Bush – “Glycerine” (1994)

“It must be your skin, I’m sinking in…”

In a decade dominated by distortion and angst, “Glycerine” stood still—quiet, aching, and unforgettable. Released in 1994 from Bush’s breakthrough debut album Sixteen Stone, the song stripped away the grunge bravado and exposed something rare: raw vulnerability. No crashing drums. No screaming solos. Just Gavin Rossdale, a mournful voice, and a solemn stream of melancholic chords—aching with regret, longing, and emotional unraveling.

Written about a turbulent relationship, “Glycerine” is as much about love’s intensity as it is about its destruction. Rossdale’s delivery feels like a confession—fragile and haunted. The lyrics blur the line between intimacy and isolation, and the song’s title, referencing a substance that can either preserve or explode, mirrors the push and pull of human connection.

Despite its quietness, the impact was explosive. The track climbed to #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and became a mainstay on MTV, with its iconic one-take video shot just before a hurricane hit Florida—nature itself seemed to echo the storm inside the song.

“Glycerine” became Bush’s signature ballad, defying the noise of its time with haunting minimalism. Three decades later, it still lingers like a half-remembered ache—a grunge-era anthem not of rage, but of ruin.