Radiohead: The Bends vs. OK Computer
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- Опубліковано 25 лют 2022
- In today's episode I discuss which is the better record, The Bends or OK Computer?
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I remember studying at Berklee College of Music in 1999 and EVERYONE was listening to OK Computer... the instrumentalists were trying to understand what they were playing/how things were arranged and the tech guys were trying to figure out the recording/production techniques. It was incredibly influential.
Yeah I was in college a bit earlier. People did the same with The Bends when it came out. It was groundbreaking.
Not just OKC but also the "throwaways" on the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP. Polyethylene PT 1 and 2... Effervescent.
Love that song
@@tres311 The guy is Nigel Godrich, he's the George Martin to The Beatles but for Radiohead.
@@lljjzz the Martin Hannett to JD
What excited me about early Radiohead was that each album represented a degree of artistic growth not seen since The Beatles. It only took 4 albums to go from Pablo Honey to Kid A. Remarkable.
That is a keen observation.
Pink Floyd win the prize for most artistic growth between albums: between 1967-1979 is unmatched.
@@yinoveryang4246 it’s hard to even compare them lol. So vastly different. what makes it great
@@yinoveryang4246 interesting because I think Kid A is their best album
Exactly! I've been saying that for years. Pablo Honey to The Bends to OK Computer feels like A Hard Day's Night to Rubber Soul to Revolver! You could argue that Kid A would be Sgt. Pepper's, but I think Revolver is a better, more influential album.
My dad borrowed my copy of OK Computer and was blown away so much I didn’t see it again for year! 😂 Of course I’d bought myself another copy within a few months. Felt lost without the best album in my collection and didn’t mind letting my dad keep my original copy. He was a guitarist and professional recording musician who taught me so much about music.
Rest In Peace dad ❤
Thanx for sharing, I have a Dad who is a guitarist too who tought me so much and still does. I am lucky still to have him.
I leant OK Computer to the kid sister of one of my friends (along with a couple of other amazing albums). Obviously never got it back.. but it's fine, I was happy to save a friend's sister from the boy bands.
We bought my dad this album for his birthday he was so in love with it. He's a classic rock fan, primarily.
"Let Down" is one of my favorite songs of all time, any artist, any genre. Fortunate to see them on the OK Computer tour. Most of OK, lots of Bends. Still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Lucky you..I am jealous.
I've seen them in the in rainbows tour in São Paulo, Brazil. Amazing.
@@eduardokalil4245 that was the last album i truely listened to..the following albums i didnt have time to really listen
Reckoner! 😍
Let Down transports me to a brisk weekday morning, driving to class at my community college, smoking a cigarette as cold air rushed in through the window of my 2001 Saturn. It's not a particularly exciting moment in my life, but the memory is more vivid than any other that I can recall.
We supplied Radiohead with a fully restored mellotron for OK Computer. We took 18 Tangerine Dream tape frames for Johnny and Thom to choose their three for the album. One of those had the Eight Choir and after we left they recorded Exit Music that evening! As a result I have always loved the album which I consider seminal.
Wow, I always thought they had used the Pinder CD.
Two of my Favourite groups linked by a thread such as this I did not know and TBH it dosent suprise me what with both being Pioneers musically.
Wow, that's a cool snippet.
Great to know
I wonder if that was in Christopher Franke's studio in the Hollywood Hills in the early 2000's when I did some TV sessions for him.
I'm a the bends guy... some of those songs went straight to my soul.
Yeah same here they shot through my souls…bulletproof…I wish I was
Just
Yep the Bends for me
The final line of the final song really did it for me. I loved the album the very first time I heard it but it’s quite a sad record, it’s not very upbeat and cheerful, but the “immerse you’re soul in love” at the very end actually flipped it on its head for me and left me incredibly uplifted.
I listen to The Bends in full at night sometimes like a meditation app, it calms me but makes me feel great, helping me relax into sleep. OK Computer is my favourite album of all time but there is no other album in the world that does what The Bends does to/for me.
@@chrisknight2631 Well...at the end of the day...people listening to and enjoying Radiohead...nothing wrong with that.
Eventually, one comes to realize, it's "In Rainbows".
Them doing it live "From the basement" remains one of the best things on the youtubes (really, maybe better than the actual record). All the sonics they learned from Leckie (the bends), all the musical freedom they learned with Godrich, all the song writing experience they learned together by doing it all for a while. So. Good.
True.
I still have to echo that, "From the Basement" is as good as The Beatles playing their final concert on the roof of the Apple studio, or wherever it was. For The Beatles, it was ending, for Radiohead, they were Just getting started good, and are still going strong.
but for me some songs like all i need weren't as powerful as original plus had less density in instruments so i personally prefer original... yet live version is really good
Yes! Incredible!!!
I agree 100%
Phil Selway is such an underrated drummer! People think what he's doing is so simple but Rick used the word, sophisticated! Incredible grooves
He's a goddamn metronome. Live he's just as good as in the recording booth. It's insane.
really underrated drummer
For me, choosing the best Radiohead album is like choosing between my kids. I love them all, for different reasons. I have grown up with them and they've changed as I've changed. Everything in its right place.
well said.
I don't have kids myself, but that is a beautiful way of putting it.
choose kid A
@@jjrc7424
perfectly said
Thank you for giving “Let Down” the love it deserves. It’s one of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded.
Let Down and Lucky are songs that sound like they're from another dimension. I remember my friends introducing me to Radiohead in 99 and I was obsessed. The bends and ok computer are life changing albums when you listen to them. Like Zeppelin 1 and 2, Rubber Soul, etc...
Agreed 👍
Severely underrated B-Sides adds to their legacy.
Most bands would sacrifice their first-born child for songs like Staircase, Spectre, The Daily Mail, Palo Alto, Lull, Talk Show Host, plus many others.
The Radiohead rabbit hole is very deep.
I loved every second of this. Got goosebumps when you played airbag. That song’s like “get ready to hear one of the greatest albums of music history”. Thank you for sharing our passion for this great music and reminding us how we felt the very first time we listened to it.
I feel the same way about Airbag. What a great intro!
“Let Down” is probably one of the best songs ever recorded, not just by Radiohead. The subject matter, the delivery, it really resonated with me when it was new and still does. Despondent, melancholy with enough spunk to metaphorically represent those of us hiding demons… it’s something I could listen to 100 times in a row and not get sick of
Listen to it on the tube at night after a few beers. Fucking cathartic.
Me too. From the second verse to the very end, the music is so good it's almost unbelievable.
Let Down seems to be one of those archetypal Radiohead songs where they could write a song that sounds happy and cheerful, until you read the lyrics and you want to kill yourself.
Totally agree. Well said.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Yes!!! This and No Surprises are basically resigning yourself to your fate - and following through. It’s a masterpiece in disturbed, desperate despondence.
OK Computer was the first album I ever owned. My parents let me pick out a CD at best buy, they didnt know Radiohead. A coworker fron my mom work, was there so they asked for his opinion on if they should allow me to have it. He said "yes, great album". Whoever you were... thank you!
I always listen to this album when on a plane for some reason
ok computer's always in my top 5 best albums of all time choices
What a way to kick off your record collection! I have a few years on you, my first album was Elton John “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m OnlyThe Piano Player.’
A masterpiece. Top 20 rock albums of all time.
My first ever record owned was "Walking in the Air" by Aled Jones. I wish my parents were cool. :(
I’ve got some airplane albums, that’s really interesting. Music at the airport and on a flight seem to mean a lot paired with the transitioning character of the travel.
I saw them in Belfast a month after OK Computer came out - they played a relatively small venue as a warm up for an arena tour. It’s still probably the best gig I’ve ever been to. I don’t mind admitting I burst into tears more than once during it.
For me, Ok Computer is a masterpiece. I love the bends too. However, don't forget in rainbows. A complete sound marvel (actually i think it has been the most inspiring album when writting my songs)
Eh..what about the next few albums, all brilliant as well.
As a former soundman, I used The Bends CD to E-Q each room. It was mixed to perfectly, especially the bass.
As a teenager one of the first bands I loved was Pink Floyd, a band from my parents generation. I always wanted a band from my generation to release our DSOTM.
Radiohead was the band, and Ok Computer was the album.
I was a teenager when DSOTM came out, and knew immediately it was extraordinary. I listened to it every day for a year. Pink Floyd built on that with WYWH, and then Animals. Three albums which for me are unsurpassed. And, I thought, unmatchable.
And then, decades later, I heard OK Computer for the first time.
You are right. And I was wrong. They’ve surpassed Pink Floyd. They’re the best band i’ve ever heard.
Every Radiohead album is listenable in my opinion. These two definitely stand out.
My favorite Radihead listening experience(besides seeing them live at Coachella) was when Kid A came out. I finished work around 11 o'clock and started driving home. The DJ at KTRU Rice Radio played the album in its entirety that first night it dropped. I got home and couldn't get out of the car - I HAD to keep listening! Once the album finished the DJ got on and said something to the effect of "I'm just going to press play again" and then he played it through once more! It was incredible, and I still long for listening experiences like that.
Man do I ever wish they still did radio the old way. Like you mentioned how the DJ could influence the music over the airwaves and people would call and comment I just recently got sick of tv and I just signed up for free month or two then you pay so I'm listening to the best stuff over time. These were good albums.
Radiohead had an amazing run with The Bends, Ok Computer and Kid A. Three totally different sounding albums and all of them amazing. They are all perfect 10 in my book but OKC is that highest peak what comes to an album experience. It's still my all time favorite album. I was 20 when it came out and still remember where I bought it and how I couldn't get over it for a long time. I probably listened to it daily for a year. I totally agree with Rick when he talks about how sophisticated their songs are (although seemingly simple) compared to many of their peers.
Personally i love "The Bends" the most but i have to acknowledge the GIANT leaps forward that they took with "Ok Computer" and "Kid A". Almost unprecedented in rock history. Probably only The Beatles developed so much in such a short time.
What big leaps? Why unprecedented? Hate when people just throw around these vague descriptions without elaborating. Lazy.
@@RayyanKhanRayyanKhan no other band in rock music ha incorporated such weird electronic stuff in a way that seemed very natural to them.
@@RayyanKhanRayyanKhan For elaboration try listening to "ok computer" and "kid a". Why get someone else to do that work for you? Lazy.
@@callum6224 Thats actually quite subjective. Some may consider inclusion and use of the synthesiser by bands like Pink Floyd pretty groundbreaking relative to the other bands of that time.
IMO I feel a lot of people just say its groundbreaking because a lot of other people say so. Not because they genuinely love it to an extent where they know how to articulate it without resorting to buzzwords like "revolutionary" "groundbreaking" etc. with no further explanation.
I love the album don't get me wrong. But I don't pretend that I understand the musical landscape prior to OKC's release and how the album was special in that context. There are a lot of videos on the internet explaining that properly. I just admit I love the music and I move on - none of that "I was born after 1998 and flabbergasted by the impact this album had on music industry!!1! That's why I like it more than the Bends!!".
@@scottwalker7884 That doesn't answer anything I said. I feel bad because you probably thought you were so clever when writing it. Sad.
Song timestamps:
0:14 Discount code MEGA, support the channel!
3:42 The Bends, Just
5:08 Just, chord progression
7:08 High and Dry
9:54 Fake Plastic Trees
13:15 OK Computer, Airbag
17:30 Paranoid Android
20:00 Improve yourself as a musician
21:42 Let Down
25:42 Karma Police
Love both. Big fan of OK Computer. Which reminds me... Have you ever checked out Weezer's record Ok Human? It was done with an orchestra. It's got some silly silly lyrics at times but it gives me major Beatles vibes.
Let Down 's got to be their most beautiful tune ever, and that's before the singing starts - it becomes heart-rending.
Arpeggi is even better :)
Let Down and Weird Fished are my two favourite Radiohead songs. They both have that euphoria about them.
Let Down is absolutely beautiful and lyrically so powerful, but for me, Lucky is absolute perfection & the heart of the album. The cool kids at the time latched onto 'climbing', but it really hasn't aged well, unfortunately.
Ive always considered the Bends as them using the studio to record the band in that moment in time whereas Ok Computer, they are using the Studio as another instrument, its become a member of the band contributing what it can to the overall sound instead of merely time stamping them as they were on The Bends
I'm 66 these days... I can remember getting this album (The Bends) within a year of its release, literally never having heard Radiohead. I know, I know.. but this album just dominated my listening for over a year. I'd be hard pressed to name another album that so ingrained itself into my mind, heart and soul as this one. Just phenomenal.
I'm 47 now, I was 20 when the album was released. The Bends was a revelation. I still remember sitting at my computer in the corner of my basement, popping the disc into my computer. It puts a smile on my face that somebody else had a similar experience :)
My father is a little older and I remember visiting him around 2004? I brought their first 4 albums and told him and he said, “maybe tomorrow”. We had some beers and I went to sleep. Slept in the next day and woke up to him BBQ’n and blasting Radiohead on the patio. He yelled at me, “Why did you never introduce me to these guys before”?! Hahahaha. Was too funny. I was glad he loved it so much I didn’t ask why he went in my bag lol
@@jonathandufern7421 Love this story!!!
Yep. I’m 61. Same with me. I will say, after listening to it, I would always introduce others to it and say, “ you need to listen to it six times. Don’t give up. And you will thank me.”
I bought this album before leaving on a fishing trip by myself into the Jemez Mountains in NM in 1995 after doing a 5 minute headphone sampling at the record store. I had selected several albums to try simply from looking at the album art and figuring what type of musicians they would be. I popped it into my cd changer in my car and listened to it for 3 days. I thought the band had 2 singers, a male and a female. I didn't realize until I got home and read through the notes any of the guys names. From that trip and to this day, Radiohead are my favorite band and I old them in the same stead as the Beatles.
“Airbag” is one of my all time favorite songs. It’s odd , mysterious, and melodic. That outro is one of the few songs that gives me chills.
Ok Computer as a whole is a great album because it’s so versatile, and each song has its own unique personality. It was beautifully crafted. it’s so ahead of it’s time , that 20+ years from now we’re going to be talking about how significant that release was.
AIRBAG IS ALSO MY FAVORITE
Dude that intro
The drum into on High and Dry is pure perfection.
Please continue this series with the rest of the Radiohead albums! :)
Street Spirit (Fade Out) is my favourite song by Radiohead. The song just hits in so many places. One of the few songs I close my eyes to every single time. So I have to give the nod to 'The Bends'.
Play it on the guitar, it feels fantastic when you nail it..
It is a truly amazing song and the video is sensational too
It is my favorite song as well...I always cry when I listen to it
@@kkrsnn5632 is it a difficult song to learn on guitar?
@@kruggyy you need to practice and focus on the string picking, but once you get into the rhythm ...
So pleased that Rick gives some love and appreciation to “Let Down”. Also adore this track as well as “Subterranean Homesick Alien” off OK Computer
Totally!
The leaps that Radiohead took from record to record didn't stop here, of course. The transition from OKC to Kid A is even more dramatic and breathtaking.
I remember about 15 years ago I was in a very dark place and struggling with life. The Bends album was incredibly helpful for me at that time and I still love it.
To all of you : Listen to Radiohead discography from the beginning. Your mind will explode from the excitement. It's ridiculous how amazing this band is. So much creativity. I remember every release of Radiohead's new album. It's like a time capsule
Did that. I felt like I'm on a whole different planet. So strange yet so amazing!
yesssss
There is definitely a case to be for Radiohead being the best band ever.
You forget to mention you probably won’t like it on the first listen. Every Radiohead album seems to work that way.
To my ears, “Subterranean Homesick Alien” is one of Radiohead’s greatest songs.
Honestly, it probably my favorite song ever, and i like a lot of music. Its in the pink floyd realm with the rhodes just an amazing relaxing spacey sound.
@@thescramble4309 I agree, it’s fantastic! 👌 Helps me feel less... uptight.
Yeah
It is!
Especially with a great pair of headphones
These two records are absolutely incredible but I find myself listening to "In Rainbows" on repeat all the time. I've probably listened to it 3x more than any other Radiohead album. But really. All of them are amazing. The world is better because Radiohead is in it.
You’re not alone. In Rainbows is one of my favorites.
I love in rainbows with all of my heart
Man im one of the few that puts in rainbows in the same level as ok comp and the bends. I know it's not as popular but i agree with you, in rainbows for me personally was so magnetic that ive kept coming back to hear thar album many many times
Absolutely love In Rainbpws and it’s so weird I have no desire to listen to the next album that came out.. can’t explain why!
Same
In 1994 I was in a band that was the opening band for The Bends tour of the UK …14 shows.
They were incredible. I never got tired of watching them, they got better and better every night . The Bends is a fantastic album…. but I gotta say I think Ok Computer is even better .
What a privilege to be able to see that. There were so many bands at that time who were all sticking with the crowd, and then there was radiohead 🧡
You were a member of The Julie Dolphin, then?
Haha Yes correct The Julie Dolphin .
Both albums are excellent start to finish. "Subterranean homesick alien" is one tune that makes me feel outside of myself, light headed. It's amazing how the songs put you in different states of mind.
One of their best songs.
One of my all time favorite songs.
That really is an incredible song, maybe the most sonically beautiful on OK Computer
I'm delighted to hear 'Let Down' get the love it deserves. It's light and beautiful yet also dark and hopeless. It's everything great about the sound of Radiohead.
Ah. Totally agree. I’ve always loved the build up to the final sequence which begins with “you know, you know where you are with”. Such an emotional and beautifully rendered piece of music making. The zenith of radioheads rock period.
Saw them at Manchester arena in 1998 and it was so amazing. A real spiritual experience.
Great song, one of my favs.
Yep. One of the best songs on album by my opinion. To be honest, I often like it more then karma police. (of course, karma police is also awesome as all song in album)
The vocals at the end are phenomenal.
Totally agree. It’s one of those songs that defines Radiohead. Beautiful yet heart wrenching at the same time. One of Thom’s best vocal performances as well
Let Down is magical. Crank it and turn off the lights ... a truly great song.
“Let Down” was a game changer for me personally. Will always be the #1 song. Still that being said, I would put “The Bends” as my overall favorite album.
Kid A
The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows all masterpieces!!!!!
Indeed. Those would be my 4 favorite Radiohead albums as well. I'll give a shout out though for the oft-forgotten and underrated "Hail to the Thief" album as well.
agree gents ...
@@mrsasshole oh man that one is also great, particularly THERE THERE I think is perhaps one of their greatest songs and that's saying a lot
"creep is a pedestrian track"...musically perhaps...lyrically, it expresses and touches people to the core...rare
Vocally too
I actually loved "Creep", the one that is called their "pedestrian" song. so i guess i'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate their more complex, high brow stuff. most people I hear like their music say they listen to it when they are going through hard times. Word of advice folks - if you want music that makes you feel good just buy a cheap guitar and learn three chords you can play yourself in this order, G, C, D or any order really. its always gonna sound upbeat and will always cheer you up. You don't need to hear C#9 dim and A aug sus 4 and all that complexity to feel special.
@@johnthecreative Sorry pal, at a certain point a I-IV-V progression is going to drive you insane. It makes you 'feel good' only if you haven't heard much music and don't realise it's been done to death.
Not everyone's listening brain is the same as yours - they may need different things.
I think, perhaps, people are misunderstanding the "pedestrian" reference. It's like so many bands where that "most popular song" is one of their most basic crapped-out songs, I mean, yeah, Creep is fine and all, but it's nothing that a hundred far lesser bands couldn't have easily done, whereas Radiohead is, obviously, capable of making music that literally redefined the genre.
Here's an example, Judas Priest _You've Got Another Thing Coming_ is, while perfectly fine, one of their most basic boneheaded songs, far FAR down the list of their best tunes, yet it's one of thier most famous.
Creep is basically Radiohead going "Okay, so we need a teen-angst radio ditty," and they did it welll! It's just not representative of their abilities.
@H H there are a million artists in history that could have written "she loves you" or screenprinted Banksy. Both works are not pedestrian. Art is not only or always a technical act. If you watch the Paris live performance of creep, you'll see a crowd touched by a lyric and harmonic structure that has literally changed and saved lives. Nothin pedestrian about that in my view.
I'm heartened to see all the love for "Let Down." That song was my entry point to Radiohead's music, in general. It's a bit of a story, and I'll spare you. But jeez, is that an unbelievably great song; for me, it's something of a standout on an album full of stand outs. Complex, gorgeous, and immediately accessible. A miraculous album, all around. And Radiohead is my favorite band, and has been for twenty years now. It all began with "Let Down," basically.
I was at a concert of Radiohead OK Computer tour in Offenbach Germany. I was a fan already but the concert shook me really. I invited my now wife and it was one of our all time moments. We remember this until today with real joy. Thank you for this review as I feel until today not very much people realize how great they are.
The Bends is a desert island disc for me. Completely changed my view of Radiohead which I had just written off as a one-hit wonder. Sublime album, definitely dark which appealed to my young dark brooding at the time. One of my old bands used to do a slightly higher energy cover of Fake Plastic Trees. Ok Computer may be more diverse and experimental but The Bends does it for me.
Nice but Desert Island Disk is off of a Moon Shaped Pool not The Bends
@@robertboubour1827 well played! 100% correct!
I just had the same exact conversation on reddit about the bends.
I, too, wrote them off as a one hit wonder and didn't listen to the bends.
After being mesmerized by ok computer. I checked it out and was floored how great it was
@@everythingsgoneorang Similar for me, it was well after OK Computer rocketed up the charts and was everywhere. I was on a roadtrip and my buddy put it on. I couldn't believe it.
The Bends is an album I can return to at any time. Every song is a single in it's own right. It just doesn't date. Just a phenomenal album.
I’m a massive Radiohead fan Rick, so thank you for making this video! In my opinion, The Bends is a great album but Ok Computer is a masterpiece, and a timeless classic! Would love to see a video on Kid A and In Rainbows, which are also masterpiece albums! Radiohead is truly one of the greatest bands of all time!
To me, The Bends is like Revolver. There's such a great turn, yet so much music to come. Two of my favorite songs are "Bones" and "Fake Plastic Trees." The Bends is when all the magic begins. It's also one reason why for me, despite so much argument to the contrary, it's the Beatles, then Radiohead.
Bones is such an incredible track, the one where I wasn't just listening to Radiohead anymore, but I was really hearing them. Ya get me?
Excellent insight. Agreed.
I think OK Computer is one of the greatest albums of all time, not just for Radiohead but for music.
Yep. I remember Q magazine writing something similar and I hadn't heard it yet. Then I heard it and was like "WTF is that, it's amazing but so different to pretty much everything Ive heard before". The more I listened and started learning the songs the more I could appreciate how sophisticated it was musically, lyrically and the production. Even my sister's musicologist friends were really into it. I use it and Kid A to test hifi equipment now 😁
I totally agree
Easily. If someone told me it’s the best record ever made I wouldn’t argue.
Tool ænima holds a similar level of perfection to me
Either #1 or #2 for me
"Let Down" definitely got me. Very trippy. "Nice Dream" from The Bends is another great, trippy and ethereal song.
(Nice Dream) is my favourite. Flawless.
shell smashed, juices flowin, wings twitch, legs are goin' don't get sentimental it always ends up drivel
I love that Rick says that his thought after The Bends was, “where do they go from here?” and a lyric in the song The Bends is, “where do we go from here”. Love it!
Loved sitting and listening to Radiohead with you, these 2 albums are faves of mine too. Keep up the great work Rick.
I loved The Bends. They put a clinic on with how to be creative with guitars, along with the singing. One of the great rock albums.
While I love Ok Computer and know that it is doing more artistically, perhaps technically the "better" album, I prefer The Bends. The Bends is far more listenable and I find I come back to it over and over again, it is one of my all time favorite albums.
The Bends is easily Radiohead's best album. It's flawless.
Same.
To quote Butch Walker (producer for countless artists we all know).."I'm a Bends-man" I concur.
The Bends grew on me, took a long time, but they kept releasing singles, that were on the radio a lot, and I ended up hooked. Definitely my favourite Radiohead album
Yeah, I think it’s their best album. I love other songs too from other albums, but The Bends has no bad songs.
The Bends is my favorite, “Just” is a song that never gets old to me and such a rocking song. That climbing up part and the solo, you have to be dead to hate that song. It fires me up no matter how many times I hear it.
Rick - great breakdown. Loved every second of it. I’m a big Radiohead fan, too. It’d be cool if you had the chance to do a breakdown like this with “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness” with the Smashing Pumpkins - two great albums back to back, kind of like Radiohead here. Awesome video, loved it!
I love both those records I like their first album as well. The amazing thing is that Radiohead kept making great records just like the Beatles that is why I compare the two of them.
Great suggestion
I've been trying to decide which of those two SP albums is better for over 25 years. No answer yet.
+100
I was a junior in high school when I first heard "Creep" and immediately went out and bought the album. I had virtually the same reaction the you did Rick. When the "The Bends" came out 2 years later, I was forward deployed to Europe and begged the base exchange to get me a copy. When I got it, I wasn't in the right headspace to truly understand and appreciate what it was. For some reason though, Radiohead just stuck with me. I was in Chicago at some late night diner or restaurant when I heard "Paranoid Android" and I couldn't' even comprehend that it was the same band. When I sat down and listened to "OK Computer" for the first time with my discman, I just understood that this band will be a part of the soundtrack of the rest of my life. It wasn't until later that I really went back and listened to "The Bends" and understood that Radiohead music is about the evolution. Similar to TOOL, they have carte blanche to do whatever they want in the studio.
Thank you for doing this comparative Rick.
For me, I love the warmth of The Bends, OK Computer is a masterpiece, How to Disappear Completely is my favorite song so Kid A is in the running, but when In Rainbows came out I thought, “well, Radiohead has had its day in the sun, but let’s see if there’s anything relevant here.” Just blew me away. I must have watched the Scotch Mist and From The Basement vids a dozen or more times each in early 2008. I just couldn’t believe they still had this in the tank.
Scotch Mist is the best thing on UA-cam.
Made a huge pile of yuk with "limbs" and "moon pools" tho
@@rkn3045 Especially Thom's "Cheshire Crat grin" part.
I fully agree
Paranoid Android is their masterpiece, so dark, cynical, ominous it haunts you.
13:28 I love seeing his smile during the intro of airbag
Ok Computer is at the peak of rock music and is full of emotion and rich themes. It speaks to what we are experiencing here in the modern world so perfectly. The isolation, separation, manipulation, communication etc. it’s perfect. The bends is amazing in its own right but it’s so different than Ok computer. Ok computer is perfect and defined what rock music could be!
I guess I am the only guy in the world that doesn't like radiohead. sorry everyone for pissing you off.
They definitely have an ambient format that I would not call rock...
1. Tons of ambiance, washy reverb with long tails, a lot of room sound, vocals mixed to play on both sides of stereo mix instead of straight down the middle, ambient guitar sound from using semi-hollow body guitars which sound even more ambient than acoustic guitars
2. Slow, complex emotional, 5 minute long songs, non-standard “pop” formats
on the flip side you can have the opposite I think of rock as:
1. Dry, not much reverb or none at all, less room sound, vocals mixed in a standard format, sharp and direct guitar sound from hollow body guitars which cut through and are defined
2. Simple, fast, short 3 minute songs, standard “pop” formats
And I really think you could choose one or the other and neither is right/wrong, but for my money I prefer the latter format.
@@johnthecreative have you listened to songs like Electioneering, Paranoid Android, Climbing Up Walls, The Bends (song), My Iron Lung, Just, Bones? All of those songs rock and hit hard and aren’t that ambient or slow
@@johnthecreative and those are just off these two records
@@cornflakesyuh3235 oh no I haven't. I know they can rock hard like they did on creep but after that I didn't get their direction when I liked creep so much. I keep listening to songs everyone raves about and it sounds like Hammock or some ambient band. and I love that music sometimes don't get me wrong, I think Hammock is the best I've heard for this stuff though I'm sure all the fans will say I am wrong its Radiohead. and I go for years sometimes not being in the mood for it. lately I listen to really old rock from the 50s.
The Bends was a really personal album for me. When it came out, I was 20 and playing bass/singing in an emerging band in Minneapolis.
While I know "Creep" was a rather pedestrian song, I loved it and the rest of Pablo Honey had grown on me over time to the point where I had great affection for the album. I didn't love the album, but I certainly liked it enough to pick up The Bends the day it came out. I had just picked up some expensive new monitor speakers which were very good for their time and I popped in The Bends cd into my computer late that Friday evening. Planet Telex signaled a departure from the rather straight-forward Pablo Honey. I then enjoyed the title track. And then "High and Dry" came up. This was a beautiful pop song. But then "Fake Plastic Trees" came up. Jealousy was the emotion that hit. Jealousy that I had never written something this beautiful, this haunting, this complex and melodic. "High and Dry" gave me a hint, but "Fake Plastic Trees" was the point where it was obvious that this was a band that had far, far outgrown their first album. The rest of the album was a spectacular mix of amazing songwriting, performances and production.
It was 1995 and Radiohead embarked on a large North American tour to support the album. At least on the local airwaves in Minneapolis, the album wasn't receiving the attention I felt it deserved. Occassionally I'd hear High and Dry or Fake Plastic Trees, but not often. Towards the beginning of their tour, Radiohead came to Minneapolis to play 1st Avenue, a legendary club where Prince made his name. Packed, the capacity for the club is around 1500 with room for perhaps a thousand on the main floor. I was front and center for what was perhaps a 75% full club. The show was utterly amazing despite the venue being far from full. Today it's difficult to imagine a Radiohead show that isn't sold out, but at best the venue was 3/4 full. I specifically remember being frustrated by this. I suspect when we were young like I was at the time, we all had a band that we just KNEW was magnificent, and we wanted to make sure the world was in sync with that perspective. Radiohead was that band for me in 1995.
At the tail end of the tour, Radiohead returned to play 1st Ave again! By now, the album had been the beneficiary of word of mouth and it was a sold out, packed show. Radiohead blew the roof off. An interesting side note, a pre-reinvented David Gray was the opener for both shows. This was before his seminal White Ladder album and sadly, David was not well received. But Radiohead was absolutely incredible. I feel so fortunate to have seen the band twice at a small club as that was the last Radiohead club tour. By the time they came around again to support OK Computer, they were at the 4k capacity State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. A much more upscale, stuffy venue. It was an amazing show, but it lacked the intimacy of 1st Avenue. I saw the band 4 times after that, all of them large outdoor shows. Every performance was amazing, but I'll never forget getting to see the band twice in a small club setting.
I struggle when comparing The Bends and OK Computer. The latter is without question the more mature, complex and at times, heart-rending album. My head always tells me that OK Computer is the better album. But my heart always goes back to The Bends. That album influenced me greatly as a songwriter and as a musician. Both are desert island discs for me and my heart says The Bends is the better album (for me at least).
I could go on and on about this band but I'll stop here as I'm guessing most will have disregarded my comment due to its length. But I struggle to find a band that has evolved more than Radiohead and still managed to keep its fanbase. It wasn't until "The King of Limbs" where the band sadly began to lose me.
They lost me at Kid A.
"I suspect when we were young like I was at the time, we all had a band that we just KNEW was magnificent, and we wanted to make sure the world was in sync with that perspective."
I suspect for musicians and hardcore music aficionados, this remains the case even as we get older. But regardless, this is such a profound insight into human psychology and definitely applies to our feelings on all artistic and intellectual disciplines.
@@eeeeyuke I completely understand that perspective. I loved Kid A, but I was surprised at the time (and still am) how much I liked it as it was apparent that Thom was listening to a lot of Aphex Twin.
There are two bands that evolved that quickly: the Beatles and the Stones. I would also add the Police...
@@mrsasshole I do love Everything In It's Right Place, though. So hypnotic.
The Bends makes me nostalgic for a decade where I wasn’t even born yet, and OK Computer was released in 1997 yet it’s arguably the most relevant album to 2022 going, so far ahead of it’s time its unbelievable
It was a great decade - a lot of fun!
I miss the 90s
The closing three tracks on The Bends - Black Star, Sulk and Street Spirit - are, in my opinion, the best run of three consecutive songs on any album ever.
Agreed.
Tool
The Grudge
Eon Blue Apocalypse/The Patient
Schism
Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit
In Bloom
Come As You Are
NIN
Somewhat Damaged
Day the World Went Away
The Frail
Mr Self Destruct
Piggy
Heresy
Match of the Pigs
Closer
Ruiner
Soundgarden
My Wave
Fell on Black Days
Mailman
It’s crazy how this can be applied to numerous different Radiohead albums, I mean I’d personally say the same thing about Exit Music, Let down and Karma Police. Just an amazing band
Pyramid Song for me is the greatest song they have ever wrote it has it all. Frightening psychological emotional lyrics against unexpected music. Straight to Number 1 in the UK which frankly astonished me for a song straight out of the dark left field.
Their best album is Kid A and my second favourite song comes from this. How To Disappear Completely.
Amidst all of the masterpieces they have written and recorded, I think Pyramid Song is their greatest. Still surprises when I listen to it today for the 5,000th time.
You gotta give In Rainbows another listen. For the song "Nude" alone.
The Bends was a great, great 1990s Alternative Rock album. OK Computer was a for real revolutionary music moment that transcended rock. What's more, OK Computer was tuned into the political undercurrents of the day like no other mainstream entertainment product of its time. It was remarkable just how aware these Oxford lads were of the political discontent of ordinary working people the world over. Much of what OK Computer warned against the world eventually would come to wholeheartedly embrace, and thus we have the destabilized world we have today.
OK Computer changed my life and in profound ways changed the way I looked at the world.
Agree brother, well said!
Its prophetic.
There's an argument for either and in the end it comes down to personal taste. But in terms of "revolutionary" I don't think it was. Who did it really influence? And karma police is a bigger Beatles rip off than anything oasis ever did (not to say that it or sexy Sadie aren't great songs) it's the Bends all day every day and twice on a sunday
“Karma police is a bigger Beatles rip off than anything Oasis ever did”- you probably need to re-listen to Be Here Now 😂
Everyone ripped off the Beatles and the Beatles ripped off everyone before them and were all better for it.
I love how many Radiohead songs have a breakdown and then crescendo leading to a climax, usually in the final verse leading to the chorus. Works so damn well.
2016, Summer Sonic Fest in Tokyo, Radiohead closed with "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"; magical.
Karma Police is EPIC live. “For a minute there, I lost myself “ when the crowd join in is just great
It is a very deep track and is my favourite Radiohead song. I love the chord progession too. Very Lennon with the F sharp minor chord after the G.
Depends on the crowd - when I saw Radiohead in 1998, it was not so great having a tone deaf guy howling this line while standing right behind me.
@@goesjem when you say very Lennon are you referring to “Sexy Sadie”? Or which Lennon track(s)? I believe musically they were inspired by “Sexy Sadie” but of course lyrically it’s a nod to “Instant Karma’s gonna get you” from John’s solo career
@@hw343434 Karma Police = Sexy Sadie, I'm So Tired and Hey Jude.
@@saltech3444 and maybe “Happiness is a Warm Gun” which is a song Radiohead quoted as influencing them
When The Bends came out it took you to another planet. It was one of those CDs that you could listen to from beginning to end over and over. Such beautiful songs. It has a vibe that is pure magic that I don't think they captured on any of their other albums.
YES!
So true
Their best by far, and OK is no slouch!
Really enjoyed listening to your breakdown of both these records. Great stuff
As a huge fan of Radiohead, The Cure, Nirvana and NIN, I have to find ways to sprinkle in positive / happier songs into the cauldron of woe. Its tough, I get why I listened to those bands when they came out...they matched how I felt. But now, I'm not really feeling like I did then, but I still love and appreciate the sound of the songs from those bands. This line from the movie High Fidelity says it all... "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
I will always have a closer emotional connection to "The Bends" on a personal level. "OK Computer" was an epic album !! You gotta give "In Rainbows" some props though. That album was a masterpiece too !!! "Reckoner," "Body Snatchers", "Jigsaws Falling into Place", "Weird Fishes".... All epic pieces in their own right !!!
Agree, agree, agree & agree... lol Don't forget "All I Need" & "House of Cards"!
The Bends is my favourite Album, but OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows are all tied for 2nd, and just depends on my mood in the moment!
I attended a festival in The Bronx that MCA from the Beastie Boys organized as a benefit for Tibetan monks and Radiohead was one of the bands performing. I was there primarily to see Porno For Pyros, Perry Farrell’s band after Jane’s Addiction. Sonic Youth also performed, as well as a couple of other big bands of the era. At the time, I only knew Creep and Just. A friend of mine asked me if I had heard the new Radiohead record, which I still hadn’t. He told me it was great, so we moved up front in General Admission to watch them. I’m a huge fan of everything Perry Farrell was involved with musically, but that day, Radiohead owned the stage. I was blown away. The friend asked me if I wanted to go see them at Radio City Music Hall a few weeks later and of course, I did. It was one of the greatest rock shows of my life, at one of the greatest worlds greatest live event venues. As you said, it was an equal mix of OK Computer, The Bends and a couple of songs from Pablo Honey. Since then, The Bends has become a close second favorite of mine from Radiohead.
Thank you for making this video. It really made my day to see it in my feed!
The Bends. Each of the songs means so much to my soul. Huge nostalgia and goosebumps.
OK Computer was amazing, goosebumps here too. But it has musical 'places' which just don't speak to me in the same way, strange and experimental.
Is this a joke? Ok Computer was their real 1st album and the launching point of them becoming legends, composers, masters of reality.
@@stalwartzero7001 I agree with The Bends. Best Radiohead album IMO. It's just better than all the rest. All are good. It's just personal preference.
@@TreeTop9 nostalgia for sure but it’s that toes in the water for the real drop which was ok computer
The Bends was just them as a top notch guitar band. Ok Computer was them as a top notch musicians. The change was so huge and yet in keeping with what they were doing. Wasn't really terribly interested in them before Ok Computer came out. After, couldn't listen enough. Just incredible. My fav is In Rainbows! Can't believe how they just keep doing it.
LOVE The Bends, & OK computer..My band Polyphonic Spree played a few festivals with them over in the UK, Scotland, & Ireland.... Glastonbury being one of them.. They are great live!
Very cool. I saw your band in Phoenix years ago.
That's so awesome, 'Light & Day / Reach For The Sun' is such a fantastic classic tune. I concur on Radiohead killing it live, too. I saw them in '08 on the In Rainbows tour and it's still probably the best concert I've ever been to.
I saw them in concert on the day that The Bends came out. Not having heard the new album I remember being absolutely blown away over and over again with the new tracks which is not an experience I had had before or since at any other concert. It was obvious from the show that the album was going to be incredible.
Both Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood are geniuses!
I really love The Bends but I rarely listen to it all the way through. I listen to OK Computer start to finish all the time. I'd say IMHO it is the most complete album ever. There isn't a single track I wouldn't listen to at high volume in the car.
I'm team The Bends! My favorite Radiohead album followed by In Rainbows, than Ok Computer.
I've heard some revisionist nonsense about The Bends, some people opining that it's overrated and has dated badly. To this I say, compare this album to any released by a British band that year, and tell me it's not still staggeringly brilliant from start to finish. If you also listen to it alongside their first album, then you get the feeling that something truly, truly special had started to happen with this band around 1994. Their Astoria gig is still a fine starting point for this whole period, and essential viewing for any Radiohead fan.
Their best? Undoubtedly “Ok Computer” but “The Bends” would have to be my favourite from start through to finish. “Just” at the time was a great song and btw the video clip for it was also great and different
I agree with you Dude!
Better perhaps ...
The Bends is the better album from cover to cover, but OK Computer has better, stronger songs and better arrangement work, but isn't as complete an album as The Bends in some ways. Yet OK Computer is much more musically sophisticated.
Their best isn't Ok Computer it's in Rainbows
Kid A by far the best
Both classics.The first time I heard Airbag on the radio,it blew me away,saw the Ok Computer tour here in Oz,fantastic show.
Where is music like this today? I know it probably exists, but bands like this aren't promoted anymore, it's insane. This was fantastic, complex music. Radiohead was huge but I still think they are underrated to this day.
🎯
Spot on! Though there's a reason that I love Creep. I do understand why they don't like nor play it at their concerts.
Check out a band called Wand. Their albums Plum (2017) Laughing Matter from (2019) are phenomenal, and various tracks can draw some parallels with Radiohead e.g., vocals, interesting arrangements and rhythm, tone etc.,
The Weeknd is pretty awesome
Have you heard Tame Impala? Not the same but he is such a musical talent
I had an amazing experience when 2 of my best friends who’s musical tastes I completely trusted brought me OK Computer and a 1/2 ounce of mushrooms. I only knew “Creep” and thought we might be wasting the fungus, I lived a lifetime before “Paranoid Android” was over. I still have an amazing connection to that album!
The Bends got me through some tough times. My all time favorite Radiohead album. The melodies, the guitars, and emotion are all perfect.
Word of advice folks - if you want music that makes you feel good just buy a cheap guitar and learn three chords you can play yourself in this order, G, C, D or any order really. its always gonna sound upbeat and will always cheer you up. You don't need to hear C#9 dim and A aug sus 4 and all that complexity to feel special.
The opening chord progression of "Just" has always reminded me of the Love & Rockets song "No New Tale to Tell", check it out.
Another fantastic Rick episode! I love hearing his take on anything musical, especially when it is about one of the greatest bands like Radiohead. He always conveys his technical knowledge of music in an everyman kind of way that makes all of us better music fans for having heard it.
Saw them in London (Kentish Town Forum) the same week The Bends was released, we had a couple of days with the cassette before seeing them. The tickets were £6.50!
Also caught them at Brixton for OK Computer.
Aside from the records being incredible, they are one of the absolute best bands live
I took two of my sons 12 and 14 to see Radiohead just weeks before 9/11 in 2001 at a dog track outside Boston. We’d been listening to them a lot in the car, and they’d listened a lot in their rooms so they were even more familiar than I was. It was the best show I’d been to and I saw Zep at Madison Square Garden in the 70s. They started on time, so no rock star attitude keeping us waiting, but best of all was clarity of the sound system. Thom’s vocals and the instruments were perfect: not ear-splitting, pleasantly loud, and we could make out the lyrics. Such a memorable evening for all those reasons! (Plus I’ve always loved Oxford anyway …)
I worked for Radiohead at one of their first live performances of Ok Computer. I don’t think the album had been released yet. The local crowd didn’t know what to think. 😂. The crew shirts were really cool. I still have it in a box of work shirts.
I miss the days when albums like these would come out on an almost weekly basis 😪
"drops on Tuesday" - took the bus to Cheapies downtown, 9:30 on Tuesday nights, just to check out the late-night record shop selection
@@withershin Tell us you’re Canadian without telling us you’re Canadian 🙂
Albums like OK Computer don’t even come out once a decade.
@@skythemusic Yeah like I can probably walk a decade just using "rock". For me it's Franz Ferdinand in 2004 - oh good music didn't die. I saw In Rainbows live and well I re-became a Radiohead fiend in that space and time. I won't share my short list of albums but yes! Once in a decade is the real gold.
Well done mate - you nailed it! Love your informative take.
And now a breakdown of two of my favorite albums! Loving your channel.
Agree with you.. Their sound and creativity is just of such a high level... very few can match.. LOVE THEM
Hey Rick, just wanted to say I'm thoroughly enjoying your content and takes and just your general approach to music, popular and otherwise. Keep it coming
Let down and hanging around makes me cry everytime. Soooo beautiful.
So fun to re-live the exhilaration that came with hearing these albums for the first time with you, Rick! I appreciate your videos so much. I was a freshman in college in 2000, when Kid A came out. That's when I got turned onto Radiohead and went back to their earlier albums. I'll never forget lying on my dorm room loveseat, headphones on, turned up loud, listening to OK Computer straight through for the first time, tears streaming down my face because it was so damn beautiful and meant so much. The liner notes added to the power of it--the desperation of the lyrics and the beauty of the orchestration... It was so much of what I was feeling at the time, and they expressed it for me. Totally agree with you on "Let Down." That was for sure the high point. One of the most breathtaking, complex, and perfectly arranged rock songs ever recorded, in my opinion.
"Just" was the song that converted me! prior to that, for me, they were just another rock band. Johnny's simple solo at the end is also genius! I think that chord progression was inspired by Magazine's "shot by both sides"
I have to say the video was as brilliant and inspiring as the song.
Reminds me more of 'Lipstick' by Buzzcocks. 🤓
I second In Rainbows as their greatest album, but Moonshaped pool keeps growing on me. The opening strings and synth combo on burn the witch blows me away!! Plus desert
disks…
Love them all but Pool my fave. Bleak but so beautiful
honestly it's hard to compare Radiohead albums because they're all so different and all basically 10/10 other than PH/KoL, which you prefer will depend on how much you like melody vs. ambience, whether you favor electronic or rock, or what mood you're in that day
What band has ever put out five albums as perfect as The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows, and Moon Shaped Pool? The last may not be for everyone, as it seems to be an ambient album by intention--but such ambience!!!!
Rick, when you talk about Radiohead, I’m so happy. I was late to the Radiohead party, only really delving in deep about 5 years ago, and now they’re just about all I listen to, except for ancient Neil Young recordings. So real.
Just so delightful watching these videos, always love Rick's insights. Would LOVE to hear his thoughts on Kid A, since it's so much more outside the box.