A colossal global hit early in Radiohead’s career threatened to destroy the band when they had barely even got started. For their second album, The Bends, as Neil Crossley explains, they dug deep to create a soaring, deeply textured record that would unexpectedly elevate them to new heights
Classic Album
Now we’re in an age when high-end production values are the norm, it’s worth remembering some of the finest performances are turned in at demo stage. Just as the best vocal take is often the first one, so too can demos capture the raw essence of a song better than a track that is laboured over for days or weeks on end.
Oxford five-piece Radiohead came to this realisation in February 1994 as they worked on a track called High And Dry. Written by frontman Thom Yorke while he was a student at the University of Exeter in the late 80s, the song was initially discarded for sounding “too Rod Stewart”. But when they revisited the demo, the band were surprised by how good it sounded. Despite re-recording the track, they could not improve on the demo, so it was re-mixed, re-mastered and released. It would go on to become a cornerstone of the band’s second album The Bends.
Released in March 1995, The Bends was Radiohead’s first great album and galvanised their global reputation. At a time when the music industry was obsessed with Blur v Oasis, Radiohead emerged with a strident and ambitious album that left most of their backwards-looking contemporaries standing. 25 years on, it remains a stunning and timeless work.
EARLY DAYS
For a band that have created such stridently adventurous music, Radiohead’s back story is relatively unexceptional. All five band members met while they were pupils at Abingdon School, Oxfordshire, a seven-century old independent school for boys. Thom Yorke and bassist Colin Greenwood were in the year below guitarist Ed O’Brien and drummer Phil Selway. Greenwood’s multi-instrumentalist younger brother Jonny was the last to join, taking up guitar and keyboard duties. In 1985, they formed On A Friday, a band whose name was inspired by the day that they would rehearse in the school’s music room.
By the late 80s, Oxford boasted a thriving independent music scene, dominated by ‘shoegazing’ bands such as Ride and Slowdive, and On A Friday soon began to get noticed. On the strength of a demo, they were offered a deal by Island Records, but the band felt they were not ready and decided to go to university first.
All but Jonny left for university in 1987, but they conti
