Can't Write If You Can't Relate: The Bends

Time for a rant! Radiohead's The Bends was released 20 years ago today. Why should people give a hoot?

I consider myself a Radiohead fan and The Bends isn't even my favorite album by them. Most of the time, I'd place it 3rd behind OK Computer and Kid A [although it's my 2nd favorite on a good day (and In Rainbows follows closely as my #4 pick)]. No, I dare say Radiohead is now considered by many as one of the all-time greats, and The Bends can be ranked among the most influential albums of all time!

Now I'm making some big boasts about this 1995 album and it's not even my favorite 90s album. Radiohead made some of their best music in the 90s. Not because they sounded like the 90s, but it was "the sound of the future." Radiohead even improved on their futuristic sound on OK Computer and Kid A, but let's remember that The Bends came first and is a totally different animal. It's often overlooked as a sonic leap in the world and is mostly looked at as an innovative album for song-structures to come.

Thom Yorke claims the sound for this album was heavily influenced by The Pixies (whom he even called the greatest band of all time). Yet only 15 years after its release, The Observer claimed that neither Coldplay, Keane nor James Blunt would exist without The Bends. So this album is the bridge between The Pixies and Snow Patrol. Fascinating...

"The (Sometimes Annoyingly) Sad Guy
with a Guitar at Parties"

I believe every pasty white British male who tries rocking out on acoustic guitar and moaning/singing songs about depression should give 80% royalties to Radiohead. Not like this album is extremely acoustic, but the acoustic guitar makes an appearance in every song as a track's most comforting, playable instrument. Cue the (sometimes annoyingly) sad guy with a guitar at parties for the next 20 years.

The electric guitar riffs shred like The Pixies and solo like U2. Thom Yorke's vocal delivery is more neurotic. The bass lines are fuzzy, firm and are never hiding. The song topics are freaking depressing. Mostly about having no friends and feeling weak. Musically, it's actually quite loud; quite dynamic. The songs shift from being comforting to being creepy.

I assume nobody loves this album more than someone who was an introverted teenager in the mid-90s. I mean, sure, Radiohead was, is, and always will be "cool" music. But the shy kid in the corner loved The Bends. The loved Radiohead (ahem) 'before it was cool." Because they personally associated with it. It's depressive. It's anxious. It's relate-able.

The Bends was a lot more popular in the UK than in the US, where the only song to technically reach the Billboard Hot 100 was the simple, sad "High & Dry." My personal tracks are "(Nice Dream)" and "Black Star." The obviously most influential track was the heart-wrenchingly climactic anthem to crappy, materialistic relationships: "Fake Plastic Trees."

Now as weird as Radiohead is, this album was successful. It has 12 tracks. 6 of them were released as singles. The hooks are catchy. They made this album with a lot of money. It's multi-platinum selling record and people still cover "Fake Plastic Trees" at every Utah State PoBev I've ever been to. Some people play these songs straight faced, on the verge of tears, inwardly thinking "nobody knows how I feel." This is the emotional character of The Bends. Zero fun, sir. Just ask Beavis & Butthead.

...So maybe that wasn't that funny. BUT...
The Bends was the beginning of one of the greatest trio of albums ever:
The Bends > OK Computer > Kid A.
I consider it the second greatest only behind The Beatles:
Rubber Soul > Revolver > Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(And The Beatles did that in under 3 years!)

Some consider The Bends to be one of the greatest albums of all time. I'm not sure where I stand on that. Listening to it these days doesn't shock me much because it just sounds so standard. Every track sounded like I heard it a million times after I heard them once. But I can imagine a time when hearing tracks like "Just" or "My Iron Lung" on the radio was some hardcore experience.

The radio music world owes a big debt to The Bends (especially for Brits). You owe a lot to The Bends. Because we live in a world where everyone's emotions are important and the answers to everything can be found on something as powerful yet impersonal as the internet. And when Radiohead was the poster-band for "the sound of the future," they reminded us "the future" is a sad place to be.

"Immerse your soul in love, immerse your soul in love..."

Here are some Bends copycats. Enjoy!