Razorblade Suitcase

Razorblade Suitcase
Studio album by Bush
Released	19 November 1996
Recorded	1996, Sarm Hook End, Berks, England and Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Genre	Grunge, post-grunge
Length	61:43
Label	Trauma/Interscope
Producer	Steve Albini
Bush chronology
Sixteen Stone (1994) Razorblade Suitcase (1996) Deconstructed (1997)
Singles from Razorblade Suitcase
"Swallowed" Released: 15 October 1996 "Greedy Fly" Released: 28 January 1997 "Bonedriven" Released: 16 April 1997 "Cold Contagious" Released: 20 December 1997

Razorblade Suitcase is the second album by the British grunge band Bush, released in November 1996 by Trauma Records. The album is widely believed to have signalled the demise of the "grunge" genre, as it was one of the last widely known albums released bearing a grunge-sound.

Musical style

It has a slightly darker tone than Bush's previous album, Sixteen Stone, which led to comparisons between Razorblade Suitcase and Nirvana's album In Utero, because some believed Bush sounded similar to Nirvana, and Steve Albini recorded both albums. Albini had also recorded the Pixies' breakthrough LP Surfer Rosa, and was co-art directed by Vaughan Oliver and Adrian Philpott.

Packaging

The album's working title was Ghost Medicine, but was changed for unknown reasons. The title is a line from the lyrics of the song "Synapse" and is lead singer Gavin Rossdale's interpretation of 'emotional baggage'. The album artwork was done by Vaughan Oliver. Oliver had also done the artwork for Surfer Rosa.^[1] Gavin Rossdale made statements around the time of the release that he only hoped that Bush would be one day as successful as the Pixies were in England.

Release and reception

Commercial performance

Razorblade Suitcase debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 293,000 copies in its first week.^[2] The album also debuted at #1 in Canada, with first-week sales of 45,900 copies.^[2] Despite the album selling fewer copies than Sixteen Stone in the US, it marked a commercial peak for the band in their native Britain – it reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, whilst "Swallowed" and "Greedy Fly" both peaked in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart. Bush released the first single from the album, "Swallowed", in late 1996, and it was a big hit in America, poising the band for a successful album. "Swallowed" was number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for 7 weeks, the band's longest charting number 1 single. The second single, "Greedy Fly," was released after the two-week long number one stay for Razorblade Suitcase in America, and reached number three. "Bonedriven" and "Cold Contagious" followed and did not make an impact on the charts. "Mouth" was remixed and released on the album Deconstructed and reached the Top 5 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Mouth" also appeared in the movie An American Werewolf in Paris and had a video co-starring Julie Delpy, who also starred in the movie.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	C[3]
The Independent	(Negative)[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Select	[6]
Sputnikmusic	[7]

Reviews have been generally negative to average towards the album, with reviewers citing too many filler songs and a lack of memorable tracks as the album's downfall. Allmusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated

"The problem is that Gavin Rossdale has not come up with any hooks, which means that while Razorblade Suitcase is more pleasing and visceral on the surface, it offers no hooks to make it memorable, unlike the hit singles from Sixteen Stone."

Other critics also dismissed the album because they felt that although the band attempted to distance themselves from bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam in terms of their sound, they ultimately failed at creating a sound of their own. Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne stated that some of the songs on the album could have easily been on the record Nirvana never made (due to Kurt Cobain's suicide). Andy Gill from The Independent also stated that portions of the album are very reminiscent of Nirvana, citing songs such as "Swallowed" and "Bonedriven" as irrestistible reminders of Nirvana. Rolling Stone criticised the album in their 1996 review, giving the record only 2 out of a possible 5 stars and named it the worst record of the year. However, Sputnikmusic gave the album a more positive review, although they also cited too many filler songs as the album's weakness, they praised the songs "Swallowed", "Greedy Fly", "Synapse" and "Distant Voices".

Track listing

All songs written by Gavin Rossdale.

• "23 Seconds" (hidden track)

• "A Tendency to Start Fires", "Straight No Chaser" and "Synapse" do not appear on the LP version due to time constraints.

Chart positions

References

External links

• Bush Fansite