Sixteen Stone

Sixteen Stone
Studio album by Bush
Released December 6, 1994
Recorded January 1994 at Westside Studios, London, England
Genre Grunge,[1][2][3][4][5] post-grunge[6][7]
Length 52:38
Label
Producer
Bush chronology
Sixteen Stone
(1994)		 Razorblade Suitcase
(1996)
Singles from Sixteen Stone
  1. "Everything Zen"
    Released: 28 January 1995
  2. "Little Things"
    Released: 30 May 1995
  3. "Comedown"
    Released: 26 September 1995
  4. "Glycerine"
    Released: 14 November 1995
  5. "Machinehead"
    Released: 9 April 1996

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.[8] "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.[9] To mark its 20th anniversary, on 14 October 2014 a remastered edition of the album's original recordings was released.[10]

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.[10] 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."[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[1]
Q[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[12]
The Village VoiceB–[13]

Sixteen Stone received mostly positive feedback from music critics. In a three 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.[2] 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.[3] 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

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic[16]

Bush
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
  • Bush — producer, engineer
  • Clive Langer — producer, engineer, mixing
  • David J. Holman — mixing
  • Paul Palmer — mixing
  • Danton Supple — assistant engineer
  • Robert Vosgien — mastering
  • Alan Winstanley — producer, engineer, mixing
  • Debra Burley — co-ordination
  • Jackie Holland — co-ordination
  • Paul Cohen — photography, cover photo
  • Mark Lebon — photography
  • Gillian Spitchuk — paintings

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

Chart (1994-1996) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[20] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 14
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[22] 7
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[23] 20
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[24] 35
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] 68
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[26] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 42
US Billboard 200[28] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1995) Position
US Billboard 200[29] 37
Chart (1996) Position
Australian Albums Chart[30] 18
Canadian Albums Chart[31] 10
US Billboard 200[32] 11

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
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. 1 2 Ehrlich, Dimitri (13 January 1995). "Sixteen Stone Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  2. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Sixteen Stone - Bush - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
  3. 1 2 "Bush, 'Sixteen Stone' - 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year". Rolling Stone.
  4. ↑ Klosterman 2007, p. 240.
  5. ↑ Anderson 2007, pp. 207–208.
  6. ↑ Williott, Carl (December 5, 2014). "Sixteen Stone Turns 20". Stereogum.
  7. 1 2 "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.")
  8. ↑ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Sixteen Stone: Music". Amazon.com. ASIN B00N9ZN9W4. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Gavin Rossdale Talks 20th Anniversary of "Sixteen Stone"". WRIF. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City: Simon and Schuster. p. 122. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  13. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1995). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice (28 November). New York. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994". Loudwire. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994". GuitarWorld.com. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  16. 1 2 "Sixteen Stone - Bush - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  17. ↑ Billboard - Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Grein, Paul (29 September 2010). "Week Ending Sept. 26, 2010: Moving Forward, Falling Back | Chart Watch – Yahoo! Music". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  20. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
  21. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "RPM 100 Albums". RPM. archived at Library and Archives Canada (Volume 63, No. 12). 6 May 1996. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  23. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  24. ↑ "Bush: Sixteen Stone". (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  25. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  26. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
  27. ↑ "Bush | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  28. ↑ "Bush – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Bush.
  29. ↑ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  30. ↑ "Australiancharts – End of Year 1996". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  31. ↑ "The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1996". RPM. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  32. ↑ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  33. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1996 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  34. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Music Canada. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  35. ↑ "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Radioscope. 17 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  36. ↑ "British album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 July 2012. Enter Sixteen Stone in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  37. ↑ "American album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 25 July 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Bibliography
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