There wasn't much from the alt-rock 90's that struck me as remotely interesting at the time. I guess it had a lot to do with me not really being in an "angsty" enough place myself to identify with Cobain, or Corgan, or Courtney Love, for that matter. It all sounded to me like a bunch of bored kids who were looking for a reason to go flying off the rails, inventing drama just to make like tolerable.
Still, one of the surprise success stories of the 90's was a band called Garbage. What set them apart from the get-go was that they were led by drummer/uber-producer Butch Vig and a couple longtime co-horts, Duke Erikson (who'd been playing with Vig in bands such as Spooner and Fire Town since the mid-70's) and Steve Marker (who was a longtime engineer at Vig's Smart Studios in Wisconsin).
He had chosen to step out of the shadows and cash in some of the hipster cred he'd acquired producing groundbreaking albums for the likes of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, all the while being savvy enough to know this rag-tag team of "old guys" were gonna need a front person to make it work.
My first knowledge of Vig and Erickson had come in 1985 when my band played a gig with their band Spooner in Chicago. Their sound was completely "heartland" rock with songs that didn't quite seem to hit the mark (the same could certainly be said of my songs, I freely admit). Erikson already had the look and demeanor of a guy who just wasn't cut out to be a front man, but who had this crazy drive to make it as a musician. A few years later, he and Vig had actually formed Fire Town and scored a deal with Atlantic. Neither of the two albums they released went anywhere and they soon found themselves right back where they started.
I can fully attest to the frustration one feels after pouring your heart and soul into something for what seems the whole of your adult life and having jack shit to show for it. The ability to keep on keeping on is either one of total delusion, or total genius. You never know which one, though, until its too late. You wake up one day and find yourself at the bottom of the world or near the top of the charts.
There's really no in-between.
Vig, of course had become a quite in-demand producer - practically a household name, if you will - thanks to a little album called "Nevermind". Still, he harbored ambitions as an artist that no amount of success as a producer would ever quell. Enter Shirley Manson, still gun-shy from the failed lift-off of two previous bands (Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie and Angelfish) but determined to not go down without a fight.
If not for Marker spotting her in a video shown on MTV in the wee hours of the morning, it's highly unlikely the group would have ever happened at all.
Despite a failed first audition, Shirley would get the gig and inject a strong, sublimely twisted persona into the band's multi-layered electronica-based rock tracks. The first album was an across-the-board succcess, not only in America, but across Europe as well. Version 2.0 proved that the first one was no fluke. Before long, they'd amassed a baker's dozen of tracks known and loved by millions of fans around the world.
With the release of their recent hits compilation, Absolute Garbage, though, it really dawned on me how much the band accomplished. Truth be told, it was fucking great to see guys who'd been banging around together for thirty years hit upon something that finally brought them a level of success that silenced the many naysayers they'd no doubt heard over the years.
If anything, their success stands as a shining reminder to never give up on your dreams.
I swear there's a rags-to-riches movie in there somewhere that would make "Rocky" seem anti-climactic by comparison. Alas, today I've chosen to showcase some quality live cuts from a band that is equal parts sophistication, innovation and, ahem, deviation.
Enjoy!
#1 Crush
Bad Boyfriend
I Think I'm Paranoid
Sex Is Not The Enemy
Androgyny
Bleed Like Me
I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
Run Baby Run
Stupid Girl
Cherry Lips
When I Grow Up
Happy Home
Wild Horses
4 comments:
Thank you for being one of the few brave bloggers who will still bring themselves to admit/declare that Garbage IS indeed brilliant. I'm tired of the revisionist attitude, of people trying to pull them off their pedestal. Their legacy is impeccable. They will be like Joy Division and be appreciated as truly influential and unique years from now.
I'd write in anonymously too if I said 'Garbage' and 'legacy' and 'Joy Division' all in the same breath. I hope you were being funny. Garbage is a good/great rock band, but I'm not sure what their influence has been or will be.
Garbage and Joy Division and Legacy.
Ah, I said it. And I feel better for it.
Yes it's possible. Who says it isn't? Many bands don't get the notoriety they truly deserve until years after the fact. It's about getting some perspective.
Garbage are great, no two things about that. Ten years ago, c. 1997, people said Oasis were insignificant too, and yet you have the Arctic Monkeys citing them as an influence. Shirley Manson is one of the great frontwomen of the 90s (and 00s, for that matter), and I'm thrilled to hear that she's putting out a solo album.
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