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The Bends is Radiohead's best album


Still.ill

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The Bends is their best as far as being consistently good all the way through, and a great listen as an album start-to-finish.

 

OK Computer is close, and it had several amazing songs -- in fact, its best songs might be better than the best songs from The Bends -- but "Fitter, Happier" and "Electioneering" both suck so badly I can't stand listening to them: so it can't be better than The Bends, which I don't have to fast-forward through at any point.

 

Pablo Honey is in third place: inconsistent, but overall a very good album.

 

About a third of Kid A and Amnesiac each is good. The rest of those albums blows.

 

And with Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows and since, they've been pretty much dead to me. Apparently they took the {censored}ty parts of Kid A and Amnesiac and decided to evolve in that direction, perhaps owing to the same "waaaah, it sucks writing music that is popular" attitude that was apparent in that execrable Meeting People Is Easy movie.

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The Bends
is their best as far as being consistently good all the way through, and a great listen
as an album
start-to-finish.


OK Computer
is close, and it had several amazing songs -- in fact, its best songs might be better than the best songs from
The Bends
-- but "Fitter, Happier" and "Electioneering" both suck so badly I can't stand listening to them: so it can't be better than
The Bends
, which I don't have to fast-forward through at any point.


Pablo Honey
is in third place: inconsistent, but overall a very good album.


About a third of
Kid A
and
Amnesiac
each is good. The rest of those albums blows.


And with
Hail to the Thief
and
In Rainbows
and since, they've been pretty much dead to me. Apparently they took the {censored}ty parts of
Kid A
and
Amnesiac
and decided to evolve in that direction, perhaps owing to the same "waaaah, it sucks writing music that is popular" attitude that was apparent in that execrable
Meeting People Is Easy
movie.

 

 

:thu:

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Kid A is both of those things, experimental + good songs with amazing melodies.


Sorry if there aren't enough distorted guitars or whatever.

 

i dont really think so... if the bends were recorded just fully acoustic it would be still fine.--- thats kinda like the litmus test of a good album you have to be able to strip down the sound with just the melody/chords and have it be golden

 

kid a on the other hand relies too much on you know experirmental {censored}.

sure idiotesque/optimistic are pretty good....

but the other parts meh

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well why wouldnt they be allowed in that as well?

It's not really a matter of being 'allowed' in that sort of judgment, I just mean that it's hard to hold all types of music to one standard like that. For electronica and similar music, a lot of what makes it appealing is the delivery, the samples, the synths... stuff beyond just melodies and chords. It just seems like a strange standard to hold music to.

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Oh I understand them...I just don't like them. I'm more of a verve guy myself.


But I will give them credit they deserve...they've had a huge impact on music.

 

Saying I don't understand them was a very subtle way of saying I think they suck.

 

It depends what you consider an impact on music. I know there are many who listen to other genres who could give a {censored} less about Radiohead.

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I've weighed in on Radiohead in the past, but here's a summary:

 

I loved "OK Computer" (it was the first I'd heard of them besides their crap song Creep)

 

Someone gave me "The Bends" and I loved it even more. Still do.

 

I liked Amnesiac...until I realized it was a whiny-kids aria.

 

I began to lose my sanity listening to Kid-A, mainly because it was so full of itself.

 

I'm hoping that a deranged fanboy will stab me before I have to hear "In Rainbows."

 

In short: Radiohead was a bright star that faded for me.

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Here's the thing. I think The Bends is one of the greatest albums of all time, and easily in my top 15. That said, I still don't think it's better than Kid A or OK (and I bought The Bends the day it was released). I'd probably put In Rainbows just after, still in my top 20, but that may change (cause it's such a beautiful album). Defs superior to Amnesiac, Hail, and Pablo, though I love those too.

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The Bends is consistent?

 

Sulk? Bones? Black Star? Not great Radiohead songs in my book.

 

Bulletproof and High & Dry don't do a lot for me either.

 

Kid A isn't a gimmick - the songwriting is incredible and there's not a song on that album that doesn't blow me away. There's an intensity on that album that can't be matched.

 

For me:

 

1. Kid A

2. Ok Computer

3. Amnesiac

4. In Rainbows

5. The Bends

6. HttT

7. Pablo Honey

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The Bends is consistent?


Sulk? Bones? Black Star? Not great Radiohead songs in my book.


Bulletproof and High & Dry don't do a lot for me either.


Kid A isn't a gimmick - the songwriting is incredible and there's not a song on that album that doesn't blow me away. There's an intensity on that album that can't be matched.


For me:


1. Kid A

2. Ok Computer

3. Amnesiac

4. In Rainbows

5. The Bends

6. HttT

7. Pablo Honey

 

I really like High and Dry, and Fake Plastic Trees is my all-time favorite Radiohead song. But I think that Kid A is the greatest album of all time.

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