10 Best Rock Music Album Closers Of The 1990s
7. Street Spirit (Fade Out) - The Bends (Radiohead)
There are plenty of Radiohead fans who would be happy if Pablo Honey never existed and The Bends was actually the band's debut album.
The English indie icons' sophomore release helped establish them as masters of their craft, with attention focused on their emotional songwriting and stadium-filling sounds.
The Bends comes to an end with the song Street Spirit (Fade Out), which was also released as a single. It reached number five in the UK charts, proving that the success of Creep was not a one-off.
As well as the typically well-shaped musical arrangement and Thom Yorke singing like an angel who'd only ever read Kerouac, the song's lyrics allude to the struggles faced by the working man in the modern age.
Lines like "Rows of houses all bearing down on me" and "Cracked eggs, dead birds, scream as they fight for life" translate the existential dread felt by the protagonist, whilst also implying that he sees himself as above so-called "normal" people.
Like every Radiohead tune, you can read this one a thousand different ways. One universal opinion though, is that this song rules.