1994-Shirley MansonLead vocals, guitar
Duke EriksonBass, guitar, vocals
Steve MarkerGuitar, keyboards
Butch VigDrums, percussion
The band's name was inspired by a friend, who frequently told them their music sounded "like garbage." Steve Marker has said that the band "want to make pop music and make it as horrible sounding as we can."
Garbage was formed in Madison, Wisconsin. Butch Vig and Duke Erikson had played together in the bands Spooner and Fire Town. After these bands disbanded they took on production jobs,
Butch Vig famously producing Nirvana's 1991 album
Nevermind. Tired of the grunge scene, they collaborated with Steve Marker, who was sound engineer for Fire Town, and began making music that fused industrial rock with sample-based electronic.
Looking in particular for a female singer who could make their dissonant music more poppy, Garbage auditioned Shirley Manson after watching a video for her band Angelfish's 1993 debut single "Suffocate Me." Manson described the audition and early jam session as "a disaster."
A week later, she called back and said, "I know what to do with these songs." Manson returned and quickly recorded "
Queer," "
Stupid Girl," and "
Vow" in just a few days - effectively sealing her place in the band.
Shirley Manson began her music career as a backing singer for Scottish band Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. In an interview for VH1's Behind the Music, Manson said she was asked to join not because of her musical talents, but because she was "a party girl."
Their self-titled debut album, released in 1995, was a surprise hit, selling over 4 million copies. They promoted the release with a year-long world tour, performing headline shows and sometimes supporting the Smashing Pumpkins, a band Vig would later produce.
The band performed the theme tune for the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. In 2006, IGN placed the song ninth on their list of the Top 10 Bond themes.
During the band's extended hiatus in 2005, Manson made her acting debut on the TV sci-fi drama Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Eschewing the use of a stunt double, the Garbage singer's role in the show came to an abrupt end when she dislocated her elbow during a fight scene.
In January 2007, Garbage ended an 18-month hiatus by performing at a benefit show in California to pay for musician Wally Ingram's medical care after treatment for throat cancer.
The band's rise coincided with widespread use of the internet. Many tech-savvy fans built websites dedicated to the band, so there's a huge
archive of Garbage sites that were active in the late '90s but petered out a few years later. A few minutes of browsing shows that web design in this era was rather hideous.
Shirley Manson's signature look is bright red lips. Asked by Billboard magazine how that look come about, she replied: "There was a phase in my life where we [as teenagers in Scotland] were obsessed with that rockabilly, Americana look, which of course was the Marilyn Monroe-inspired red lip. Once I put a red lipstick on my very pale face, it just sort of popped and I became addicted."
Manson's father was a Sunday school teacher at a Presbyterian church, but religion didn't suit Shirley. She had a falling out with her family over going to church and became an atheist, a viewpoint that informed the title and theme of the 2021 Garbage album No Gods No Masters.
In 2010, Manson married Billy Bush, the longtime sound engineer for Garbage.
Though Butch Vig's production of Nirvana's Nevermind made him famous, he asked his publicists to stop including Nirvana in his press for a few years after Garbage formed. Interviewers kept focusing on Kurt Cobain instead of the new band he was building, so he clammed up to give Garbage room to breathe.
