Garbage Biography
Vig is a native of Viroqua, Wisconsin, who learned to play piano as a child and drums as a teenager. He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly before pursuing a career in music instead. The first band he joined after leaving college was Spooner, who he played drums with. Also in Spooner was Erikson, who sang and played guitar with the band. Marker was a native of New York who moved to Wisconsin to attend college. He became a fan of Spooner and began recording their songs. Vig left Spooner shortly afterwards, but he kept in touch with the band. After a few years, Spooner became Firetown and Vig played drums in the new outfit.
Firetown broke up in the late '80s, without achieving much success. Prior to the formation of Firetown, Vig and Marker bought an eight-track cassette recorder together and set up a makeshift studio in a local warehouse. This studio was dubbed Smart Studios and Vig recorded numerous local punk and alternative bands at the warehouse. By the late '80s, Smart had become one of the hippest recording studios in America. Many records released on Touch and Go, Sub Pop, and Twin/Tone, among other indie labels, were made at Smart. Vig and Smart broke into the big time in 1991, after he produced Nirvana's 'Nevermind'. 'Nevermind' elevated Butch Vig to the status of a superstar producer and for the next two years, he produced numerous American alternative superstars, including Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, and L7.
Shortly after Vig became a star, he and Marker began playing together, eventually asking Erikson to join them. Hence, Garbage was officially formed in 1993, after Erikson joined the duo. After a year of playing, they hired Shirley Manson after seeing Angelfish on MTV. Manson began her musical career at an early age, joining Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie as a teenager; she played keyboards and sang backing vocals in the band. For the next few years, she toured with the band before leaving to form Angelfish, whom she led through an eponymous 1994 album.
Garbage recorded their debut album in late 1994 and early 1995. Their eponymous first album appeared in the fall of 1995 on Almo Sounds. After receiving support from radio and MTV, the album began to climb the charts toward the end of 1995, when the second single, 'Queer' received heavy airplay. By the summer of 1996, Garbage had gone gold in the United States, and shortly afterward it achieved platinum status, as 'Only Happy When It Rains' and 'Stupid Girl' became radio hits.
After a brief break, Garbage began work on their second album in the summer of 1997. The record, entitled Version '2.0', was released in May the following year, preceded by the single 'Push It'.
In 2001 the group released their third album 'Beautiful Garbage' to critical acclaim.
(One) musician, upon seeing the innumerable loops and samples strewn about the studio, inadvertently inspired the bands name when he said, This looks like garbage. Replied Vig, Exactly. And were going to turn this garbage into a song.
--Garbage Bio, 1995
Four albums and seven Grammy nominations later, Garbage has its first best of collection--the CD and DVD collections, Absolute Garbage (Almo Sounds/Geffen/UMe), released July 24, 2007. Along with the new track Tell Me Where It Hurts, Absolute Garbage features 17 songs of extreme and intense emotion, from Stupid Girl, Queer and #1 Crush to Special, Bleed Like Me and Why Do You Love Me.
Among the 15 Garbage music videos on DVD for the first time--including Vow, Only Happy When It Rains, Stupid Girl and Milk directed by Samuel Bayer (Nirvanas Smells Like Teen Spirit, Holes Doll Parts, The Cranberries Zombie) and Queer by Stephane Sednaoui (Red Hot Chili Peppers Give It Away)--are two previously unreleased in the U.S.: You Look So Fine and Shut Your Mouth. Also included is almost an hour of never-before-seen footage backstage and behind-the-scenes, live performances and interviews, spanning the bands entire career.
A special limited edition 2-CD set adds to the original CD a bonus disc of remixes by some of the worlds most renowned DJs, including U.N.K.L.E., Massive Attack, Todd Terry, Crystal Method, Fun Lovin Criminals, and Felix Da Housecat.
In 1994, drummer Butch Vig, guitarist/bassist Duke Erikson and guitarist Steve Marker, who had played in bands together for years, decided to create a record for pop geeks, said Vig, who dance with the lights out and sing and play in front of a mirror by themselves. Vig had already earned prominence by producing albums for Nirvana (Nevermind), The Smashing Pumpkins (Gish, Siamese Dream), Sonic Youth, Urge Overkill and Soul Asylum. But they needed a voice. Enter Shirley Manson of Edinburgh, Scotland, whom Vig said sometimes sounds scary, sometimes dreamy, sometimes weary, sometimes sexy, sometimes psychotic. What more could you ask for?
The next year, the Madison, Wisconsin-based band debuted with a self-titled album that reached double platinum. The follow-up, Version 2.0, went platinum and was nominated for Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. In 2001 they released beautifulgarbage and the band almost split up before returning in 2005 with Bleed Like Me, which peaked at a career-high #4.
With the band emerging from a hiatus for a live performance and the recording of Tell Me Where It Hurts, Absolute Garbage offers the best of a band that, to quote a lyric from Queer, has been the strangest of the strange, the coolest of the cool.
While Garbage is currently embarking on side projects and solo careers, they have hinted that they may re-unite mid 2008 to record their fifth studio album, so stay tuned!
