“Glycerine”
by Bush
from the album Sixteen Stone
1994
Buy the album on Amazon

I feel like Bush has gotten a lot of flack, but this album hit at a time where I got really into them (plus I admit, I had a man crush on Gavin Rossdale). I think I stopped listening to them after their second album, but still love Sixteen Stone (actually, looking at the tracklist, I realize I’m way overdue in revisiting it), and I saw them once in Atlanta with either Pearl Jam or No Doubt.

There are parts of the lyrics in this song that, like lots of their songs, don’t really make any sense, but there are a lot of lines I really like, and it’s all sung so earnestly that I buy it. It’s also the kind of super earnest but also “alternative” song that I really like to sing, and it’s just rocking enough that it doesn’t bring the room down. Plus, most people know it or nod along even if they didn’t realize they still know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU6KhFWvKPM

Random memory associations for this song:

1. I remember Bush was doing some early examples of CD-ROM content being embedded on the music cd.

2. A while ago (pre-karaoke even), I was in a play, and after rehearsals we would all go to an Irish pub in midtown. Every week they’d have a singer/guitar player guy there who had a list of songs he would take request for. One of my castmates hates Bush with a passion, so naturally I requested this song. Just like the singer at the pub said, “this one’s for you, Billy.”