of the best rock albums I ever heard.

solid 4.5. Foi o melhor balanço entre Britpop e alt-rock que o Radiohead alcançou, contem alguma das melhores músicas da carreira, mas ainda tem uma ou outra que não é tão boa quanto as demais.

I guess it's odd to call an album that's nominally about numbness "emotionally honest" but I'm going to do it and I 100% stand behind it. There's always been a sort of remove between Cool Britannia and this band and I think it's exemplified by the "cool" in the appellation - it is not, and never has been, cool to genuinely ache and despair the way Thom Yorke does all over this record. Yorke understands the difference between shying away from emotion and explaining *why* people shy away from emotion - between disassociating and documenting the disassociation. If anything, Radiohead portray the exact opposite here - the full weight of the world crashing down on the shoulders of the cracked polystyrene people Yorke sings about, the drunks and thrill-seekers and plastic surgeons and senior citizens and rageaholics and housewives who populate our culture of plentiful famine. There remains a section of fandom who all still swear this is the band's best album; the competition is fierce but I might agree.

5/10

sure, Radiohead's first album was fine. good enough to get them in the door. but, let's face it, that was the sound of a band finding its footing. they'd been playing in various combinations and under different names since their schooling years, and The Bends is the moment where they finally dialed it in and started to become the band we think of them as today. as songwriters, as individual musicians and as a five-piece unit, Radiohead delivered in a major way, outclassing Pablo Honey in pretty much every category imaginable. just check out some of these guitar tones! Jonny Greenwood manages to fit these insane, Sonic Youth-esque fuzz and noise patches into some incredibly catchy boxes, like the solo riff at the end of "Just" or the introduction of "Black Star". Thom Yorke was definitely checking out Jeff Buckley when he recorded this, although he's conscious not to emulate Buckley too directly. instead, he's using Buckley as a model for introducing a more flexible, dynamic vocal delivery. it gets some really great showcases on "Sulk" (pure power), "Fake Plastic Trees" (tenderness) and "Bones" (aggression). although this isn't nearly as progressive or experimental as Radiohead's later work, you can hear inklings of the band's desire to push at the edges of rock's constraints all the same. the string arrangements, the synths and keys, and even the increased use of acoustic guitars point in all the different directions they'd go from here. decent 9/10.

A great album from start to finish. I must have listened to it a thousand times in my life. Brilliant.

It seems you either enjoy listening to Radiohead or you think they're pretentious. I fall in the former category.

No me gustó sinceramente

FINALLY✊🤪 cb i used to think this was better than in rainbows...... but anyways fake plastic trees greatest depression song oat

I already loved listening to In rainbows, Kid A and Ok computer by Radiohead, and I already knew some popular songs of this album too such as Fake plastic trees and Just. This album is more raw than In rainbows, and I really enjoyed it.music and lyrics of this album are really emotional and beautiful as Radiohead is. Makes me wanna listen to their whole discography

Fake plastic trees , the bends , black star , street spirit fade out Just too many to mention heard it numerous times seminal work

Planet telex, the bends, my iron lung, just, nice dream, street spirit I mean come on! Big favourite album of mine unparalleled songwriting and instrumentation, a classic!

A remarkable album

Amo esse álbum.

7/10

i genuinely yelled in excitement when i saw that this was my album for today i was literally Obsessed with this album last year lmao!! easy 5 stars i love this album!!

Far from the best Radiohead album but still and easy 5/5. Fake Plastic Trees, Just and Street Spirit are all absolute classics. Happily the cliche Radiohead diehard.

eni maane ( in the gujarati lang)

One of my all time favorite albums. Can't say enough about how good this album is and what a giant step forward it was for Radiohead after Pablo Honey. This is the one that really got me into the band and probably my favorite of their albums. This is definitely one that is best listened to from beginning to end. Highlights: All of it.

Tous les tracks sont bien. Nostalgique pour High and Dry et coup de cœur pour Just et Dream.

Just the tonic after yesterday's slog!

Radiohead are a bizarre blind spot for me and finally having a reason to sit with a full album was well worth it.

At work. 1:05 pm. I am lucky to have found the woman on Pinterest who suggested this. Have been trying to improve my relationship with music. Maybe this is it. This album gives me a feeling that it'll grow on me. Not now. But it will if I keep going back to it. Nice game song. Good. Very good.

This is the beginning of Radiohead’s excellent run of 5 star albums. It’s combination of great vocals and amazing instrumentation, this lyrics are really existential as well.

Yes please

This used to be among my least favourite Radiohead albums, but somehow i can appreciate it a lot more nowadays

The soundtrack to my life for a little while as a 20-and-a-bit-year-old. Hard to rate this objectively. But for me, it's among the best ever. Faves: The Bends, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Black Star, Sulk

I keep thinking this is what perfection is

I am a The Bends apologist. If it has no fans, I am dead.

One of my favourite albums from one of my favourite bands. Even without my biases this is a great album and super influential. 5 black stars

"Everything is......... broken." 10 out of 5 ;) this album is nearly perfect. out of the gates with planet telex, picks up the beat with the title track. fake plastic trees, and high and dry are timeless classics. and the rest of the album has songs like street spirit, black star, my iron lung etc.... Start to finish this album has it all. Better than ok computer imho.

In many ways my favourite Radiohead albums - as brilliant as the albums that followed were, it was all very deliberate in the way boundaries were pushed. This by contrast is just the sound of five guys with their guitars, their drums and their genius.

Ótimo. Desgraçou meu dia logo cedo

If I had a list then, This would be on it.

Had this on CD originally and played it loads at the time. First listen for ages and it still stands up.

Planet telex - 4 The bends - 5 High and dry - 5 Fake plastic trees - 5 Bones - 4 (nice dream) - 4 Just - 5 My iron lung - 4 Bullet proof...i wish i was - 3 Black star - 4 Sulk - 3 Street spirit (fade out) - 5

Just back to back brilliant songs.

Many excellent songs. "Fake Plastic Trees" is perhaps one of the best songs of all time.

Xddd

9.5/10

It's one of those albums that feel like a soundtrack, each song aligning perfectly with the other. Yet, each song on its own is catchy as hell (with many of them used in TV commercials). Amazing, belongs to the 1001 albums for sure.

Superb rock music! It's intricate, layered, melodic and emotional, plus it features my favourite Radiohead song: 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'. I love it!

pretty good album, looking forward to seeing what else these boys get up to

4.5⭐️/5 03.13.2026

Maybe not the most innovative Radiohead album, but it's a perfect indie rock album.

I heard Fake Plastic Trees on MTV and it was such a departure from Pablo Honey, I did not check the album out. A buddy of mine highly recommended OK Computer when it came out so gave it a chance and fell in love. So The Bends was a fantastic surprise foe me. The sophomore album that was the first foray into what they would become. And filled with excellent tracks from start to finish.

Radiohead has to be one of the most compelling bands on this list. Varied and unexpected creatives who challenge themselves in each album to produce something unlike their previous efforts, an act which leads them to uneven efforts, but also allows them to smash through when they connect.

Simply glorious.

Listening to an album that’s basically synonymous with depression and all I can think of is how carefree a tine the 90’s were.

Part of me wants to mark this down just to rebel against the dull middle-aged rock critic consensus of this list, because I know it's going to be one of the ones everyone rates highly. But I just love it and it was great to give it a proper listen again.

БЛЯТЬ НУ КОНЕЧНО ПЯТЬ

one of my favorite albums, every track is great. the bends, just, iron lung, and bulletproof are prolly my favorites

5 étoiles, et probablement le seul de Radiohead qui aura cette note Au bout du 4ème accord, on a déjà la patte du groupe et l'album a une certaine harmonie tout en ayant des chansons plus accrocheuses que d’autres. Toutes les musiques s'écoutent, sans avoir un aspect mélancolique qu'on assimile à Radiohead Le seul - est que ça manque d'un tube ou d'une chanson qui traverse les époques mais pour la cohérence du projet je reste à 5

Excellent album. Radiohead is one of a kind and this album is one of their best.

Some all time classics on here. I've always been a huge fan in particular of fake plastic trees

need whatever radiohead injected into this album injected into my veins as well thanks

I wuv it ❤️❤️❤️

If we're being serious here, and I hope we are, this is one of the best rock albums of the 90s, and certainly the best album of Radiohead's career, unless you like music that makes you all jittery, depressed and anxious, which I know a lot of people do. Second side slows down, but that first side is epic.

- reading the lyrics to this album its so clear to me why saying you love radiohead is considered a red flag - but damn if it isn't a good album - 90s alt rock/grunge/post punk is my favorite genre and era rn, so for me this is a perfect album - Great sequencing Favorite song: High and Dry

🫠

I hadn’t listened to this album in awhile, and had forgotten how incredible it is. It has been overshadowed over the years by the OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows triumvirate, but it great in its own right. I’ve been adding a song or two from (nearly) every album that I’ve heard in this project to a playlist, and I had a hard time picking which songs are my favorites from this one since each song is great. Classic.

If you don’t absolutely love this then you just don’t understand good music

Best radiohead imo and I'll die on that hill

The sound of this album is unique. I would say the same about every album of Radiohead. This one gives me a feeling of nostalgia

pfofoof

So ziemlich jedes Lied ist ein banger

i love love love this album so deeply. no notes whatsoever i can feel every version of myself that has listened to this album each time it plays.

- Another bunch of Zionists I no longer support. - This album was one of my favourites of theirs, and even though it's been a while since I listened to it, I still know it inside and out. - Tons of great songs on here, and no skips. - I like the way that the songs go from completely instrumentally full to sparse in a way that totally underlines the lyrics and feel of each song. - And the ballads are so so good - touching but also orchestral. - Great guitar work, throughout. - Tom Yorke's voice works as the counterpoint to the instrumentation and makes it feel less heavy and more contemplative.

Already know and love this album.

some songs blend in together with their repetiveness, but i like the story it tells. the guitars are spectacular. not a fan of this group though.

A classic

Happy Birthday to me. Fucking phenomenal. The more I listen to Radiohead's discography, the more The Bends shoots up to the top. It's just rock solid music. Alternative, catchy, hard-hitting, and complex. Top 3 Radiohead, for sure. Thom Yorke, suck my toes pleak.

Increíble disco. Radiohead demostró que no era una banda del momento. Sonido entre el britpop y un sonido auténtico.

What going through seasonal depression with interpersonal conflict and drama feels like while King Bowser is your Dealer

very interesting and depressing experience

Top notch out of the top top drawer 11 out of 5.

Fucking brilliant album, been putting it off for so long, glad the generator got me round to it. The Bends was my song and fav first listen of the album with Fake Plastic Trees and Planet Telex being my other highlights

Easy 5 star for me, Radiohead were my favourite band around this time and I must have listened to this many, many times. I probably have had lots of different “favourite” bands down the years and 30 years later, I would say Radiohead are my favourite if pushed for an answer. Listening this time, it did cross my mind how this quality of album ought to be the pinnacle of many a band’s career but had Radiohead doubled down on this, they wouldn’t be regarded how they are today, so whilst this is an easy 5 star album, it would be fighting to get into my top 3 Radiohead albums these days.

Whoever said this album is shit should be shot and killed publicly

Es un gran álbum. Cuando era niña lo escuché y lo amé.

So good I've always loved this album

this is such a good album, hello????

Awesome and timeless

Gran álbum, tremendamente infravalorado dentro del universo radioheadistico. Pese a tener un factor nostálgico para mi (no puedo ser objetiva), es increíble como no tiene ni una canción mala (no necesito ser objetiva).

Absolute banger of an album. Really amazing stuff on display here. While it's certainly the most approachable and beginner friendly album on their discography, this doesn't mean that there isn't depth to its songs both lyrically and musically. There's not a single bad song in here, and the track order is spot on. Really great album and it's been a part of my regular rotation for a few years already and will likely stay as such.

Master piece

Good

Perfect