Determined not to let that single define them, Radiohead butted heads with each other, their label, and their producer during the recording sessions. In the mid-’90s, Radiohead were already saddled with “Nirvana-lite” accusations stemming from their hit single “Creep”.

or Stone Temple Pilots’ Purple), and some were casualties, destined for one-hit wonder status (Blind Melon’s Soup). Some were artistically successful (Nirvana’s In Utero), some were commercially successful (Pearl Jam’s Vs. When it came out, The Bends was an easy album to overlook it was released at a time when the bands that became popular during the alternative music explosion of the early ’90s were releasing their follow-ups. Judging by its initial album sales, many outside the UK discovered The Bends retroactively through OK Computer.

And for those who loved both albums, a cop-out argument (which I used repeatedly) was that while OK Computer was a better album in terms of overall ambition and concept, The Bends was a better “front-to-back” listen. Today, the popular “which is better?” debate usually focuses on Kid A versus OK Computer, but before 2000, that spirited argument belonged to The Bends versus OK Computer. If you believed the Pink Floyd comparison, the general consensus was that Dark Side of the Moon was to The Bends what The Wall was to OK Computer. The former represented the band at their most focused, while the later represented them at their most ambitious. The basis for this comparison primarily involved two albums: The Bends and OK Computer. One comparison that frequently came up during the ’90s and early ’00s was how Radiohead were this generation’s Pink Floyd. For at least one glorious album in the late ’80s, the talk was that Guns N’ Roses were going to be the next Rolling Stones. is this generation’s Beatles” comparisons, partly because of how each of their mid-to-late career albums saw them undergoing an evolution. In the ’80s and early ’90s, I heard plenty of “R.E.M. Most people have played the “music association” game with their favorite bands.

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