Bush bandleader Gavin Rossdale has joined the chorus of rock stars responding to the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the legal precedent that had guaranteed Americans’ constitutional right to safe abortion for the past 50 years.
It came up during a recent radio interview with the singer, songwriter and guitarist who just released the single “More Than Machines” with the veteran English alt-rockers. The tune, which obtusely touches on the topic, will be on Bush’s The Art of Survival, out Oct. 2.
See Rossdale’s interview near the bottom of this post.
“To me, it’s an obvious thing,” the British rocker told 93X this week. “It seems [like] a medieval step in the wrong direction, and it doesn’t make sense to me. So I just put it in a song.” (via Blabbermouth)
The pertinent stanza in Bush’s “More Than Machines” is as follows:
Everything wrong should be right, girls
You in control
Not the government
Not the government
Rossdale remarked, “It just sparks conversation. My job as a lyricist is to just kind of capture the time, to capture the zeitgeist or the feeling or the emotion. That’s what [my] songs are, from the beginning to now. They’re sort of commentaries on what’s going on around me that other people relate to.”
He added, “‘Girls are in control, not the government’ seems pretty straightforward. But just ‘Girls are in control’ is a powerful statement. I love that. And it would be a better world if women were in power.”
Other artists also reacted to the controversial decision representing the court’s current supermajority of conservative justices. Rage Against the Machine and Coheed and Cambria donated concert proceeds to reproductive rights organizations. Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong said he was renouncing his U.S. citizenship in defiance. Pearl Jam, Paramore and Nova Twins also voiced opposition.
The Bush bandleader continued, musing on other current events, “I think there’s a lack of erosion of the evil that we’re seeing. There [aren’t] many Russian women involved in the invasion of Ukraine, as far as I can tell. A lot of guys think it’s a good idea. A lot of dudes. I haven’t seen any women saying, ‘This is great.'”
However, Rossdale warned, “I’m not better than anybody; I don’t know more than anybody. These things I read about every day, and it sort of filters into my job. That’s where I do my work. And I think it provides substance for people to sing about their broken hearts or broken lives and other things that are going on.”
Turning to environmentalism, the rocker concluded, “We are destroying the planet … and nobody seems to care. So, all the time, you’ve gotta keep doing these songs to just keep the conversation going.”
Bush’s Gavin Rossdale on 93X – Aug. 4, 2022
Bush, “More Than Machines” (Lyric Video)
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