Swallowed is a song by British rock band Bush, released on October 15, 1996 as the lead single from the band’s 1996 album Razorblade Suitcase, which topped the US Billboard 200 chart. included on the remix album Deconstructed, the live album Zen X Four, and the Bush greatest hits compilation. The release of Swallowed followed the fifth and final single from the band’s 1994 debut album Sixteen Stone Machinehead by just six months. Swallowed was released as the lead single from the follow-up to their massively successful debut album, Sixteen Stone, which was released two years prior. Upon release, the song topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven consecutive weeks, and peaked at #27 on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. This is the longest Bush ever stayed at #1, on any chart. It was also Bush‘s biggest hit in their native Britain, where it peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards, but lost to the Smashing Pumpkins‘ The End Is the Beginning Is the End. This was the band’s third crossover hit to Top 40 radio after Comedown and Glycerine. Gavin Rossdale opined in 1999 that, despite a musical dissimilarity, the song was his version of the Beatles‘ song Help!.
Tracklist:
- Swallowed (Radio Edit)
- Broken TV
- Glycerine
- In a Lonely Place (Joy Division) Produced by Tricky
The accompanying music video for Swallowed, directed by Jamie Morgan, was filmed in October 1996 and released later that month, is set in a retro apartment with a myriad of alternative youth. A neon crucifix (later to become the Deconstructed album cover) is frequently interspersed among the antics of the guests. The video was filmed at Twickenham Studios in England and Florida and was nominated for several MTV Video Music Awards.
Bush
Gavin Rossdale: lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Nigel Pulsford: lead guitar, backing vocals
Dave Parsons: bass
Robin Goodridge: drums
