Radiohead have commemorated the 30th anniversary of their second studio album, ‘The Bends’ by sharing old footage from one of Thom Yorke’s solo shows from the time.
The grainy VHS footage features Yorke performing an acoustic set at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada on March 28, 1995.
In the video, he performs ‘(Nice Dream)’, ‘High and Dry’ ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ and ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ from the album, as well as ‘Thinking About You’ from Radiohead’s debut ‘Pablo Honey’.
An album full of arty, guitar-driven anthems, ‘The Bends’ helped to propel Radiohead to further heights than before, reaching number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, higher than ‘Pablo Honey‘, which peaked at 22.
It was record made under pressure. Thom Yorke told NME in 1993 “I’m fucking ill and physically I’m completely fucked and mentally I’ve had enough,” from the pressure of trying to recapture the success of the band’s breakout single ‘Creep’ and a gruelling touring schedule.
In early 1994, more stress came for the band as they were told by their label EMI that they only had nine weeks to come up with new album. Thom Yorke channelled those anxieties and tensions into his songwriting, delivering an emotional work that mixed more tender moments with harder guitar riffs.
The album is noted for starting a shift in British rock music away from the ‘lad-rock’ Britpop of the time to more sensitive, alt/indie stylings of groups like Snow Patrol and Coldplay. In a retrospective write-up, The Telegraph said “The Oxford quintet’s second album may have lacked the headline-grabbing ker-pow of the Blur vs Oasis chart battle of August 1995, but The Bends spawned something far more consequential: decades of “bedwetter” music.”
Last week, the band formed a new legal entity with the name RHEUK25, leading many to believe this could signal significant new activity for Radiohead in 2025.
LLP’s (limited liability partnership’s) allow Radiohead to operate their business affairs independently of record labels and external companies. They have done this in the past when they’re about to announce a new album, tour or reissue.
For example, the bands last album, ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ from 2016, was released just after registration of the Dawn Chorus LLP.
Recently, Yorke has teamed up with producer Mark Pritchard for a collaborative album. Their debut LP together ‘Tall Tales’ will be released on May 9 through Warp Records. They’ve released their first single, ‘This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice’, an electronica influenced track with an artsy video. You can see our writeup on that here.
