The Bends (Album)

*Did you perhaps mean to go to The Bends, the song?*

***The Bends*** is the second studio album by English rock band Radiohead. It was released on March 13, 1995 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Capitol Records. The album was produced by John Leckie and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to co-produce all future albums by the band. The introspective grunge-influenced style of the band's 1993 debut *Pablo Honey* evolved into more multi-layered rock with cryptic lyrics and larger ideas with ‘’The Bends’’, as they reacted against the rigours of their near-constant world tours.

*The Bends* received greater critical acclaim than *Pablo Honey*, and peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. However, it failed to build on the commercial success of "Creep" outside of the UK, and ultimately peaked at number 88 on the US *Billboard* 200. Although it lacked the instant success of Radiohead's subsequent albums, *The Bends* achieved 3x platinum status in the UK and Canada, as well as platinum status in the United States and Europe.

The album had five charting singles; *My Iron Lung* was first released as an EP in 1994, with *Planet Telex / High and Dry*, *Fake Plastic Trees*, *Just*, and *Street Spirit (Fade Out)* releasing afterwards in 1995.

Radiohead begun their first US tour in early 1993, their first single *Creep* was in heavy rotation and had achieved top ten chart positions in the UK and the US when re-released in 1993. The grunge sound of their first album *Pablo Honey* led to the band being described as "Nirvana-lite", and neither the album nor the singles *Stop Whispering* and *Anyone Can Play Guitar* had ever come close to the chart success of *Creep*. Unfortunately, Radiohead almost broke up because of the pressure of sudden success as the tour had extended into its second year. The tour was a terrible experience, as described by the band. Tensions were high, as the band felt smothered by both the success of "Creep" and the large expectations for an even better follow-up. The 1994 EP *My Iron Lung*, featuring the single of the same title, was Radiohead's reaction to all of this.

At the beginning of 1994, Radiohead began working on song arrangements for *The Bends*. Sessions were scheduled to begin at London's RAK Studio in January; however, fellow Oxford band Ride asked Leckie to perform some last-minute work on their latest album Carnival of Light. Radiohead agreed to postpone the start of the album's sessions to February 24th to help Leckie. The band used the advantage of having extra time to practice their songs, but this later proved unsatisfactory to them.

The band found the first two months of work on the album very difficult. EMI gave Radiohead nine weeks to record the album, and had set an October 1994 release date for the album, which later proved impossible, and had also suggested the band record the album's lead single first. No one could agree on what the lead single should be, so the band worked on four tracks they had considered candidates: *Sulk*, *The Bends*, *Just*, and *(Nice Dream)*. Leckie recalled, "Everyone was pulling their hair out saying, 'It's not good enough!' [...] We were trying too hard". The recording process slowed down further as guitarist Jonny Greenwood experimented with several rented guitars and amplifiers in order to find "a really special sound" for his instrument, despite Leckie's belief that he already had a good one.

The group had a tour planned for May until mid-June, which meant that the album would not be finished by October as planned. By the end of the sessions at RAK, Radiohead had recorded a handful of songs that would appear on the record, as well as most of the tracks that would appear on the *My Iron Lung* EP. They continued recording on June 16th at businessman Richard Branson's rural studio complex the Manor. Unlike the sessions at RAK, the group recorded material very fast. The band finished recording the album at Abbey Road Studios in London, where Leckie also mixed some of the new songs.

## Track listing

1. *Planet Telex*
2. *The Bends*
3. *High and Dry*
4. *Fake Plastic Trees*
5. *Bones*
6. *(Nice Dream)*
7. *Just*
8. *My Iron Lung*
9. *Bullet Proof ... I Wish I Was*
10. *Black Star*
11. *Sulk*
12. *Street Spirit (Fade Out)*