I often tell people that my favorite genre of music is “dad rock” and I’m not sure if I could define that if you asked me.
I guess it could mean the music that my dad listens to, which is true. He has listened to Bush, in fact, he introduced me to the band and then took me to see them in concert last summer. They were an unexpected addition to the festival line up after Alice in Chains had to cancel.
Bush happened to play a number of songs from their debut album “Sixteen Stone” at the concert, which I luckily had in my collection (taken from my dad of course).
The English rock band formed in 1992 and released “Sixteen Stone” two years later. Since its release, the album has been certified multi-platinum six times by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The band consists of lead vocalists and guitarist Gavin Rossdale, lead guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz and drummer Nik Hughes. The group had a brief hiatus from 2002 to 2010, but returned to release six more studio albums with their latest being released in 2025.
The album features 12 songs and a total run time of 52 minutes. Of those 12 songs, five were previously released as singles. “Everything Zen,” “Little Things,” “Comedown,” “Machinehead” and the fan favorite “Glycerine” were all lumped onto the album when it was released.
The technical genre of the album would be grunge and/or hard rock, but again, I propose dad rock as a proper genre. Tell me you haven’t walked past a neighborhood garage in the summer and heard someone’s dad blasting a specific kind of distorted rock music from the past. If the answer is you haven’t, I don’t believe you. But, I digress.
Distortion in rock music was huge in 90s rock bands, and Bush is no exception. Rossdale’s vocals are strained and match the guitar perfectly.
(I would also like to add that this man’s speaking voice is nothing like his singing. I was thoroughly shocked when he started speaking at the concert.)
The album presents commentary on romantic relationships, masculine stereotypes and death. Songs like “Swim,” “Comedown,” “Body,” “Glycerine,” “Alien” and “X-Girlfriend” display many different aspects of relationships, but mostly the lust or pull towards another person.
I want to focus on “Glycerine” in particular because Rossdale said at the concert I was at that this was written for the fans. Other research shows it was really written about his girlfriend at the time, but now it’s for the fans I guess.
The song creates a back and forth within the lyrics. It seems to describe the push and pull of a (seemingly) toxic relationship, but also warning not to let time go without appreciation.
What is most interesting is that glycerine is known and used as a sweetener in food. So it is an odd way of calling the subject of the song sweet.
Other than the scientific pet name, this song has an entirely different tone than all others on the album. It features string instruments at some points and much less distortion in the guitar parts and singing than in the prior songs on the album.
It’s certainly a personal favorite from the album and speaks to the band’s view of romantic relationships.
The other point of commentary present in the album that I’d like to dive into is masculine stereotypes.
A recent favorite of mine is “Testosterone” which as you might have guessed is calling attention to masculine stereotypes, more specifically American masculine stereotypes.
The lyrics call out behaviors or traits such as “Hot dog, 7:30 every morning,” “Big into war,” “I never cry / I only bawl when I’m losing” and “I’ve never been wrong.”
The hot dog line really got me cause I’m just wondering if that’s what others think about American masculinity.
“Testosterone” is such a satirical song that I enjoy greatly due to its humorous nature.
The album as a whole is fantastic and if you truly aren’t familiar with “dad rock,” I highly recommend that this should be your first experience with the genre.
