Final Thoughts on Glycerine

Hello friends, a quick announcement before this week's episode. After this week sixty songs will be going on its regularly scheduled hiatus until Wednesday. August fifth. twenty twenty six. That is the exact date We will return. You are encouraged to hold me to that date. Our last break took way too long And I once again apologize. This break will be shorter and it will end at the appointed time Thank you so much for listening. And we will see you. veryyon On april nineteenth, twenty eighteen, a dude in Houston, Texas posted what is now widely regarded as the single greatest Craigslist ad of all time Subject line, nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla Fine AF If you don't know what fine AF means by now, it's too late. We got a guy selling his car here We got a guy in twenty eighteen selling his nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla That's the premise of this genuinely transcendent craigslist ad. You know how people say we're living in late capitalism lately, late capitalism, an actual economic concept from the nineteen thirties that I don't know anything about. But now it's a term that you mostly see people use on the internet as shorthand for everything sucks Right? A quarter pouder with cheese costs thirty five dollars now, late capitalism Spirit Airlines shutd down, late capitalism. The M and M Fortnite skin, late capapitalism, The Trolls movies. Yeah, but the very concept of late capitalism implies the existence of peak capitalism a previous single identifiable point in human history when we perfected capitalism when we fucking nailed it. But from then on, we totally biffed it and it was all downhill from that single perfect moment onward The nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla Craigslist ad is peak Capitalism. I gott to read this thing to you Let's set the proper mood Here we go Qote. Oh Thank you Quote, You want a car that gets the job done You want a car that's hassle free You want a car that literally no one will ever compliment you on? Well, look no further. The nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla. Let's talk about features Bluetooth N. Sunroof, Nope Fancy wheels, Nope, rear view camera, Nope. But it's got a transparent rear window and you have a fucking neck that can turn. End quote, Great start. There's pictures. I had forgotten that there's pictures of this car still available. The Toyota Coroa Craigslist ad immediately went viral back in twenty eighteen And it gets rediscovered and goes viral again periodically. And I reread the text in full every time, but I'd forgotten there are twenty three photos of the Toyota Corolla in question available alongside the ad. The dude drove it out to a nice field under some power lines and did a whole glamorous photo shoot Like the Colla was graduating from high school That's a handsome looking automobile Okay, let's continue. quote. Let me tell you a story. One day my corolla started making a strange sound I didn't give a shit and ignored it. It went away. The end You could take the engine out of this car, drop it off the Golden Gate Bridge, fish it out of the water a thousand years later, put it in the trunk of the car, fill the gas tank up with Nutella, Turn the key and this puppy would fucking start right up This car will outlive you It will outlive your children Things this car is old enough to do Vote? Yes. Consent to sex? Yes. Rent a car. It is a car. End quote. Some nice interior shots as part of the glamorous photo portfolio here. exceptionally clean Exceptionally thorough vacuuming job. I don't regard myself as an especially messy person, but this is quite frankly the cleanest looking car I've ever laid eyes on And it's a good thing to. hit it Quote. This car's got history It's seen some shit. People have done straight things in this car. People have done gay things in this car. It's not going to judge you like a fucking Volkswaged would That's very funny. But here comes the funniest part. You ready? Hit the deck. Qote. Interesting facts This car's exterior color is gray, GRAY, but its interior color is gray, GREY In the ownwner's manual, oil is listed as optional When this car was unveiled at the nineteen ninety eight Detroit Autoh, it caused all two thousand attendees to spontaneously yawn The resulting abrupt change in air pressure inside the building caused a partial collapse of the roof Four people died. The event is chronicled in the documentary Bd to death The story of the nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla If you've ever fantasized about being a big shot podcast editor you've ever wondered what that job entails precisely? I'll tell you what it entails. It entails receiving a slack message on a Saturday night from your Doofus podcast host, that's me. and the message from me reads Hey Quick question Can I legally do a dramatic reading of a four hundred and nineteen word craigslist ad Great shot of the Toyota Corolla's trrunk By the way, pretty clean Not as thoroughly vacuumed as the interior, but it's chill. couple minor stains, but nothing worrisome in like a true crime sense I'm going to skip ahead briefly Almost done. Okay, quote This car is as practical as a Roth IRA. It's as middle of the road as your grandpa during his last silver alert. It's as utilitarian as a member of a church whose scripture is based entirely on water bills. When I ran the carfax for this car, I got back a single piece of paper that said, it's a corolla, it's fine Big finish. Let's face the facts. This car isn't going to win any beauty contests, but neither are you. Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to your wife. This isn't the car you want. it's the car you deserve. Fucking nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla There's a photo of the fucking Collas's engine if that interests you or if a photo of the engine conveys any particularly helpful information to you, which it absolutely does not. For me, I can confirm that the car battery appears to be there And this dude might be low on windshield washer fluid, but then again, maybe he's not. The rest of the shit under the hood here could be the back of a washing machine. And I'd have no idea Okay, I skipped this part and I've reworded it very, very slightly, but it's the most important part Let's do it without music to minimize distractions. Brace yourself Wote You want to know more? Great, I had my car fill out a Facebook survey Favorite food, sppaghetti Favorite TV show, Alf. Favorite band tie between the gin blossoms and bush I want you to imagine a sea. Toyota Colas A standing army of excessively sullied Toyota Corollas. let's say ten thousand of these majestic unkillable gray beasts, GRAY, idling on a sweeping Texas plane. gas tanks full of Nutella, thousand year old waterlog engines roaring, windows down, power windows, vacuumed interiors spotless and aching to be defiled anew by straight stuff and or gay stuff. with ten thousand factory issue car radios tuned to an active rock station and cranked all the way up and going English rock band called Bush A bush song from nineteen ninety four called Every'sZen In the Craigsless ad it said favorite band tie between Bush and the gin blossoms. But I switched it and put Bush last for dramatic effect. full disclosure. a quick little righteous, broish, iconic guitar riff D And then ten seconds of what might as well be silence Silence being an unfamiliar and generally unwelcome presence on active rock radio or on alternative rock radio, or on Braace yourself, classic rock radio. J the slightest, faintest ascending siren like tone there in the glorious aftermath of and then After ten seconds of exquisite, lingering, near silent anticipation The song roars to life and ten thousand Toyota Corollas accelerate at a modest, reliable pace We don't talk enough about our cars. We nineties teenagers, so many of us spent the whole decade aimlessly driving around listening to alternative rock radio in our used cars. And we should talk more about them Here's to our used Honda accccords, our Ford Tauruses, our oldsmobile cutlasses, our Chevy Caprices, our Saturns, our geometetros, our doodge intrepids, our Nissan Ultimas, our trucks perhaps of various makes and models are Chrysler Learons, My Chrysler Learon, My used nineteen eighty five black Chrysler Learon with a minor stain on the interior ceiling on the driver's side that I did not immediately realize was caused by my hair gel Tender and innumerable were the nights I spent aimlessly tooting around in my nineteen eighty five Chrysler Laron Tender and innumerable were the nights I spent aimlessly tooting around in my nineteen eighty five Chrysler Le Baron, listening to alternative radio Tender and innumerable were the nights I spent aimlessly toting around in my nineteen eighty five Chrysler Laron, listening to alternative rock radio and everything Zen by Bush came on And I thought, o hell yeah. And just like those old TV ads for the Freedom Rock CDs, I turned it up Man Trust your Fower The righteous broish sardonic little smirk. of the line. I don't think so How did we even acquire these used cars Back in the nineties, back before Craigslist Back before the internet in general Seriously, how did you just have to walk around Until you saw a force sale sign in the windshield of a car in somebody's driveway. The past is inexplicable and unknowable So you drive around in your' accord, Taurus, cutless Caprice, intrepid Saturn, Mro, ultimate Laron, or truck You listen to alternative rock radio And we've talked about this via the radio. you internalize the first ten seconds of hundreds of alternative rock songs. and you create sububconsciously or consciously, a taxonomy, a hierarchy. in emotional ranking of all these ten second opening salvos. You catalog how each individual opening ten second burst makes you feel when that particular song comes on the radio One song ends and you think I wonder what the next song's going to be. And then the next song starts and you feel something. Are you happy about this new song Are you ecstatic? Are you surprised Are you disgusted? Art thou bored? Try it. J react to this. React without thinking Are you happy Right now to hear Santa Monica by the Portland Oregon rock band Everclear nineteen ninety five. If you grew up in the nineties and enjoyed even a casual relationship with alternative Rock radio, you heard the first seven seconds of Santa Monica that between those chords is the emotional core of Santa Monica. You heard that guitar intro at least thirty thousand times and you felt something all thirty thousand times. You felt the same something orr a slightly different something, a gradually increasing affection something or a gradually hardening disdain something Try it again Are you ecstatic? right now to hear good by the New Orleans rock band better than Ezra. Also nineteen ninety five. Yeah, that's right. The jovial tunefulness of the first twelve seconds of good, the tasteful crunch of those electric guitars, and most importantly that simple bassline That reliable and attainable baseline That hassle free baseline that gets the job done. The good baseline will outlive you It will outlive your children. whether I could articulate this at the time or not And you better believe I could not articulate this at the time because as a seventeen year old, I couldn't articulate jacks shit. What I loved about the radio in nineteen ninety five was that it changed your mood with every song It changed your mood every four minutes or so Even if the change to your mood was undetectable and unmeasurable and unnoticed, and infinitesimal, it still happened You reacted. You often reacted without thinking The radio is a magical micro mood swing machine. It would be rude not to play this one. Given that this is that guy's nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla's other favorite band. The slightly faster jovial tunefulness and tasteful Cunch Of the first twelve seconds of hy jealousy by Tempi Arizona rock band Jin Blossoms. nineteen ninety two. The Toyota Corolla. If you don't expect too much from it, you might not be let down I dare say, hy jealousy lifted your mood even if you thought it didn't. And you want the truth? It is an undeniable scientific fact That hy jealousy by the gin bllossoms sounded better on a sucky used car stereo speaker system, a little blown out, trunk rattling at any volume buzz to the base A little fuzzy radio static because some jerk broke off your antenna. a tin can telephone line thinness to the guitars. Perfect. You don't listen to hey jealousy on your five thousand dollars high fi home stereo system while wearing a tweed jacket and smoking a pipe in a recliner in your den or whatever You listen to hy jealousy on the half dead, busted tape deck car stereo of a geometometetro that might burst into flames at any moment. The song sounds better, the shittier your car is No offense to your car. One more. One more song you heard thirty thousand times on the radio and the song's quality objectively improved as the resale value of your car plummeted Pwsome Kingdom by Fort Worth, Texas rock band Todies nineteen ninety four. I always assume this song was about a vampire Behind the boat house, I'll show you my dark secret, etcetera. And in time I came to appreciate that the song itself had mysterious bloodsucking vampiric qualities Possum Kingdom sounded better every time you heard it by actively draining the life force of your car. One day your brakes will fail The posossum kingdom never will Notice that you don't need to hear any choruses or for that matter any words to any of these songs. Santa Monica and Good and hay jealousy in Possum Kingdom are the wroth IRAs of alternative rocks unflashy and dependable and eternal and identifiable by their crunchy, shiny, agreeable guitar tones alone But here's the question Here's the challenge. Here's where we add capitalism to the equation not yet laid capitalism The reason you're hearing all these songs on Alt Rock radio thirty thousand times apiece is because the man wants you to drive your accord, Taurus, Cutless Caprice, intrepid Saturn Metro Ultimate Leveron or truck to your local record store or your local mall or whatever So you can buy one of these CD's for seventeenars ninety nine cents You know the deal. We've also discussed the deal often in this venue. You hear a song on the radio, you like it, you drive to Camelot music or whatever, you fork over twenty bucks, you get one of them car CD player adapter situations. Power adapter in the cigarette lighter, weird blank tape in the tape deck. the CD player itself balanced on your lap as you drive to minimize any skipping caused by turbulence. and then you hope This CD has more than one good song to justify your investment of basically twenty bucks. So let's try that now. The twenty nineth thousandth time you hear Possum Kingdom by Todies, you go, all right, geez, fine. And you go buy the nineteen ninety four Tod's album Rubberneeck on CD, and you hope it has more than one good song. And it turns out it does, and you are relieved The song Tyler Also from the nineteen ninety four Tody's album, Rubberneeck is also a good song. I heard that insidiously hooky police sirenese guitar ref in somebody else's car exactly once and I committed it to memory. Much respect Tody's, more than one good song You know what I regarded as the height of luxury in nineteen ninety four. Those especially cool people who had a super convenient little CD booklet attttached to their driver' side sun visor holding like twelve CD's, so those people could shield their eyes from the piercing sunset while also queueuing up the nineteen ninety two gin Blossoms album, New Miserable Experience, which hopefully has another song as good as Hey Jealousy Oh hell yeah, it does. Dig the melancholy jangle of found out about you. One of a nine unprecedented ten good songs on the nineteen ninety two Jin Blossoms album. newew miserable experience. It might be eleven good songs out of twelve total I'll listen to the whole album again and get back to you. Regardless, gin blossoms way more than one good song Although notably Found O Aout You is the only song on newew Miserable Experience that qualifies as a good song, but also has gripping ominous stalker adjacent overtones Notice that you still don't need to hear any choruses or for that matter, any words to fully internalize the greatness of these good songs. Notice that ominous melancholy jangle also sounds better on lousy used car sound systems. I will go to my grave insisting that this one sounds better on cassette in the blood Another good song on the nineteen ninety five Better than Ezra album Deluxe, which I had on Cassad for some reason, and it sounded better that way Blaring out of my Chrysler Learon's rattling tape deck It's the tuneful but insistent doo guitar ref slash drumbeats there which sounded fantastic. even as it punched four new holes in my speakers and probably my muffler every time Better than Ezra more than one good song. But there is an even rarer even a more coveted category amidst alternative rock CD's that cost seventeen ninety nine c a piece. Plenty of those CDs had more than one good song, but precious few of those CD's had a good song that I could plausibly learn to play on guitar No I just looked. The nineteen ninety five Everclear album Sparkle in Fade starts with eight good songs in a row. and features nine good songs total, several of which I could kinda sort of play on guitar, but it is the everver clelear song Strawberry bears the dubious distinction. of being the first song I ever attempted to sing in public at a coffee shop in the bucalic suburban town square of my teenage adopted hometown. I really appreciated the single chord here for the first ten seconds. I forgot if I went nah at the beginning like Everclear did, but I hope I didn't, whichich means of course that I probably did go nah at the beginning Oh well. Give for a love ride. Where you look like Satan. You ask me if I wantna get high. couple of bags down in old town. You tie your arm. Ask me if I wanted to dve to me. Personally, there was no more precious resource in nineteen ninety five than a good song that I could plausibly learn to play on guitar And so it was with strawberry by ever clear. I'm guessing that I interpreted you tie your arm as some sort of high fallutin metaphor about self imprisonments Which I suppose it was. Yikes. Do you think I sang the F bomb near the end of this song? I'm guessing I sang the F bomb and I sang it way too emphatically A Strawberry burnd And long years and a straight ride. They fall up water. Yes, I guess I fucked up again. It's unfortunate Clearly I can picture myself going Yes, I guess I fucked up be at the Cool Beans coffee house. or whatever it was called Yeah, I'm guessing I thought he got strawberry burns sliding into home plates during a little League. Strawberry. B everver Clear. first song I ever sang and played on guitar in public as an eighteen year old, I think. the beginning of my mercifully not long and emphatically not illustrious career singing and playing guitar public. Anybody who's ever bought a CD for seventeen ninety nine c because they liked one song they heard on the radio knows the vital life affirming tremendously relieving experience of finding another good song on that CD To good songs will suffice more than two good songs is ideal, but just two is acceptable. And anybody who's ever tried to sing and play guitar at the same time knows the vital, life affirming, tremendously relieving to you, if not necessarily, to your future listeners experience of finding a good song that you can plausibly learn to play on guitar There weren't many of those songs There weren't enough But there were some And let me just say That Craigslist guys fine AF nineteen ninety nine Toyota Corolla knew what was up. My name is Rob Harviller. this is the second bonus episode of sixty songs that explain the nineties. And this week we are discussing glycerine From their nineteen ninety four album sixixteen Stone. It's pretty much just those four chords B Every time I name the chords in a song specifically, somebody emails me and politely informs me that I got the chords wrong. So let's just say it's four chords and leave it at that But okay, that first chord there is an F. Probably, and historically, I profoundly dislike The F chord, adverbs. My hand would cramp up and I would mutter obscenities Yes I guess I fucked up again. The F chord should be illegal But overall, glycerine was offensively easy to play on guitar, and that is part of why I love it We'll be back after these messages from late capitalism Did you name your teenage car Did you name your first car Bertha or whatever? I didn't, and maybe I should have. Though I did occasionally consider nicknaming my Chrysler L Baron after a nineteen ninety four Neil Young song that I think I only heard on the radio twice. But it made quite an impression on me We b plastic bag a bottom fill In nineteen ninety four, the coolest job I could imagine was to be the guy who yelled Piece of crap in the background of the Neil Young song called Piece of crap. I feel like the term backing vocalist does not suffice to describe what that guy's bringing to the party I might have heard that song on the radio just once, but piece of crap made enough of an impression on me that I still remember that I was driving through the parking lot of a drug marts when I heard it Join us now As we peruse the april eighteenth, nineteen ninety six issue of Rolling Stone magazine featuring on the cover. The somewhat enragingly popular London post grunge rock band Bush who for the first ten years or so anyway, consist of Gavin Rossdale on vocals and rhythm guitar Nigel Pollsford on the lead guitar. Dave Parsons on bass and Robin Goodridge on drums Yes, sir. There's all four guys in Bush Beaming from the cover of no, I'm sorry, that's incorrect. Actually it's just Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale on the cover of Rolling Stone. Lying in bed shirtless and lasciviously biting his thumb and index finger. his legs spread wide enough to accommodate a te set One lump or two, next to the cover line, three million albums. Five hit singles, why won't anyone take Gavin Rossdale seriously I got a few theories. The opening paragraph of Rolling Stone's Bush cover story reads as follows Quote. I'm going to jump him. I swear to God, announces a barely legal girl in a breeder's t shirt as she and her friend rush the stage at New York's CBGB They're hanging from the walls tonight, these young women, risking life and limb in the hope that Gavin Rossdale of Bush will just once Flutter his delicate eyelids their way Rossdale is quite the genetically engineered mid nineties pop star From his casually disaffected pose, to his grainy yearning voice, to his enviable cheekbones and matted locks Gavin, notes Bush manager, Dave Darell, is a musician cursed with a model's face if that's a curse. E quote. Yo Yes, sir. hereere we've got somewhat enragingly handsome and popular London post grunge rock band Bush playing CBGB, the iconic to the point of calcified East Village punk rock mecca that gave the world the Ramones and television and blondie and the talking heads and whatnot Sacrilege Bush, while performing live at CBGB to a cover of pretty vacant by the sex pistols. Double sacrilege I had never actually heard Bush's cover of the nineteen seventy seven Sex pistols Anthem pretty vacant. So I figured we all ought to hear that. That's Bush covering the song live in nineteen ninety five, though I strongly doubt it's from CBGB, but nonetheless Gavin Rossdale can convincingly scream the word vacant But he cannot quite convincingly snear the word vacant. You feel me? in Rolling Stone regarding Bush doing pretty vacant at CBGB, Rollingstone says, quote There's something subtly wrong though, about this reading of the punk anthem The carefully replicated groove is a little too comfortable, and where Johnny Rotten of the seex pistols railed against the world through splintered teeth Rosdale's sullen tones speak of privilege both social and musical. The world accepts him Rossdale, you might think has as much right to be singing pretty vacant as he does to be singing it here at the birthplace of punk rock Then again, he sure is pretty. End quote. Okay, what the fuck, dude There must have s a wing here. We ever find another love Sh I fly Los Angeles Find my assho brother Okay, Bush form in London, England in nineteen ninety two. And some stuff happens They write some songs and play them for people to generally lauditory effect, etcetera. But then I personally become aware of Bush's existence in the fall of nineteen ninety four when their debut album sixteen Stone comes out and I hear the lead single Everything's then on the radio. in my nineteen eighty five Chrysler Learon, while I drove through the parking lot of let's say Denny's. I'm just guessing, but it's a good guess Not the rock and roll Denniess in my town, the other Denniess, the normal Denniess. The exterior of the rock and roll Dennies was chrome plated and it had a jupbox. If there was an additional rock and roll element, to the rock and roll Dennies, I forget. And sitting in my car in nineteen ninety four Within thirty seconds, I am confronted with an existential question that haunts me to this day Is Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale? Good lyricist. Are these good lyrics? There must be something we can eat Maybe find another lover Should I fly to Los Angeles Find my asshole brother. Are you compelled B these seemingly disconnected words These fragmented images, are you intrigued Do desire more information about Gavin's asshole brother? Are you intrigued when I tell you Th in interviews, Gavin Rossdale frequently cited is a major influence Superstar, beat generation poet Alan Ginsburg Does Gavin Rossdale name dropping Alan Ginsburg impress you Or does Gavin Rossdale name dropping Allan Ginsburg cause you to mentally or physically make a jerking off motion? Here's a simpler question Ever heard of David Bowie My Mascar Im a cow It' s down C' a kiss in the ro you. I'm just guessing, but it's a good guess that I did not immediately realize that the line Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow is a direct quote. of the nineteen seventy one David Bowie cllassic life on Mars. sacrilege and therefore the second line Dave's on sale again. That also made no sense to me. Did Gavin Rossdale just refer to David Bowie as Dave Double sacrilege, but I'm guessing I vibed pretty hard with Gavin's last line there We're so bored, you're to blame. That's a universal suullllen teenager type statement. But that's also recognizably a very nineteen ninety four specific sentiment. We're so bored, you're to blame What does that remind me of? All right, it reminds me of here we are now, entertain us. Have I mentioned yet that basically half of Rolling Stone's Bush cover story concerns Gavin Rossdale's alleged possible romantic relationship with Courtney Love and that the headline of Bush's Rolling Stone cover story is Nirvana Wannabees One word Nirvana Wannabees. That's pretty rude Man, did you immediately realize that this line from Everything'sZen is basically quoting Jane's addiction I didn't. Sacrilege There's no sex in virus No sex at no hard. It's no sassin s fess it over No, I am not aware sitting in my Chrysler Laron Digesting the moons over my hamy. I just ate at Denny's just guessing. That when Gavin Rossdale sings, There's no sex in your violence a dozen times or so during everythingverything's in, he's kind of quoting the nineteen eighty eight James addiction song, Ted Ca just admit it dot dot dot, where this happens And if you wanted to be bitchy about it which lots of people did. you could say that Perry Ferrell of Jane's addiction singing sex is violent sounds notably sexier and exponentially more violent Gavin Rossdale of Bush singing, There's no sex in your violence. The haters insisted that there is simply not enough violence. Gavin Rossdales se I am sixteen years old and reading the nineteen ninety six Bush cover story in Rolling Stone magazine. and I am always starting to truly understand that an extremely popular rock band that I'm super into personally can be widely regarded as hopelessly uncool. Adverbs, a quick summary of recent rock history. Nirvana Smells like Teen Spirit comes out in nineteen ninety one And the world changes overnight Blah bl bl bl bl Grudge blows up. Underground eighties college rock mutates into super mainstream nineties alternative rock The Bzbin, Lala Palusz, etceter distorted guitars quQuiet verses and loud choruses, sardonic, smirking lyrics. the at least vaguely implied presence of sex and or violence and very consciously, Publicly, with all these hot new alternative rock bands, there is a taxonomy, a hierarchy a crowdsourced emotional ranking And most importantly, just an ambient sense of which of these bands are cool, Nirvana was, and which of these bands aren't cool. Bush ain't. Bush are an English rock band inadvertently named after the super uncool and very recently not reelected former presidents of the United States Bush are critically unaclaimed It says right here in Rolling Stone that according to most critics, Bush are, quote A bunch of lightweight Anglo Avists, that's French, feeding off a scene with decade deep underground roots According to this view, REM, Sonic Youth and the Pixies did not slog around the eighties college circuit in unheated vans to make the world safe for a bunch of MTV confections like Bush Or for that matter, candlebox, Better than Ezra, Collective Soul, Songe and Silver chair. End quote, Silver chair. Excuse me a second. You want the mother of all rock songs that sound better, the shittier your car is Hit it, boys. From their nineteen ninety five debut album Frog Stomp, one word. and that album's got five good songs total. Here we have the Australian teenage rock band silverchair, one word, with their suspiciously Kobanian breakout hit tomorrow. When you buy a new car and you first drive it off the lot When you exit the car dealership, your car immediately loses half its value. When tomorrow by silver chair comes on your car radio, your new car loses the other half of its value. It's a great song though, so it's a fair trade By nineteen ninety five, we've lost Kurt Cobain. We've lost Nirvana And maybe we've already lost the whole moments, the whole grunge moments. The whole alternative rock moments But we're all soldiering on anyway. And by the mid nineties, we rolling stone subscribers at least are painfully aware of who the cool rock bands are and who the cool rock bands ain't Pearl Jam, cool. Stone Temple pilot, uncool Sound Garden, cool, candlebx, uncool The breeders cool, seven Mry three, uncool. However This taxonomy is painfully clear to me as I read about these bands. But there is no such coolness divide between these bands when I'm listening to ten straight hours of alternative rock radio. On the radio, all these bands more or less sound the same to me, which is to say they all sound Awesome Bush song Little Things sounds phenomenal on my Chrysler Le Baron's fuzzed out radio. Little Things is a remarkably grouchy and moody and aggressive and yes, violent song What with the little things tearing at Gavin's brains again, But it's PG thirteen violence at worst. It's Bevus and buthead frog baseball violence. It's rousing, but somehow not disturbing Already by nineteen ninety four I am becoming the sort of person too squeamish to watch horror movies. So I'll just read the plot summaries of horror movies on Wikipedia once somebody gets around to inventing Wikipedia. And thus the sanitized groatiness of little things caters to my personal squeamishness I like this song It seems to me that everyone likes this song and moreover, everyone owns this CD. Everyone owns the Bush album sixteen Stone Sixteen Stone, by the way, works out to two hundred and twenty four pounds and I did not weigh two two hundred and twenty four pounds in high school. And I don't weigh that now. Everyone's got this CD in their personal driver's side visor booklet. Steen Stone peaks at number four on the billboard album chart and has already sold three million copies in America by the time Gavin Rossdale's serving tea on the cover of Rolling Stone in nineteen ninety six. In that cover story, Gavin says, quote The criticism of us is built on a fear of what people didn't predict. of something that might actually be worthy of their attention. I probably have more criticisms of our music than people who don't like us. But even if we stop tomorrow Three million people who've bought this album. And three million people can't be complete morons. People feel stuff Even if they connect with one phrase, they connect with it. So maybe there is something real about us end quote, Are you referring Gavin to the line in little things that goes, I touch your mouth. My willie is food This allow it Is Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale a good lyricist Are these good lyrics? As a teenage amateur rock critic, my impulse is to say that I touch your mouth, My willyious food is objectively bad. If there iss any subtext to that line Keep me out of it, right? Right. But as a teenager with a used car, my impulse is to say that addicted to love, I'm addicted to bullshit is an objectively frigin awesome line Any rock song that lets you sing along to a twenty pound swear word is automatically great The Bush album sixteen Stone has, let's see here, one, two, three, four, five, six, at least six good songs Alien, the moody base driven penulttimate semi power ballad, is the least radio friendly good song on the first Bush record. Whereas this obviously is the most radio friendly good song on the first Bush record. Machine head. That is the song from the first Bush record most likely to instantly, miraculously change your mood when that opening guitar riff comes on the radio. I've got captions on on YouTube. And when I started watching the machine head video just now, the captions in parentheses said energetic grunge rock music. I concur. You are most likely ecstatic to hear Bush's machine head Sold out hockey arena crowds tend to be ecstatic. when a machine head comes on. I bet the chorus a machine He would have been pretty easy to learn to play on guitar. If I'd ever bothered Trying How hard could that have been to play really? Honestly, what are Bush songs about Are they about anything Does it matter? Talking to the website song factacts in twenty seventeen, Song factacts, a splendid publication predicated on the idea that songs can have facts Gavin Rossale says, quote There's always got to be something within there threads of things. but I like that sort of Ginsburgy stream of consciousness approach to words rather than say country songwriting, where there are narratives and stories and places and names and descriptions That's a specific approach, and I've never related to that because for me, it tied things down too much I like broader stories. It doesn't always have to be time and place and descriptions End quote. This is about as straightforward as Gavin's going to get Lyrically. W this what what Come down, one word is easily the second best song on the first Bush album. I think I can confirm that that escalating series of y there. Yeah, yeah, yeah sounded transcendent on a busted car stereo. And it's taken me all this time to find out what I need is as plain spoken as I think you want Gavin Rossdale to get If you ask for anything more lyrically straightforward, this dude's going to start talking about his willillie again I've never thought too hard about the fact that Bh are English Bush are from London. Bush are a rock band from London who put out their blockbuster debut album in nineteen ninety four, the same year, Brit Pop blew up. The same year Oasis put out deffinitely maybe and Blur put out park life And yet, Bush are the least Bit pop sounding British band imaginable. Bush are the most American sounding British band imaginable the muscle c distorted guitars, the hockey arena bluster, the echoes andor name drops of Kurt Cobain and Alan Ginsburg and Tom Waites and Jane's addiction. In fact, the most British thing about Bush is that sometimes in interviews, Gavin Rossdale talked shit about blur Talking to the independent in nineteen ninety seven, in response to the question, what are Bush about? Do they have an aim, a theme? Gavin Rossdale says, quote The only theme I can think of is like like tryrying to find a way through it all We want people to identify with our confusion Confusion about how you feel Wh you're going, what your part is and stuff That's why I couldn't understand the hugeness of blur. Their stuff was always sort of contrived It wasn't really about where they were at or what they thought about stuff. E quote, That's rude. That's roote and also funny. Do you think it's possible that Gavin Rossdale of Bush was talking shit about blur in nineteen ninety seven because he writes Bush songs super sincerely, whereas the nineteen ninety seven blur hit song two sounds like blur trying to sounds like Bush as a shit talking joke. I think it's possible this is why Bush doesn't like blur. Wh Yeah! I'll tell you one thing. you play machine head and song two back to back at a hockey game and you're guaranteed two hat tricks and a goalie fight. I'll tell you another thing. I was pretty thoroughly confused as a teenager in nineteen ninety four and I gravitated toward rock music that could make my confusion sound beautiful and romantic Profound and stuff And I don't mind telling you that every time this song came on my car radio My soul sang Wh M be your skin sk M be feel real now I can feel I int mind. It's not my kind. It's not my time to know why. If you're watching, you may have observed that the glycerine video is like seventy percent Close ups of Gavin Rossdale It's a very cheek bones forward video. And much like the cover of Rolling Stone, there ain't no other member of Bush insight. He's a handsome fella Gavin is and visually in all their music videos, Bush operates like a band fully aware of the fact that their lead singer is a handsome fella. Glycerine is the fourth single released from the Bush album, Sixteen Stone Alt Rck radio wise usedsed car wise, this song did not immediately feel as dominant, as omnipresent as everything's in or little things are come down or machine head But glycerine charted the highest, number twenty eight on the hot one hundred. and it's got the most Spotify streams now And also, this is a less scientific measurement, but nonetheless, every single amateur guitar player From nineteen ninety five onward has attempted to play Glycerine. There's a song fact for you. You know what else? Every single amateur guitar player from nineteen ninety five onward has succeeded in playing glycerine. It's easy. It's just four chords, basically F and three other chords. There's a bridge too to Glycerine, but if you forget the bridge or it's too hard to play, just skip it. It doesn't matter. The greatness of glycerine cannot be extricated from the flgrant simplicity Glycerine I don't mean this ugly, but the lyrics to glycerine mostly don't matter. I did in mind, it's not my kind, it's not my time to wonder why.es't particularly mean anything. It doesn't have to mean anything Only those four chords matter. their dependability, their accessibility, no Bluetooth, no sunroof, no fancy wheels. But that's not to say that Bush are the Toyota Corolla of rock bands and Glycerine is the Toyota Corolla of Bush songs. The magic trick of Glycerine is that it is an insultingly easy song to play, but it still radiates a vague, mysterious mystical complexity Glycerine somehow transforms a Toyota Corolla into a space shuttle I' never know He Sts Eraordary field That's as close as this song comes to being directly profound lyrically We live in a wheel where everyone steals, but when we rise, it's like strawberry fields. Talking to the website, Rock sound in twenty twenty four, Gavin Rossdale explains it like this This lyric essentially outlines how shitty the world is Strawberry Fields is not only a place in Liverpool, but it's been eulogized by the Beatles That phrase sums up the balance of life I still think that life is terrible. But there are also all these amazing things within it Everyone is struggling with something And you never know what somebody's dealing with that day I'm not a pessimist. I'm an optimist, but I'm surrounded by loss bereavement and people that break. Because of that, when I get all these wonderful times, I celebrate those End quote, The world is shitty and life is terrible, but sometimes the perfect song comes on the radio and suddenly you're ecstatic for the next four minutes Tand the t is good. Dig the cello. Love the cello. That's the chorus. The chorus is mostly the same four chords, but you just play them a little harder and more passionately Glycerine is about a girlfriend. Right an ex girlfriend. Gavin Rossdale talked about it on Howard Stern in nineteen ninety five right before playing the song I knew that. I didn't know that, but I figured it was an ex girlfriend thing. But it doesn't matter. Glycerine is not an ex girlfriend song to me. It's canonically a car radio song in an aspiring guitarist song Glycerine is a song you hear on your car radio and then attempt to play at your high school talent show It's either that or plush. by stone Temple pilots and Plush has got way more chords. Glycerine is a pessimistic power ballad that radiates enough optimism that you might convince yourself you can sing it and play it in public, and maybe you can. plus maybe you can write a song this simple and transcendent someday and become a rock star yourself. maybe. Definitely you can't Sorry. Bush will never be this huge again We will never be this young again. Sorry. For the next trick, Bush will put out an album in nineteen ninety six called Razor Blade Suitcase prodrouced by famed, off putting misanthropic grumpist Steve Albini. genius super producer for the Pixies and Nirvana and so forth. And indeed For those of you still emotionally invested in what nineties alt rock stole from eighties college rock Razor bllade suitcase sounds more like the Pixies than Nirvana ever did Just wanted to be myself. Yeah, you did. That song is called Swallowed and it sounds like the breeders actually and it totally rules. But any blithe comparisons to other bands, That's the bitchy rock critic in me talking And what I prize about glycerine specifically is how clearly I can still sense The confused, ecstatic used Chrysler Laron owning teenager in me. notot talking at all, just feeling. Nostalgia does not operates with the precision of a fancy rear view camera Nope Nostalgia is just a transparent rear window But fortunately, you have a fucking neck that can turn Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our dear friend, Yasi Soalk, host of Bandsplain, podcast super genius, international icon ninety scholar Health influencer My work daughter and friend to all. Yasi, thank you for gracing us with your presence. Dad, it's such a pleasure to be back even though only for you Will I come to this scary Guantanamo studio cave and put on these horribly unflattering headphones that is really giving Um, What's the brother and something about Mary Warren That That's a deep poull right there. Your computer is blocking your shirt, which is a Mickey mouse shirt. Are you wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt because of the Mickey Mouse' growown up a cow line? No Although I coordinating It did occur to me that that was a beautiful synergy. although I'm sure as you know as a deep scholar, that's a David Bowie reference. Right, Yes. you can't really make fun of that because then you know That's you'd be making fun of David Bo. Exactly Okay, thank you for being here. Thank you for being in the Guantanamo cave on my behalf. I feel terrible. This is where they keep great Podcters actually at the ring. That they don't know that live here. they don't let us go Probably for probably the best for everybody. you Described Glycerine by Bush as one of the top ten crying alone in my room. songs and I wanted to ask to start off What is it about this song that provokes such a strong reaction? When you cry to glycerine, what are you crying about? Why does this song make you cry First of all, thank you so much for being the historian documentarian of the most embarrassing things I've ever said U like having it, you know, being normal, keeping a list crying songs and been talking about it publicly. I just I find this song very emotionally evocative. It's very sad, it's very tender. There is a sense of resignation No But is this ninety four And yes throws me back to being twelve where I was sad all the time So ye, yeah. part of it is probably just like memory of nostalgia of the saddest time of my life. Teenage anngst just paid off well. Yes, exactly. I turned out fine. I'm a podcastran But everything went according to his plan. Best case scenario. Yes, yes You don't have to name all ten, but do you know offhand any of your other top ten crying alone in my room songs? Do you have like a physical ranking? Unfortunately down anyw. The truth is is way more than ten, so I'll just the b. It's more like two It's the hot one hundred crying alone and pretty much It could be like, you know, you can do a twenty four hour stint if you wanted to U All right, let's let's go. God of wine, thirird eye bllind, grounded. Yeah ye by pavement. Also Zurk is stained by pavement. The thismortalZur is stained is interesting. Grounded Just hold me back or let me run I get it. I get it This mortal coils anyy other play dogs. Um no G straight, they might have been MB of course and back A of the scientist, we don't have all day. Oh that's all That's true. But that's the healthy cross section of Sad ninety's most genre agnostic, I think. That's right, That's right For me personally, like at my high school, I was what? I was sixteen when Glycerine came out. And this all was legitimately famous among terrible amateur guitar players as being a song that you could actually learn to play on guitar, right? It's mostly four chords. Like the greatness is tied up in its accessibility. Like did you get any kind of that vibe Not at all famously, I cannot play guitar. So I don't I didn't none of that made it through my thick skull. Actually are like when I did try to play guitar, the song that was like presented as you two can play this is bllack by Pearl Jam. Did you not have that as well I did not know. 'cause I do think it's similarly just like a few things. I say That feels don't know less repetitive to me, but thinking about it, I can see that. I'm sure that most alternative rock songs, if you want to be totally blunt about it, are pretty accessible. Like that we're not talking about King Crimsony tootally in general. genre wise. I never tried to play I tried to play u Daughteright? And that was too hard.. You have a guitar right there behind you. Do you want to pick it up and strum a few. I do not No, that is a decorative guitar. That is actually that's actually made out of cake, You know, that yeah,'s not it's. Did you that song out your in your high school coffee shop open mic circuit In college, you know the pearl jam song I played in college was wish list I what like off ofld I'm cool. I'm not like I'm Very cool. Yeah. I was exactly like other girls. I don't think I ever did glycerine. or any other Bush song in any kind of open mic night situation. I made several terrible errors, but that was not one of them. I don't want to that That would have worked for me. You long I'm presuming, I don't want to presume, but you're probably long monologue, but did you have an emotional connection with glycerine I did, yes. It wasn't a crying alone in my room song, but I understood I connected to like this deep yearning romantic thing with it. The cello, I think helped a lot strings Right. And I something about its simplicity, there was a hypnotic quality for me with it that really set it apart from the rest of the album and the rest of any other busush song. So it wasn't like super emotional for me, but I did sort of vibe with it on a semi romantic level. And I just remember it as a song like you do like a talent show, a high school talent show Like you either try to do glycerine or you try to do plush by stone pilots. Those are your two options. if you've been playing guitar for like to wee I think success. A really ugly twelve year old with a unibrown frizzballs and some light L to moderate acne and you were like, no one will ever love me the way Gavin Rosdale loves the subject of this song Okay. It hits different if you know what I mean. I see, I see. justust as a hypothetical situation that sounds terrible. soundserrible U That sort of dovetails with my real question today, which is like when you go back and you read Bushes press in the mid days like Rolling Stone, as you do as you do U All of the interviews and reviews of Bush are about how hot Gavin Rossdale is and how his hotness is the reason Bush are successful, but it's also disqualifying Right? Like he's so hot that his band is popular, but he's too hot Cool. Almost I would just do you have any particular opinion about Gavin Rossdale's hotness and how it affects public perception? I have a lot of opinions on Gavin Rosdle's hot. I bet you do. Listen, what I'll say is himbos have interiority also. Yes. You know, hashtag, not all Himbos. and I feel that that's disrespectful a really good looking at that Okay. As a person who's often marginalized for my good looks Likewise, like you know, Yes. ye. I stand with. We feel just we g it. You know what I mean? That's how I felt. Thisis pain Was he the preeminent Himbo of that era? Like I guess Chris Cornell And Eddie Vedter. like that like they were Hbos. They weren't really Himbos, right? Like I feel like Gavin, don't you feel like There was some and this is just probably perception. I don't know these men personally or never knew them, but there was like some perceived like intellectualism to Eddie Vedter and some like deep well of political grief and pain with Chris Cornell, and I think maybe perhaps Gavin Rosell wasn't afforded such luxuries Okay, that's true He was Scott W saed is maybe Travis Scott We, O of course. of course. Yes The Rolling Stone Bush cover story describes Bush as Nirvana Wannabes One word, which is not a word I have ever encountered in any other. I would actually did Nirvana be it. You know what I mean? Like there was such an off. Nirvanabe. that's yeah. Nirvana Wannabe's That's a distressingly long especially in like headline font. It was like, I think it was in curursive as well for some reason. Like it was a scripted headline fod. Did you personally feel that Bush sounded like Nirvana? And if so, did you hold it against them? You know, the way that people held it against Stone Temple pilots that they saiddly p did Bush seem Like they were ripping anyone el I didn't think they sounded like Nirvana, but again, I'm I was twelve, so I didn't really have access to like the record store clerk level of like music snobbery to be like, That's too bad. This is really missed out. Authentic. Yeah. you know, like I was just kind of like, what an embarrassment of riches that I get so much alternative. The mzbin overflow it. Do you know what I mean? That's right. It wasn't until later that I was able to perhaps make some more interesting distinctions. Although I will say it's like Nirvana was like, that was my husband. I was married to those albums. I listened to them all the way through, whatever. I didn't have the same relationship with Bush Right. Okay. didid you guys something Did you buy that CD like probably in nineteen ninety four or pretty close? Were you immediately on the Bush bandwagon as a twelve year old? buy the CD did City. Yeah, for sure, because I was a devotee to KROQ, KarC, the best alternative rock station in the history of the world andes they were bumping the singles and I was like, yeah Okay, here is, I think the major point of contention today, I suspect. Yasi is Gavin Rossdale A good. Lyricist Yes or no. Okay, I'm going to say it again, Himbos have interiority too. Okaykay. Okay. you I feel that This is You know, we live in a wheel where everyone steals. So when we rise, it's like strawberry fields. And need you to understand, once again, I'm twelve This is fucking Yats guys far as I'm concerned. Sure. This is Riner Maria Rilke to my young years. I don't know what else is going on. So maybe, you know, maybe Yes, maybe this is kids bop Nirvana. I don't know. It's accessible to the youth I do, you know, I think there was some nice lyrics I'm never alone. I'm alone all the time That shows some depth It does Interesting. I think that's an unfair, you know unfair criticism of Gavin Rosdell I think that The thing of him, like they're not narrative songs and he said this very explicitly. likeike he was, it's like Inch Consecutive line does not connect necessarily. and that can lead you if you're being uncharitable to thinking that he's just rhyming shit kind of, but just there's a free associative sort of quality that I think he's going for. you know, that I think maybe I'm just not giving him enough credit you know, for what he's trying to do versus what I am used to you know, Eddie Vter or anybody else doing, which is telling a story about Jeremy or whatever it is. likeike he is Gvin Rossdale is not telling a story in any kind of coherent way. and we shouldn't hold that against him in addition to his handsomeness. Yeah, I don't I mean like I don't think the lyrics probably hold up to scrutiny in the way that like even Nirvano lyrics had a lot of sort of like coded messages and hidden, you know things in them But That's not everyone is the same. What do you think I think that I appreciate H more lyrically now. It was very easy for me in nineteen ninety four to just sort of chortle at I touch your mouth, My willy is food and then move on with my day, right? Like there's a handful of clunkers Like even everything' in Yeah, I was going say what do you think there's no sex in your violence means Have you thought about that lately? O for the last I've been thinking about that a for a very long time. I mean, I didn't understand at the time, certainly that it's like Jane's addiction adjacent, right? You know, And so it would be pretty important to understand that first of all. and I did not understand that when I was sixteen. Like I just I figured that he wanted to sing the words sex and violence on the radio you know, like fifteen times because he figured that would be cool. And I didn't I didn't disagree with him. But I did not find him profound in the way that I would have said I found like Billy Cor. for example. But again, you know, the handsomeness, I think really really distracted me and that's that's on me. Water of chick buns. That's a lot of chick buns. It's really really aggressive cutb. I would say like Only Richard Ashcroft really rivals the cheekbones Amongst nineties rockers, I'm not thinking of anybody else with cheek bones as striking as Well, I mean, there was like Damon Albarn. There were some pretty beautiful men plucking about in the alternative rock space Yes. Lucky luckily for us Luckily for us, absolutely How does sixteen Stone, you know the first alm especially stack up for you now? Like there were so many records out in nineteen ninety four that were so gigantic, but like Listening to this record now, it's like a greatest hits album, right? It's like E everything's Z machine had come down Glycerine. likeike there's so many huge radio hits on this one record. Like should we be seeing sixteen stonone? on way more best albums of the night l I just like I don't ever put this album on. And it's not because it's not good. it's just that's exactly what you said. It's like an album that is like led is forward leaning with its singles And I love the singles, but I don't actually have I don't know if you do. so like Actually, I'm kind of more I'm partial to razor bllade suitcase. W I to go back even though it has less you know, big ass hits on it as like a listening experience, I prefer that album For the Steve Albini of it all, for like the super charged Pixies I think I wonder about I mean, like The thing is the crunch, the guitar crunch on sixteteen Stone is like so aggressive, it's almost like suffocating to listen to the entire thing Yeah And that's toned down on the Albini produced razor bllade suitcase Um Yeah, I think You know, I wonder I wanted to ask you because I was like Steen Lbini produced sixty million albums and very few of them sound like the Pixies. So it's like, and it wasn't really in my understanding and maybe in your understanding too his want to like impose anything upon the material brought in. Like he was just like I'm going to make the drum sound cool. Like it's, you know, so like Let to assume if it sounds like the Pixies's because Gavin Ross still wrote the songs to sound like the Pixies That's probably why he brought it Steve Albi. And Steve Albi just did what he does, which just make it sound good. Yes, absolutely. I do think that Gavin Rossdale said a lot in interviews that his two favorite records were Doolittle and Surfer Rosa. Like you know, just saying that you love the Pixies is sort of what you did as a nineties rock star, but I do think he extra publicly Loved the pixies. And so no, I absolutely agree with you. likeike swallowed for example, feels so breeders to be like the baseline like it's gigantic. It sounds like gigantic on purpose, I always assume. It's one of the best songs that's ever existed. So thank you to the breeders. Thank you to Seve Albini of you know, Gavin Rosdell's lyrics that is yeah, a little simplistic that I love just want to be myself They said you would love to try some. They said you would love to die some You know do you know that Gavin DGas song that was the theme song for One Tree Heill ague I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. I just really like that thematics in the song. Just like, I don't wantan to be anything other than what I've been trying to be really like Yes Is one tree hill is one tree Hill the show where the dog ate That's The heart. That was meant to be transplanted into the bad guy who was the father of one of the basketball players Wot onene of the best moments. Was there a song playing Was that wasas there song playing during that scene playing. That's a great question. I don't remember because I haven't watched it in a while. It's really an incredible show. I believe it's like low key religious Hm It sounds like a You two song. It is a YouT song. Yeah. Right. There we go. But it's a better. It's a YouTube song because it's a biblical reference Anyways, sorry that we've meandered back in God's light here, if you will, to talk about one tree health. just I love Swallowed and I think it's a wonderful song and you're right. I just look I know I'm being a bit of a busush apologist at and somehow Mmh. Right, right. Only Kk Cobain can copy the pixies I yes. onnce again we go you were mad You were mad when he caubed Nirvana. Dcrimin. And then he went to the source material. The source, right? The grand to the grandfather But no one is evera It's never going to sound like the Pixies. Even you can listen to Razor Blade suitcase until your ears bleed that doesn't sound like the pixies because no one's voice is like Frank Blacks. Gavin Roosevelld is always going to sound like drooming nineties Busbon hero. you know, he's never going to sound weird and, you know, nefarious and pererhaps criminal the away Frank Flexon Yes To answer your question, when I listen to sixixteen Stone now, I do have an emotional connection with like the non radio songs which I think of as the non radio songs, right? Like I can feel my brain turning off and on You know, it's like everything's in like, yes, yes. And then there's a couple, you know, one or two songs that I don't care about as much and then like little things or whatever. likeike I'm very attuned So which of these saongs have been on the radio and which haven't? Like this is a classic album that I bought for twenty dollars because I heard the radio singles, you know, and I kept listening to it all the way through even if I only wanted to hear the songs I was already hearing on the radio. So it is as a full track list, it's important. We have like a Pavlov's dog, I feel like reaction to these songs. like There's just no way for me to hear Uh You know, there's no sex and violence or whatever and I not be like, hm There you go. You were twelve. For machine h man Let should be in her. Better than the rest That was a very funky reading of Machine head. I know that song now is like a hockey arena.. I got a little veter with it on that one. I'm sorry. It's a very dude's rock moment as far as I'm concerned You have interviewed Gavin Rossdale. That's right Personally for twenty four question party people. You talked to him for like an hour plus about cold plunges. It seems like you really got along. likeike what insight would you say you gained into him? And do you think he really liked you Okay, hard to say I was like reflecting back and I was like, I feel I gained no insight. It was like staring into the sun. The way I remembered it, I felt that we didn't connect at all and that He didn't laugh at any of my jokes, which again, I'm not, you know The funniest person in the world I'm not Jerry Lee Lewis. You're up But I don't know why that's the one that came to. I' just went back to the fuck in nineteen sixties. But wow, that's your standard for humor. It's good to know. The only comedians I could think of are like deeply canceled. and I was like, donon't say those names. Okay anyways. I was like But one or two should have landed, but I think nothing was. Yeah, I get you. However he was he's serious. suuper lovely and nice. Absolutely a lovely person. He did, I think at some point ask me if I was familiar with a band and it was like the psychedelic furs or something. and I was like I was like, explain. He doesn't know your game Yeah he may be unfamiliar with your game. A lovely man problem. A lovely man who is also devoted to infrared saamas and cold plunges and Yes. I believe he lokes to cook. I think he made a cooking show A little bit after that . It was a cooking show. I had celebrities on it kidding. I'll have to check that out. That's Wonder what Gavin Rossdle's specialty is culinary This is Iice British, so it's rough now. Never mind. Yeah I was going to ask ask actually, like you did a full Brit pop season and like it had never occurred to me that sixteen Sone is nineteen ninety four, right? This is when Brit pop blows up Definitely maybe park life, like Bush are the least English sounding English rock bands I can immediately think of Like do you register this band as English particularly in any sense No, not at all. and from what I understand from my research, neither did England. L I feel like they like didn't exist within the context of Gpop like in London, they were like I don't know her, Gavin Rosdle. We her. They're like, it's such just interesting like inversion whereas there was these bands like Sede who were so massive within right. you know, the world of British indie rock and could not be arrested in America. and then there was Bush who was like blowing up in America, which everyone band wants. And in their hometown, everyone was like, oh, that's Gwen Stefani's boyfriend. Like That's literally how people have described it to me. they were like, we've never heard of these people in our life. Who is that? man? There's like some I actually looked it up because I thought it wouldd be funny. There's a couple of articles from back then I think there's one in Telegraph in ninety five And then the headline is, how come an unknown British band are so big in the US Do you think that's by design? nineteen ninety seven No, I think I read I kind of read up on it. It was like they got signed by an American manager who like had heard They had one song I'm sure you talked about this year model I'm so sorry to retad that honky Man child that was like doing well That was their like kind of first song that did well a little bit on like local radio in London. And even like some of the other labels, like food, which was Blur's label, had heard that song. they're like, Noah, I don't know And this one guy who I think had been George Michaels manager is American was like Okay, I'll sign them And he signed them and then just like he He's American. so he serviced it to America and it got on KROck So it went straight to Kok didn't go anywhere within like the melody maker eneme system. and that's what happened betteret I don't well, don't I don't wantan to be, you know Jingoistic or whatever, but like bigger market for monetary purposes It is to my great shame that I have never heard the words Honky man child in sequence before I have no idea what you're tal. I chose to It's actually I think you should go back and redo your monologue because I think the people' going to scrap the entire thing. The people deserve to hear you say honky Man child multiple times. I'm just going to say Hwkey man childild again right now and that's going to have to suffice because I chose to to Have Bush come into my brain fully formed in nineteen ninety four when I was sixteen. Like I decided not to care about anything. that happened prior to my hearing Everything's in on the radio. and I have aired tremendously because I don't have any idea what Honwky Man Child is and now I wish that I knew.ome homework now B I do, I absolutely do U justust to wrap up, I believe you mentioned it's, I think you were talking when you were talking with Gavin, maybe in your your your monologue, like that you you were in line to get busush tickets at Tower Records like in nineteen ninety four. And then you've seen them Bush, I think in the last couple years. likeike how does this band hold up live? And what impact do you see the song Glycerine still having on a live audience now Well First of all, we used to be a proper country Secondly RIP power records Yes, okay, that's right. Yeah I saw them Yeahah, I saw them I wantan to say it was like two or three years ago at the Greek there U the songs still go so hard, bab Um, sounded, you know Again, P I was the Pavlvs dog, Rough rough, you know, like it's on and I'm vibing. But I had a grand old time. I'll tell you what, even though I was sat in some pretty knowoses bledy seates and it's fine. I'm fine. I don't have an ego I guess not. Okay.'s I've always admired that about you. That whatone could going. you don't need to be in the VIP. you know, It doesn't affect your I just wanted to see a thing or two, but that's okay.ing. you wanted to see him. could I'm sure cheekbones were still perfectly visible. You can see them from the moon. Yeah, those The aliens are gonna speak about them in their times Yes I Is there anything else you'd like to add about Gavin Rossdale, the person, Bush, the band or Glycerine, the song? I believe that was all I had, but I want to make sure that you I wanted to say say a thing that I cannot remember if there's a word for this and maybe you'll know because you're a scholar and a gentleman U But for when something sounds like the word, it's not on aonopia But it's do you mean homophone? Sure. Okay, okay. I feel like this one of the greatest things about glycerin is it sounds viscous and sticky and like you're stuck and you're trying to move through thickness the way that the word is, which is obviously, you know by design. But I think, you know, again, while I was thinking Gavin Rossale was made her a realkay when I was twelve I wasn't putting two and two together on that one Sure. Okay. I doff my cap is what I say for that I see, I see Well, Id doff my cap to you, Yasi, for appearing on this program once again and sharing your wisdom. and it's always great to talk to you. especially about these rock bands. honor and my pleasure. Don't let the days go by couldould have been easier on you Have you done this? wanted to? No, I really should though. I couldn't change though I wanted to, babe That That line goes so hard, you know? Who amongks us doesn't want to hear that from a cheekboned Himbo who wred us H cheeap bone himbo. Having never been wronged by a cheeapbone himbo, I can't necessarily relate, but I can see why that would be. I guess that's all I have to say. Okay Thank you, s Thanks, Rob Thanks very much to our guest this week, Yasi Soalk Thanks to our producers, Olivia Cy, Juliana Ress, Justin Ses, and Chris Sutton Additional Prodion by Kevin Pooler. Animations and graphics by Chris Callatin Additional Art by Matt James and special thanks to Cole Kushna. And thanks so much to you for listening And now let's all go listen to Glycerine Boy We'll see you soon