So, an eon ago when I was doing my half-assed research for this week's tune, I read that one of the knocks against Bush when they were in their heyday was that they sounded too much like Nirvana/Pearl Jam. And after I was done reading, as I am wont to do, I gave this week's song a listen, and I swear it hadn't been playing thirty seconds when the Beautiful Girl asked, "Are you listening to Pearl Jam? It sounds like Pearl Jam."
In fairness, back in Alternative Music's wondrous nineties run, about half the bands with records out sounded like Nirvana or Pearl Jam....
Formed in 1992 in London, Bush had a nice run in the nineties garnering several hit albums (including a #1) and several top ten singles. They broke up in 2002, reunited in 2010, and have been together since, recording three more albums. Time has been kinder to the band--their nineties material has gotten a better shake from the critical press in recent years (oddly enough, I picked up a copy of their debut album for a buck at a thrift store last year and was amazed at how much better it was than I remembered from its initial release--I spent several weeks listening to it). At any rate, they're twenty-five years down the road and still making music,and you can't beat that.
Fun Fact: If last week's tune was notable for being about worrying, this week's is notable for being about...um, a laxative? Glycerine is actually a clear odorless sweet-tasting liquid that is used in many food products, soap products, anti-freeze, diesel fuel, and suppositories. Fascinating, my God...
Released in 1995 from their Sixteen Stone LP, "Glycerine" would eventually reach #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. For me, the song is most memorable for three things: showing the pulsating beauty of three guitar chords, Gavin Rossdale's otherworldly vocals, and the fact that I have no fucking clue what it means in the end. "Glycerine" is obviously about a relationship, but whether it's failed or failing (or neither) is never made clear (though it may be desired)--and maybe that's the point. Even the best of relationships are never simple and neither is "Glycerine." Still, as with much of the best of pop music, it's exact meaning is unimportant--as long as it fills the holes in the head and the heart it's done its job.
Lyric Sheet: "It might just be/Clear, simple and plain/Well, that's just fine/That's just one of my names..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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