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The Bends (song)

Updated: 12/11/2025, 4:16:20 PM Wikipedia source

"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.

Infobox

B-side
"My Iron Lung" (live) "Bones" (live)
Written
1992
Released
26 July 1996 (1996-07-26)
Recorded
July 1994
Studio
The Manor (Oxfordshire)
Genre
Alternative rock hard rock grunge
Length
4:06 (album version) 4:50 (demo version) 3:58 (Black Sessions version) 3:53 (Jools Holland version)
Label
Parlophone
Songwriters
Thom Yorke Jonny Greenwood Ed O'Brien Colin Greenwood Philip Selway
Producer
John Leckie

Tables

Weekly chart performance for "The Bends" · Charts
Ireland (IRMA)
Ireland (IRMA)
Chart (1996)
Ireland (IRMA)
Peakposition
26
Chart (1996)
Peakposition
Ireland (IRMA)
26

References

  1. For details, see Live performances section.
  2. However, "Some Might Say" was released in April 1995, a month after "The Bends" was released.
  3. Some copies of this single play "Planet Telex" instead of "The Bends", while "My Iron Lung" is sometimes cut shorter.
  4. Despite being recorded in 1992, the demo is mentioned in the liner notes of the compilation's tenth track, "MD120", as h
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  104. NME
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    https://web.archive.org/web/20181111050923/http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2018/07/24/After-21-years-Radiohead-creeps-back-to-Pittsburgh-PPG-Paints-Arena/stories/201807240080
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  116. Melody Maker
  117. The Telegraph
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  118. Evening Standard
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