The Alternative Number Ones: Bush’s “Glycerine”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I’m reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it’s for members only. Thank you to everyone who’s helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

Bush got me with this one. They didn't get me get me. I didn't suddenly do a full 180 on Bush when "Glycerine" hit the alt-rock airwaves. Still, I didn't see it coming. When Bush became inescapable on the radio early in 1995, I pretty much decided that they were prettyboy funk-fakers -- one suspiciously handsome British guy, with his three nondescript friends, who were simply selling our own grunge back to us with all context and meaning sucked out. But then they came out with a dramatic, broody ballad that was just as studiously meaningless as all their heavier tracks. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I kind of liked it. Thirty years later, I like it even more. It happens.

In last week's column, I mentioned the alt-rock radio programmers who apparently dug through every big band's album, looking for ballads to throw into rotation. Well, those guys sometimes got it right. Bush were a big deal even before their ballad got the big record-label push, but that ballad took them into orbit. I get it. For my money, "Glycerine" is easily the best of the singles from Bush's gigantic debut album Sixteen Stone. It's also the biggest and best-remembered song that Bush ever made, so apparently the rest of the world agrees.