The Bends is a spectacular album...better than OKC IMO. Listen to Planet Telex, Just, My Iron Lung, and Black Star really loud and you might decide to wipe your ass with OKC...which is good too. But the Bends is a great record. Oasis did put out two great albums but that was all they had.

No more than any other British mid 90s rock album.

In fact The Bends was considered a flop sales wise after the success of Creep , especially in the US.

Did you really just pull the "sales" card, Urban?

Only in the second part of my post

Blur, no contest.

Interesting choice. I hadn't thought of them, and might actually agree with you, for once.

But otherwise I woulda said My Bloody Valentine in spite of their activity being confined to the early years of the decade. Or Portishead, even...



And yeah, with regard to the Radiohead discussion, when I said "only striking achievement" I meant that in an artistic sense. The Bends is a not particularly great alt-rock album, and Creep, while a good track, is in the end just one song.

Gotta go with blur on this one, incredibly closely followed by radiohead.

Radiohead for me, I think OK Computer is fantastic.
Anyone else but Oasis because I'm really not a fan of them. (Sorry!)

Finally, someone who agrees with me. All of my friends think OK Computer is better, I personally enjoy The Bends more.

I just can't imagine a British band in the '90s which I enjoy more thoroughly. The new stuff that Jason Pierce puts out is remarkably good, even in comparison to We Are Floating in Space. On the other hand, Kevin Shields hasn't been nearly productive enough to fill out as great a musical void. With Loveless as his only contribution to music in the last eighteen years (and the entirety of the '90s), I think that he has an appropriate influence, but much too overstated for his short productive era. Similarly, I would never put Neutral Milk Hotel in that category (yes, I am aware that they are American). One good album just isn't enough.

And I agree with you about Radiohead. I mean, I enjoy The Bends and OKC but I would never go as far to call them a defining '90s band, especially when they never really achieved their trademark sound until '00.