The Bends - Radiohead (1995)

Ideated from: Starting my second year of this blog with some famous second albums

It’s easy to dismiss Pablo Honey, Radiohead’s debut. Everyone knows that massive global hit Creep, but the rest of it is pretty disposable. But even by the time that first record was out, Radiohead had moved on and continued to explore what they could do. This record isn’t the radical jumping off point into what they would become (that would be the next one, OK Computer). But for several reasons, this is the first real glimpse of what Radiohead were capable of.

It’s the first to involve Nigel Godrich, who didn’t fully handle production yet, but was involved in helping the band express themselves sonically. It was less focused on verse-chorus-verse pop rock song structures than the the debut. It’s also much more fluid and dynamic. The band opened a window onto their creative process, their love of odd-sounding and dissonant approaches, their oblique lyrical content, and the general well of creativity they hadn’t really gotten to show off yet.

This is where the band started to let their uniqueness show through. They created something that would get overshadowed by later records, but still stands very well on its own.

Discog-ology

Next: Go back to my more recent chronicling with the classic OK Computer

Previous: Pablo Honey

Tracks I Liked

Fake Plastic Trees - A gorgeous ballad that whips into a frenzy by the end.

Just - Not every 90s alt-rock band had a nascent compositional mastermind playing guitar. This is the first track showing off the wild harmonic imagination of Johnny Greenwood. He absolutely owns the second half of the track, and everyone else is just along for the ride.

My Iron Lung - This one showed up on my CMJ New Music Monthly comp and I quickly skipped past it because the guitar intro (for some reason) made me think it was a ripoff of The Beatles’ Dear Prudence. Eventually I got to actually listening to the song, and now it’s still one of my favorite Radiohead tracks.