Sulk

Radiohead recorded Sulk at a time when the band was breathing between the weight of unexpected success and the pressure to surpass their own debut. The song was born from a real event: a mass shooting in Hungerford, England, in 1987, which inspired Thom Yorke to write about senseless violence. But when they recorded it in late 1994, the world was still processing another recent loss: the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Yorke altered the original lyrics—which had included a raw verse—to prevent the song from being associated with him, a gesture that shows how music sometimes carries more than its creators intend.

The track ended up on The Bends, their second album, where the band explored more restrained but equally intense arrangements than on Pablo Honey. They recorded it in three different studios—RAK in London, Abbey Road, and the Manor in Oxfordshire—a process that dragged on due to tensions with the record label, which expected another Creep. At just 3 minutes and 43 seconds, Sulk is one of those pieces rarely performed live: the band played it only a few times in 1994 and 1995, then it vanished from their setlist. Its rarity doesn’t diminish its power; instead, it makes it more intriguing: a snapshot of a year when Radiohead was still searching for their voice but already knew how to build it.