The Bends is a good album, but it’s sometimes exaggerated into a great album because of several, easy-to-spot reasons. 1) This one has “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” on it, which are and remain two of the best tracks that Radiohead has and likely will have ever penned. 2) This one is such a huge step forward from Pablo Honey and thus has become (rightfully) romanticized as an exemplar of the artist’s “momentous leap” from debut to sophomore. And 3) It’s Radiohead.
Unfortunately, there are multiple detractors, and since I am fond enough of the album to call it the second best of ’95, we’ll talk about them first so we can end the review on a positive note. For one thing, “Sulk” sucks. Like it sucks the big one. The only thing “Sulk” has going for it is the hook, but it’s bogged down by the lyrics, “Sometimes you sulk / Sometimes you burn,” and its lyrics like these that are why the layman will forever associate Radiohead as being “depressed” or “melodramatic.” Even if it were presented to us without words, the melody of this same hook just doesn’t compare in an album that strives on them.
Now, it’s a common criticism (not necessarily a deserved one) that songs have to go somewhere. By this analogy, as far as I can tell, the song acts as a transportation vehicle to deliver the item (you) to the destination, that is, the experience of emotion that you had not felt prior to entering the song. The counter-criticism, is of course, the question of why songs need to go somewhere at all? Do all songs need a crescendo upon crescendos or have tears swell in the listener’s eyes as he reaches a state of ultimate catharsis? No, not really, but unfortunately, when you compare some of the tracks on the album to others, it’s clear that these songs are lacking something. “Planet Telex,” for example, is a weak open