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

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 30 In 2025

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

RADIOHEAD – 20 Years Ago At Glastonbury With A Spine-Chilling Rendition Of ‘PLASTIC FAKE TREES’

3 December 2023

It’s already 7 years since RADIOHEAD put out an album with A Moon Shaped Pool.
And as Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have lots of fun lately with The Smile (their second album, titled Wall Of Eyes comes out in January, followed by a long tour) I guess new Radiohead music is not planned whatsoever.

So back to old stuff. Like with this awesome performance of PLASTIC FAKE TREES, one
of their best compositions ever (featured on their 1995 breakthrough classic The Bends) at Glastonbury in 2003, 20 years ago.

Spine-chilling.

RADIOHEAD: Bio – Discography

5 Stellar Albums Turning 25 in 2020…

The best of the past

Here are 5 stellar albums, selected by
Turn Up The Volume, turning 25 in 2020!

1. ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by OASIS

Play here…

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2. ‘The Bends’ by RADIOHEAD

Play here…

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3. ‘To Bring You My Love’ by PJ HARVEY

Play here…

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4. ‘It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah’ by BLACK GRAPE

Play here…

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5. ‘Maxinquaye’ by TRICKY

Play here…

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