Everything Zen

"Everything Zen" is the debut single by British alternative rock band Bush, released on 28 January 1995. The single comes from their 1994 debut album, Sixteen Stone.

"Everything Zen"
Single by Bush
from the album Sixteen Stone
Released28 January 1995 (1995-01-28)
FormatCD
Recorded1994
Genre
Length4:38 (Album version)
4:02 (Edit)
LabelTrauma
Interscope
Songwriter(s)Gavin Rossdale
Producer(s)Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley, Bush
Bush singles chronology
"Everything Zen"
(1995)		 "Little Things"
(1995)

Lyrics

The lyrics "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow" are taken from David Bowie's 1971 song "Life on Mars?". Other references in the song include Tom Waits ("Rain Dogs howl for the century"), Jane's Addiction's "Ted, Just Admit It..." ("there's no sex in your violence") and the Elvis Presley sighting conspiracy theory ("I don't believe that Elvis is dead").

Music video

The video was the first video Bush had ever made. The video was directed by Matt Mahurin, who also makes an appearance in the video wearing a mask, and was shot on 12 and 13 November 1994. Scenes from the video were recreated in the opening credits of the TV series Millennium.

Gavin Rossdale on the making of the video:

"I hadn't even seen that many videos before making this because I never had MTV. I just remember that it felt weird miming with all those people standing around, but you soon get over that. Obviously, this video was hugely important in breaking us in America."[2]

Parody

The song was parodied on Bill Nye the Science Guy in the episode "Animal Locomotion".

Commercial performance

Although it did not achieve immediate success, it eventually reached number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart, number 5 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Canadian Rock/Alternative chart and number 40 on the Hot 100 Airplay since it failed to hit the Hot 100 that year.

A July 2017 episode of the BBC current affairs program Newsnight featured "Everything Zen",[3] during an interview with Sixteen Stone's producer Clive Langer.

"Everything Zen" was mentioned in the 2019 Netflix movie Wine Country.[4]

The song was also featured in a strip club scene in the film My Dinner with Herve.

Track listing
European CD single (6544-95794-2) and 12-inch vinyl (A8196T)
  1. "Everything Zen" (Radio Edit)
  2. "Bud"
  3. "Monkey"
  4. "Everything Zen"

Charts
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[5] 41
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 45
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[7] 84
UK Rock and Metal (Official Charts Company)[8] 2
US Radio Songs (Billboard)[9] 40
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[10] 2
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[11] 5

References
  1. Piccoli, Sean (22 March 1997). "Bush: America's Band". Sun Sentiel. Sun Senitel. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Bush - New songs, Playlists & Latest News". BBC Music. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  4. "Wine Country (2019) Movie Script". Springfield! Springfield". Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. "Australian-charts.com – Bush – Everything Zen". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  6. "Dutchcharts.nl – Bush – Everything Zen" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  7. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  8. "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  9. "Bush Chart History (Radio Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  10. "Bush Chart History (Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  11. "Bush Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
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