My 10 most influential albums #4

Band: Radiohead
Album: The Bends
Released: March 1995
Favourite Track: Just
Favourite Lyric: “I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen”

Of the albums on this list, this is the first one I had on compact disc. If you’re young, they’re like little frisbees that play MP3s.

A while before I got this, I had randomly ordered a CD of Pablo Honey from a mail order advert in a magazine. If you’re young, it was like a paper version of Amazon.

I had no idea what Radiohead sounded like but I’d read about them and they seemed like the sort of band that I would like, and the CD didn’t cost too much. I liked it but it wasn’t until I got the follow up that I really fell in love with Radiohead who took over the mantle of being my favourite band for many years to come.

This album is one of four on this list that could possibly be my all-time favourite album. It’s all killer no filler, and the band making a proper rock album before they went all bleepy boopy. Not that I don’t like the bleepy boopy stuff, it’s just that my heart lies with The Bends.

One of the weirdest gigs I’ve ever been to was a Radiohead gig at Victoria Park. The crowd was basically motionless for the entire gig except when Just came on (the best song) when it became a giant moshpit for four minutes before everyone stood motionless for the rest of the gig.

Whilst all the band are great, Jonny Greenwood is definitely one of my top 3 guitarists and I get annoyed because I find it impossible to even get close to emulating him.