For the second half of September, I’m putting my Mental Jukebox into a time machine, featuring the best songs on the best albums from the very best years of music. #70sThrough90sBestAlbum
I was late to the Radiohead party, and probably didn’t even discover The Bends until Kid A descended on the music scene. I think both Kid A and OK Computer were remarkable, but I still preferred The Bends more because the guitars made their mark all over the album. Straight-ahead hard rock riffs in “Just” and the title track. Melancholic expressions on “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Street Spirit”. And spastic outbursts in “My Iron Lung” and “(Nice Dream)”. To this day, “(Nice Dream)” is still one of my favorite Radiohead tracks.
The first two and a half minutes feels like a lullaby. The last minute and a half seems like a nightmare. The song begins with a melody that nearly lulls you to sleep. There is nothing particularly Radiohead about the musicality. Nothing truly unexpected. But the guitar slowly intensifies while a stringed arrangement inserts itself into the dream before we’re jolted into the nightmare at the 2:26 mark. It’s cacophonous. Disorienting. And somewhat unwelcomed. Then, like that, we’re back into the lullaby again. Was the whole thing just a dream?
“If you think that you're strong enough. Nice dream. If you think you belong enough. Nice dream.”