![\"Radiohead](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Radiohead-Thom-Yorke-No-Suprises-Video-1997-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n
Sat 8 November 2025 11:51, UK <\/p>\n
After years of playing together as school friends, On A Friday signed to EMI, who suggested that the Oxford five-piece change their name. Soon after, they were Radiohead<\/a>, lifting their name from the tracklisting of Talking Heads\u2019 True Stories. Unfortunately, the band had a tough start when their debut single, \u2018Creep\u2019, was blacklisted by the BBC for being \u201ctoo depressing\u201d. <\/p>\n Although \u2018Creep\u2019 eventually received attention overseas, finding success on MTV in the United States, their debut album,\u00a0Pablo Honey, failed to make much of an impact. Nevertheless, Radiohead took to the studio with John Leckie and started working on their second record, which resulted in\u00a0The Bends.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty of grungey angst on this album, but it was\u00a0The Bends\u00a0when Radiohead really set themselves apart from the rest of the growing alternative rock scene. While those bands tended to focus on the banality of life and the brutality of having to live under such circumstances, the Oxfordshire band did it all with an educated flourish that made other groups look like soapbox screamers and Radiohead as professors.<\/p>\n \u2018Fake Plastic Trees\u2019 may well be one of the band\u2019s best songs, and its place on this record is cherished by all. Equally, \u2018Bones\u2019 and \u2018Street Spirit\u2019 may well be other songs to challenge the top of the Radiohead pile. But the real beauty of this record is not the songs but how they\u2019re delivered.<\/p>\n Grunge had been largely about turning up the volume and smashing guitars. On\u00a0The Bends, Radiohead are more intent on what they can use their guitars to achieve. They\u2019re still just as angry, but they\u2019re not resorting to low blows.<\/p>\n During the album\u2019s creation, tensions were high, and a rigorous touring schedule had exhausted the band, particularly lead vocalist Thom Yorke. He told NME: \u201cI\u2019m fucking ill and physically I\u2019m completely fucked and mentally I\u2019ve had enough.\u201d However, the recording of\u00a0The Bends\u00a0ended up being a turning point for the band<\/a>, who discovered new methods of working and experimenting.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Thom](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Thom-Yorke-Radiohead-1997-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Thom Yorke in 1997. (Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n