I was living in England from 1993 to 2007, and Bush was almost completely ignored by the music press (NME and Melody Maker). At the time, Brit Pop and "Cool Britannia" were a source of National Pride. Paul Weller was the "elder statesman," and The Stone Roses were the coolest of cool. Bush, tho, made music that sounded American. Their guitars were more crunchy, they used more distortion pedals, they had longer hair and prettier faces, and you couldn't hear their accent. As US teens were still getting drunk on grunge, and Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins had risen to the top, Bush found their place alongside bands like the Stone Temple Pilots. And, the British music press almost completely disregarded and disrespected them for it. In their eyes, they "sold out," and because of it, they happily gave them to America.
Thanks for the perspective. Be curious to know about Catherine Wheel as well. They seemed to fit into the shoegaze movement on Ferment, but slowly moved toward louder guitars on Chrome and then fully embraced hard rock on Happy Days, only to drift toward Pink Floyd expansiveness on Adam & Eve.
Yeah, that may be the case with CW. When I arrived in London, it was also at the same time that Shoegaze was receiving very little coverage in the NME and Melody Maker (I think those bands struggled to be noticed or written about once grunge exploded), and Britpop was the talk of the town. The Stone Roses were perceived as gods and saviors of British guitar music!
I know that Swervedriver fell into a similar trap (sounding more American because they had a rockier edge to them).
I was living in England from 1993 to 2007, and Bush was almost completely ignored by the music press (NME and Melody Maker). At the time, Brit Pop and "Cool Britannia" were a source of National Pride. Paul Weller was the "elder statesman," and The Stone Roses were the coolest of cool. Bush, tho, made music that sounded American. Their guitars were more crunchy, they used more distortion pedals, they had longer hair and prettier faces, and you couldn't hear their accent. As US teens were still getting drunk on grunge, and Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins had risen to the top, Bush found their place alongside bands like the Stone Temple Pilots. And, the British music press almost completely disregarded and disrespected them for it. In their eyes, they "sold out," and because of it, they happily gave them to America.
Thanks for the perspective. Be curious to know about Catherine Wheel as well. They seemed to fit into the shoegaze movement on Ferment, but slowly moved toward louder guitars on Chrome and then fully embraced hard rock on Happy Days, only to drift toward Pink Floyd expansiveness on Adam & Eve.
Yeah, that may be the case with CW. When I arrived in London, it was also at the same time that Shoegaze was receiving very little coverage in the NME and Melody Maker (I think those bands struggled to be noticed or written about once grunge exploded), and Britpop was the talk of the town. The Stone Roses were perceived as gods and saviors of British guitar music!
I know that Swervedriver fell into a similar trap (sounding more American because they had a rockier edge to them).