Garbage (band)
- This article is about the rock band. For information on byproducts of processes, see waste.
Garbage is an international rock group formed in 1993 by Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Steve Marker, and Duke Erikson. 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. The band derived its name from their use of seemingly unusable noise in their songs. Another anecdotal origin for their name, was that Butch Vig contributed a remix to Nine Inch Nails' Fixed album, 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 Scots singer Shirley Manson's sultry vocals. The fact that garbage is composed of three music producers is very obvious, as the music has ultra high production quality, with many layers and a "wall of sound" sound production aesthetic.
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. The sophomore 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 next album is expected in early 2005. It originally had the working title Hands on a Hard Body, but Shirley Manson recently announced that the band had come up with a new working title that better fits the band's improved dynamic following a period of tension and crisis in October 2003. Shirley has also said that the new album 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. The band put the final touches in on the album in October 2004 and it is now in the mixing stage. It will be released in early 2005.
Discography
| Year | Title | Label |
| 1995 | Garbage | Mushroom (UK); Almo Sounds (USA) |
| 1998 | Version 2.0 | Mushroom (UK); Almo Sounds (USA) |
| 2001 | beautifulgarbage | Mushroom (UK); Interscope (USA) |
| 2005 | TBA | Mushroom (UK); Interscope (USA) |