Radiohead – The Bends 

The Bends is a song about radioheads rapid rise to fame after the success of their hit song “Creep”, and how amidst all of this they felt they were drowning in this new fame and being crushed by the new pressures put on them. In the middle of all of this they were dealing with all that comes with the music industry such as determining who is genuinely there for you and who is there for the success, and how are you going to repeat your previous success? Or is that even the goal?

You can go on GENIUS and read all about this, but I’m gonna tell you what it is about this song that gets me obsessed. For me it’s all the highs and lows that this song offers that gets me really into it. Also, I love the imagery of the bends because it makes me think about being down deep in the water scuba diving and being down in something or under pressure is something that is easily applied to almost any listeners life even if you don’t have the exact experience of being in a rock band that is growing faster than it knows how to. The lyrics in this song are top notch in my opinion – I’m a sucker for good airplane lyrics (Certainty by big thief has my favorite) – Thom Yorke captures that anxiety of uncertainty not only with his lyrics but also his tone and delivery in a masterful way. This week I’d be walking to class with this song on and it when it kicked in after each verse I would just want to spaz to some extent because the verse is so pent up and just crushed but it almost feels to me like I get the bends transitioning from the verse ending and the music kicking in. Divers get the bends from going from high pressure to low pressure too fast and I feel like this verse is under a ton of strain and almost makes me want to like sink down or sit down and then bam thats lifted and the music makes me want to get up and run (which I have been doing a lot of lately). 

Radiohead has worked their way to being a modern day meme for sure, but there is a reason for them having this much attention and sometimes I feel the album “The Bends” doesn’t get the attention it deserves when put next to OK Computer, In Rainbows, and Kid A. When it does get brought up it’s usually Fake Plastic Trees, or High and Dry. The whole album is incredible in my opinion and easily my favorite Radiohead album, but this song is one that recently has stood out to me more than in the past so I think everyone should go give it a listen and see if it fits the point they are at in life (It might not), but for a 25 year old dude on the edge of starting a new chapter of life, and also doing a lot of running this song made the perfect backdrop this week.