Everything Zen
| "Everything Zen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Bush | ||||
| from the album Sixteen Stone | ||||
| Released | 28 January 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1994 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Gavin Rossdale | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Bush singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Everything Zen" on YouTube | ||||
"Everything Zen" is a single by British alternative rock band Bush. Released on 28 January 1995, it was the band's first single released under the name "Bush",[2] and their second overall. The single comes from their 1994 debut album, Sixteen Stone.
Lyrics[edit]
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"), Alice in Chains' "Would?" ("try to see it once my way"), and the Elvis Presley sighting conspiracy theory ("I don't believe that Elvis is dead").
Music video[edit]
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."[3]
Parody[edit]
The song was parodied on Bill Nye the Science Guy in the episode "Animal Locomotion".
Commercial performance[edit]
Although it did not achieve immediate success, it eventually reached number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart (being kept from the top spot by Live's "Lightning Crashes"[4]), 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.
In popular culture[edit]
A July 2017 episode of the BBC current affairs program Newsnight featured "Everything Zen",[5] during an interview with Sixteen Stone's producer Clive Langer.
"Everything Zen" was mentioned in the 2019 Netflix movie Wine Country.[6]
The song was also featured in a strip club scene in the film My Dinner with Hervé.[citation needed]
Track listing[edit]
European CD single (6544-95794-2) and 12-inch vinyl (A8196T)
- "Everything Zen" (radio edit)
- "Bud"
- "Monkey"
- "Everything Zen"
Charts[edit]
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[7] | 41 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[8] | 45 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[9] | 84 |
| UK Rock and Metal (OCC)[10] | 2 |
| US Radio Songs (Billboard)[11] | 40 |
| US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[12] | 2 |
| US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[13] | 5 |
