Episode #36 - Bush
As I mentioned on the last episode of the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, growing up my sister had a classic 90s teal colored bedroom. She also adorned her walls with artwork and posters, like a black and white poster of Nirvana. And when she discovered the band Bush whose popularity skyrocketed in the 1990s, guess who was on the back of her door? It’s lead singer, Gavin Rossdale who was plastered ALL over the entirety of the door. Every square inch of her dark wooden door was covered. In addition to Rollingstone covers and magazine article cutouts, my sister also took pictures of Gavin Rossdale being interviewed on TV, had them printed and those too were added to her collage. She was completely and utterly infatuated with him as I’m sure many other teeangers were in the 1990s. He was (and is) incredibly talented, passionate about music and easy on the eyes. He also had longer, wavy hair and an intense stare. My sister was in love.
With that being said, on today’s show we will be discussing the 1990s alternative music powerhouse that was, Bush. You will learn all about the band’s early days, their explosion onto the music scene and what they are up to today. So grab your ripped jeans, your electric guitar and a chain to hook your wallet to your pants, here we go!
Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s. My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop culture time machine. If this is your first time tuning in, thank you for selecting this show, I hope you like it and if you are a long-term listener, thanks for joining me on this journey. You are tuning in to episode #36 - Bush, the British phenomenon that was blasting on many a boom box and car stereo in the 1990s.
Before we get into the band itself, let’s briefly discuss its members and how it came to be.
Gavin Rossdale was born in late October of 1965, or 1967, lots of conflicting information. He was born in Marylebone, in London, England. His birth name is Gavin McGregor Rossdale. His father’s name is Douglass Rossdale, he was a doctor and his mother’s name is Barbara Stephan, she was a former model. The mystery is now solved as to where Gavin Rossdale got his stunningly handsome good looks. When Rossdale was very little he reportedly didn’t speak much until he was 4 years old. Growing up, Rossdale developed a passion for music and learned to play the bass guitar from his sister’s boyfriend. After he graduated from high school (some reports say he dropped out, again, conflicting information), Rossdale frequented dance clubs and formed a band called ‘Midnight.’ The band released 2 singles but neither one of them managed to go very far.
Later, Rossdale met Nigel Pulsford, born April 11, 1961 from a band called the Pixies at a London club, he too played the guitar and the duo formed a band called Future Primitive.
Rossdale would be the lead singer of the band and rhythm guitarist. They would later add Robin Goodridge born on September 10, 1966 on drums and bassist, Dave Parsons who was born in 1964. Robin Goodridge actually helped to push the previous drummer out, out from the drum kit that is. Apparently during a performance one evening, Goodridge noticed the band’s drummer was not that engaging and the audience wasn’t that interested in him. So, he walked backstage and told Rossdale that their drummer was boring and that he apparently sucked, and next thing you know, Goodridge was the drummer. During the day, Gavin, Nigel, and Robin worked as painters and played music by night. They were hoping to make it big someday. Eventually Future Primitive changed their name to Bush. The band’s name is short for Shepherd’s Bush which is a London suburb where a few of the original Bush members are from. They mailed demo tapes all over Britain and the United States. One radio station in LA began playing Everything Zen. This was the song that would put Bush on the map. In the song, the lyrics talk about everything from whether or not Elvis is dead to people who claim to be very selfless and giving people when in actuality they are not very kind. The momentum was building. Sixteen Stone was recorded during January and February, 1994. After experiencing some delays, it was released in December of that year on Trauma and Interscope records. Some of the most well-known hits on this album include “Glycerine” , “Machinehead” and “Come Down” and the aforementioned “Everything Zen.” I made the mistake of suggesting music from Bush be played in the background while my Dad and I got tattoos of my sister’s distinctive signature on our wrists. I think I forget sometimes just how much music can take you back and remind you of someone or a certain time in your life. I was instantly transported to my adolescence and nothing quite encapsulates my memory of my sister in her early teen years like the music of Bush does. I was on the verge of turning into a blubbery mess for the duration of art being inked on my arm, but thankfully the distraction of the horrible noise from the tattoo gun prevented me from traveling too far down memory lane and going into what I call “the ugly cries” in front of a stranger.
Following their debut album, the band was jabbed by critics who said not only was the band “too pretty” but that they also sounded like Nirvana. Perhaps this had to do with the fact that Bush was the first British band to make it big following the end of Nirvana’s run after Kurt Cobain, the band’s lead singer passed away in April of 1994. And make it big, did they ever. 1 million copies of Sixteen Stone were sold by the summer of 1995. And by the summer of 1996, 5 million copies had been sold.
Bush tried to combat their reputation for being too pretty by hiring a more progressive/edgier producer for their second album, Razorblade Suitcase which was released in 1996. Unfortunately, they were still criticized but not as bad as their first album. One thing I was reminded of during my research for this show is that included with the purchase of the Razorblade Suitcase album was that it included a CD-ROM, which of course my sister had. Compatible with Windows ‘95, the CR-ROM allowed you to listen to unreleased music, watch music videos and interviews and also allowed you to view photos of the band.
Every time you returned to the main page of the CD-ROM, you could hear a few instrumental lines of music from the song Greedy Fly which was one of the most popular songs from this album. My sister used the CD-ROM all of the time on our humongous Gateway 2000 computer and I could tell that she was as I heard Greedy Fly playing over and over again. Some of the most popular songs from this album include Greedy Fly which we just talked about, Swallowed and Bone Driven. Some music experts say that Razorblade Suitcase is the last major grunge album of the 1990s. It has sold over 3 million copies in the United States alone, selling almost 300,000 copies in its first week of release.
Despite their success in the United States, Bush was not nearly as popular in the UK, which is something the group really struggled with. At the height of their success, Bush was working incredibly hard and would played in some of the largest stadiums and arenas in the United States. Back at home, it was the exact opposite. Instead of arenas, they played at small venues like hole in the wall bars. This striking contrast was a lot for the band to digest, not feeling supported in their home country was quite hurtful for the band. Later on in his career, Rossdale said he was able to get past this, but it took him a long time to do so.
In 1997, Bush released Deconconstructed which was a remix album and featured some songs with more of an electronic sound which Bush was looking to incorporate more into their music as the popularity of grunge was starting to be on the way out. Some of the remixed songs on this album include “Swallowed,” “Everything Zen” and “Bonedriven.”
In 1999, Bush performed at the ill-fated Woodstock ‘99 which was not even remotely similar to it’s older sibling the 1969 Woodstock which was dubbed “3 days of Peace and Music.” Woodstock 1999 should have been called “3 days of overflowing porta potties, destruction and assaults” because that is exactly what happened. The event was held at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York. The temperatures were incredibly high during the event, reaching over 100 degrees at times and getting water required a long walk and cost 4 dollars/bottle. Further, the event space was designed to hold about 50,000 people but at least 350,000 ended up attending! And if that wasn’t enough, in order to get from the East Stage to the West Stage required a walk of at least 1 mile. Bush closed out the first day of the chaotic event and supposedly Rossdale crowd surfed! Some of the other performers included: Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Offspring and some others that seem a bit out of place including Moby and Jewel. And let’s not forget Creed, who I was excited to learn played there as I’ve always enjoyed impersonating the lead singer: With Arms Wide Open, Under the Sunlight, Welcome to this place, I’ll show you everything! And finally, Limp Bizkit, a band that I thought was pretty awesome when I was in high school, but in hindsight, they have some of the WORST and STUPIDEST lyrics I have ever heard. If you need to trigger your memory, look up the lyrics for Nookie, where half of the song is about a cookie and shoving it somewhere. Here’s a sample from one of their most popular songs, ‘Rollin. And please forgive me for the language that follows.
Oh and note, this song comes from an album entitled “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.” I’m not kidding. I own this album and I am ashamed.
Alright, partner
Keep on rollin', baby
You know what time it is
Throw your hands up
Ladies and gentlemen
Chocolate Starfish
Keep on rolling baby
Move in, now move out
Hands up, now hands down
Back up, back up
Tell me what you're gonna do now
Breathe in, now breathe out
Hands up, now hands down
Back up, back up
Tell me what you're gonna do now
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' (what?)
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' (come on)
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' (yeah)
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'
Now I know why'all be lovin' this shit right here
L.I.M.P Bizkit is right here
People in the house put them hands in the air
'Cause if you don't care, then we don't care
One, tow, three times two to the six
Jolts in for your fix with the Limp Bizkit mix
So where the fuck you at punk?
Shut the fuck up and back the fuck up
While we fuck this track up
You want to mess with Limp Bizkit? (Yeah)
You can't mess with Limp Bizkit (why?)
Because we get it on (when?)
Every day and every night (oh)
See this platinum thing right here? (Uh huh)
Well we're doing it all the time (what?)
So you'd better get some better beats and uh,
Get some better rhymes (d'oh!)
We got the gang set so don't complain yet
24/7 never begging for a raincheck
Old school soldiers passing up the hot shit
That rock shit and bounce in the mosh pit
Let’s just say that song was often blasting in my car as I drove around my childhood home as a teeanger, but you’ll never hear me listening to it now as the thought of hot dog flavored water makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Anyways. During Limp Bizkit’s performance, Fred Durst allegedly gave the audience the bird and told them to break things, much like he encourages listeners to on yet another horrible LB song called, well, “Break Things.” And that’s exactly what the audience did. They broke show equipment, light fixtures, started small fires, the list goes on and on. Woodstock was essentially a disaster in every sense of the word, but one cool thing that came out of it was it helped with some of Bush’s sluggish album sales for their 1997 album, Deconstructed.
1999 was also a tough year for Bush because Trauma records filed a lawsuit against Bush to the tune of 40 million dollars for breach of contract. The record company claimed that the Science of Things album did not come out on time like they had agreed to. They managed to settle out of court, but Bush started eyeing signing with another record company.
2000 saw the release of the Science of Things. Rossdale wrote most of the album by himself. He actually retreated to an old mansion in Ireland to write it. Some of the most well-known hits from this album include :The Chemicals Between Us” and “Letting the Cables Sleep.”
Due to the aforementioned contract disputes, Bush left Trauma records following the Science of Things and signed a lucrative deal with Atlantic records. Golden State, their first record with a new label, was released in 2001. Unfortunately the album didn’t do very well despite relatively positive reviews. In late 2001, Bush started touring for the album and in March of 2002, Nigel Pulsford stepped aside from the band as his wife was about to give birth to their child. This started to signal the beginning of the end for the band and later in 2002, the band, well, disbanded. Between the declining record sales and apparent lack of support from their record label, the group decided it was time to take a step back. They would not reunite again for almost 10 years. Most of the band’s members continued working in music, many and had side and solo projects. Rossdale would go on to diversify some of his music production skills, for example he helped write soundtracks for Zoolander, Constantine, and Little Black Book. He also released his own solo album. Further, Rossdale married punk music queen Gwen Stefani in 2002, they had 3 children together: Kingston who is 15, Zuma who is 12 and Apollo, who is 7. Will celebrities ever name their children normal names like Bob? Sarah? Why such weird names Gwen and Gavin? Anyhoo, Rossdale and Stefani stayed married for about 14 years and divorced in 2016.
Let’s back up for a second, in 2010, Bush announced they were reuniting. Both Nigel Pulsford and Dave Parsons neglected to rejoin the band when the opportunity arose to make new music with their old band. Thankfully the gaps in the band managed to be filled by some new members - Chris Traynor on Lead Guitar, and Corey Bretz on Bass.
Sea of Memories was then released in 2011, it was released by their own label, Mad Dog Winston Music. They toured in 2011 and 2012 with, hmm, cough cough, Nickelback. This is how you remind me of how much I HATE Nickelback. What time is it when you are touring with Nickelback? Time to re-evaluate whether or not you should continue making music! I kid, I kid. The band would release several additional albums after reuniting including Man on the Run, released in 2014, Black and White Rainbows released in 2017 and the Kingdom which was released in 2020, this time with a new drummer, Nick Hughes. Bush had a tour scheduled for 2020, but had to postpone it due to the pandemic. While Gavin Rossdale is now the only remaining original member of Bush, the band continues to make music.
I hope you have enjoyed this look back at Bush, the British band that erupted into the music scene in the early 1990s, with their faces plastered all over MTV when they actually played music videos and magazine covers. Bush has sold more than 20 million records in the United States and Canada alone. They’ve had 6, #1 singles. My sister adored Bush and I think it’s hard to ignore Gavin Rossdale’s passionate demeanor and the band’s unique and infectious sound. After doing research on the band, I think it’s pretty incredible that they have been around for so long despite extreme highs and lows with their popularity, changing record companies and band members, lawsuits, the list goes on and on. I think it’s a true testament to how much Rossdale and his bandmates feel like they have stories to tell, ones that they want to share with the world. Further, despite making music for almost 30 years, they band knows they can continue to improve and to progress. Rossdale once commented in a recent interview that his band just keeps getting better and better and has said: “You’re only as good as your last record.” Well said Mr. Rossdale, well said.
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I hope you will join me for my next show where we will be discussing extinct restaurant chains and those that are near extinction from the 80s and 90s. Until then be kind, be safe and hold on your memories.