Sixteen Stone

Sixteen Stone is the debut studio album by English rock band Bush, released on 6 December 1994 by Trauma and Interscope Records. It became the band's most popular album, peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200 and boasting numerous successful singles. "Comedown" and "Glycerine" remain two of Bush's biggest hits to date, each reaching number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.[8] "Comedown", "Machinehead", and "Glycerine" were the three songs from the album to enter the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number thirty, number forty-three, and number twenty-eight, respectively.[9]

Sixteen Stone
Studio album by Bush
Released	6 December 1994
Recorded	January 1994
Studio	Westside Studios, London, England
Genre	Grunge[1][2][3][4][5] post-grunge[6] hard rock[7]
Length	52:38
Label	Trauma Interscope
Producer	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley Bush
Bush chronology
Sixteen Stone (1994) Razorblade Suitcase (1996)
Singles from Sixteen Stone
"Everything Zen" Released: 12 September 1994 "Little Things" Released: 17 January 1995 "Comedown" Released: 13 June 1995 "Glycerine" Released: 6 November 1995 "Machinehead" Released: 9 April 1996

To mark its twentieth anniversary, a remastered edition of the album was released on 14 October 2014.

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. The album cover and packaging were designed by David Carson.

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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[1]
The Guardian	[12]
Q	[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]
The Village Voice	B−[15]

Sixteen Stone received mostly positive feedback from music critics. Q wrote that Bush "make a carefully honed post-grunge sound that fits perfectly alongside American counterparts like Stone Temple Pilots or Live."[13] 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] Robert Christgau was more critical in The Village Voice, regarding it as a "not altogether unmusical howl of male pain" that glorified "despair".[15]

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.[16] In July 2014 Guitar World placed the album on its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[17]

Track listing

All songs written by Gavin Rossdale.[18]

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

Bush Gavin Rossdale – lead vocals, rhythm guitar Nigel Pulsford – lead guitar, backing vocals Dave Parsons – bass Robin Goodridge – drums Additional musicians Caroline Dale – cello Gavyn Wright – violin, viola Vincas Bundza – harmonica Jasmine Lewis – backing vocals Alessandro Vittorio Tateo – backing vocals Winston – backing vocals

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.[19][20] In 2010 the album's US sales passed the six million mark.[21]

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)[22] 5 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[23] 14 Canada Albums (The Record)[24] 4 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] 20 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[26] 35 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[27] 68 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[28] 2 UK Albums (OCC)[29] 42 US Billboard 200[30] 4 Year-end charts Chart (1995) Position US Billboard 200[31] 37 Chart (1996) Position Australian Albums Chart[32] 18 Canadian Albums Chart[33] 10 US Billboard 200[34] 11

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[35]	2× Platinum	140,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)[36]	6× Platinum	600,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[37]	2× Platinum	30,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[38]	Silver	60,000^^
United States (RIAA)[39]	6× Platinum	6,000,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Ehrlich, Dimitri (13 January 1995). "Sixteen Stone". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Sixteen Stone – Bush". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
3. "Bush, 'Sixteen Stone' - 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year". Rolling Stone. 17 April 2014.
4. Klosterman 2007, p. 240.
5. Anderson 2007, pp. 207–208.
6. "Bush's 'Sixteen Stone,' 20 Years Later".
7. Alan, Carter (4 April 2017). The Decibel Diaries: A Journey through Rock in 50 Concerts. University Press Of New England. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-5126-0047-6.
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. "Sixteen Stone: Music". 14 October 2014. ASIN B00N9ZN9W4. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
11. "Gavin Rossdale Talks 20th Anniversary of "Sixteen Stone"". WRIF. 15 September 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
12. Sullivan, Caroline (12 May 1995). "Bush: Sixteen Stone (Trauma)". The Guardian. London.
13. "Bush: Sixteen Stone". Q. No. 104. May 1995. p. 119.
14. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Bush". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
15. Christgau, Robert (28 November 1995). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
16. "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994". Loudwire. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
17. "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994". GuitarWorld.com. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
18. "Sixteen Stone - Bush - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
19. Billboard - Google Books. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 28 January 1995. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
20. "Bush - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
21. Grein, Paul (29 September 2010). "Week Ending Sept. 26, 2010: Moving Forward, Falling Back | Chart Watch – Yahoo! Music". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
22. "Australiancharts.com – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
23. "Ultratop.be – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
24. "HITS OF THE WORLD". Billboard. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
25. "Dutchcharts.nl – Bush – Sixteen Stone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
26. "Bush: Sixteen Stone". (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. 14 July 2014.
27. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
28. "Charts.nz – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Hung Medien.
29. "Bush | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
30. "Bush Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
31. "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
32. "Australiancharts – End of Year 1996". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
33. "The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1996". RPM. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
34. "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1996". billboard.biz. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
35. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia’s Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 45.
36. "Canadian album certifications – Bush – Sixteen Stone". Music Canada. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
37. "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Radioscope. 17 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
38. "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.
39. "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

• Anderson, Kyle (2007). Accidental Revolution: The Story of Grunge. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-35819-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Klosterman, Chuck (2007). Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-8952-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)