Bush released "Swallowed" in 1996 as the lead single for their album Razorblade Suitcase, the follow-up to their hugely successful debut, Sixteen Stone. As frontman Gavin Rossdale tells NME for the British publication's "Song Stories" series, he wrote "Swallowed" as a direct response to that success.
"I was much more used to not being successful. And there's something about being swept up in that success that's really daunting and really overwhelming," Rossdale says. "It wasn't a complaint, it was just sort of an observation."
He adds that "Swallowed" was a bit like his version of "Help!," although he's quick to say he's not "as good as The Beatles."
"Swallowed" also reflects Rossdale's relationship with his girlfriend at the time.
"The line 'heavy about everything but my love' -- it's that thing where you have a girlfriend who's talking to everyone else about things, but sometimes you wanna be like, 'Were am I?'" he explains. "It always tickled me a bit, that line."
"Swallowed" would eventually reach number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, and number two on Mainstream Rock Songs, and Rossdale still sees the impact of that song today.
"I see people every night when I play who have been affected by the music we've made and refer to it as the soundtrack of their lives," he says. "I think that's really powerful. Obviously, when you write songs, or you're in a band and you're just a bunch of idiots just making music, you have no idea where it's gonna go and what's gonna happen with it."
Bush will release their seventh studio album, titled Black and White Rainbows, on March 10.
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