Bush

The other day, I eclipsed 10,000 songs in my iTunes library — a big accomplishment, at least for a music geek such as myself. Although it may be full of a plethora of tunes nobody (including myself) really cares about, I don’t mind. I credit my childhood music taste for my current fetish.

When I was about 12 years old, I discovered Bush’s debut album, Sixteen Stone, at the downtown On Cue store, and literally broke my CD player listening to it. After I purchased the CD, I put it on and never hit the stop button — it literally played 24 hours a day. I even left it on when I left my room for the day so it would be playing to welcome me upon my return.

I remember my dad telling me that he used to play records out, but I could never imagine somebody ruining a CD player because of one album. But Sixteen Stone did that for me. The album struck me so deeply as I experienced almost metaphysical moments as a 12-year-old. Gavin Rossdale’s voice singing “when we rise, it’s like strawberry fields” combined with violins on the track “Glycerine” gives me goose bumps even to this day.