When this album hit the streets in 1994, you either loved or hated it.
You hated it because, at the time, Nirvana was the king of rock radio and thought that Bush was simply getting all of their songs and adding a British vocalist on top.
But if you loved it, you loved it because it was the first sighting of what was later to be called post-grunge, and along with the ranks of the Foo Fighters, Live, Collective Soul, became a more polished and pop influenced form of the heavy, angst filled genre. The same still holds true today, even with bands like Linkin Park and Taking Back Sunday taking their mentor's sound and adding a pop layer to it.
Today, Sixteen Soul is regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 90's, more so in terms of financial success. Singles like "Glycerine", "Everything Zen", and "Machinehead" recieve heavy airplay on rock radio today. What do all those songs have in common?
They were catchy.
Bush was known for creating catchy, guitar driven, grunge songs. Whether it was the riff in "Machinehead" that everyone on Earth has heard atleast once, or how Gavin moans "Glycerine" in the song's chorus, Bush changed the airwaves for a short time.
The sound of the album is largely homogenius; all songs share the same Fuzz Pi'd guitar tone, Gavin's "Cobain gone British" voice, and contagious hooks and riffs. The band still shows classic influence, such as on "Body", opening with a lick that you swear it out of "Whole Lotta Love". On Glycerine, Gavin sings "...and when we rise it's like Strawberry Fields".
On some songs, even though the verse and intro are lacking, the chorus completely shines. On "Comedown", the chrous "...and I don't wanna comeback down from this cloud" give a light hearted appeal to a very otherwise dark song. Some songs, like "Little Things" excel at both.
If you haven't picked this up yet, do it NOW.
Reccomended Songs:
- Machine Head
- Little Things
- Glycerine
- Everything Zen
