The Bends was literal in the sense that Radiohead felt dizzy after extensive touring and media attention. What resulted was an urge to reinvent their recording process and create a beautiful album of unconventional sounds and topics.

Listen: Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy on Radiohead ‘ OK Computer’ on Classic Album Sundays on Worldwide FMĪfter touring The Bends, the band took a break to reevaluate themselves and their music.

Melody Maker actually suggested Yorke could potentially be a suicide victim after reading into the album’s lyrical content. Yorke confesses on “My Iron Lung” he believed “Creep” was the only thing keeping Radiohead alive and questioned how long the band would last in the controversial and money-hungry music industry. These sounds sparked Yorke to pen more introspective and potent lyrics, dealing with depression and trying to get to grips with their success. They broke away from traditional rock songwriting against their record label’s wishes and instead, developed more complex foundations for their music, including more electronic experimentation. The Bends takes the rock sound they established in Pablo Honey and twists it using samples, obscure guitar tones, and unconventional song structures. After feeling like they were becoming an “extension of this Coca-Cola thing”, they dramatically shuffled up their sound for the first time with The Bends. The band had been pinned as the “new Nirvana” after their debut album, Pablo Honey, and entered the rock charts with “Creep”. OK Computer is the first Radiohead album that truly shocked their fans.

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