B-Side of the Week: Bishop's Robes

Radiohead
Bishop's Robes (from Street Spirit (Fade Out) single)
Parlophone

Have you ever been a bohemian? How about a penniless bohemian? No, wait, how about a coloured, female, gay, communist, illiterate, pagan, jobless, penniless bohemian with one amputated leg?

If you have then maybe you feel a bit like today's b-side Bishop's Robes. Because it's pretty bad to miss out on a boat trip into Radiohead's 1995 classic The Bends. It's also pretty bad to miss out after that on a plan ride in their 1997 epic Ok Computer. Heck, as if that's not bad enough, this song had to end up as a b-side on the last single from The Bends, Street Spirit (Fade Out).

Heck, as if being a b-side on a last single isn't bad enough, Bishop's Robes had to be outdone one last time, by another b-side, none other than the cult classic Talk Show Host - the b-side that would end up on the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack, the b-side that would end up in Radiohead setlists for the years to come, the b-side that has its own bloody wiki page. Yeah, you bet it sucks to be a b-side that gets overshadowed by another b-side between getting passed over by two seminal albums.

So if you're a coloured, female, gay, communist, illiterate, pagan, jobless, penniless bohemian with one amputated leg, you are the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority, and so you might like this song.

As for me, i'm what they call a "white heterosexual monotheistic educated capitalist man with two legs". And I think this song sucks.

Radiohead - Bishop's Robes