Song · Radiohead
“The Bends” by Radiohead
From the album The Bends (1994)
“The Bends” by Radiohead appears on 12 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2002 and 2023. It was first released in 1994 on the album The Bends. Its best result is #135 on The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,848 alternative song of all time.
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Radiohead had been playing "The Bends" since 1992, before "Creep" and before Pablo Honey, so by the time they cut it at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire with John Leckie producing, the title track of their second album was a fan favourite with miles on the clock. Thom Yorke called it a Bowie pastiche, but it's a restless beast, five sections stitched together, the guitars of Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien grinding and soaring over Colin Greenwood's bass and Philip Selway's drums, with strings from Caroline Lavelle and John Matthias.
Plenty of critics heard the words as a sneer at the one-hit-wonder tag "Creep" had hung on the band; Yorke insisted they were meant as a joke and had been misread. Uncut later ranked it the third-greatest Radiohead song, and NME put its guitar solo seventh among the greatest ever.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 1854 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2007 | 1474 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1450 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1411 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1315 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1208 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 1153 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 1122 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
| 2021 | 605 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
| 2022 | 135 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
| 2022 | 1045 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2023 | 402 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
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