More like The Bends
Cross-media recommendations across film, TV, games, books & music — picked by taste.
The Bends arrived at a pivot point — Radiohead pulling back from louder excess toward something more tightly wound, pairing guitar-driven songs with spare ballads and lyrics that resist easy reading. That tension between raw energy and restraint, between noise and introspection, is the taste it signals: art that holds its emotional cards close, works in contrast and quiet pressure rather than declaration, and leaves you sitting with something you can't quite name. Music, film, books — the thread is mood that lingers.
About The Bends
The Bends is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. It was produced by John Leckie, with extra production by Radiohead, Nigel Godrich and Jim Warren. The Bends combines guitar songs and ballads, with more restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics than Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993).
From the Wikipedia article The_Bends_(album), available under CC BY-SA.
Films like The Bends
Film
Anima
Paul Thomas Anderson directs Thom Yorke in a mind-bending short musical film. Best played loud.
Film
Green Room
A punk rock band fights for survival after witnessing violence at a skinhead bar.
Film
Metalhead
Grief channelled into music-making, with a young Icelandic woman finding solace in metal.
Film
Body Rock
A disco owner lures a New York breakdancer away from his rapping and dancing friends.
Books to read after The Bends
Frequently asked
What films should I watch if I love The Bends?
For the music-soaked and atmospheric, Anima (2019) is a short film featuring Thom Yorke himself and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Metalhead offers a raw, grief-driven story about finding identity and solace through rock music in 1990s Iceland.
Are there any books about bands like Radiohead for fans of The Bends?
Echoes offers a deep, chronological dive into the collective and solo careers of Pink Floyd — a band whose cryptic, layered artistry shares DNA with The Bends era Radiohead.
Why do people love The Bends so much?
The Bends strikes a rare balance between guitar-driven energy and introspective ballads, with restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics that reward repeated listening — a departure from Pablo Honey that showed Radiohead finding their own voice.