Bush are an English rock band formed in London, England in 1992. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Gavin Rossdale, drummer Robin Goodridge, lead guitarist Chris Traynor, and bassist Corey Britz. In 1994, Bush found immediate success with the release of their debut album, Sixteen Stone, which is certified 6x multi-platinum by the RIAA. They went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s, selling over 10 million records in the United States.

After leaving his band Midnight, Gavin Rossdale met former King Blank guitarist Nigel Pulsford in 1992. The two bonded over an appreciation of the American alternative rock group the Pixies. The two formed a new band which they called Future Primitive. Describing the early sound of the group, one British record label executive said years later, "They weren't what they are today - they were a little like the more commercial side of INXS". The pair then recruited bassist Dave Parsons and drummer Robin Goodridge to complete the line-up. The group soon chose the name "Bush", naming themselves after Shepherd's Bush, London, where the band members used to live. In 1993, the band was signed by Rob Kahane, who had a distribution deal with Disney's Hollywood Records. The band completed recording its debut album Sixteen Stone in early 1994. However, the death of Disney executive Frank G. Wells eliminated a supporter for Kahane, and executives at Hollywood deemed Bush's album unacceptable for release. As a result, the members of Bush took jobs performing menial labour. Interscope Records ultimately decided to release the album, and at the end of 1994, Kahane sent an advance copy of the album to a friend at influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM, which added the song "Everything Zen" to its rotation. On the Billboard Music Charts (North America), Sixteen Stone peaked at No. 4 on the Heatseekers and Billboard 200 charts. The album spawned two Top 40 singles. After about six months of promotion for Sixteen Stone, the album began to sell well, once "Comedown" and "Glycerine" struck America. Additionally, "Little Things" and "Machinehead" both charted well in North America. In Canada, the band were initially forced to release Sixteen Stone under the name BushX, as the 1970s Canadian band Bush still held the rights to that name in the Canadian market. The dispute arose after the British band's lawyers threatened to intervene to prevent the Canadian band from reissuing its 1970 album, although it was entirely between the bands' lawyers as Rossdale and Domenic Troiano, the leader of the Canadian band, both expressed a willingness to negotiate a solution. In 1997, after the band's second album Razorblade Suitcase also bore the X, Rossdale and Troiano directly negotiated an agreement under which the British band were allowed to drop the X in exchange for donating $20,000 each to the Starlight Foundation and the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. Both Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase were then reissued without the X.

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