Radiohead

RADIOHEAD Released Their Sumblime Breakthrough LP ‘THE BENDS’ 30 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

13 March 2025

RADIOHEAD released their second LP THE BENDS on 13 March 1995,
today 30 years ago. A sublime, bloodcurdling masterpiece. Striking strokes
of genius such as My Iron Lung, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Street Spirit
(Fade Out) and the title track lifted this record to a sui generis opus. Along, with
OK Computer, the most complete achievement of Radiohead‘s phenomenal
catalogue.

The Bends was the first Radiohead album with artwork by Stanley Donwood,
who has worked with Yorke to create all of the band’s artwork since.

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.

The album peaked at #7 in the UK and #88 in the US. But as Radiohead got more
famous and released more impressive material, the LP went on selling on for years.

NME wrote: “Radiohead clearly resolved to make an album
so stunning it would make people forget their own name,
never mind ‘Creep’.”

KEY SINGLES

ALBUM


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Instagram – All Albums

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 10 Classic Albums Turning 25 In 2025

Posted on by JL

Back in time

30 December 2024

PrimalTerminator

Band: PRIMAL SCREAM

Album: XTRMNTR
6th one, #3 in the UK.

AllMusic: “XTRMNTR is a nasty, fierce realization of an entire
world that has also lost the plot. It’s simply a protest, sonically
as well as lyrically, and maybe this would be a fine time to once
again rally behind something worthwhile.”

PLAY


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Instagram – Linktree
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Artist: PJ HARVEY

Album: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Her 5th longplayer. #23 in the UK. Platinum in the US.

NME: “A magnificent, life-affirming opus.”

PLAY


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Instagram – Linktree
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wHITEsTRIPES

Band: THE WHITE STRIPES

Album: De Stijl
The duo’s 2nd one. No. 137
in the UK. No. 38 in the US.

Rolling Stone: “Feisty and clever. Like everything about the White Stripes,
the album proves that you don’t need bombast to make a blues explosion.”

PLAY


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Instagram – Linktree
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Band: RADIOHEAD

Album: Kid A
4th LP. No. 1 in the UK, US, Ireland,
Scotland, New Zealand and Canada.

The Guardian: “Even listeners raised on krautrock or
Ornette Coleman will find Kid A a mystifying experience.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Artist: RICHARD ASHCROFT

Album: Alone With Everybody
Solo debut.

NME: “Ashcroft’s newly discovered stability has done nothing
to blunt his powers of communication or reduce his belief in
the apocalyptic potential of music.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: SHELLAC

Album: 1000 Hurts
3rd full length.

AllMusic: “True to Shellac form, the record is a sound purchase.
Within the domain of atonal, anti-commercial rock & roll, very
few are on their level.”

R.I.P. Steve Albini.

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: THE DELGADOS

Album: The Great Eastern
3rd longplayer. #12 in the UK, #37 in
their home country Scotland.

DIS: The Great Eastern is a majestic
journey of astounding beauty.

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: GRANDADDY

Album: The Sophtware Slump
Second LP.

The New York Times: “A heart-achingly beautiful requiem for
a culture in which progress and technology have led to alienation
and disposability”.

PLAY


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Linktree
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Band: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Album: Rated R
Second one. #16 in the US,
#54 in the UK.

AllMusic: “R is mellower, trippier, and more arranged than its predecessor, making
its point through warm fuzz-guitar tones, ethereal harmonies, vibraphones, horns,
and even the odd steel drum.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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AtTheDriveInn

Band: AT THE DRIVE IN

Album: Relationship Of Command
Their 3rd. #33 in the UK,
#116 in the US.

BBC Music: “Mesmerising. A statement of
grand intent that could never be followed.”

PLAY


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Instagram

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 10 Classic Albums Turning 30 In 2025

Posted on by JL

28 December 2024

Band: OASIS

Album: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Their 2nd one. The best-selling
album of the 90s in the UK.

Rolling Stone said: “What’s the Story is more than a natural progression, it’s
a bold leap forward that displays significant musical and personal growth.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: RADIOHEAD

Album: The Bends
Their second LP. It peaked at
#7 in the UK and #88 in the US.

NME wrote: “Radiohead clearly resolved to make an album
so stunning it would make people forget their own name,
never mind ‘Creep’.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Artist: PJ HARVEY

Album: To Bring You My Love
Her 3rd one. #12 in the UK.

The Independent (British newspaper): “Harvey’s performance makes the record stand out from its peers. A threatening, nightmarish creature. Imagine Siouxsie and the Bad Seeds”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: BLACK GRAPE
Featuring 2 Happy Mondays.
Bez and Shaun Ryder.

Album: It’s Great When You’re Straight…
Their debut longplayer. No. 1 in the UK.

VOX (British music monthly): “Black Grape buzz with the
life-affirming, innovative, fuck-you spirit of true rock’n’roll”.

PLAY


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Instagram
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Artist: TRICKY

Album: Maxinquaye
The debut of former
Massive Attack member.

Q (British music monthly): “A highly inventive and intoxicating collection.
With this debut, Tricky proves himself to be more challenging and eclectic
than his peers”.

PlAY


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Instagram
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Band: PULP

Album: Different Class
The 5th one of the Sheffield, led by Jarvis Cocker.
No. 1 in the UK, No. 44 in the USA.

Melody Maker (former British weekly): “Bloody essential. The album’s title
alone announces that Cocker’s broadened his scope, has another axe to grind:
social
antagonism.”

PLAY


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Linktree
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Band: LEFTFIELD

Album: LEFTISM
London-based duo’s
debut LP.

NME said: “There’s a scope and spirit, an energy and a madness to ‘Leftism’ which’ll
make it one of the few dance derived that’ll stay up there, bouncing around in the great
echo chamber of futurity for years.

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: GARBAGE

Album: Garbage
The Scottish/American team’s 1st one.
No. 1 in the UK, No. 20 in the US.

AllMusic: “Garbage’s self-titled debut has all the trappings of alternative rock, off-kilter arrangements, occasional bursts of noise, a female singer with a thin, airy voice but it
comes off as pop, thanks to the glossy production courtesy of drummer Butch Vig.”

PLAY


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Instagram
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Band: THE SMASHING PUMKINGS

Album: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
3rd longplayer, a double one. No. 1 in the US, and the UK.

Time USA said: “The group’s most ambitious and accomplished work yet. One gets the feeling that the band charged ahead on gut instincts; the sheer scope of the album (28 songs) didn’t allow for second-guessing or contrivance.”

PLAY


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Linktree
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Band: THE CHARLATANS

Album: THE CHARLATANS
Their 4th LP. #1 in the UK.

NME wrote: “It feels unequivocally like a statement of intent. With the various
influences, the band was capable of absorbing the sensibility wholesale, while
leaving the incriminating specifics alone.”

PLAY


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Linktree

No 1 Albums This Day In 1975 (2) And 1997

Posted on by JL

28 June 2024

Band: EAGLES
Album: ONE OF THESE NIGHTS
Released: 28 June 1975

It was the band’s 4th one, making them stars in the US.

Rolling Stone said: “Unprecedentedly excellent, but they lack an
outstanding singer. Many of their tunes are pretty, none are eloquent.”

SINGLE

ALBUM


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All Eagles Albums

Band: WINGS (1971-1981)
Album: VENUS AND MARS
Released: 28 June 1975

It was Macca’s & Wings‘ 3rd LP.

AllMusic said: “An album that feels like the overture for the arena rock
tour that it was, which makes it one of McCartney’s more consistent listens.”

SINGLE

ALBUM


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All Wings Albums

Band: RADIOHEAD
Album: OK COMPUTER
Released: 28 June 1997

For most critics and fans (including me)
Radiohead‘s 3rd longplayer is their best.

Mojo wrote: “Others may end up selling more, but in 20 years’ time
I’m betting OK Computer will be seen as the key record of 1997, the
one to take rock forward instead of artfully revamping images and
song-structures from an earlier era.”

SINGLE

ALBUM


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All Radiohead Albums

Heartbreaker In Sound And Vision – ‘I PROMISE’ By RADIOHEAD

Posted on by JL

29 April 2024

Eight years ago standout album OK COMPUTER turned 20.
To celebrate the occasion, RADIOHEAD released a special anniversary
edition of their masterpiece called OKNOTOK featuring three previously
unreleased tracks recorded during the OK sessions.

One of them is the supreme ballad titled I PROMISE
(more than 25 million streams on Spotify).

A heartbreaker that sends shivers
down your spine, in sound and vision.

I won’t run away no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when you lock me out, I promise
I say my prayers every night, I promise

I don’t wish that I’m strict, I promise
The tantrums and the chilling chats, I promise
Even when the ship is wrecked, I promise
Tie me to the rotten deck, I promise

I won’t run away no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when the ship is wrecked, I promise
Tie me to the rotten deck, I promise

I won’t fool around no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when you lock me out, I promise
I say my prayers every night, I promise
I won’t fool around no more, I promise

I won’t run away no more, I promise

Listen/watch.

Radiohead: Instagram

MOJO Magazine Have 132-Page Deluxe RADIOHEAD Special Out

Posted on by JL

26 April 2024

British music monthly MOJO has a deluxe RADIOHEAD
special issue out, titled Radiohead Fade Out 1985-2024.

Mojo: “It was 30 years ago that an unfashionable guitar group from Oxford suddenly
found themselves international stars on the strength of an extraordinary song called Creep, which on its initial release in 1992 had been largely ignored in their native Britain.

Touring relentlessly to promote the single, Radiohead feared they would become one-hit wonders; instead, Creep would kickstart a stellar career that would see them transform into revered sonic visionaries, with the albums OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows redefining how experimental rock music could be made.

To salute their genius, MOJO has brought together its extensive archive of in-depth Radiohead features and exclusive interviews in a deluxe bookazine. Beginning with an entertaining account of their formative years at Abingdon School as On A Friday and their signing to Parlophone in 1991 on the condition they changed their name, we chart the turbulent journey to The Bends and OK Computer – timeless albums that revealed an uncompromising, doggedly original approach to their art, as well as Thom Yorke’s uncommon gifts as a songwriter and vocalist.

Having in the 1990s redrawn the blueprint of what rock music could achieve, Radiohead’s next pair of albums, Kid A and Amnesiac (released in 2000 and 2001), all but ditched guitars in favour of ambient electronic sounds, confounding many critics and fans. Yet today, they are regarded as landmark recordings, setting a course for the experimental mix of electronica and rock that followed, most successfully on 2007’s In Rainbows and their last album to date, A Moon Shaped Pool in 2016. But as our stories show, life in Radiohead was never easy and almost every release was attended by backstage tensions and dramas that threatened to sink the group.

Illustrated with dozens of rare and iconic photographs, this sumptuous 132-page special tells the group’s complete story and is a must-have for all Radiohead fans and music connoisseurs.

You can order your copy and let it be sent to your home. Info here.

More than 1,6 billion streams on Spotify.

Radiohead: Instagram

PIERCE THE VEIL Cover RADIOHEAD Classic ‘KARMA POLICE’

Posted on by JL

Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant

20 April 2024

San Diego‘s post-hardcore turbine PIERCE THE VEIL, featuring the Fuentes brothers, play/played Radiohead classic Karma Police live for a while now, so they decided to
record it in the studio and share it with their massive following.

“We are products of the ’80s and ’90s MTV era, so songs like Karma Police live deep within our childhood minds. We dug this one up as an opportunity to indulge in something comforting and familiar. Taking inspiration from the memories and emotions the song evokes in us, we created a version that reflects where we come from as a band.“We were happy to discover that the song remained haunting and beautiful even when fed through distortion pedals and loud guitars.”

PIERCE THE VEIL

RADIOHEAD

PTV: Instagram