Bush League

Okay, for a while there, I thought I had come around on Gavin Rossdale. My first impressions of Bush were that they were kind of silly. Very derivative, with dumb lyrics. But with the kind of historical context that has made Stone Temple Pilots seems retroactively important, I had softened that opinion somewhat. There were some good songs there.

However, listening to Distort Yourself, the debut of Mr. Stefani's new band Institute, I think the pendulum is starting to swing back in the other direction, particularly when the singer repeats "this boom box needs batteries" in a somewhat painful song called, you guessed it, "Boom Box."

I reserve the right to change my mind again if I continue to spin this particular record -- and yes, I realize that streaming audio over the Internet sort of kills that particularly antiquated image, but if you don't like it, start your own blog.