Garbage (album)

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For other uses, see Garbage.
Garbage
Garbage cover
Studio album by Garbage
Released August 7, 1995
Recorded April 1994 – May 1995, Smart Studios,
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Genre Alternative rock
Electronica
Length 50:51
Label Mushroom (UK)
Almo Sounds (Americas)
BMG (Japan, South Africa)
White (Australia, Asia)
Producer Garbage
Professional reviews
Garbage chronology
— Garbage
(1995)		 Version 2.0
(1998)
Alternate cover
North American cover
North American cover
Singles from Garbage
  1. "Vow"
    Released: March 20, 1995
  2. "Only Happy When It Rains"
    Released: September 17, 1995
  3. "Queer"
    Released: November 20, 1995
  4. "Stupid Girl"
    Released: March 11, 1996
  5. "Milk"
    Released: November 11, 1996

Garbage is the debut album by American alternative rock group Garbage. It was released in the late summer and autumn of 1995 worldwide, following critical acclaim and promising chart positions for their debut single "Vow", which entered the Billboard Hot 100.

Garbage eventually spent over a year on both the US and UK charts, reaching the top 20 on charts worldwide and receiving multi-platinum certification in numerous territories. The albums success was helped by the band promoting it on a year-long tour, including playing on the European festival circuit and supporting the Smashing Pumpkins throughout 1996, as well as by a run of increasingly successful singles culminating with "Stupid Girl" which in 1997 was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group.

Garbage was considered innovative for its fusion of pop melodies with alternative rock, trip-hop and electronica genres and its use of loops and sampling including, amongst other things, The Clash's "Train in Vain", the sound of torn sheets of metal, an air conditioning unit and a broken tape deck.

Contents

[edit] Recording

Garbage began in rough demo form in January 1994 during sessions between band members Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker at their own Smart Studios located within the Wisconsin university town of Madison. [1] Early recordings featured Vig singing distorted vocals over the top of their instrumental tracks. The band were set on having a woman front their band.[2] They attempted to write many lyrics from a women's perspective, but Vig said some were "a little pretentious."[3]

After seeing Shirley Manson's outfit Angelfish on 120 Minutes, [2] the band invited Manson to Smart Studios to sing on a couple of tracks. After a dreadful audition, she returned to Angelfish. [2] At the end of a tour supporting Live, the band imploded and Manson returned to Smart for a second try. She began to work on the then-skeletal origins of "Vow" (ad-libbing the line "I can't use what I can't abuse"), "Stupid Girl" (the vocals from that session making it all the way to the final album [4]) and "Queer" (it became more mellow and trip-hop) and the band invited her to become a full-time member of the band and finish the album. [2]

Early lyrics were penned during sessions at a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin. [5] Manson held out for her lyrical contribution, despite never having written lyrics professionally before: "The lyrics at the start were pretentious. I'm the one who has to sing them, I have to feel comfortable." [6]

Generally the band would start a song with a sound effect or a drum loop. The band would pile on layer upon layer of successive guitars, sound effects and grooves, adding and subtracting - trying out different melodies and placing vocals in and out of the mix. [7] Effort was spent getting guitar and keyboard sounds perfect by utilising the latest digital equipment available; then the band would replace it in favour of outdated analog equipment - some songs recorded using a 1965 Epiphone and a monophonic synthesizer. [5] The band were adamant that they could use the studio as another instrument; whatever weird sounds they recorded could be used as long as they served the song - although whatever took away from the song was scrapped. [5]

The band, conscious of the Grunge scene that had made their names, particularly Vig's, made every effort to keep Garbage from sounding similar. Having worked with a large number of alternative acts themselves, the band deliberately strived to make a pop record.[8]

Halfway through the recording sessions for Garbage, the band were asked to submit one of their songs to Volume, a UK magazine compilation series. The only song the band had finished in any shape or form was "Vow", [3] so the band licensed the track out to the compilation. Upon the compilation's release, "Vow" began to receive radio airplay on XFM and from Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq, John Peel and Johnnie Walker [9]. Garbage had no idea that "Vow" would prove so popular; their new record label Mushroom were keen to release the song as their debut single [9]; Garbage hadn't even considered "Vow" for inclusion on the album or even as a single. [7] Due to the exclusive licensing to Volume preventing a full commercial single release, [5] on March 20, Mushroom issued "Vow" in a limited 7" vinyl format through Discordant, a label set up just to launch Garbage. [10] "Vow" sold out in one day, and received "Single of the Week" status in seven publications [11], including NME and Melody Maker and topped NME's playlist chart for 5 weeks. [5] By May, commercial alternative radio in the US had picked up on the track, and it began to receive heavy rotation nationwide. [11]

Recording and mixing of Garbage was completed in May 1995. [5] Manson was licensed to both Mushroom and Almo Sounds by her own label Radioactive Records for appearing on Garbage. Although Radioactive had signed a worldwide recording agreement with Manson in 1993, the label asked for no compensation from any of Garbage's labels. [12]

[edit] Release and success

"Vow", which was released in the US on June 20, [13] bubbled under for two weeks before it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #97 on July 27, [14] quickly followed by the albums North American release on August 15 on CD, cassette and double vinyl. It debuted on the Billboard 200 on September 30 at #193 and buoyed by airplay for "Queer" (which on October 14 peaked at #57 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart [14] and became the band's first music video to make MTV's heavy rotation Buzz Bin status [15]) stayed on the chart for eleven weeks. Garbage also reached #2 on the Top Heatseekers chart. [16]

In Australia, after four weeks "Vow" peaked at #32 [17] and Garbage debuted at #5 on the ARIA album chart. [18] In New Zealand, "Vow" peaked at #41 [19] and Garbage debuted at #11. [20]

Garbage was formally launched in the United Kingdom on July 25, 1995, with a press conference for music press and fanzine writers taking place on a barge down the River Thames. [21] The event included an album playback and interviews with the band. This event also doubled up to promote the UK-only single "Subhuman", a track that had been intended as a B-side for the international single release of "Vow", and would not appear on the album, but was such a strong song, the band's label felt it was worth releasing, [10] providing a stop-gap single before album lead-in "Queer" could be issued. [22]

Mushroom Records would push back the albums original September 25 [22] UK release to October 2 and issue "Only Happy When It Rains" to promote the album instead of "Queer". "Only Happy..." was playlisted by Radio One and charted at #29. This top 40 position let Garbage perform the single on Top of The Pops, the band's first ever televised performance, providing Garbage with enough promotion to debut on the album chart at #12 with first week sales of 9,409. [23]

"Queer" eventually followed the album on November 20, supported by the band's debut UK show at London's Kentish Town Forum on November 23. Improving on previous singles, "Queer" reached the UK top 10 on mid-week results and settled at #13 by the end of the chart week. This chart result was quickly followed by a second invite to Top of The Pops to perform "Queer". Garbage was certified silver [24] by the BPI on January 1, 1996 and gold one month later. [24]

Garbage was certified gold by the RIAA on January 5 [25] and re-entered the Billboard 200 on January 13. [26] "Only Happy When It Rains" was released in US the following week on January 21. [27] MTV announced that "Only Happy" was certified a "Buzz clip", guaranteeing heavy rotation on its network from February 13. [28] On February 24, Garbage set off on a small 17-date headline tour of North America to support the single. [29]

The release of next UK single "Stupid Girl" was delayed from January 29 [30] to March 11 to bring it in line with Garbage's first headline UK tour. [29] After massive video and radio airplay ("Stupid Girl" was A-listed at Radio One, Virgin and Capital, reaching #5 in the UK Airplay chart [31]) and TV appearances on Top of The Pops and TFI Friday, the single reached #4, becoming the band's first UK top 10 hit, propelling the album back up the UK chart and into the top 10, peaking at #6. Garbage became platinum-certified for UK sales of 300,000 on May 1. [24]

US airplay and sales for "Only Happy" increased, debuting on the Hot 100 on March 9. Garbage returned to promote the album and single on a headline club tour, bookended by national television appearances performing "Only Happy" live on Saturday Night Special on April 13 and at the MTV Movie Awards on June 13. [29] "Only Happy" peaked at #55 on the Hot 100 on April 27. [14]

Garbage then joined Smashing Pumpkins as support on their North American arena tour from June 25, [29] then performed next single "Stupid Girl" on Late Show with David Letterman on July 11. [29] Although the support slot was cut short due to the death of Pumpkin's keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin on July 12, the album was now climbing steadily up the Billboard 200, spending the following two months in the top thirty peaking at #20. [26] Garbage was certified platinum for one million US sales on July 30 [25] the same week follow up single "Stupid Girl" debuted on the Hot 100, eventually reaching #24 on September 21. [14] A Top 40 radio remix of "Stupid Girl" by Todd Terry also received massive airplay. [32] A remix video for "Stupid Girl" was serviced to music channels where it became the band's third Buzz clip in a row. [32]

Despite having no immediate single to promote in either the UK or Europe (although on May 28 "Only Happy When It Rains" was released in mainland Europe [33]), the band returned there on August 3 promoting Garbage with a month of shows around the festival circuit. [29]

Garbage then headed south to Asia and Australia to promote the album, beginning with shows in Singapore on September 28 and ending in Osaka, Japan on October 18. [29] While in Australia, ARIA certified Garbage platinum, with sales of over 210,000 units [18], and on September 23 to coincide with the tour the band's record labels issued a 'Tour Edition' of the album containing a bonus disc of remixes and b-side "Alien Sex Fiend". [34] Following the tour, on October 14, White issued "Milk" upfront of the single's worldwide release date. [35] Eleven months after release, Garbage topped the New Zealand albums chart and peaked at #4 in Australia following the tour. [18]

With the album having peaked on the charts following the massive success of "Stupid Girl", Garbage returned to the US to give Garbage a final push by rejoining the Smashing Pumpkins rescheduled tour from October 23. [29] A day into the tour, on October 24, Garbage received major worldwide media attention when, during a performance of "Stupid Girl" at the VH1 Fashion Awards, Manson accidentally flashed her nipple onstage. [35]

During the tour, "Milk", the final single from Garbage, was released on November 11 and reached #106 on the Bubbling Under chart; a remix of the track featuring trip-hop artist Tricky became the band's second UK top 10 hit and the band performed the remix live at the MTV Europe Music Awards in London on November 14; [36] the band also won the Breakthrough award at the event. [36] Garbage opening track "Supervixen" was also sent to Modern Rock radio [37] as an airplay-only single; [38] despite "Fix Me Now" being planned and scrapped as a single release. [39]

On November 30, a remix of "Vow" b-side "#1 Crush" which had been included on the soundtrack to William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet debuted on the US Hot 100 Airplay chart, peaking five weeks later at #29. [14] On January 4, 1997 "#1 Crush" reached #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, [14] staying there for four weeks. Despite not featuring on the album itself, and no promotional video (although filming one at the start of 1997 was considered [40]) the song continued to maintain Garbage's US sales.

The final release to promote the album was Garbage Video, a compilation of the album's promotional videos, which was released in the US on November 12 and worldwide on December 9. [36] By this time, Garbage had also been certified double platinum in Canada, Australia [41] and New Zealand and gold in France, Denmark, Ireland and Singapore. [42]

Garbage's sales continued with the release of second album Version 2.0, and was certified platinum in the UK for the second time on October 16, 1998, [24] and in the US for the second time on February 24, 1999. [25] It was also certified gold in the Philippines on June 20. [42] Garbage was issued on the MiniDisc format on March 20, 2000 [43] before re-charting in the UK for the final time week-ending July 15, 2000. [44]

The track "As Heaven is Wide" was one of the songs included in the 1998 PS1 racing game Gran Turismo.

[edit] Re-issues

In the years since Garbage was first released, the album has been repackaged and reissued many times, often due to a change in record label or local distributor. In almost all cases, labels which the album was licensed to reissued the album with updated crediting, resulting in small changes to the album sleeve, credits and catalogue numbering.

From 1999 Australian pressings were re-issued on parent Mushroom Records following the dissolution of the White label. [45] On November 29, 1999 Simply Vinyl issued a limited 180 g/m² double vinyl edition of the album (followed by a release for Version 2.0). [46]

In 2001, prior to the release of third album beautifulgarbage, Mushroom UK ended its distribution deal with BMG (with the exception of in Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS [47]) and began business with Play It Again Sam for territories in Western Europe. [48] In South Africa, PIAS licensed the album to David Gresham Records (taking over from BMG). [49] In Japan and Asia FMR, with whom Mushroom had merged with Festival to form, licensed the album out to Sony Music Int'l to release (again, taking over from BMG). [50] Garbage's North American parent company Universal picked up distribution from BMG for all South American business through their local labels. [51]

From 2003 WEA International took on all pressing and distribution for all non-American pressings of Garbage. [52] This arrangement eventually included Australia, where FMR became a Warners label in 2005.

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Garbage, except where noted.

  1. "Supervixen" – 3:55
  2. "Queer" – 4:36
  3. "Only Happy When It Rains" – 3:56
  4. "As Heaven Is Wide" – 4:44
  5. "Not My Idea" – 3:41
  6. "A Stroke of Luck" – 4:44
  7. "Vow" – 4:30
  8. "Stupid Girl" (Garbage, Strummer, Jones) – 4:18
  9. "Dog New Tricks" – 3:56
  10. "My Lover's Box" – 3:55
  11. "Fix Me Now" – 4:43
  12. "Milk" – 3:53

[edit] Chart positions and sales

Country Peak position Certification Sales
Australia 4 2x Platinum [53] 140,000+
Canada 2x Platinum [54] 200,000+
France 16 Gold [55] 210,000+ [56]
United Kingdom 6 2x Platinum [57] 696,865+ [58]
United States 20 2x Platinum [59] 2,300,000+

[edit] Personnel

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Q (issue 09/01/1996)" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  2. ^ a b c d "Garbage: Behind The Music aired 03/31/02"(Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  3. ^ a b Volume Issue 11/01/94. Cafemomo.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  4. ^ "Making Music issue 06/01/96" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Garbage press release (September 1996)" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  6. ^ "Record Collector #209" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  7. ^ a b "Musician issue 01/01/96" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  8. ^ "Melody Maker issue 09/30/95"
  9. ^ a b "The Sunday Telegraph issue 10/01/95" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  10. ^ a b ""Only Happy When It Rains" sell-in sheet (issued Sept 1995)" (Retrieved - 2007-11-07)
  11. ^ a b "Garbage advance Almo Sounds promo disc sleeve notes" (Retrieved - 2007-11-07)
  12. ^ Garbage May 1999 news. Cafemomo.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  13. ^ Vow US CD1. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Single Chart History: Garbage. Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  15. ^ "Q issue 11/01/95" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  16. ^ Garbage: Charts & Awards. Allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  17. ^ Garbage - Vow (Song). Australian-charts.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  18. ^ a b c "Version 2.0 Repackage Mushroom records press release" (Retrieved - 2007-05-21)
  19. ^ Garbage - Vow. Charts.org.nz. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  20. ^ Garbage - Garbage. Charts.org.nz. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  21. ^ "Gar-barge press pack (issued July 1995)" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  22. ^ a b ""Subhuman" press release" | (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  23. ^ "Music Week issue 25/04/05" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  24. ^ a b c d Certified Awards. BPI.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  25. ^ a b c Gold & Platinum searchable database. RIAA.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  26. ^ a b Album Chart History: Garbage. Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  27. ^ Only Happy When It Rains USA CD1. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  28. ^ NME "The Filth Amendment" 03/15/1996. Garbage.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h 1996 Setlists. GarbageBase.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  30. ^ "Kerrang! issue 01/??/96)" | (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  31. ^ "beautifulgarbage promotional history press release" (Retrieved - 2007-05-19)
  32. ^ a b ""Hits (Stupid Girl trade ad)"" | (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  33. ^ Only Happy When It Rains EU CD2. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  34. ^ Garbage OZ CD2. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  35. ^ a b Garbage September 1996 news. Cafemomo.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  36. ^ a b c Garbage November 1996 news. Cafemomo.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  37. ^ "Hits ("Supervixen" trade ad)" (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  38. ^ Listings for Oct 1996 Modern Rock Radio. Promoonly.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.
  39. ^ "Butch Vig as quoted to WKQZ, June 1996" | (Retrieved - 2007-05-15)
  40. ^ `Romeo, Juliet' doth climbeth albums chart. Highbeam.com (original article from Chicago Sun-Times, December 27, 1996 issue. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  41. ^ ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 1997 Albums. ARIA.com.au. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  42. ^ a b Garbage Fast Facts. Garbage.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
  43. ^ Garbage UK MD1. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  44. ^ "Studio Diary #12 "A day in the life of a studio rat". Garbage.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  45. ^ Garbage OZ CD3. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  46. ^ Garbage UK LP2. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  47. ^ Garbage Russia CD1. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  48. ^ Garbage EU CD5. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  49. ^ Garbage South Africa CD2. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  50. ^ Garbage Jap CD5. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  51. ^ Garbage Col CD. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  52. ^ Garbage UK CD 2. Garbage-Discography.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  53. ^ ARIA
  54. ^ CRIA
  55. ^ Disque En France
  56. ^ As quoted by Laurent Didallier, MD of PIAS France, Musique Info Hebdo, October 2001 issue
  57. ^ BPI
  58. ^ "Music Week, August 4, 2007 issue
  59. ^ Billboard “Ask Billboard”
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