Sixteen Stone
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Sixteen Stone is the debut album of British rock band Bush, released on 6 December 1994, through Trauma Records. Widely regarded as the band's most popular album, it peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and boasted numerous successful singles. "Comedown" and "Glycerine" remain two of the band's biggest hits to date, each reaching number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.[7] "Comedown," "Machinehead," and "Glycerine" were the three songs from the album to enter the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number thirty, number forty-three, and number twenty-eight, respectively.[8] To mark its 20th anniversary, on 14 October 2014 a remastered edition of the album's original recordings was released.[9]
Packaging
In the UK, a stone is a unit of weight that equals 14 pounds. Therefore, sixteen stone means 224 pounds or about 102 kilograms. When asked why lead singer Gavin Rossdale chose the name "Sixteen Stone" for the name of their album, he said: "Once upon a time there was a lonely man... my friend, who called a phone number advertising a '21-year old Scandinavian beauty, new in town.' When she arrived, she was forty years old and sixteen stone..." In the booklet of Sixteen Stone, there is a heart and a dedication to "Rupert and Julie", two of Gavin's friends who died in a boating accident along the Thames in England. The cover insert has a picture of what looks like a bush or mop head flying through the air. This is actually Gavin's dog named Winston. A Puli, a breed of dog with dreadlock-like cords, that has been tossed in the air or is jumping. Beck used the same effect in 1996 with a Komondor, another Hungarian dog breed that has similar fur to the Puli, on his album Odelay which looks like a mop jumping a hurdle.
Release
Sixteen Stone was released on 6 December 1994, through Trauma Records. Around the album's 20th anniversary, a remastered edition of its original recordings was released.[9] When asked about also remixing the album for the anniversary edition, Rossdale stated "I did attempt to remix ... but it's really, like, you just can't do that. You can't mess with stuff. Those mixes, every single level of those songs is just ingrained in my DNA as it's probably in anybody's DNA who knows it. It just sounds really weird when you mess with it."[10]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B−[2] |
| Q | [11] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [12] |
| The Village Voice | B–[13] |
Sixteen Stone received mostly positive feedback from music critics. In a four out of five star review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic calls their sound impressive, but states that the band sounds too much like Seattle rockers Nirvana and Pearl Jam.[3] In later years Bush would distance themselves from the familiar grunge sounds with experimental releases such as Deconstructed and The Science of Things.
Retrospectively, Sixteen Stone has received critical acclaim. In April 2014, Rolling Stone placed the album at number thirty-nine on their 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year list.[4] A month later, Loudwire placed Sixteen Stone at number eight on its "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list.[14] In July 2014 Guitar World placed the album on its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[15]
Track listing
All songs written by Gavin Rossdale.[16]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Everything Zen" | 4:38 |
| 2. | "Swim" | 4:56 |
| 3. | "Bomb" | 3:23 |
| 4. | "Little Things" | 4:24 |
| 5. | "Comedown" | 5:27 |
| 6. | "Body" | 5:43 |
| 7. | "Machinehead" | 4:16 |
| 8. | "Testosterone" | 4:20 |
| 9. | "Monkey" | 4:01 |
| 10. | "Glycerine" | 4:27 |
| 11. | "Alien" | 6:34 |
| 12. | "X-Girlfriend" | 0:45 |
- Early pressings of the album do not list "Alien" on the back cover (there is a blank space where the title should be). "Monkey" is also missing from the inside cover, but both songs have lyrics printed and appear on the album.
- Subsequent pressings also include an acoustic version of "Comedown" and a second CD of live tracks, "Swim," "Alien," "Bomb," and "Little Things." Rather than actually being acoustic, the bonus "Comedown" track is actually Rossdale singing and playing guitar with more effects. This version is also slower paced, has violins added and has no drums.
Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic[16]
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Chart performance
Sixteen Stone first entered the Billboard 200 at number 187 for week ending 28 January 1995, and eventually peaked at number four.[17][18] In 2010 the album's US sales passed the six million mark.[19]
Singles
Billboard Music Charts (North America)
| Year | Song | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Everything Zen | Modern Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1995 | Everything Zen | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
| 1995 | Little Things | Modern Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1995 | Little Things | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 6 |
| 1995 | Comedown | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1995 | Comedown | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1995 | Comedown | Billboard Hot 100 | 30 |
| 1995 | Glycerine | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1995 | Glycerine | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1995 | Glycerine | Billboard Hot 100 | 28 |
| 1995 | Glycerine | Top 40 Mainstream | 28 |
| 1996 | Machinehead | Modern Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1996 | Machinehead | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1996 | Machinehead | Billboard Hot 100 | 43 |
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[33] | 2× Platinum | 140,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[34] | 6× Platinum | 600,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[35] | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[36] | Silver | 60,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[37] | 6× Platinum | 6,000,000^ |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- ^ http://diffuser.fm/bushs-sixteen-stone-20-years-later/
- ^ a b Ehrlich, Dimitri (13 January 1995). "Sixteen Stone Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Sixteen Stone - Bush - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
{{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in|work=at position 1 (help) - ^ a b "Bush, 'Sixteen Stone' - 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year". Rolling Stone.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Klosterman 2007, p. 240.
- ^ Anderson 2007, pp. 207–208.
- ^ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ a b "Sixteen Stone: Music". Amazon.com. ASIN B00N9ZN9W4. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ "Gavin Rossdale Talks 20th Anniversary of "Sixteen Stone"". WRIF. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ "Sixteen Stone Review". Q: 119. May 1995.
3 Stars – Good – "...this foursome make a carefully honed post-grunge sound that fits perfectly alongside American counterparts like Stone Temple Pilots or Live.")
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City: Simon and Schuster. p. 122. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1995). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. No. 28 November. New York. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994". Loudwire. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ^ "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994". GuitarWorld.com. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ a b "Sixteen Stone - Bush - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in|work=at position 1 (help) - ^ Billboard - Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Grein, Paul (29 September 2010). "Week Ending Sept. 26, 2010: Moving Forward, Falling Back | Chart Watch – Yahoo! Music". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- ^ "RPM 100 Albums". RPM (Volume 63, No. 12). archived at Library and Archives Canada. 6 May 1996. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
{{cite journal}}:|issue=has extra text (help) - ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Bush: Sixteen Stone". (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
{{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in|work=at position 1 (help) - ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Bush | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
- ^ "Bush Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
- ^ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ "Australiancharts – End of Year 1996". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ "The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1996". RPM. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1996 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Music Canada. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ THE FIELD id (chart number) MUST BE PROVIDED for NEW ZEALAND CERTIFICATION.
- ^ "British album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 July 2012. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Sixteen Stone in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ "American album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- Bibliography
- Anderson, Kyle (2007). Accidental Revolution: The Story of Grunge. Macmillan. ISBN 9780312358198.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Klosterman, Chuck (2007). Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416589525.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)