How Bush’s “Machinehead” Thrived Through Movies & Sports

This month, Bush’s post-grunge classic, “Machinehead” turns 30 and it sure doesn’t sound its age.  The introductory guitar riff that kicks off Bush’s April 1996 single, issued commercially that month is similar to the song’s video of a woman driving through town on a motorcycle.  The guitar revs up the song at the start and the engine fires off for 3 minutes of a punky blasting whirlwind whose rhythm seems to thrive on pushing the tempo to the limit. 

Bush were previously known for post-grunge that sounded mammoth at a midtempo pace, with heaviness weighing down the speeds of their rhythms but on “Machinehead”, the band let loose with reckless abandon as the fastest song on ‘Sixteen Stone’, their debut album.  The song was the fifth and final single of that blockbuster album and was featured in the film, ‘Fear’.  “Machinehead” wound up winning the 1996 MTV award for best film song.  It reached #4 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. 

As the years went by, American sports teams gradually picked up the song for their arena playlists and the tradition continued into the 2020s where it continues to be heard in baseball and football stadium PA’s, basketball and hockey arena PA’s, as something to spark the team and perk up the audience.  It’s got a raw untamed energy that is instantly catchy, acting like a motivational speaker through guitar.  Sometimes the song itself isn’t heard, just the opening guitar riff, but it’s still one of Bush’s most recognized songs 30 years later.