Garbage

Garbage biography

Garbage is an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson (vocals, guitar) and American musicians Duke Erikson (bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion), Steve Marker (guitar, keyboards) and Butch Vig (drums, percussion). All four members are involved in songwriting and production. The band have counted worldwide album sales of over 17 million units.

Garbage released a string of increasingly successful singles in 1995-1996, including "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains". Their debut album, Garbage, was an unexpected smash, selling over 4 million copies and certified double platinum in the UK, USA and Australia. Garbage won the Breakthrough Artist award at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Garbage spent two years working on follow-up album, Version 2.0, which topped the charts in the UK upon its 1998 release and the following year was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Version 2.0 went on to match the sales of its predecessor. Garbage followed this up by performing and co-producing the theme song to the nineteenth James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough.

Despite being named one of Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of the Year, Garbage's 2001 third album Beautiful Garbage failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors. Garbage quietly disbanded in late 2003, but regrouped to complete fourth album Bleed Like Me in 2005, peaking at a career-high #4 in the U.S. The band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me announcing an "indefinite hiatus", emphasizing that they had not broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests.

In 2006, Vig returned to producing while Manson worked on an as yet unreleased solo album. Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007 and released greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. The band began work on their fifth studio album in October 2010. Not Your Kind of People was released on May 14, 2012 via the band's own independent label, Stunvolume Records.

History

Formation and early years (1993-1994)

Duke Erikson and Butch Vig had been in numerous bands, including Spooner and Fire Town (with Steve Marker as a sound engineer). In 1983, Vig and Marker founded Smart Studios in Madison and Vig's production work brought him to the attention of Sub Pop. A short-term reformation and album from Spooner inspired Erikson, Marker and Vig to form a band: tired of using their own work for remixes, they decided to keep the material for their own project. An early comment that their work sounded "like garbage" inspired the band's name.

Initial sessions with Vig on vocals, along with the members' past work with all-male groups, led to the band's desire for a woman on lead. Marker was watching 120 Minutes when he saw the music video for Angelfish's "Suffocate Me". He showed the video to Erikson and Vig while their manager Shannon O'Shea tracked down the band's singer, Shirley Manson. When Manson was contacted, she did not know who Vig was and was urged to check the credits on Nevermind, the popular Nirvana album which Vig produced.

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