"Everything Zen" is a single by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Bush. The song was released to radio in autumn 1994 before being physically released on 17 April 1995. The single comes from their 1994 debut album, ''

Sixteen Stone ''Sixteen Stone'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Bush, released on 1 November 1994 in the United States and on 8 May 1995 in the United Kingdom through Trauma and Interscope Records. Featuring a rock sound characterised by g ...

''. It was the band's first single released under the name "Bush", and their second overall.

Lyrics and music

The title of the song may reference the poem

Howl Howl most often refers to: * Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species * "Howl" (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl or The Howl may also refer to: Film * '' The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 Am ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

which includes the phrase "who vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey." The lyrics "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow" are taken from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's 1971 song "

Life on Mars? "Life on Mars?" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, first released on his 1971 album ''Hunky Dory''. Bowie wrote the song as a parody of Frank Sinatra's "My Way". "Life on Mars?" was recorded on 6 August 1971 at Trident Studio ...

". Other references in the song include

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

("''

Rain Dogs ''Rain Dogs'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1985 on Island Records. A loose concept album about "the urban dispossessed" of New York City, ''Rain Dogs'' is generally considered the middl ...

'' howl for the century"),

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985. The band's best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Dave Navarro. Jane's Addicti ...

's "Ted, Just Admit It..." ("there's no sex in your violence"),

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

' "Would?" ("try to see it once my way"), and the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

sighting conspiracy theory ("I don't believe that Elvis is dead"). The song's opening guitar riff has been compared to that of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's "

Rockin' in the Free World "Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on Young's seventeenth studio album ''Freedom'' (1989).Buckley, 1206 Two versions of the song bookend the album, similarly to " Hey Hey, My My (Into ...

" (1989).

Music video

The video was the first video Bush had ever made. The video was directed by

Matt Mahurin Matthew S. Mahurin (born January 31, 1959) is an American illustrator, photographer and film director. Mahurin's illustrations appear in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', '' Mother Jones'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Esquire'', ''Forbes'', and ''The New York Tim ...

, who also makes an appearance in the video wearing a mask, and was shot on 12 and 13 November 1994. Scenes from the video were recreated in the opening credits of the TV series ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

''.

Gavin Rossdale Gavin McGregor Rossdale is an English musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. He helped form Bush in 1992. Upon the band's separation in 2002, he became the lead singer and guitarist for Institute an ...

said of the video: "I hadn't even seen that many videos before making this because I never had MTV. I just remember that it felt weird miming with all those people standing around, but you soon get over that. Obviously, this video was hugely important in breaking us in America."

Release and performance

"Everything Zen" was released to radio in the United States in 1994, before the album ''

'' was released.

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...

started playing the song alongside " Little Things" before other radio stations did. As a result, ''Sixteen Stone'', which was scheduled to be released in January 1995, was released in November 1994 instead.Although it did not achieve immediate success, it eventually reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Chart, number 5 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

and

Canadian Rock/Alternative chart Canadian rock music charts (established June 11, 1995) publishes a weekly alternative rock music chart under the name ''Alternative 30.'' RPM charts On June 11, 1995, Canadian music magazine '' RPM'' began publishing a weekly alternative rock music ...

, and number 40 on the

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until July 1993) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States ...

. It failed to hit the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

that year.

Track listing

European CD single (6544-95794-2) and 12-inch vinyl (A8196T) # "Everything Zen" (radio edit) # "Bud" # "Monkey" # "Everything Zen"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1994 songs 1995 debut singles Atlantic Records singles Bush (British band) songs Music videos directed by Matt Mahurin Songs written by Gavin Rossdale Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Trauma Records singles