The Bends

"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, and reached number 26 on the Irish Singles Chart. "The Bends" was written in 1992, predating Radiohead's 1992 debut single, "Creep", and debut studio album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead performed it numerous times over the next two years, before recording it at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England, with producer John Leckie. It is one of Radiohead's most performed songs. "The Bends" has been compared to the work of bands such as Queen, the Beatles, Pixies, the Smiths, and Oasis; the Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, described it as a "Bowie pastiche". It contains five sections, making it one of the most complex tracks on The Bends. Several critics interpreted the lyrics as a comment on the success of "Creep", which had led the media to dub them a one-hit-wonder. Yorke said the lyrics were intended to be humorous and had been misinterpreted. "The Bends" 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. NME ranked the guitar solo as the seventh-greatest in music history.