In a recent interview with 102.1 the Edge, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale shared his thoughts on the current state of rock music and its reception in the music industry. Rossdale expressed his concerns about the current formulaic nature of rock music. He said:
“But you’ve heard that on radio, how certain—especially in rock music—it’s become very formulaic. It’s quite hard to find distinctive rock voices because it’s quite homogenized. The format, you know, radio format, stuff like that. And that’s again the algorithm. So it’s a dangerous thing.”
He believes that if Bush released long songs like Tool, they would not generate high stream numbers. He continued:
“I mean, you know, a band like Tool sounds like crazy, you know? Here’s our new 12 minute single. I know. I love them for that. But you can’t. If I do that, it won’t get played. Sayonara, buddy. So you have to be inside the building to cause the trouble. You can’t be ostracized. I mean, the independent world is a sort of almost a distant memory. It’s quite hard. You know, everything is trying to fit into a grid. So you’ve alluded a couple of times to a new record.”
Rossdale Explained The Current Difference Between Rock And Pop
Rossdale doesn’t hold back when it comes to sharing his views on the rock music industry, which he now considers more commercial. He spoke to Stereogum in October 2022 about the lack of inspiration in rock music. He explained that rock music was more one-dimensional compared to pop music. Despite the changes in the rock mainstream, Rossdale described the challenge for Bush as simply being able to remain interesting to themselves. He stated:
“I read people writing about the dearth of inspiration in rock music, and how it can be a bit homogenized, because I think rock radio can be seen as a homogenous sound, going for a certain thing, whereas everyone else in the pop world can be far more experimental and way out there. And to me it’s just as simple as trying to stay interesting to ourselves, and create excitement like that.”
Rossdale Once Said It Would Be Smarter To Go More Commercial
Rossdale now thinks differently about Bush’s past musical style choices. He even expressed regret for going for a raw sound in the past instead of a more commercial one. Earlier this year, Rossdale talked about their sound on their second album, ‘Razorblade Suitcase’ to Classic Rock. He mentioned his decision to work with Steve Albini who is known for his raw, unfiltered approach to recording. He explained that a more commercially-minded, ‘smarter’ decision would have been to collaborate with a polished producer to maintain the momentum from their successful debut album. He said:
“I went straight from having a huge record with Sixteen Stone to going to work with Steve Albini. If I had been more commercially minded, and probably smarter, I would have continued with a more polished producer to continue in that zone. It’s a pretty funny record, because it’s just void of any editing. I listen to it now and I’m like: ‘Get rid of that bit, forfuck’s sake!’”
You can watch Gavin Rossdale’s full interview with 102.1 the Edge below.
