The Bends (album)

Radiohead released their debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1993. By the time they began their first US tour early that year, their debut single, "Creep", had become a hit.{{Citation |title=Creepshow |date=19 December 1992 |newspaper=Melody Maker}} The band felt pressured by the success and mounting expectations.{{citation |last=Black |first=Johnny |title=The Greatest Songs Ever! Fake Plastic Trees |date=1 June 2003 |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=824 |magazine=Blender |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070409000921/http://blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=824 |access-date=15 April 2007 |archive-date=9 April 2007 |url-status=dead}} Following the tours, the singer, Thom Yorke, became ill and Radiohead cancelled an appearance at the 1993 Reading Festival. He told NME: "Physically I'm completely fucked and mentally I've had enough."

According to some reports, Radiohead's record company, EMI, gave them six months to "get sorted" or be dropped. EMI's A&R head, Keith Wozencroft, denied this, saying: "Experimental rock music was getting played and had commercial potential. People voice different paranoias, but for the label [Radiohead] were developing brilliantly from Pablo Honey."

After Radiohead finished recording Pablo Honey, Yorke played the co-producer Paul Q. Kolderie a demo tape of new material with the working title The Benz. Kolderie was shocked to find the songs were "all better than anything on Pablo Honey".{{cite web |last=Monroe |first=Jazz |date=13 March 2019 |title=Radiohead's The Bends: inside the anti-capitalist, anti-cynicism classic |url=https://www.nme.com/features/radioheads-the-bends-at-20-the-story-of-an-anti-capitalist-anti-cynicism-classic-36 |access-date=20 September 2019 |website=NME |archive-date=25 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525032146/https://www.nme.com/features/radioheads-the-bends-at-20-the-story-of-an-anti-capitalist-anti-cynicism-classic-36 |url-status=live }} The guitarist Ed O'Brien said later: "After all that touring on Pablo Honey ... the songs that Thom was writing were so much better. Over a period of a year and a half, suddenly, bang."{{cite web |last=McLean |first=Craig |date=6 February 2020 |title=Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien steps up |url=https://theface.com/music/radiohead-guitarist-ed-obrien-album-shangri-la-interview-thom-yorke |access-date=2020-02-08 |website=The Face |language=en-gb |archive-date=24 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424035341/https://theface.com/music/radiohead-guitarist-ed-obrien-album-shangri-la-interview-thom-yorke |url-status=live }} Kolderie credited Radiohead's Pablo Honey tours for "turning them into a tight band".{{Cite book |last=Randall |first=Mac |title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1849384575}}

To produce their next album, Radiohead selected John Leckie, who had produced records by acts they admired, such as Magazine.{{Cite web |date=2015-03-09 |title=Q&A: Radiohead's Philip Selway remembers The Bends |url=https://www.stereogum.com/1784465/qa-radioheads-philip-selway-remembers-the-bends/franchises/interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711170800/https://www.stereogum.com/1784465/qa-radioheads-philip-selway-remembers-the-bends/franchises/interview/ |archive-date=11 July 2020 |access-date=2020-07-11 |website=Stereogum}} Leckie did not like Pablo Honey, but saw potential in Radiohead's new demos, Yorke's vocals and the three-guitar lineup. The drummer, Philip Selway, said Radiohead were reassured by how relaxed and open-minded Leckie was on their first meeting. According to O'Brien, the success of "Creep" meant that Radiohead were not in debt to EMI and so had more freedom on their next album. EMI asked Radiohead to deliver a followup to "Creep" for the American market; however, according to Leckie, Radiohead had disowned "Creep" and did not "think in terms of making hit singles".

Recording was postponed so Leckie could work on the album Carnival of Light, by another Oxford band, Ride.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=125}} Radiohead used the extra time to rehearse in a disused barn on an Oxfordshire fruit farm in January 1994.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=126}}{{Cite news |date=2021-02-24 |title=Radiohead sketchbook sells for £5,000 after auction |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-56171708 |access-date=2022-06-18 |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618110734/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-56171708 |url-status=live }} Yorke said: "We had all of these songs and we really liked them, but we knew them almost too well ... so we had to sort of learn to like them again before we could record them, which is odd."{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=126}}

File:RAK Recording Studios 2463868 84e895ea.jpg, London.]]

EMI gave Radiohead nine weeks to record the album, planning to release it in October 1994.{{Cite web |last=Randall |first=Mac |date=15 May 2015 |title=Radiohead's The Bends 20 years later: reexamining a modern rock masterpiece |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/high-dive-look-radioheads-bends-20-years-later |access-date=2019-09-20 |website=Guitar World |language=en |archive-date=20 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920143613/https://www.guitarworld.com/features/high-dive-look-radioheads-bends-20-years-later |url-status=live }} Work began at RAK Studios in London in February 1994. Yorke would arrive at the studio early and work alone at the piano; according to Leckie, "New songs were pouring out of him." The band praised Leckie for demystifying the studio environment. The guitarist Jonny Greenwood said: "He didn't treat us like he had some kind of witchcraft that only he understands. There's no mystery to it, which is so refreshing."{{Cite journal|last=Garcia|first=Sandra|date=July 1995|title=Decompression|journal=B-Side|issue=51}}

Whereas Pablo Honey was mostly written by Yorke, The Bends saw greater collaboration. Previously, all three guitarists had often played identical parts, creating a "dense, fuzzy wall" of sound. Their Bends roles were more divided, with Yorke generally playing rhythm, Greenwood lead and Ed O'Brien providing effects. O'Brien described the Boss DD-5, a delay pedal, as important to the album's sound.{{Cite web |last=Astley-Brown |first=Michael |date=2023-12-29 |title="It's the only delay that can make those OK Computer sounds": Ed O'Brien explains why one BOSS pedal was integral to Radiohead's landmark '90s albums |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/news/radiohead-ed-o-brien-boss-delays |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=Guitar World |language=en |archive-date=30 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230172509/https://www.guitarworld.com/news/radiohead-ed-o-brien-boss-delays |url-status=live }} The band also created more restrained arrangements; in O'Brien's words, "We were very aware of something on The Bends that we weren't aware of on Pablo Honey... If it sounded really great with Thom playing acoustic with Phil and [Colin], what was the point in trying to add something more?"

"Planet Telex" began with a drum loop taken from another song, the B-side "Killer Cars", and was written and recorded in a single evening at RAK.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} "(Nice Dream)" began as a simple four-chord song by Yorke, and was expanded with extra parts by O'Brien and Greenwood. Much of "Just" was written by Greenwood, who, according to Yorke, "was trying to get as many chords as he could into a song". Not satisfied with the versions of "My Iron Lung" recorded at RAK, Radiohead used a live recording from the London Astoria, with Yorke's vocals replaced and the audience removed.

Radiohead made several efforts to record "Fake Plastic Trees". O'Brien likened one version to the Guns N' Roses song "November Rain", saying it was "pompous and bombastic ... just the worst". Eventually, Leckie recorded Yorke playing "Fake Plastic Trees" alone, which the rest of the band used to build the final song. "High and Dry" was recorded the previous year at Courtyard Studios, Oxfordshire, by Radiohead's live sound engineer, Jim Warren. Yorke later said it was a "very bad" song that EMI had pressured him into releasing.{{Cite web |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |date=2006-08-16 |title=Interviews: Thom Yorke |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6402-thom-yorke/ |access-date=2010-03-03 |publisher=Pitchfork |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091946/http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6402-thom-yorke/ |url-status=live }}

"The Bends", "(Nice Dream)" and "Just" were identified as potential singles and became the focus of the early sessions, which created tension.{{cite journal|last1=Irvin|first1=Jim|author-link=Jim Irvin|last2=Hoskyns|first2=Barney|date=July 1997|title=We Have Lift-Off!|journal=Mojo|issue=45}} Leckie recalled: "We had to give those absolute attention, make them amazing, instant smash hits, number one in America. Everyone was pulling their hair out saying, 'It's not good enough!' We were trying too hard." Yorke in particular struggled with the pressure, and Radiohead's co-manager Chris Hufford considered quitting, citing Yorke's "mistrust of everybody". Jonny Greenwood spent days testing new guitar equipment, searching for a distinctive sound, before reverting to his Telecaster. The bassist, Colin Greenwood, described the period as "eight weeks of hell and torture".{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Andrea |date=August 1997 |title=Radio days |journal=The Mix |publisher=Future Publishing}} According to Yorke, "We had days of painful self-analysis, a total fucking meltdown for two fucking months." O'Brien said each member examined their options for leaving their contracts.

With the October deadline abandoned, recording paused in May and June while Radiohead toured Europe, Japan and Australasia. Work resumed for two weeks in July at the Manor studio in Oxfordshire, where Radiohead completed songs including "Bones", "Sulk" and "The Bends". This was followed by tours of the UK, Thailand and Mexico. In Mexico, the band members had a major argument.{{Cite web |last=Dalton |first=Stephen |date=August 2011 |title=Radiohead: 'We were spitting and fighting and crying...' |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/radiohead-we-were-spitting-and-fighting-and-crying-73254/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318062952/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/radiohead-we-were-spitting-and-fighting-and-crying-73254/ |archive-date=18 March 2023 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Uncut |language=en-GB}} Yorke said: "Years of tension and not saying anything to each other, and basically all the things that had built up since we'd met each other, all came out in one day. We were spitting and fighting and crying and saying all the things that you don't want to talk about. It completely changed and we went back and did the album and it all made sense." The tour gave Radiohead a new sense of purpose and their relationships improved. Hufford encouraged them to make the album they wanted instead of worrying about "product and units".

Recording ended in November 1994 at Abbey Road Studios in London.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=133}} Selway said the album was recorded in about four months total. While Leckie mixed The Bends at Abbey Road, EMI grew concerned that he was taking too long.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=133}} Without his knowledge, they sent tracks to Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, who had produced Pablo Honey, to mix instead. Leckie disliked their mixes, finding them "brash", but later said: "I went through a bit of trauma at the time, but maybe they chose the best thing." Only three of Leckie's mixes were used on the album.

The Bends was Radiohead's first collaboration with Nigel Godrich, who engineered the RAK sessions. When Leckie left the studio to attend a social engagement, Godrich and the band stayed to record B-sides. One song, "Black Star", was included on the album. Godrich produced all of Radiohead's later albums.

The Bends has been described as alternative rock{{cite web | url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/10/pablo-honey-the-king-of.html | title=Radiohead's Discography Ranked | website=Paste | date=20 October 2012 | access-date=2 September 2015 | last=Kane, Tyler | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924141339/http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/10/pablo-honey-the-king-of.html | archive-date=24 September 2015 | url-status=live }}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/radioheads-the-bends-trivia-962378/|title=Radiohead's The Bends: 10 Things You Didn't Know|date=March 13, 2020|first=Angie|last=Martoccio|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=December 7, 2024}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/best-second-albums|title=The second albums that beat the second album curse|first=Josiah|last=Gogarty|date=10 September 2024|website=GQ UK|access-date=27 March 2025|quote=And though it doesn’t have quite the same critical reputation as what follows, it should: The Bends is a gorgeous alternative rock album.}} and indie rock. Like Pablo Honey, it features guitar-oriented rock songs, but its songs are "more spacey and odd", according to The Gazette's Bill Reed.{{cite news |last=Reed |first=Bill |date=August 22, 2003 |title=Tune in, tune on to Radiohead |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/colorado-springs-gazette-aug-22-2003-p-260/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915154434/https://newspaperarchive.com/colorado-springs-gazette-aug-22-2003-p-260/ |archive-date=15 September 2021 |access-date=September 15, 2021 |work=The Gazette}} The music is more eclectic than Pablo Honey, and Colin Greenwood said The Bends better represented their style.{{cite news |last=Wener |first=Ben |date=July 21, 1997 |title=Yes, we have no message |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-jul-21-1997-p-192/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916160836/https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-jul-21-1997-p-192/ |archive-date=16 September 2021 |access-date=September 16, 2021 |work=Orange County Register}} Pitchfork wrote that it contrasts warmth and tension, riffs and texture, and rock and post-rock. Several critics identified it as a Britpop album, though Radiohead disliked Britpop, seeing it as a "backwards-looking" pastiche.{{cite magazine |last=Pappademas |first=Alex |date=23 June 2003 |title=The Spin Record Guide: Essential Britpop |url=http://www.spin.com/2003/06/spin-record-guide-essential-britpop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614002823/http://www.spin.com/2003/06/spin-record-guide-essential-britpop/ |archive-date=14 June 2017 |access-date=19 January 2017 |magazine=Spin}} {{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/|title=The 50 Best Britpop Albums|first=Jazz|last=Monroe|date=29 March 2017|website=Pitchfork|access-date=4 October 2024}}

The critic Simon Reynolds wrote that The Bends brought an "English art rock element" to the fore of Radiohead's sound.{{cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |date=June 2001 |title=Walking on Thin Ice |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-walking-on-thin-ice |journal=The Wire |issue=209 |access-date=16 November 2023 |archive-date=6 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106061301/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/radiohead-walking-on-thin-ice |url-status=live }} According to Kolderie, "The Bends was neither an English album nor an American album. It's an album made in the void of touring and travelling. It really had that feeling of, 'We don't live anywhere and we don't belong anywhere.'" Reed described it as "intriguingly disturbed" and "bipolar". He likened "The Bends" to the late music of the Beatles, described "My Iron Lung" as hard rock, and noted more subdued sounds on "Bullet Proof ... I Wish I Was" and "High and Dry", showcasing Radiohead's "more plaintive and meditative side".

Rolling Stone described The Bends as a "mix of sonic guitar anthems and striking ballads", with lyrics evoking a "haunted landscape" of sickness, consumerism, jealousy and longing.{{cite magazine|title=Radiohead: Biography|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/radiohead/biography|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110118230746/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/radiohead/biography|archive-date=18 January 2011|access-date=20 January 2009|magazine=Rolling Stone}} Several songs evoke a "sense of a disintegrated or disconnected subject".{{cite journal |last=Tucker |first=Shawn |date=2013 |title=The Aesthetics of Dissociation:: Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely" and Jasper Johns's Device Paintings |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/soundings.96.1.0085 |journal=Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=85–98 |doi=10.5325/soundings.96.1.0085 |issn=0038-1861 |jstor=10.5325/soundings.96.1.0085 |s2cid=189250854 |access-date=11 July 2021 |archive-date=11 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711111943/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/soundings.96.1.0085 |url-status=live }} The journalist Mac Randall described the lyrics as "a veritable compendium of disease, disgust and depression" that nonetheless become uplifting in the context of the "inviting" and "powerful" arrangements. Jonny Greenwood said The Bends was about "illness and doctors... revulsion about our own bodies". Yorke said it was "an incredibly personal album, which is why I spent most of my time denying that it was personal at all". The album title, a term for decompression sickness, references Radiohead's rapid rise to fame with "Creep". Yorke said, "We just came up too fast."{{Cite magazine |date=February 25, 1995 |title=Radiohead creeps past early success |url=http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/billboard22595.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106134201/http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/billboard22595.html |archive-date=6 January 2022 |access-date=6 January 2022 |magazine=Billboard}}

In "Fake Plastic Trees", Yorke laments the effects of consumerism on modern relationships. It was inspired by the commercial development of Canary Wharf and a performance by Jeff Buckley, who inspired Yorke to use falsetto.{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Ed |date=12 March 2020 |title=Why Radiohead's The Bends is the worst great album of all time |language=en |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/why-radiohead-s-the-bends-is-the-worst-great-album-of-all-time-1.4199850 |access-date=2020-09-09 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303034521/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/why-radiohead-s-the-bends-is-the-worst-great-album-of-all-time-1.4199850 |url-status=live }}{{citation|title= Fake Plastic Trees Lyrics|url= http://www.greenplastic.com/radiohead-lyrics/the-bends/fake-plastic-trees/|date= March 1995|access-date= 5 January 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150102173226/http://www.greenplastic.com/radiohead-lyrics/the-bends/fake-plastic-trees/|archive-date= 2 January 2015|url-status= usurped}} Sasha Frere-Jones compared its melody to the "second theme of a Schubert string quartet".{{Cite magazine|last=Frere-Jones|first=Sasha|author-link=Sasha Frere-Jones|date=June 18, 2006|title=Fine Tuning|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/26/fine-tuning|access-date=2021-07-11|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|archive-date=29 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929031937/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/26/fine-tuning|url-status=live}} In "Just", Jonny Greenwood plays octatonic scales that extend over four octaves,{{Cite magazine|last=Ross|first=Alex|date=August 12, 2001|title=Becoming Radiohead|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/08/20/the-searchers|access-date=2021-07-11|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729041246/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/08/20/the-searchers|url-status=live}} influenced by the 1978 Magazine song "Shot by Both Sides".{{cite work |last=Buxton |first=Adam |title=Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood and Adam Buxton sit in [Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service BBC Radio 6] |date=2013-07-07 |publisher=BBC Radio 6 |quote=Q: That was a live version of that Magazine track... [Colin Greenwood :] it's a special record for both of us... John McGeoch guitar playing... So I thought it would be nice we could listen to some stuff ... and maybe influence some of what we do... Q: I dont see anyone objecting to Magazine on the Radiohead tour bus ... Have you ever covered any Magazine track ? [Jonny Greenwood:] Sure, we have played "Shot by Both Sides" and we have played the song "Just" which is pretty much the same kind of idea. Q: You were thinking very much Magazine with the angular guitar riffing on "Just", right ? I've been thinking that on most of our kind of angular guitar songs that we do. It's really inventive music. |author-link=Adam Buxton |time=14:32}} With the use of a DigiTech Whammy pedal, Greenwood pitch-shifts the solo into a high, piercing frequency.{{Cite journal |last=Lowe |first=Steve |date=December 1999 |title=Back to save the universe |journal=Select}} Greenwood also uses the Whammy for the opening riff of "My Iron Lung", creating a "glitchy, lo-fi" sound.{{Cite journal |date=19 October 2018 |title=Iron man |url=https://www.pressreader.com/australia/total-guitar/20181019/283016875682882 |journal=Total Guitar |publisher=Future plc |via=PressReader}} According to Randall, "My Iron Lung" transitions from a "jangly" opening hook to a "McCartney-esque verse melody" and "pulverising guitar explosions" in the bridge.

"Sulk" was written as a response to the Hungerford massacre. It originally ended with the lyric "just shoot your gun". Yorke omitted it after the suicide of the Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994, as he did not want listeners to believe it was an allusion to Cobain.{{Cite web |last=Potter |first=Jordan |date=2022-03-31 |title=The Radiohead lyrics edited due to Kurt Cobain's suicide |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/radiohead-lyrics-edited-kurt-cobain-suicide/ |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=Far Out Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401141742/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/radiohead-lyrics-edited-kurt-cobain-suicide/ |url-status=live }} "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" was inspired by R.E.M. and the 1991 novel The Famished Road by Ben Okri;{{cite journal |last=Draper |first=Brian |date=11 October 2014 |title=Chipping Away: Brian Draper Talks to Thom Yorke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Yq7ZTsst1YC&q=Third%20Way%20Magazine%2C%20october%2011th%202004&pg=PA16 |journal=Third Way |location=St. Peters, Sumner Road, Harrow |publisher=Third Way Trust, Ltd. |access-date=3 January 2015 |archive-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416030025/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Yq7ZTsst1YC&q=Third%20Way%20Magazine%2C%20october%2011th%202004&pg=PA16 |url-status=live }} the lyrics detail an escape from an oppressive reality. The journalist Rob Sheffield described "Street Spirit", "Planet Telex" and "High and Dry" as a "big-band dystopian epic".

The Bends was the first Radiohead album with artwork by Stanley Donwood, who has worked with Yorke to create all of Radiohead's artwork since. Donwood met Yorke while they were students at the University of Exeter, and previously created artwork for the My Iron Lung EP.{{Cite web|last=Edmonds|first=Lizzie|date=2015-03-25|title=Stanley Donwood: 'I didn't like Radiohead but they're OK with computers'|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/stanley-donwood-i-didn-t-like-radiohead-but-they-re-ok-with-computers-10132521.html|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Evening Standard|language=en|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182604/https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/stanley-donwood-i-didn-t-like-radiohead-but-they-re-ok-with-computers-10132521.html|url-status=live}} For The Bends, Yorke and Donwood hired a cassette camera and filmed objects including road signs, packaging and street lights. They entered a hospital to film an iron lung, but, according to Donwood, found that iron lungs "are not very interesting to look at". Instead, they filmed a CPR mannequin, which Donwood described as having "a facial expression like that of an android discovering for the first time the sensations of ecstasy and agony, simultaneously". To create the cover image, the pair displayed the footage on a television set and photographed the screen.{{Cite web|date=2019|title=The surreal story of how the artwork of Radiohead's The Bends was created|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/radiohead-the-bends-album-artwork-explained/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414073527/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-surreal-story-of-how-the-cover-of-radioheads-the-bends-was-created/|archive-date=14 April 2019|access-date=2019-04-14|website=Far Out|language=en-GB}}

In September 1994, EMI released the My Iron Lung EP, comprising "My Iron Lung" plus Bends outtakes. "My Iron Lung" was also released as a single.{{sfn|Randall|2000|pp=98–99}} The A&R VP Perry Watts-Russel said EMI did not pursue radio play as "My Iron Lung" was intended for fans rather than as the lead single for The Bends.{{cite magazine |date=February 25, 1995 |title=Radiohead creeps past early success |url=http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/billboard22595.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106134201/http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/billboard22595.html |archive-date=6 January 2022 |access-date=6 January 2022 |magazine=Billboard}}

The Bends was released at the height of Britpop, when the British music charts were dominated by bands such as Oasis and Blur, and initially made little impact.{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Jude |author-link=Jude Rogers |date=2024-09-29 |title='It commemorates collective moments': Radiohead through the eyes of Colin Greenwood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/29/radiohead-colin-greenwood-photography-how-to-disappear#comments |access-date=2024-09-29 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}} It was released in Japan on 8 March 1995 by EMI,{{cite magazine |date=April 1995 |title=ザ・ベンズ/レディオヘッド |trans-title=The Bends / Radiohead |magazine=Rockin'On |language=ja |issue=276 |access-date=}} and in the UK on 13 March by Parlophone Records.{{cite book |last=Anon. |title=The Mojo Collection |publisher=Canongate Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84767-643-6 |editor-last=Irvin |editor-first=Jim |editor-link=Jim Irvin |edition=4th |page=619 |chapter=Radiohead — The Bends |editor2-last=McLear |editor2-first=Colin}} It spent 16 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, reaching number four.{{cite web |title=Radiohead charts |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/radiohead/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019225428/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/radiohead/ |archive-date=19 October 2013 |access-date=15 March 2012 |publisher=Official Charts Company}} On the same day as the UK release, Radiohead's performance at the London Astoria in May 1994 was released on VHS as Live at the Astoria,{{Cite web |last=Skinner |first=Tom |date=2020-05-27 |title=Radiohead to stream classic Live at the Astoria show in full |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-to-stream-classic-live-at-the-astoria-show-in-full-2677066 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=NME |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606082132/https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-to-stream-classic-live-at-the-astoria-show-in-full-2677066 |url-status=live }} including several Bends tracks.{{Cite web |date=2020-05-28 |title=Radiohead streaming 1994 show Live at the Astoria on YouTube: Watch |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/05/radiohead-1994-show-live-at-the-astoria-youtube/ |access-date=2020-06-02 |website=Consequence of Sound |language=en-US |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614144810/https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/05/radiohead-1994-show-live-at-the-astoria-youtube/ |url-status=live }}

In the US, The Bends was released on 4 April by EMI's North American subsidiary, Capitol Records. According to the journalist Tim Footman, Capitol almost refused to release it, feeling it lacked hit singles.{{cite book |last=Footman |first=Tim |title=Radiohead: A Visual Documentary |publisher=Chrome Dreams |year=2002 |isbn=9781842401798 |page=41}} It debuted at the bottom of the US Billboard 200 in the week of 13 May{{cite magazine |date=13 May 1995 |title=Billboard 200 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1995-05-13 |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912080132/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1995-05-13 |archive-date=12 September 2015 |access-date=23 April 2015}} and reached number 147 in the week of 24 June.{{cite magazine |date=24 June 1995 |title=Billboard 200 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1995-06-24 |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622011554/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1995-06-24 |archive-date=22 June 2015 |access-date=23 April 2015}} However, its US sales slowly improved.{{Cite web |last=Walters |first=Barry |date=2017-03-21 |title=What it felt like to review OK Computer when it first came out |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/ok-computer-at-20/10039-what-it-felt-like-to-review-ok-computer-when-it-first-came-out/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} It re-entered the chart in the week of 17 February 1996,{{cite magazine |date=17 February 1996 |title=Billboard 200 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1996-02-17 |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003103412/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1996-02-17 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |access-date=23 April 2015}} and reached number 88 on 20 April,{{cite magazine |date=20 April 1996 |title=Billboard 200 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1996-04-20 |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003103303/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1996-04-20 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |access-date=23 April 2015}} almost exactly a year after its release. On 4 April, The Bends was certified gold in the US for sales of half a million copies.{{cite web |title=Gold & Platinum – RIAA |url=http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103185214/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |archive-date=3 January 2016 |access-date=23 April 2015 |website=Recording Industry Association of America}} Though it remains Radiohead's lowest-charting album in the US, it was certified platinum in January 1999 for sales of one million copies.{{cite web |title=RIAA Gold and Platinum Searchable Database |url=http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103185214/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |archive-date=3 January 2016 |access-date=15 March 2012 |publisher=Recording Industry Association of America}} Note: reader must define search parameter as "Radiohead".

Interest from influential musicians such as the R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe, combined with several distinctive music videos, helped sustain Radiohead's popularity outside the UK.Randall, p. 127 The US critic Barry Walters wrote that the videos "confirmed that this was a band that was nailing the sweet spot between accessibility and mystery". "Fake Plastic Trees" was used in the 1995 film Clueless and is credited for introducing Radiohead to a larger American audience.{{Cite web |last1=Al |first1=Horner |last2=Twells |first2=John |last3=Lobenfeld |first3=Claire |date=2016-04-13 |title=Radiohead on film: The 9 best uses of their songs on screen |url=https://www.factmag.com/2016/04/13/radiohead-best-tv-film-song-moments/ |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=Fact |language=en-US |archive-date=24 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924002152/https://www.factmag.com/2016/04/13/radiohead-best-tv-film-song-moments/ |url-status=live }} According to the MTV host Matt Pinfield, record companies would ask why MTV kept promoting The Bends when it was selling less than their albums; his reply was: "Because it's great!"{{Cite web |last=Dombal |first=Ryan |date=21 March 2017 |title=This is what you get: an oral history of Radiohead's "Karma Police" video |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/ok-computer-at-20/10036-this-is-what-you-get-an-oral-history-of-radioheads-karma-police-video/ |access-date=2021-07-05 |website=Pitchfork |language=en |archive-date=28 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128132655/https://pitchfork.com/features/ok-computer-at-20/10036-this-is-what-you-get-an-oral-history-of-radioheads-karma-police-video/?mbid=social_facebook |url-status=live }} Yorke thanked Pinfield by giving him a gold record of The Bends.

The Bends slowly found fans through word of mouth. Selway credited the videos for helping The Bends "gradually seep into people's consciousness". Colin Greenwood wrote later: "I spoke to so many music writers who'd received The Bends as a promo, left it to gather dust on top of their PC tower, and hadn't bothered to play it until word of mouth nudged them." By the end of 1996, The Bends had sold around two million copies worldwide.{{cite magazine |date=22 February 1997 |title=UK Brits Around the World |url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/90s/1997/Billboard-1997-02-22-OCR-Page-0048.pdf |magazine=Billboard |page=50 |access-date=20 June 2017}} In the UK, it was certified platinum in February 1996 for sales of over 300,000, and was certified quadruple platinum in July 2013.{{cite web |title=BPI Certified Awards Search |url=https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/ |access-date=15 March 2012 |publisher=British Phonographic Industry |archive-date=21 October 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181021092428/https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/ |url-status=live }} Note: reader must define search parameter as "The Bends".

According to Hufford, American audiences were disappointed by the lack of a "Creep"-style song on The Bends. In response, Capitol chose "Fake Plastic Trees" as the first US single, to further distance Radiohead from "Creep".{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Pat |date=November 1996 |title=Radiohead |journal=Record Collector}} It failed to enter the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached number 20 on the UK singles chart.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} "Just", released in the UK on August 21, reached number 19. It was not released as a single in the US, but its music video, directed by Jamie Thraves, received attention there.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} The next US single, the double A-side "High and Dry" and "Planet Telex", reached number 78.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", released in January 1996, reached number five on the UK singles chart, surpassing "Creep" and demonstrating that Radiohead were not one-hit wonders.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} "The Bends" was released as a single in Ireland and reached number 26 on the Irish Singles Chart in August 1996.{{cite web |title=The Irish Charts – Search Results – The Bends |url=http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&search_type=title&placement=The+Bends |access-date=9 July 2020 |publisher=Irish Singles Chart |archive-date=9 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709132852/http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&search_type=title&placement=The+Bends |url-status=live }}

Radiohead toured extensively for The Bends, with performances in North America, Europe and Japan.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} They first toured in support of Soul Asylum, then R.E.M., one of their formative influences and one of the world's biggest rock bands at the time. Yorke said about the tour with R.E.M: "Everything that we've come to expect was completely turned on its head. Like the idea that you get to a certain level and you lose it. Everything was amicable and there was no bitchiness or pettiness about it." The US tour included a performance at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, alongside Oasis, Alanis Morissette, No Doubt and Porno for Pyros. The Capitol employee Clark Staub described the performance as a "key stepping stone" for Radiohead in the US.{{sfn|Randall|2012}}

Before a performance in New York City, Yorke suffered a breakdown and begged Radiohead's tour manager to book him a flight home; he was persuaded to stay by his bandmates. In November 1995, Yorke became sick and collapsed on stage at a show in Munich. NME covered the incident in a story titled "Thommy's Temper Tantrum". Yorke said it was the most hurtful thing anyone had written about him, and refused to give interviews to NME for five years. Before a performance in Denver, Colorado, Radiohead's tour van was stolen and with it their musical equipment. Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed a stripped-down set with rented instruments and several shows were cancelled. Greenwood was reunited with his stolen Fender Telecaster Plus in 2015 after a fan recognised it as one they had purchased in Denver in the 1990s.{{cite news |last=Enriquez |first=Julio |date=23 February 2015 |title=Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood reunited with guitar stolen in Denver in 1995 |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2015/02/23/radioheads-jonny-greenwood-reunited-guitar-stolen-in-denver-in-1995/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923200713/https://www.denverpost.com/2015/02/23/radioheads-jonny-greenwood-reunited-guitar-stolen-in-denver-in-1995/ |archive-date=23 September 2018 |access-date=11 January 2019 |work=Denver Post |language=en-US}}

In March 1996, Radiohead toured the US again and performed on The Tonight Show and 120 Minutes. In mid-1996, they played at European festivals including Pinkpop in Holland, Tourhout Werchter in Belgium and T in the Park in Scotland.{{sfn|Randall|2012}} That August, Radiohead toured as the opening act for Alanis Morissette,{{cite journal |last=Moran |first=Caitlin |author-link=Caitlin Moran |date=July 1997 |title=Everything was just fear. |journal=Select |page=84}} performing early versions of songs from their next album, OK Computer.{{citation |last=Greene |first=Andy |title=Radiohead's rhapsody in gloom: OK Computer 20 years later |date=31 May 2017 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/exclusive-thom-yorke-and-radiohead-on-ok-computer-w484570 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531145331/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/exclusive-thom-yorke-and-radiohead-on-ok-computer-w484570 |url-status=live |archive-date=31 May 2017}} Morissette said later: "It was really grounding for me to be with such bona-fide-to-the-bone artists. It felt really validating because the industry was very wild and patriarchal, so to be on the road with such true savants was a gift for me."

{{Album reviews

| title = Contemporary reviews

| rev1 = Chicago Tribune

| rev1score = {{Rating|1|4}}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2score = B+{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/article/1995/04/07/bends |title=The Bends |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |issue=269 |location=New York |issn=1049-0434 |date=7 April 1995 |access-date=8 September 2011 |last=Sinclair |first=Tom |page=92 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715211908/http://www.ew.com/article/1995/04/07/bends |archive-date=15 July 2015 |url-status=live }}

| rev3 = The Guardian

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news |title=Radiohead: The Bends (Parlophone) |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |date=17 March 1995 |last=Sullivan |first=Caroline |pages=A12–A14}}

| rev4 = Los Angeles Times

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|4}}

| rev5 = NME

| rev5score = 9/10{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000323reviews.html |title=Radiohead – The Bends |magazine=NME |location=London |date=18 March 1995 |access-date=9 July 2015 |last=Sutherland |first=Mark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817181655/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000323reviews.html |archive-date=17 August 2000 |url-status=dead}}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Radiohead: The Bends |magazine=Q |issue=103 |location=London |date=April 1995}}

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

| rev7score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-bends-19950308 |title=The Bends |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |date=8 March 1995 |access-date=23 August 2015 |last=Drozdowski |first=Ted |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918080456/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-bends-19950308 |archive-date=18 September 2015 |url-status=live }}

| rev8 = Select

| rev8score = 4/5

| rev9 = Spin

| rev9score = 5/10

| rev10 = The Village Voice

| rev10score = C{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/ts96-96.php |title=Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot |newspaper=The Village Voice |location=New York |date=3 December 1996 |access-date=8 September 2011 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017125357/http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/ts96-96.php |archive-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=live }}

}}

The Bends brought Radiohead significant critical attention. The Guardian critic Caroline Sullivan wrote that Radiohead had "transformed themselves from nondescript guitar-beaters to potential arena-fillers ... The grandeur may eventually pall, as it has with U2, but it's been years since big bumptious rock sounded this emotional." Q described The Bends as a "powerful, bruised, majestically desperate record of frighteningly good songs". In NME, Mark Sutherland wrote that "Radiohead clearly resolved to make an album so stunning it would make people forget their own name, never mind ['Creep']", describing it as "the consummate, all-encompassing, continent-straddling '90s rock record". Dave Morrison of Select wrote that it "captures and clarifies a much wider trawl of moods than Pablo Honey" and praised Radiohead as "one of the UK's big league, big-rock assets".{{cite magazine|last=Morrison|first=Dave|date=April 1995|title=Radiohead: The Bends|magazine=Select|location=London|issue=58}} NME and Melody Maker named The Bends among the top ten albums of the year.{{cite news|last=Bauder|first=David|date=29 March 1996|title=Radiohead: Band's 'Bends' album has stylistic, diverse sound.|work=The Daily Herald|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/arlington-heights-daily-herald-suburban-chicago-mar-29-1996-p-203/|access-date=16 September 2021|archive-date=16 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916082532/https://newspaperarchive.com/arlington-heights-daily-herald-suburban-chicago-mar-29-1996-p-203/|url-status=live}}

Critical reception in the US was mixed. Chuck Eddy of Spin deemed much of The Bends "nodded-out nonsense mumble, not enough concrete emotion",{{cite magazine |url=http://spin.com/reviews/radiohead-the-bends-capitol/ |title=Radiohead, 'The Bends' (Capitol) |magazine=Spin |volume=11 |issue=2 |location=New York |date=May 1995 |access-date=6 March 2015 |last=Eddy |first=Chuck |author-link=Chuck Eddy |pages=97–98 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150308153357/http://www.spin.com/reviews/radiohead-the-bends-capitol/ |archive-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=live }} while Kevin McKeough from the Chicago Tribune panned Yorke's lyrics as "self-absorbed" and the music as overblown and pretentious.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/04/27/radioheadthe-bends-capitol-staralong-with-becks-loser/ |title=Radiohead: The Bends (Capitol) |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=27 April 1995 |access-date=23 August 2015 |last=McKeough |first=Kevin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233036/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-04-27/features/9504270038_1_black-star-moody-blues-radiohead |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live }} In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote that the guitar parts and expressions of angst were skilful and natural, but lacked depth: "The words achieve precisely the same pitch of aesthetic necessity as the music, which is none at all." In the Los Angeles Times, Sandy Morris praised Yorke as "almost as enticingly enigmatic as Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, though of a more delicate constitution".{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-07-ca-63206-story.html |title=Radiohead, 'The Bends,' Capitol |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=7 May 1995 |access-date=7 May 2016 |last=Morris |first=Sandy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603174327/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-05-07/entertainment/ca-63206_1_pure-pop |archive-date=3 June 2016 |url-status=live }}

In 1997, Jonny Greenwood said The Bends had been a "turning point" for Radiohead: "It started appearing in people's [best of] polls for the end of the year. That's when it started to feel like we made the right choice about being a band."{{cite journal |last=DiMartino |first=Dave |date=2 May 1997 |title=Give Radiohead to Your Computer |journal=LAUNCH}} The success gave Radiohead the confidence to self-produce their next album, OK Computer (1997), with Godrich.{{citation |last=Irvin |first=Jim |title=Thom Yorke tells Jim Irvin how OK Computer was done |date=July 1997 |magazine=Mojo |author-link=Jim Irvin}}

{{Album ratings

| title = Retrospective reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-bends-mw0000628195 |title=The Bends – Radiohead |website=AllMusic |access-date=8 September 2011 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603195332/http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-bends-mw0000628195 |archive-date=3 June 2012 |url-status=live }}

| rev2 = The A.V. Club

| rev2score = A{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/review/radiohead-26177 |title=Radiohead |website=The A.V. Club |date=3 April 2009 |access-date=2 May 2017 |last=Modell |first=Josh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615060411/http://www.avclub.com/review/radiohead-26177 |archive-date=15 June 2017 |url-status=live }}

| rev3 = Blender

| rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/new/50808/bends.html |title=Radiohead: The Bends |magazine=Blender |location=New York |access-date=26 November 2015 |last=Slaughter |first=James |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101013246/http://www.blender.com/guide/new/50808/bends.html |archive-date=1 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}

| rev4 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev4score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Radiohead |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev5 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev5score = A{{cite magazine |url=http://ew.com/article/2009/03/11/bends-special-collectors-edition/ |title=The Bends: Special Collectors Edition |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |location=New York |date=11 March 2009 |access-date=2 May 2017 |last=Vozick-Levinson |first=Simon |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531163229/https://ew.com/article/2009/03/11/bends-special-collectors-edition/ |url-status=dead }}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6score = 10/10{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12938-pablo-honey-collectors-edition-the-bends-collectors-edition-ok-computer-collectors-edition/ |title=Radiohead: Pablo Honey: Collector's Edition / The Bends: Collector's Edition / OK Computer: Collector's Edition |website=Pitchfork |date=16 April 2009 |access-date=8 March 2017 |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417043256/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12938-pablo-honey-collectors-edition-the-bends-collectors-edition-ok-computer-collectors-edition/ |archive-date=17 April 2009 |url-status=live }}

| rev7 = Q

| rev7score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer |magazine=Q |issue=274 |location=London |date=May 2009 |last=Segal |first=Victoria |pages=120–21}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-bends-20030311 |title=The Bends |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |date=11 March 2003 |access-date=23 August 2015 |last=Edwards |first=Gavin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909202903/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-bends-20030311 |archive-date=9 September 2015 |url-status=live }}

| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev9score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Radiohead |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/671 671–72]}}

| rev10 = Uncut

| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/reviews/13013 |title=Radiohead Reissues – Collectors Editions |magazine=Uncut |location=London |date=8 April 2009 |access-date=2 May 2017 |last=Richards |first=Sam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206061947/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/radiohead/reviews/13013 |archive-date=6 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}

}}In 2015, Selway said The Bends originated the "Radiohead aesthetic", aided by Donwood's artwork. The journalist Rob Sheffield recalled that it "shocked the world", elevating Radiohead from "pasty British boys to a very 70s kind of UK art-rock godhead". It attracted interest from high-profile musicians and film stars.

Two years after its release, the Guardian critic Caroline Sullivan wrote that The Bends had taken Radiohead from "indie one hit-wonder" into the "premier league of respected British rock bands".{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Caroline|date=May 1997|title=Aching Heads|newspaper=The Guardian|url=http://citizeninsane.eu/s1997-05-1xGuardian.htm|url-status=dead|access-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233036/http://citizeninsane.eu/s1997-05-1xGuardian.htm|archive-date=16 October 2015}} The Rolling Stone journalist Jordan Runtagh wrote in 2012 that The Bends was "a musically dense and emotionally complex masterwork that erased their one-hit-wonder status forever".{{Cite magazine |last1=Runtagh |first1=Jordan |date=22 February 2018 |title=Radiohead's Pablo Honey: 10 things you didn't know |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-pablo-honey-10-things-you-didnt-know-201729/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |access-date=23 May 2019 |archive-date=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811232126/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-pablo-honey-10-things-you-didnt-know-201729/ |url-status=live }} Another Rolling Stone critic, Barry Walters, who had previously dismissed Radiohead as one of "plenty of second-hand, third-tier, fake-Seattle bands canvassing the US", wrote that The Bends "sustained the tunes that supported their seriousness, and put the 'Creep'-enabled money being thrown at them to good use".

The writer Nick Hornby wrote in 2000 that, with The Bends, Radiohead "found their voice ... No other contemporary band has managed to mix such a cocktail of rage, sarcasm, self-pity, exquisite tunefulness and braininess."{{Cite magazine|last=Hornby|first=Nick|author-link=Nick Hornby|date=October 22, 2000|title=Radiohead Gets Farther Out|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/10/30/beyond-the-pale|access-date=2021-07-11|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711171259/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/10/30/beyond-the-pale|url-status=live}} In 2001, Uncut wrote: "This dark masterpiece was a massive leap forward from Pablo Honey. Beyond the typically fraught, lurching guitar anthems it boasted grace and grandeur, epic soundtracks and programmed rhythms." In 2009, the Pitchfork critic Scott Plagenhoef wrote that The Bends was a "more approachable and loveable version" of Radiohead and remained many fans' favourite album. He argued that it presented a transition from Britpop to "the more feminine, emotionally engaging music that would emerge in the UK a few years later", led by OK Computer. In March 2025, the 30th anniversary of The Bends, Radiohead posted footage of Yorke performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on March 28th, 1995.{{Cite web |last=Fu |first=Eddie |date=2025-03-14 |title=Radiohead unearth footage of Thom Yorke acoustic concert for The Bends 30th anniversary |url=https://consequence.net/2025/03/radiohead-thom-yorke-acoustic-concert-the-bends/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Consequence |language=en}}

The Bends influenced a generation of British and Irish acts, including Coldplay, Keane, James Blunt, Muse, Athlete, Elbow, Snow Patrol, Kodaline, Turin Brakes and Travis. Pitchfork credited songs as such as "High and Dry" and "Fake Plastic Trees" for anticipating the "airbrushed" post-Britpop of Coldplay and Travis. Acts including Garbage, R.E.M. and k.d. lang began to cite Radiohead as a favourite band.{{cite magazine|last=Kleinedler|first=Clare|date=23 March 2009|title=A 1996 Radiohead Interview – The Bends, Britpop And OK Computer|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/01343-from-the-archives-1996-radiohead-interviewed-between-the-bends-and-ok-computer|magazine=The Quietus|access-date=15 March 2012|archive-date=15 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215162533/https://thequietus.com/articles/01343-from-the-archives-1996-radiohead-interviewed-between-the-bends-and-ok-computer|url-status=live}} The Cure contacted Radiohead to inquire about the Bends production in the hope of replicating it.

In 2006, The Observer named The Bends one of "the 50 albums that changed music", saying it had popularised an "angst-laden falsetto ... a thoughtful opposite to the chest-beating lad-rock personified by Oasis", which "eventually coalesced into an entire decade of sound".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping |title=The 50 albums that changed music |newspaper=The Observer |date=16 July 2006 |access-date=15 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008194254/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping |archive-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live }} Yorke held contempt for the style of rock The Bends popularised, feeling other acts had copied him. He said in 2006: "I was really, really upset about it, and I tried my absolute best not to be, but yeah, it was kind of like— that sort of thing of missing the point completely."{{Cite web |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |date=16 August 2006 |title=Thom Yorke |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/6402-thom-yorke/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Pitchfork |language=en |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815222144/https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/6402-thom-yorke/ |url-status=live }} Godrich felt Yorke was oversensitive and had not invented "guys singing in falsetto with an acoustic guitar".{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=2017-06-16 |title=Radiohead's OK Computer: an oral history |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-ok-computer-an-oral-history-196156/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609072733/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-ok-computer-an-oral-history-196156/ |url-status=live }}

In 2000, in a vote of more than 200,000 music fans and journalists, The Bends was named the second-greatest album of all time behind Revolver (1966) by the Beatles.{{citation|title=Beatles, Radiohead albums voted best ever|date=4 September 2000|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/04/britain.albums/|work=CNN.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522120621/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/04/britain.albums/|access-date=8 October 2008|archive-date=22 May 2008}} Q readers voted it the second-best album in 1998 and 2006, behind OK Computer.{{cite magazine |title=Q Readers All Time Top 100 Albums |magazine=Q |issue=137 |date=February 1998}}{{cite web |url=http://www.listsofbests.com/list/13644-q-readers-best-albums-ever-2006-readers-poll |title=Q Magazine's Q Readers Best Albums Ever (2006 Readers Poll) Archived by Lists of Bests |website=Q |access-date=15 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231034303/http://www.listsofbests.com/list/13644-q-readers-best-albums-ever-2006-readers-poll |archive-date=31 December 2013}} Colin Larkin named it the second-best album of all time in the 2000 edition of All Time Top 1000 Albums.{{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin|year=2000 |title=All Time Top 1000 Albums |edition=3rd |publisher=Virgin Books |location=London |isbn=0-7535-0493-6}} It was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.{{cite book|author1=Robert Dimery|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition|author2=Michael Lydon|date=7 February 2006|publisher=Universe|isbn=0-7893-1371-5}} Rolling Stone included it at number 110 on its original 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at 111 in its 2012 list,{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/radiohead-the-bends-2-171892/| year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time| magazine=Rolling Stone| access-date=19 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609083604/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/radiohead-the-bends-2-171892/| archive-date=9 June 2019| url-status=live}} and at 276 in its 2020 list.{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/radiohead-the-bends-3-1062957/ |title=500 Best Albums of All Time |publisher=Penske Media Core |date=22 September 2020 |access-date=23 September 2020 |archive-date=2 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002001844/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/radiohead-the-bends-3-1062957/ |url-status=live }} In 2003, Rolling Stone included "Fake Plastic Trees" at number 385 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{Cite magazine |last=Stone |first=Rolling |date=2003-12-11 |title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/radiohead-fake-plastic-trees-53469/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}

In 2006, The Bends reached number 10 in a worldwide poll of the great albums organised by British Hit Singles & Albums and NME.{{cite web |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article670515.ece |title=Oasis album voted greatest of all time |website=The Times |date=1 June 2006 |access-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408232353/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article670515.ece |archive-date=8 April 2007 |url-status=dead }} Paste named it the 11th-greatest album of the 1990s.{{cite web|url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/02/the-90-best-albums-of-the-1990s.html?a=1|title=The 90 Best Albums of the 1990s|website=Paste|last=Jackson|first=Josh|date=24 February 2012|access-date=3 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104191153/http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/02/the-90-best-albums-of-the-1990s.html?a=1|archive-date=4 January 2016|url-status=live}} In 2020, the Independent named it the best album of 1995, writing: "Downbeat, melancholic, yet wonderfully melodic and uplifting ... The Bends stood apart from Britpop and everything else in the storied year of 1995."{{cite web|last=Ross|first=Graeme|date=13 March 2020|title=The 20 best albums of 1995 ranked|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/radiohead-the-bends-best-albums-of-1995-ranked-oasis-blur-alanis-morissette-garbage-a9395511.html|access-date=13 August 2020|website=The Independent|archive-date=29 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429211429/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/radiohead-the-bends-best-albums-of-1995-ranked-oasis-blur-alanis-morissette-garbage-a9395511.html|url-status=live}} In 2017, Pitchfork named The Bends the third-greatest Britpop album, writing that its "epic portrayal of drift and disenchantment secures its reluctant spot in Britpop's pantheon".

Radiohead left EMI after their contract ended in 2003.{{cite news |last=Nestruck |first=Kelly |date=8 November 2007 |title=EMI stab Radiohead in the back catalogue |work=The Guardian |publisher= |location=London |url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2207489,00.html |access-date=22 November 2007 |archive-date=19 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519013024/http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2207489,00.html |url-status=live }} In 2007, EMI released Radiohead Box Set, a compilation of albums recorded while Radiohead were signed to EMI, including The Bends. On 31 August 2009, EMI reissued The Bends and other Radiohead albums in a "Collector's Edition" compiling B-sides and live performances. Radiohead had no input into the reissue and the music was not remastered.{{cite magazine |last=McCarthy |first=Sean |date=18 December 2009 |title=The Best Re-Issues of 2009: 18: Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer / Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009 |url-status=live |magazine=PopMatters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220175703/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009/ |archive-date=20 December 2009 |access-date=29 August 2011}}{{Cite web |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |date=16 April 2009 |title=Radiohead: Pablo Honey: Collector's Edition / The Bends: Collector's Edition / OK Computer: Collector's Edition |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12938-pablo-honey-collectors-edition-the-bends-collectors-edition-ok-computer-collectors-edition/ |access-date=2021-11-30 |website=Pitchfork |language=en |archive-date=17 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417043256/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12938-pablo-honey-collectors-edition-the-bends-collectors-edition-ok-computer-collectors-edition/ |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |last=McCarthy |first=Sean |date=18 December 2009 |title=The Best Re-Issues of 2009: 18: Radiohead: Pablo Honey / The Bends / OK Computer / Kid A / Amnesiac / Hail to the Thief |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009 |url-status=live |magazine=PopMatters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220175703/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117848-the-best-re-issues-of-2009/ |archive-date=20 December 2009 |access-date=29 August 2011}}

In February 2013, Parlophone was bought by Warner Music Group (WMG).{{cite magazine |last=Knopper |first=Steve |date=8 February 2013 |title=Pink Floyd, Radiohead Catalogs Change Label Hands |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/warner-music-pays-765-million-for-parlophone-20130208 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714183928/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/warner-music-pays-765-million-for-parlophone-20130208 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |access-date=2 September 2016}} In April 2016, as a result of an agreement with the trade group Impala, WMG transferred Radiohead's back catalogue to XL Recordings. The EMI reissues, released without Radiohead's consent, were removed from streaming services.{{cite magazine |last=Christman |first=Ed |date=4 April 2016 |title=Radiohead's Early Catalog Moves From Warner Bros. to XL |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/radioheads-early-catalog-warner-bros-xl/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319203553/https://www.billboard.com/pro/radioheads-early-catalog-warner-bros-xl/ |url-status=live }} In May 2016, XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl, including The Bends.{{cite web |last=Spice |first=Anton |date=6 May 2016 |title=Radiohead to reissue entire catalogue on vinyl |url=http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/radiohead-reissue-entire-catalogue-vinyl/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826093045/http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/radiohead-reissue-entire-catalogue-vinyl/ |archive-date=26 August 2016 |access-date=6 May 2017 |website=The Vinyl Factory}}

All songs written by Radiohead.

{{Track listing

| headline = The Bends track listing

| total_length = 48:33

| title1 = Planet Telex

| length1 = 4:19

| title2 = The Bends

| length2 = 4:06

| title3 = High and Dry

| length3 = 4:17

| title4 = Fake Plastic Trees

| length4 = 4:50

| title5 = Bones

| length5 = 3:09

| title6 = (Nice Dream)

| length6 = 3:53

| title7 = Just

| length7 = 3:54

| title8 = My Iron Lung

| length8 = 4:36

| title9 = Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was

| length9 = 3:28

| title10 = Black Star

| length10 = 4:07

| title11 = Sulk

| length11 = 3:42

| title12 = Street Spirit (Fade Out)

| length12 = 4:12

}}

Taken from the liner notes.{{cite AV media notes|title=The Bends|others=Radiohead|year=1995|type=album liner notes|publisher=Parlophone}}

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

Radiohead

• Thom Yorke – voice, guitar, piano; string arrangements
• Jonny Greenwood – guitar, organ, recorder, synthesiser, piano; string arrangements
• Ed O'Brien – guitar, voice, EBow on "My Iron Lung"{{cite web|last=Brewster|first=Will|date=2 June 2020|title=The Story of the EBow in 7 Tracks|url=http://www.mixdownmag.com.au/story-ebow-7-tracks|access-date=2020-09-27|website=Mixdown|language=en}}
• Colin Greenwood – bass
• Philip Selway – drums

Additional musicians

• Caroline Lavelle – cello
• John Matthias – viola, violin

{{col-2}}

Production

• John Leckie – production {{small|(all except 3)}}, mixing {{small|(tracks 8, 12)}}, engineering, additional mixing {{small|(track 2)}}{{Cite AV media notes|title=Radiohead: The Best Of|others=Radiohead|year=2008|type=CD album liner notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=216 3052|location=Europe}}
• Radiohead – production {{small|(tracks 3, 10)}}, mixing {{small|(track 8)}}
• Nigel Godrich – production {{small|(track 10)}}, engineering
• Jim Warren – production {{small|(track 3)}}
• Sean Slade – mixing {{small|(tracks 1-7, 9-11)}}
• Paul Q. Kolderie – mixing {{small|(tracks 1-7, 9-11)}}
• Chris Brown – engineering
• Guy Massey – engineering assistance
• Shelley Saunders – engineering assistance
• Chris Blair – mastering

Design

• Stanley Donwood – artwork
• The White Chocolate Farm – artwork
• Green Ink – painting

{{col-end}}

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for The Bends}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Argentina|type=album|title=The Bends|artist=Radiohead|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=1995|certref={{cite web|url=http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110706084844/http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-date= 6 July 2011 |title=Discos de oro y platino |access-date=24 April 2018 |publisher=Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas |language=es |url-status=dead }}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Belgium|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=1996}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1995|certyear=2001}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=2021|access-date=15 November 2021|note=sales since 2009}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Netherlands|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=1997}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Platinum|relyear=1995|id=1998-09-04|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|certyear=1997}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Platinum|number=4|relyear=1995|certyear=2013|id=6600-1730-2|salesamount=1,248,350|salesref={{cite news|url=http://www.musicweek.com/businessanalysis/read/official-charts-analysis-drake-holds-off-competition-from-calvin-harris-and-justin-timberlake/064767|title=Official Charts Analysis: Drake holds off competition from Calvin Harris and Justin Timberlake|last=Jones|first=Alan|date=13 May 2016|work=Music Week|publisher=Intent Media|access-date=14 May 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006062114/http://www.musicweek.com/businessanalysis/read/official-charts-analysis-drake-holds-off-competition-from-calvin-harris-and-justin-timberlake/064767|archive-date=6 October 2016|url-status=live}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Radiohead|title=The Bends|award=Platinum|salesamount=1,540,000|salesref={{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickdesantis/2016/05/10/radioheads-digital-album-sales-visualized/#40b286fd3a87 |title=Radiohead's Digital Album Sales, Visualized |website=Forbes |access-date=29 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427030739/https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickdesantis/2016/05/10/radioheads-digital-album-sales-visualized/#40b286fd3a87 |archive-date=27 April 2019 |url-status=live }}|relyear=1995|certyear=1999}}

{{Certification Table Summary}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Europe|title=The Bends|artist=Radiohead|type=album|award=Platinum|certyear=2001|access-date=4 July 2019}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

• {{Cite book|last=Randall|first=Mac|title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story|publisher=Omnibus Press|date=2000|isbn=0-7119-7977-4}}
• {{Cite book|last=Randall|first=Mac|title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story|date=2004|publisher=Omnibus |isbn=1-84449-183-8}}
• {{Cite book|last=Randall|first=Mac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0q9bTJp2Bi4C&q=My+Iron+Lung+Live+at+the+Astoria&pg=PT203|title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story Updated Edition|date=2012-02-01|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-1-4584-7147-5}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|17008|name=The Bends}}
• [https://play.spotify.com/album/500FEaUzn8lN9zWFyZG5C2 Album online] on Spotify, a music streaming service
• {{MusicBrainz release group|id=b8048f24-c026-3398-b23a-b5e50716cbc7|name=The Bends}}

{{Radiohead}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bends, The}}

Category:1995 albums

Category:Radiohead albums

Category:Parlophone albums

Category:Capitol Records albums

Category:Albums produced by John Leckie

Category:Albums produced by Nigel Godrich

Category:Albums recorded at RAK Studios

Category:Alternative rock albums by British artists

Category:Britpop albums

Category:Indie rock albums by British artists