Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
NME	9/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Village Voice	C

The Bends is the second album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Capitol Records in the United States. The album was produced by John Leckie and was engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to co-produce all future albums by the band. The Bends marked the beginning of a shift in aesthetics and themes for the band, with greater use of keyboards, and more abrasive guitar tracks, while balancing them with subtler ones. The introspective grunge-influenced style of their debut studio album Pablo Honey (1993) evolved into more multi-layered rock with cryptic lyrics and larger ideas, as the band and its lead singer and songwriter Thom Yorke reacted against the rigours of their near-constant world tours.

The Bends received greater critical acclaim than Pablo Honey, receiving an enthusiastic critical reaction, and it reached #4 on the UK Albums Chart. However, it failed to build on the commercial success of "Creep" outside of the United Kingdom, and it peaked on the United States charts at #88. Although it lacked the instant success of Radiohead's subsequent albums, The Bends achieved triple platinum sales certifications in the UK and Canada, as well as platinum sales certifications in the United States (by the Recording Industry Association of America) and Europe. The album spawned five charting singles; My Iron Lung was first released as an EP in 1994 before the album was released, and "High and Dry" was later released with the album's opener "Planet Telex" as its B-side. "Fake Plastic Trees" was released as the album's second single and was followed by "Just". "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", the final single from the album, became their first top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. In the years since its release, the album has frequently appeared in listener polls and critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time.

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