The story behind the cover of “The Bends” of Radiohead

It is one of the most iconic covers in rock of the last thirty years, often become object of viral memes on social networks such as Tiktok and Redditwith queThe mannequin with an ambiguous expression associated with humorous contexts. We are talking, of course, of the Cover of “The Bends”the second album of Radiohead, which in 1995 consecrated the British band thanks to songs such as “My Iron Lung”, “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. But do you know how the famous cover was made, with macabre and a little disturbing features? This was revealed by Thom Yorke and the artist who signed the cover, Stanley Donwood.

The two united their forces on the occasion of a show dedicated to their collaboration – which has lasted for thirty years and during which over 150 works have been created, including original paintings for album covers, engravings, drawings inspired by the songs written by Yorke – which will debut on August 6th at theAshmolean Museum by Oxford and that will be visited until 11 January. On the eve of the inauguration of the exhibition, Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood granted an interview with the BBC to tell the anecdotes and curiosities of their collaboration and also recalled the genesis of the cover of “The Bends”.

“It was a literal thing, because the song (which was driving the album, editor’s note) was called ‘My Iron Lung’ and I thought: ‘We go to find a real steel lung and let’s photograph it’,” said Yorke. The research brought the singer -songwriter and the artist in the basement of the John Radcliffe Hospital by Oxfordwhere the two found the mannequin that appears on the cover. “We managed to enter the basement of the John Radcliffe hospital … we shouldn’t have. I don’t know how we entered. We didn’t have to be there, “the radiohead frontman recalled.

Donwood revealed that the two entered a “horrible warehouse“That it seemed” something that came out of a low budget horror film. “But when they found the steel lung, they thought it was” very boring … just a metal box “. Right there, however, they noticed a mannequin used to train people to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to use defibrillators: “In reality there were some. The mannequin for resuscitation was literally there,” said Yorke.

On why the cover image of “The Bends” appears as pixelatedDonwood explained: “We had a video camera and went around filming material, of all kinds, it didn’t matter what it was. Then we reproduced it on Thom’s TV and photographed the screen with a camera. In those days, all televisions were analog. So when approaching, their display was really interesting, like a pre-pixel world “. Yorke added: “Enlarged her would pixelated her. So we stretched the image, we distorted it a little to exaggerate the expression“.

“The Bends” came out on March 13, 1995. He initially passed almost unnoticed in the rankings, but at the end of 1996 they amounted to 2 million The copies sold worldwide of the disc.