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The Bends (song)
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The Bends (song)
"The Bends" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their second studio album, The Bends (1995). In Ireland, it was released by Parlophone on 26 July 1996 as the album's sixth and final single, reaching number 26 on the Irish Singles Chart.
Written in 1992 during the grunge era, "The Bends" predated the release of Radiohead's 1992 debut single, "Creep", and debut studio album, Pablo Honey (1993). A fan favourite, Radiohead performed it numerous times over the following two years before recording it at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England, with the producer John Leckie. It remains one of Radiohead's most frequently performed songs.
"The Bends" has been compared to the work of bands such as Queen, the Beatles, Pixies, the Smiths, and Oasis; Radiohead's singer, Thom Yorke, described it as a "Bowie pastiche". The track consists of five sections, making it one of the most structurally complex songs on The Bends. Several critics interpreted the lyrics as a commentary on the success of "Creep", which had led the media to label Radiohead as a one-hit wonder. However, Yorke said the lyrics were intended to be humorous and had been misinterpreted.
The song was included on the greatest hits album Radiohead: The Best Of (2008), and other versions have appeared on compilations by Radiohead and other artists. In 2017, Uncut ranked it as the third-greatest Radiohead song, while NME placed its guitar solo as the seventh-greatest in music history.
"The Bends" is one of the earliest songs written by Radiohead, originally titled "The Benz". It was primarily written by the singer, Thom Yorke, though credited to all band members, before the recording of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). In a 1995 interview, Yorke said: "['The Bends'] is one of those songs I was rambling around and just poured all this rubbish out into the song. Then it all started happening, which was a bit odd. I was completely taking the piss when I wrote it. Then the joke started wearing a bit thin." Radiohead also performed "The Bends" live numerous times before its release. The bassist, Colin Greenwood, described it as a "perennial hardy annual of a live favourite, faithfully committed live to tape."
In 1992, Radiohead recorded an early 4-track demo of "The Bends" during the Pablo Honey sessions. Yorke introduced the demo to the co-producer Paul Q. Kolderie at the end of the sessions, but decided to save it for their next album. In March 1993, Radiohead recorded another demo with their live sound engineer, Jim Warren, at Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire, during the same session that produced "High and Dry". After the Pablo Honey tour ended, they sent the demo to the producer John Leckie to work on their upcoming second album, The Bends.
"The Bends" was one of the songs considered as a potential follow-up single to "Creep" during the album recording. It was initially recorded at London's RAK Studios in sessions held between February and May 1994, before being re-recorded at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, where the band spent two weeks working on The Bends in July. According to the drummer, Philip Selway, the song was recorded in a single take: "I wanted to get away from the studio to view a house for rent. Consequently, this was the first take." However, Q reported that the song was recorded over several takes. The unreleased RAK version was mixed by Leckie at London's Abbey Road Studios.
Leckie felt that the guitars were too loud and that the song was "overblown", though the band members disagreed. According to Leckie, the original version of "The Bends" was "more overpowering" than the album version, with Yorke's vocals being more screamed. In an attempt to make the introduction less "bombastic", Radiohead added "tinkling" sound effects that Yorke had recorded on a cassette recorder through a hotel room window while touring in the United States. He said: "There was this guy training these eight-year-old kids, who were parading up and down with all these different instruments. The guy had this little microphone on his sweater and was going: 'Yeah, keep it up, keep it up.' So I ran out and taped it." "The Bends" was mixed by Sean Slade and Kolderie, who had produced Pablo Honey and mixed most of The Bends, with additional mixing by Leckie.
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The Bends (song)
"The Bends" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their second studio album, The Bends (1995). In Ireland, it was released by Parlophone on 26 July 1996 as the album's sixth and final single, reaching number 26 on the Irish Singles Chart.
Written in 1992 during the grunge era, "The Bends" predated the release of Radiohead's 1992 debut single, "Creep", and debut studio album, Pablo Honey (1993). A fan favourite, Radiohead performed it numerous times over the following two years before recording it at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England, with the producer John Leckie. It remains one of Radiohead's most frequently performed songs.
"The Bends" has been compared to the work of bands such as Queen, the Beatles, Pixies, the Smiths, and Oasis; Radiohead's singer, Thom Yorke, described it as a "Bowie pastiche". The track consists of five sections, making it one of the most structurally complex songs on The Bends. Several critics interpreted the lyrics as a commentary on the success of "Creep", which had led the media to label Radiohead as a one-hit wonder. However, Yorke said the lyrics were intended to be humorous and had been misinterpreted.
The song was included on the greatest hits album Radiohead: The Best Of (2008), and other versions have appeared on compilations by Radiohead and other artists. In 2017, Uncut ranked it as the third-greatest Radiohead song, while NME placed its guitar solo as the seventh-greatest in music history.
"The Bends" is one of the earliest songs written by Radiohead, originally titled "The Benz". It was primarily written by the singer, Thom Yorke, though credited to all band members, before the recording of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). In a 1995 interview, Yorke said: "['The Bends'] is one of those songs I was rambling around and just poured all this rubbish out into the song. Then it all started happening, which was a bit odd. I was completely taking the piss when I wrote it. Then the joke started wearing a bit thin." Radiohead also performed "The Bends" live numerous times before its release. The bassist, Colin Greenwood, described it as a "perennial hardy annual of a live favourite, faithfully committed live to tape."
In 1992, Radiohead recorded an early 4-track demo of "The Bends" during the Pablo Honey sessions. Yorke introduced the demo to the co-producer Paul Q. Kolderie at the end of the sessions, but decided to save it for their next album. In March 1993, Radiohead recorded another demo with their live sound engineer, Jim Warren, at Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire, during the same session that produced "High and Dry". After the Pablo Honey tour ended, they sent the demo to the producer John Leckie to work on their upcoming second album, The Bends.
"The Bends" was one of the songs considered as a potential follow-up single to "Creep" during the album recording. It was initially recorded at London's RAK Studios in sessions held between February and May 1994, before being re-recorded at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, where the band spent two weeks working on The Bends in July. According to the drummer, Philip Selway, the song was recorded in a single take: "I wanted to get away from the studio to view a house for rent. Consequently, this was the first take." However, Q reported that the song was recorded over several takes. The unreleased RAK version was mixed by Leckie at London's Abbey Road Studios.
Leckie felt that the guitars were too loud and that the song was "overblown", though the band members disagreed. According to Leckie, the original version of "The Bends" was "more overpowering" than the album version, with Yorke's vocals being more screamed. In an attempt to make the introduction less "bombastic", Radiohead added "tinkling" sound effects that Yorke had recorded on a cassette recorder through a hotel room window while touring in the United States. He said: "There was this guy training these eight-year-old kids, who were parading up and down with all these different instruments. The guy had this little microphone on his sweater and was going: 'Yeah, keep it up, keep it up.' So I ran out and taped it." "The Bends" was mixed by Sean Slade and Kolderie, who had produced Pablo Honey and mixed most of The Bends, with additional mixing by Leckie.