Best song on "The Bends"

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
Fake Plastic Trees 18
Street Spirit (Fade Out)13
Planet Telex 12
Black Star 11
Just 10
High and Dry 9
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was 8
The Bends 7
My Iron Lung 7
[nice dream] 5
Bones 2
Sulk 2


Stevie D, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 06:41 (eighteen years ago)

Obviously "Planet Telex", the best song of the bunch, but what do YOU guys think?

Stevie D, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 06:42 (eighteen years ago)

Bullet Proof

W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 06:47 (eighteen years ago)

What was that one thread where someone would name a canonical album, and everybody had to take a turn eliminating the least essential song until you got down to one song left which was by defaul the essence of the album? I think the Bends was done in that.

Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 06:51 (eighteen years ago)

here's part two of that thread. can't find part one anywhere.
the pure essence of an album

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 09:53 (eighteen years ago)

Was there a part one? First post is just summarising what went on below, presumably edited after the thread.

ailsa, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:07 (eighteen years ago)

that explains things. no bends though.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

I love Planet Telex, in fact I love almost all the songs on this album. But I have to go with nice dream (leaving out the brackets coz I don't want ILX to think I'm putting in coding to make the board go all Radiohead.)

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:41 (eighteen years ago)

Planet Telex gets my vote. But I haven't listened to this album in years, and there are a couple of songs there I can't even remember. Only really listen to Kid A and Amnesiac these days.

Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:49 (eighteen years ago)

Either Planet Telex or Bullet Proof, as per current voting trends. This album sinks in my estimation every day in light of the others.

Dang it, I'm going with PT.

Just got offed, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:15 (eighteen years ago)

After OK Computer came out I started to think that Planet Telex came across like a demo version of Airbag - but nah. It's still good.

If the thread was Best song on "The Bends" for idiotically histrionic dancing in indie discos then it'd be Just by a country mile.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:23 (eighteen years ago)

Still, it's Just.

zeus, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:28 (eighteen years ago)

Black Star

Herman G. Neuname, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:37 (eighteen years ago)

My Iron Lung. I love the jerky awkwardness of it.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

Sulk

nate woolls, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:47 (eighteen years ago)

Just.

Roz, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

Easily "Fake Plastic Trees".

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 12:22 (eighteen years ago)

ya i might have to go with that on principle, i've always been in love with it.

Surmounter, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:01 (eighteen years ago)

"Just" isn't simply the best track on this album, it's the best track in their entire catalog. Great video as well.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

I could easily go for one of the singles but lately I've been really into the title track.

Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

One more for The Bends

kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:30 (eighteen years ago)

I wish I'd voted for Just now.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:33 (eighteen years ago)

Alex in NYC almost OTM.
Alex in Baltimore also OTM.

This is a great album.

HI DERE, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

My Iron Lung

Bill Magill, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:31 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't listened in a while but "Street Spirit" all the way.

Sundar, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:39 (eighteen years ago)

I'm really surprised more people haven't said Street Spirit actually.

nate woolls, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I thought that was everyone's favourite.

Sundar, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:43 (eighteen years ago)

Street Spirit is one of the few songs I'd take *off* that album. Don't see the point of that or Black Star, really.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

Bullet Proof > Black Star > Street Spirit > Fake Plastic Trees and High & Dry > Sulk

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:47 (eighteen years ago)

Street Spirit is really easy to play on the guitar, and really impressive to people who don't play the guitar. People think I'm awesome, when in reality I suck.

nate woolls, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:48 (eighteen years ago)

Every other song Radiohead ever wrote, including anything off Pablo Honey >>>>>>>>>>>>> High And Dry

Just got offed, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

Oh it's not that bad, just 'cause it's popular and more conventional than anything else they've done. It's like a pretty good Keane song. Oops I think I've just damned them with faint praise.

Also there's some great stuff on Pablo Honey.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Gotta be Fake Plastic........the last power ballad?

call all destroyer, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's like an above average Jeff Buckley song. And then every rubbish band in the world decided to do a rubbish version of it. You can't blame Radiohead for that - I mean, if it were the only song they'd ever done, fair enough, but they're redeemed themselves in a thousand other ways. I still love High and Dry. It gets me every time, the way Thom's voice just floats up there. I'm not going to hate a perfectly good song because it inspired terrible imitations. THat's ridiculous.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 14:58 (eighteen years ago)

Hey I'm not blaming them, I said it was not bad. Also I quite like some Keane songs... ok to criticise it on its own terms, I think the guitar solo lets it down for me, the sound is flat and nasal and the tune is play-it-by-numbers.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

just 'cause it's popular

DUDE you are WRONG. NO Radiohead fan I've EVER met lists this as their favourite song of theirs. There are SO many others that have gained more airplay/accolades/adulation.

more conventional than anything else they've done

That would be 'How Do You?'. Actually, I quite like a fair bit of Pablo Honey, especially 'Stop Whispering' and the last two or three tracks.

Just got offed, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

DUDE well MAYBE we just mean different THINGS by "POPULAR". Sure it's not rated down at the obsessive fanboy end of the market, but from people who would call themselves fans of radiohead and coldplay and keane, right down to those to whom it might be the only radiohead song they recognise because it's the only one that gets mainstream radio play - yeah I'd say it's popular.

ledge, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:41 (eighteen years ago)

Thanks to ledge for finding that thread. I guess I was thinking of Pablo Honey getting done on there. Oh well.

Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 16:06 (eighteen years ago)

Another vote for Nice Dream!

Davey D, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

Another vote for "Street Spirit", and this:

Street Spirit is really easy to play on the guitar, and really impressive to people who don't play the guitar. People think I'm awesome, when in reality I suck

is hilariously OTM.

Lostandfound, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 02:03 (eighteen years ago)

Sure it's not rated down at the obsessive fanboy end of the market

I'm not an obsessive fanboy. Most people who like decent music agree with me that High And Dry is whiny sucky bullshit.

people who would call themselves fans of radiohead and coldplay and keane

I don't really talk to these people about music; we would bore one another. These are the people who think OK Computer is "a bit too ecclectic (sic) for me".

it might be the only radiohead song they recognise

I can imagine no scenario in which H&D is the only Radiohead song any one person knows.

because it's the only one that gets mainstream radio play

C'mon, this is bollocks, and you know it! Creep! Just! Paranoid Android! Fake Plastic Trees! Dollars And Cents! OK, I may have been joking about one of those. But you catch my drift, I hope.

Just got offed, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 02:10 (eighteen years ago)

bones

strgn, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

Wait, I thought you guys were arguing about "Fake Plastic Trees," not "High and Dry"?

Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 04:00 (eighteen years ago)

Fake Plastic Trees > High and Dry

I couldn't decide on my favorite song, though, so I listened to 10-second clips of each song on shuffle (so as not to be biased at all) and liked Black Star the most tonight.

stephen, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 05:18 (eighteen years ago)

Is Sulk their most boring song? I rarely ever hear anyone mentioning it. I just know that it's the one Radiohead song that I skip every single time. I can't even remember how it goes, which is weird since this is probably one of the first CDs I bought on my own and listened to obsessively.

Roz, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 06:27 (eighteen years ago)

Sulk's only good point is the amazing vocal. Song itself is bleh.

Melissa W, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 06:55 (eighteen years ago)

"Sulk" and "Bones" are quite close together in my mind as being sort of unexceptional musically but having really head-sticky hooks and me not knowing any of the words despite listening to this album on tape all through the first half of this summer. Just now I didn't recognize the name "Bones," looked it up on Google, and still had no idea what song it was until I realized that the line I was always hearing as "I say we get to feel like idiot bones" was...not that.

"My Iron Lung" sounds like these songs but doesn't have any head-sticky moments to speak of and so that's got to be the worst thing on the album for me. I voted "Bulletproof" for reasons I cannot articulate although I hesitated before leaving "Planet Telex" and "Just" behind.

Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 07:02 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah I think it is Thom's voice that makes me like Sulk so much. I loved this album so much when it came out, I played it to death. At the beginning I might've skipped Sulk, so I think now, 13 years later, it's the only one I'm not slightly bored of. Any one of these songs has been my favourite at some point in the last 13 years, apart from My Iron Lung. That's always been bleh.

nate woolls, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 07:45 (eighteen years ago)

many xposts to louis...

I don't really talk to these people about music;

Right. Ok. So their opinions don't count towards the popularity of a song. Sure. I'll go tell the people who compile the charts to discount sales from people you don't talk to.

Creep! Just! Paranoid Android! Fake Plastic Trees! Dollars And Cents!

Out of those I would say FPT is the only one likely to get daytime radio play on, say, Heart or Virgin.

ledge, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 08:44 (eighteen years ago)

My Iron Lung

marmotwolof, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 08:50 (eighteen years ago)

'my iron lung' or 'planet telex'

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 08:53 (eighteen years ago)

For some stupid reason this is the only Radiohead I don't own a physical copy of right now. I keep meaning to buy another one but they only ever seem to have the last three at the shop. I even have a cassette of fucking Pablo Honey.

marmotwolof, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 09:08 (eighteen years ago)

Fake Plastic Trees is magnificent.

kv_nol, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 09:15 (eighteen years ago)

an album that's half shit, and half ok. then they went on to expand on the shit half.

Alan, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 10:20 (eighteen years ago)

when you get to feel it in your bones

i've been there, done that w/ 'kid a' and 'amnesiac' and even 'ok computer', and 'the bends' still sounds the least dated to me. i'd make the half-shit-half-ok accusation toward everything after... with 'hail to the thief' harboring the most amazing 'ok' and the worst 'shit.'

this is a fantastic album because it knows what it is and accomplishes that so well. bones = the bends = just = black star > my iron lung > bulletproof > planet telex > nice dream > sulk > fake plastic trees > high and dry, blahblahblah. still the best 'album' they've done.

strgn, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 10:33 (eighteen years ago)

when you get to feel it in your bones

I always thought this was "when you're kept at sea like idiot boys" which I liked much better coz I thought it was about pirates and lost boys.

Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 10:35 (eighteen years ago)

It's all about "My Iron Lung" - especially the chimey key riff.

the next grozart, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 11:50 (eighteen years ago)

when you get to feel it in your bones

I always thought this was "when you're kept at sea like idiot boys" which I liked much better coz I thought it was about pirates and lost boys.

Similarly - "And I used to fly like Peter Pan", I always heard as "And I used to fly like a piece of piss".

the next grozart, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 11:51 (eighteen years ago)

xposts to ledge: Well, then, our debate is locked in a stalemate. The only tiebreaker will be proof that H&D is the most-played RH song on commercial radio. As we're not going to get hold of that proof, I'll just accept that a load of musically uninterested people will have heard and liked the song without ever having had the slightest motivation to investigate further. Should these people figure in ILX popularity debates? Possibly.

Just got offed, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

How about last.fm?

http://www.last.fm/music/Radiohead?q=radiohead

H&D just outside the top ten, not too shabby considering it's surely a more discerning demographic than commerical radio listeners.

ledge, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

discerning != exhibitionist

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

Signing up for and using something like last.fm is pretty good evidence that for one reason or another you care about what music you listen to.

ledge, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

I saw a sort of jazz-singer who performed Sulk live once, and it was BRILLIANT. Sort of an Aretha Franklin voice just wailing that SOMETIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES YOU SUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLKKKKKKKKKK..... changed my perception of the song. I had to vote for Black Star though, there's just something about the delivery that I love.

Finefinemusic, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

I like "Bones" too. Like me a pop song where you don't know which air instrument to play. That tune keeps it pretty simple but it rocks. One of their "Fuck Art, Let's Dance" tunes.

ellaguru, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

LAST.FM STATS FOR 'THE BENDS' (with the numbers on Nice Dream and Bullet Proof clearly fucked because of tagging errors on both songs)

Track / Song / Listeners

1 Planet Telex 109,385

2 The Bends 122,525

3 High and Dry 138,122

4 Fake Plastic Trees 156,537

5 Bones 111,807

6 (Nice Dream) 43,827

7 Just 115,083

8 My Iron Lung 119,060

9 Bullet Proof ... I Wish I Was 1,185

10 Black Star 110,518

11 Sulk 99,618

12 Street Spirit (Fade Out) 97,310

stephen, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 23:39 (eighteen years ago)

every time this album comes up, I'm shocked by the number of people who like "Planet Telex". the vocal is so annoying and whiny! that's like, the one song I would play for someone if I wanted to make them hate Radiohead.

btw I probably wouldn't have voted for "High and Dry" (though it's in my top 3) but I'm going to now just to piss off Lou1s J@gger

bernard snowy, Thursday, 16 August 2007 02:00 (eighteen years ago)

it's war

Just got offed, Thursday, 16 August 2007 02:10 (eighteen years ago)

gotta be FAKE

gman, Friday, 17 August 2007 07:30 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I never really saw Planet Telex as a highlight, more an intro of what's to come.

the next grozart, Friday, 17 August 2007 10:21 (eighteen years ago)

I would have expected "Street Spirit" to have more last.fm points.

Geir Hongro, Friday, 17 August 2007 21:53 (eighteen years ago)

NO Radiohead fan I've EVER met lists this as their favourite song of theirs.

Most devout Radiohead fans would go for something off "OK Computer" I would guess.

Geir Hongro, Friday, 17 August 2007 22:13 (eighteen years ago)

High and Dry is one of the least favorite Radiohead songs. I can't think of a song I like less, from the Bends on at least.

I went with Planet Telex, but Street Spirit, Bulletproof and Nice Dream are all great. The songs that really used to melt my butter (Fake Plastic Trees, Just, My Iron Lung) haven't held up as well. I'm with whoever said way above that The Bends seems less impressive every year.

Z S, Saturday, 18 August 2007 01:27 (eighteen years ago)

is there anyone who likes "Planet Telex" and doesn't hate "High and Dry"?

bernard snowy, Saturday, 18 August 2007 03:45 (eighteen years ago)

I would have expected "Street Spirit" to have more last.fm points.

-- Geir Hongro, Saturday, August 18, 2007 7:53 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i'd blame crap tagging for that too

electricsound, Saturday, 18 August 2007 04:48 (eighteen years ago)

i still don't get radiohead

Dominique, Saturday, 18 August 2007 04:55 (eighteen years ago)

is there anyone who likes "Planet Telex" and doesn't hate "High and Dry"?

Inconceivable! Why the very idea!

ledge, Saturday, 18 August 2007 09:25 (eighteen years ago)

While finding "High and Dry" quite boring, I think "Planet Telex" is a near-perfect pop song, among my absolute favorite of all-time. I've always thought of it as a touchstone of sorts: the song is somewhat basic and simple and not very 'crazy' or experimental, but it's so absolutely exceptional and perfect at what it does that it could almost serve as a model to which other songs aspire. Simple chord progression (E-A--E7-Am), basic construction (intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridgey thing-outro), passionate (albeit drunk) vocals, etc. The "outro" bit I've always found especially brilliant, with the tremoloed piano from the intro and a guitar strumming a riff from an open E-A-D-Am chord progression on top of it, and rumbling feedback oscillating in and out of the foreground, creating an absolutely heavenly passage of music. I've always thought of it as the last thing I want to hear before I die.

I love "Sulk" as well, but recognize it's mediocrity. But there's something about the keychange at the end and Thom wailing the "SOMETIMES YOU SUUUUULKK" at what sounds like the threshhold of his vocal range (my suspicion why they haven't played it in over 10 years is that he can't even sing that high anymore. Or, you know, because the band absolutely hates it) that gets me every time.

Stevie D, Sunday, 19 August 2007 21:21 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Sunday, 19 August 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Monday, 20 August 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

i think if you were to switch "Street Spirit" with "Just" in this poll, the results would make 100% sense -- and otherwise, they do.

stephen, Monday, 20 August 2007 23:15 (eighteen years ago)

Fake Plastic Trees is BORING, The Bends (song) was never any good, since reading this thread I really have no idea about the relative merits of any of these songs anymore.

ledge, Monday, 20 August 2007 23:18 (eighteen years ago)

holy shit, 100+ people voted on this

Stevie D, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 02:23 (eighteen years ago)

...and went for Fake Plastic Trees. Must be a lot of mid-tempo ballad fans here.

Z S, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 02:28 (eighteen years ago)

sorry.

Z S, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 02:28 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah - not getting it - Really? 'Fake Plastic Trees?' ...

'My Iron Lung' was issued as a single - nice vid - seemed to be a song that turned on folks to being fans ... and it was the moment that they sound alive and having fun and really grabbing a moment by the balls ... it made you want to hear what was coming next ... I'll stop griping - nice to see so much participation ... (for such a middling band at this point?) ...

BlackIronPrison, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 03:12 (eighteen years ago)

bones is good, tho!

stupid peter pan lyric & all

roxymuzak, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 03:26 (eighteen years ago)

haha i'm pleased and amazed at the fpt love. such a great song. in fact i think the poll results are pretty otm (with sulk higher and everything else higher than high or dry teehee). i love this album to pieces. (hugz!)

strgn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 09:01 (eighteen years ago)

oh and bones at 1

strgn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 09:02 (eighteen years ago)

swap 'sulk' and 'high & dry' and this makes much more sense

Just got offed, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 09:39 (eighteen years ago)

17 Radiohead High And Dry / Planet Telex
20 Radiohead Fake Plastic Trees
19 Radiohead Just
5 Radiohead Street Spirit (Fade Out)

So, not such a big surprise Street Spirit beat Just.

Mark G, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)


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