The Untold Truth Of Bush

The Nirvana sound was highly influential to successor '90s bands, such as Bush, which debuted with Sixteen Stone in late 1994, months after the death of Kurt Cobain and the end of Nirvana. And Bush's aural similarities to Cobain's power trio were a little too much for some people, and the group was frequently and unfavorably compared to Nirvana and written off as a clone. 

So how did the members of Bush respond? "A lot of people want to guard Kurt Cobain's estate, and I appreciate that, but what we're doing isn't a crime," Rossdale told Rolling Stone in a feature cattily titled "Nirvanawannabees." "I hope there's something of Nirvana in Bush, in the same way that there was a massive element of the Pixies in Nirvana." In an interview with Guitar World (via Orleans is Drowning) in 1997, Bush guitarist Nigel Pulsford dismissed the criticism entirely. "There are a million Nirvana sound-alike bands," he said. "If we really wanted to sound like Nirvana, we could get a lot closer."

When it came time to record the band's second album, Razorblade Suitcase, Bush didn't seem to care about the "Nirvana knockoff" label anymore. The group almost invited the criticism, hiring as its producer Steve Albini, a studio wizard known for his work with indie bands, punk acts ... and Nirvana's 1993 album In Utero. Talk about sticking it to the haters.