While the EPs achieved a degree of chart success per release, enough critical praise was received to make Ride the darlings of music journalists.

On Nowhere, Bell contributed "Seagull", "Kaleidoscope", "In a Different Place", Polar Bear", "Dreams Burn Down", "Paralysed", and "Vapour Trail".

There was a rumour in early 1991 that Robert Smith (The Cure) refused to appear in the Great British Music Weekend concert unless Ride were also in the list of acts playing.

The twin rhythm guitars of Bell and Gardener, both distorted, both using wah-wah pedals and both feeding back on each other was seen as the highlight of the album's critical and chart success.

On Carnival of Light, Bell contributed "Birdman", "Crown Of Creation", "Endless Road", "Magical Spring", "Rolling Thunder" and "I Don't Know Where It Comes From".

Additionally, Bell contributed "Black Nite Crash", "Sunshine / Nowhere To Run", "Dead Man", "Walk On Water", "Mary Anne", "The Dawn Patrol", "Burnin", and "Starlight Motel".

Producer and DJ Erol Alkan broke the news on Twitter that he had been in the studio with the band, with their first album in 20 years released in Summer 2017.

While performing supporting Noel Gallagher in Taunton, Somerset in August 2023, the band confirmed that work on its latest album had been completed, with a release date yet to be decided.

Beady Eye's debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding contains four songs written by Bell: "Four Letter Word", "Millionaire", "Kill for a Dream", and "The Beat Goes On".

[9] During late 1995, after the sessions for Tarantula were completed but prior to the official announcement of Ride's break-up, Bell undertook production duties on Britpop band The Kynd's debut single "Egotripper", which was released in October 1996.

[10] Bell also undertook production duties for the fifth studio album Fear & Love by Swedish band Weeping Willows,[11] released in 2007.

Bell has been good friends with Magnus Carlson, the lead singer in Weeping Willows, and together they have embarked on some musical projects.

[13] In 2003, Bell collaborated with the Stockholm based Irish-Swedish electronica/acid house duo, DK7, by providing guitar on the tracks "Heart Like a Demon" and "White Shadow" for their Disarmed album.

[citation needed] During the autumn of 2006 Carlson and Bell teamed up with Janne Schaffer and performed at an event dedicated to the late 1970s singer-songwriter, Ted Gärdestad.

In addition to his role as producer, Bell played a number of instruments on eight of the twelve tracks on the 2007 album Fear & Love by Weeping Willows, ranging from glockenspiel and piano to guitar.

[14][15][16] On May 10, 2007, Bell played the bass on "Arnold Layne" with Pink Floyd regulars David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Nick Mason and Jon Carin at The Madcap’s Last Laugh, a tribute concert to Pink Floyd's recently deceased founding member, Syd Barrett, at Barbican Hall in London.

[17] In July 2007, Bell appeared with friend and former fellow Ride member Mark Gardener onstage with Californian rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre at the Oxford "Truck" Music Festival[18] On 19 December 2007, Bell joined Weeping Willows on stage for an event called "An Evening With Weeping Willows at Chinateatern" He lined up with other prominent guests such as The Soundtrack of Our Lives' Martin Hederos, Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch and Jens Lekman.

"[21] During 2008, Bell collaborated with British-American electronica group SPC ECO on the track "Silver Clouds", on which he plays an electronic sitar drone machine and an old custom dulcimer, as well as devising the song's lyrics.

The song was made available in 2009 as a bonus track to the Japanese edition of SPC ECO's album 3-D.[22] In 2009 he released his first solo recording under the Grapefruit name, an instrumental track also entitled "Grapefruit" which he contributed to the One by One: KZK Adidas Originals by Originals compilation album, a Japan only release via Sony Music.

[31] In 2023 Bell became part of a supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos with Shaun Ryder, Zak Starkey and Bez releasing their debut single "Gorilla Guerilla" in June ahead of a performance at the Glastonbury Festival.