Loading ...After a proud decade of fighting the flow, screaming “but I love Jesus Lizard!” and working with indie metal vets, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale has sucked it up and is finally dishing out some Cook rock. Maybe he was tired of Gwen Stefani bouncing a kid on her lap and looking bored while he played his demos to her. Maybe he hoped people would yell for a ballad other than “Glycerine” at shows. Either way, I’m guessing we won’t see another album from Institute, the band of Helmet and Rival Schools vets that put out an album in 2005.
Anyone remember Institute’s contribution to the Stealth soundtrack? Hell, anyone remember Stealth?
I kind of feel sorry for the dude. He’s actually a pretty decent riff writer, but his vocals became a satire of themselves almost immediately. Chasing his muse, he’s had about as much chance of a profitable solo career as Julian Casablancas would. But if he tones down the poetry and gives Jimmy Iovine the ballads he wants, his debut solo album WANDERlust could probably do fine against David Cook and Daughtry. He’s at least ten years older than those dudes and he still looks pretty good.
Gavin Rossdale – “Love Remains The Same” [YouTube]
Institute – Bullet Proof Skin [YouTube]
His one good lyric is “gotta fly to Los Angeles/find my asshole brother.” Which IS deathless, I admit.
“the city’s buzz sounds just like a fridge”. Ugh.
Now I know where my rhyming dictionary went.
There’s no sex in your violence. No, seriously, THERE’S NO SEX IN YOUR VI-O-LENCE.
Just when I was almost through my PTSD therapy from having paid money to see Stealth, you had to post that video. Thank you SO much.
==TJ==
Just what the hell is “Glycerine’?
@Thierry: See, but Radiohead had a similar line (in “Karma Police”), and I bet people thought it was brilliant. In fact, I remember reading an interview where Thom Yorke mentioned that it was inspired by him listening to mid ’90s alternative radio stations, so there’s probably a specific connection to any or all of the singles off “Razorblade Suitcase.”
@FionaScrapple: I’m not sure, but it might be the key factor in letting the cables sleep.
I never heard of Stealth.
Until watching it. Without sound. In a gay bar.
I hear there is a new Rival Schools on the way. So I guess Institute loses.
@NickEddy: His one good lyric
I am partial to “Glycerine”’s “I’m never alone/I’m alone all the time,” which I place in the canon of great oxymoronic (and a little moronic) couplets next to ODB’s “I don’t have no problem with you fucking me/But I have a little problem wit’ you not fucking me .”
Never been a fan, but the new album is definitely a pitch for the generic rock crowd.
Have you ever secretly eaten the ears off of a 99 Cents Store Easter Bunny, like, three years after your Grandma gave it to you?
That’s what Gavin Rossdale’s music tastes like.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: You’re right – Thom Yorke described alternative rock stations as “just like a fridge buzzing” in Meeting People Is Easy – but is going from fridge magnet poetry to stealing from 10-year-old Radiohead interviews an improvement? Also, that Institute video stole from/paid tribute to Pink Floyd at Pompeii nearly 15 years after the Beastie Boys did it…
Final gripe: are those vocals autotuned or vocodered, like every other MOR stodgy post-grunge single on the radio today? I bet Gavin’s going to say he used to listen to Zapp growing up…
Eh, Julian Casablancas has a better shot at a solo career than Gavin ever did/would.
Jules writes the Strokes stuff, which, 70-percent of “First Impressions” aside, is just better than Mr. Stefani’s.
Although “Comedown” and “Machinehead” were okay mid-’90s anthems.
@Halfwit: 12 years, actually. Makes me feel really old too.
I’m still fascinated by the “Machinehead” video. It’s clearly in the UK…packed with what appears to be British Bush fans!
!!!!!!!
It’s like discovering the Loch Ness Monster is real. I’m dying to know who those people were…living in Britian in the mid-90’s and glomming onto BUSH of all bands.
@AquaLung: The guitar buildup that intros “Comedown” still gets my 15 year old self all buzzing with angst.
Also, hearing that Gavin Rossdale is 10 years older than Chris Daughtry is another thing that just makes me feel old.
Gross. This unimaginative crap could just as easily be sung by Enrique Iglesias, Avril Lavigne, SugarLand, Hoobastank, or Gavin DeGraw. And that’s not a testament to its universality.
Actually, come to think of it, this sounds a lot like Gwen Stefani’s recent ballads, but worse.
Julian Casablancas writes 95% of the Strokes stuff and it is ten times
cooler and better than Bush.