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Garbage (band)

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Garbage is an international rock group formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1993. The band members are Butch Vig, Steve Marker, Duke Erikson, and Shirley Manson.

As of October 2005 the band are on "indefinite hiatus" with no plans to work together for the near future, following their final show in Perth, Australia.

File:Rockgroupgarbage.jpg
Garbage (left to right): Marker,Vig, Manson, Erikson

Overview

Vig, the producer of such influential albums as Nirvana's Nevermind and the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream decided he wanted to play in a band and asked fellow producers Marker and Erikson to join him. After the group saw Shirley Manson on MTV (from her careers with Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and Angelfish), they asked her to join the band. According to Butch Vig, Garbage got its name even before Shirley joined the band. While they were making some sound which included guitar riffs and electronics (later used in the song Vow) one of the guests in their studio called that music "garbage" several times. The name was later used as a band and album title. Another anecdotal origin for their name was that Butch Vig contributed a remix to Nine Inch Nails' album Fixed, which Trent Reznor labeled "garbage".

Garbage's angry, emotional lyrics contrasted with their catchy, pop alternative rock music. This made the band particularly popular with disaffected youths. Garbage utilizes samples, electronic loops, grungy guitars, and various other effects to produce haunting and melodic tracks, made distinctive by Scottish singer Shirley Manson's sultry vocals. The fact that Garbage is composed of three music producers is made obvious by the high production quality, with many layers and a "wall of sound" production aesthetic.

Career

Garbage released a string of increasingly-successful singles over the year 1995, culminating in the massive hit "Stupid Girl". They released their debut album, Garbage, later that year. It went top 20 in the US and top 10 in the United Kingdom.

Garbage spent two years working on their follow-up album, during which time Shirley Manson became well-known by the technologically savvy by being one of the first artists to maintain a blog. "Push It" was released and became a summer hit in 1998, reaching #9 in the UK and #52 in the US. Their second album Version 2.0 topped the charts in the UK and hit #13 in the US. In 1999, they performed the theme song to the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough.

After again retreating into the studio for several years, Garbage released beautifulgarbage in 2001. While it represented the band's most eclectic and mature sound to date, it contained no standout commercial singles. Hence, no songs charted in the US, and the four singles released charted in the 20s in the UK. Still, the album managed to reach #6 in the UK and #13 in the US, though it quickly slid down the charts. Garbage followed the album up with a successful tour of the US and Europe.

Garbage's newest album, Bleed Like Me, was released on April 11, 2005 (April 12 in North America). It topped the charts in many countries, including a #4 peak in the United States and a radio rock hit single, "Why Do You Love Me?". It originally had the working title Hands on a Hard Body, but Shirley Manson announced that the band had come up with a new title, Bleed Like Me, that better fits the band's improved dynamic following a period of tension and crisis in October 2003. Shirley has also said BLM will comprise more hard rock and be a return to Garbage's roots after the eclectic experiment of beautifulgarbage, an announcement that has resonated with most fans. A compilation of b-sides and non-album tracks by the band, which had been planned by them prior to even beautifulgarbage, is also reported to be in the works.

In late August 2005, two sources (GIGWISE.com and Ultimate-Guitar.com) reported that the band may be splitting up later in the year.

Discography

Albums

Year Title Label Chart positions
1995 Garbage Mushroom (Almo Sounds in North America) #6 UK, #20 US
1998 Version 2.0 Mushroom (Almo Sounds in North America) #1 UK, #13 US, #2 Canada
2001 beautifulgarbage Mushroom (Interscope in North America) #6 UK, #13 US, #6 Canada, #1 Australia (Platinum X 3)
2005 Bleed Like Me Warner Bros (Geffen in North America) #4 UK, #4 US, #4 Australia

Hit singles

Year Title Chart positions
UK US Hot 100 US Modern Rock Aus.
From Garbage:
1995 "Vow" #138 #97 #26 #31
Non-album single:
1995 "Subhuman" #50 - - -
From Garbage:
1995 "Only Happy When It Rains" #29 #55 #16 #80
1995 "Queer" #13 #57A #12 #55
1996 "Stupid Girl" #4 #24 #2 #46
1996 " Milk" (featuring Tricky) #10 - - #44
Non-album single:
1996 "#1 Crush" - #29A #1 -
From Version 2.0:
1998 "Push It" #9 #52 #5 #31
1998 "I Think I'm Paranoid" #9 #70A #6 #57
1998 "Special" #15 #52 #11 #54
1999 "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" - - - -
1999 "When I Grow Up" #9 - #23 #25
1999 "You Look So Fine" #19 - - -
From The World Is Not Enough Soundtrack:
1999 "The World Is Not Enough" #11 - - -
From beautifulgarbage:
2001 "Androgyny" #24 - - #21
2002 "Cherry Lips" #22 - - #7
2002 "Breaking Up the Girl" #27 - - #16
2002 "Shut Your Mouth" #20 - - -
From Bleed Like Me:
2005 "Why Do You Love Me" #7 #94 #8 #19
2005 "Bleed Like Me" - - #27 -
2005 "Sex Is Not the Enemy" #24 - - -
2005 "Run Baby Run" - - - #47

A - The Hot 100 airplay chart

B-sides and rare tracks

See: Garbage B-side Chronology

Live show covers and ad-libs

Garbage frequently feature cover songs as part of their live sets, and have become quite known for doing faithful and honest renditions of past tunes.

On their first tour in 1996 it was just as common for them to cover Vic Chesnutt's 'Supernatural' as it was for them to do 'Kick My Ass' which they'd covered for his tribute album.

For 1998's Version 2.0 tour, the band were including The Beatles' 'Day Tripper' and 'Black Sabbath' by Black Sabbath in their set. In 1999 the band even played traditional Scottish poem 'John Anderson' by Robert Burns, and The Beatles' 'Don't Let Me Down' as part of a special Edinburgh show to celebrate the opening of the Scottish Parliament in July 1999.

By the time of the 'beautifulgarbage', the band were actively asking the audience for their requests, and this led them to attempt Shirley Manson's previous band Angelfish's 'Suffocate Me' but also ABBA's 'Dancing Queen', as well as throwing in a cover of 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' by Kylie Minogue at a few shows. By the end of the tour cycle, the band also joined with No Doubt and The Distillers in performing Blondie's "Call Me" as a closer for their joint-headline arena tour.

The band played U2's 'Pride In The Name Of Love' for Bono at a special MusiCares award night in 2003, and also played 'I Fall To Pieces' by Patsy Cline for the first time in Nashville, TN at the Ryman Theatre as a tribute to playing the Grand Ole Opry. They later played this cover again in Columbus, OH. Manson has also recently been quoting 'Singing In The Rain' at a number of recent performances of 'Only Happy When It Rains'.

Shirley has been known to throw in a few ad-libs onstage during certain performances of certain songs - some examples are listed here -

Songs A Stroke Of Luck, Queer and You Look So Fine also regularly featured ad-libs but so far, no-one has worked out what they were. Indeed for one 1999 YLSF ad-lib, many fans argue over what the words were, never mind where they came from!

Tours

Garbage have completed three full length tours - one for each album release, which each took between 15 to 20 months to complete. During these tours they headlined their own shows (from clubs to arenas), supported acts such as the Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Alanis Morissette, U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as playing on the line-ups of some of the world's largest and most famous festivals such as the Big Day Out, Glastonbury Festival and the Roskilde Festival.

Their tours are:

  • "Garbage" November 1995 - December 1996
  • "Version 2.0" May 1998 - November 1999
  • "Beautifulgarbage" October 2001 - November 2002
  • "Bleed Like Me" March 2005 - September 2005

Garbage toured to promote their fourth album 'Bleed Like Me', starting in March 2005. However, in late August 2005 all previously announced tour dates in Europe were cancelled, and the tour is now scheduled to end in Australia in September 2005. The official news stated that "the band feel they have somewhat overextended themselves." The fulfilment of the remaining dates in the U.S. and Australia probably reflects high financial penalties for cancelling closer dates.

See also

References

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