Kevin McKeough of the Chicago Tribune said that "The Bends" and "Black Star" "could have been catchy little rockers" if Radiohead had dispensed with their "grandiose dramatic effects". The Boston Globe's Jim Sullivan wrote that the song is "full of stops, starts and slides, and Yorke established his voice as one in the English glam tradition of Ian Hunter and David Bowie, keeping company today with Oasis and Suede."
Kevin McKeough of the Chicago Tribune said that "The Bends" and "Black Star" "could have been catchy little rockers" if Radiohead had dispensed with their "grandiose dramatic effects". The Boston Globe's Jim Sullivan wrote that the song is "full of stops, starts and slides, and Yorke established his voice as one in the English glam tradition of Ian Hunter and David Bowie, keeping company today with Oasis and Suede."