If anything in Radioheads canon could be called stadium rock, the most likely suspect would be their second album, 1995s The Bends. Bigger, bolder and more expansive than Pablo Honey, The Bends marks the point in Radioheads career when they first started to become the band we know and love today. The title is based on the bands very real feelings of discomfort at their sudden fame off the back of Creep, and Yorkes lyrics moved from self-loathing onto larger, more abstract themes. Though it sold slowly at first, it was met rapturously by the music press, with NME giving it 9 out of 10. Their review imagined the band had resolved to make an album so stunning it would make people forget their own name, never mind that albatross-like 45, that last point being a reference to Creep. It threw off that heavy weight to breathtaking effect, with the band switching effortlessly between melodic songs and muscular, intriguing rock anthems. Without it, its very possible bands like Coldplay would not exist today, such is its influence over British music history. On Creep Yorke had wished he was special, but with The Bends it became clear that he and his band actually were.
