Sixteen Stone

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Sixteen Stone
File:Sixteen Stone.jpg
Studio album by Bush
Released 6 December 1994
Recorded January 1994 at Westside Studios, London, England
Genre
Length 52:38
Label
Producer
Bush chronology
Sixteen Stone
(1994)		 Razorblade Suitcase
(1996)Razorblade Suitcase1996
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 No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and boasted numerous successful singles. "Comedown" and "Glycerine" remain two of the band's biggest hits to date, each reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.[3] "Comedown," "Machinehead," and "Glycerine" were the three songs from the album to enter the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 30, No. 43, and No. 28, respectively.[4] To mark its 20th anniversary, on 14 October 2014 a remastered edition of the album's original recordings was released.[5]

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.[5] 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."[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3/5 stars[2]
Entertainment Weekly B−[7]
Q 3/5 stars[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3.5/5 stars[9]
The Village Voice B–[10]

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.[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 No. 39 on its "1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year" list.[11] A month later, Loudwire placed Sixteen Stone at number eight on its "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list.[12] In July 2014 Guitar World placed the album on its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[13]

Track listing

All songs written by Gavin Rossdale.[14]

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:[14]

Chart performance

Sixteen Stone first entered the Billboard 200 at No. 187 for week ending 28 January 1995, and eventually peaked at No. 4.[15][16] In 2010 the album's US sales passed the six million mark.[17]

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

Album

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[31] 2× Platinum 140,000
Canada (Music Canada)[32] 6× Platinum 600,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)[33] 2× Platinum 30,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Silver 60,000
United States (RIAA)[35] 6× Platinum 6,000,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  24. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Bush | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  26. ↑ "Bush – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Bush.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATION.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ THE FIELD id (chart number) MUST BE PROVIDED for NEW ZEALAND CERTIFICATION.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 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
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Sixteen_Stone&oldid=145297"