Garbage biography

'Video Killed The Radio Star' was, famously, the first song ever played on MTV. The channel’s impact has been felt around the world’s living rooms including, clearly, a certain Butch Vig’s. Best known for producing Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, Vig was relaxing at home and couldn’t help but notice the charismatic female fronting a group called Angelfish. Along with his buddy Steve Marker, they contacted this feisty front woman Shirley Manson and made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Fellow producer Duke Erikson joined the fray and Garbage was born.

All four had played in a variety of bands – Manson joined Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie as a teenager before moving on to Angelfish – but Vig’s credentials as the superstar producer du jour (Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, L7) ensured that his newest project would be heard. Their self-titled debut appeared in the fall of 1995 and had a pink fluffy cover – if you wanted to distance yourself from grunge, there could be no better way of doing so. Far from being a gimmick group however, Garbage rocked hard and loud. Radio and – yes – MTV jumped on the bandwagon at an early stage making hits out of ‘Only Happy When It Rains’, ‘Queer’ and ‘Stupid Girl’. Unsurprisingly, the record found favor with old and new rock fans alike and went platinum.

Three years later, the follow-up, reasonably entitled ‘Version 2.0 was released and sold truckloads of copies too, led by the infectious ‘Push It’. Two further albums, ‘Beautiful Garbage’ and ‘Bleed Like Me’, have followed and while Garbage may not be as vital as they once were, the band’s sense of style and knack for credible hits will ensure them a place in music’s history. Indeed, many feel that their impending Greatest Hits will signal an end for the group. But video, at least in Shirley Manson’s case, made the radio star.