Garbage's success story has been a remarkable one. Starting out as the brainchild of renowned producer Butch Vig, Garbage at first was only a small experiment, the search for a "moody, industrial, alternative sound" he had formed in his head during his various producing and remixing work. He originally embarked on the project with his studio partner Steve Marker and long-time friend and sidekick Duke Erikson, but it was only with the recruitment of Scottish singer Shirley Manson, spotted performing with her then band Angelfish on MTV, that Garbage became the band we know today. Garbage's self-titled debut LP was released towards the end of 1995 and after a slow start has gone on to sell over 3 million copies world-wide. This level of success came as a complete surprise to the band members who, with the exception of Vig, had found little fame in spite of many years as musicians.
A string of singles (in the UK) were released, reaching progressively higher chart positions. The fourth and most popular, "Stupid Girl", went top 5 and was accompanied by the entry of "Garbage" into the top ten of the album chart. For it's follow up Garbage collaborated with British trip-hop artist Tricky on a remix of their album track "Milk", on which he shared lead vocals with Shirley. It was released on November 11th 1996 and charted at number 10. Limited editions of Milk have since been released, featuring numerous remixes by Massive Attack, Rabbit in the Moon and Goldie. This was the last output from the band before sessions started for a second LP.
Since their earliest release, the strictly limited 7" "Vow" single, Garbage have had a tradition of using unusual packaging on the vinyl releases to make them more collectable for the fans. "Vow" was limited to 3000 copies and came in a metal box sleeve. Next came "Subhuman" in a plasticised rubber sleeve, again with 3000 copies pressed. That was followed by "Only Happy When it Rains" with a 'holographic prismaboard' sleeve and limited to 5000 copies. The b-side of the vinyl was double-grooved, the 2 songs, "Sleep" and "Girl Don't Come" running parallel, occupying the same space on the record. The 5000 copies of the "Queer" 7" were packaged with a normal cardboard sleeve inside a thick 'crystal perspex' outer sleeve. 10000 copies of "Stupid Girl" on vinyl were released inside cloth bags in either blue or red, and finally "Milk", limited to 10000, came in a rippled cardboard sleeve with a 16-frame hologram on the front.
The three limited edition 12" vinyl releases of the Milk remixes were also in white rippled cardboard sleeves, each in a slightly different design. In addition to the singles, a box set of the album in the form of six 7 inch singles was released. There may be no more of the collectable singles when new material is released because CIN rules now disqualify singles released in "elaborate packaging" from their charts. Without a doubt, Garbage on vinyl are the most sought after items in their discography.
Garbage spent the greater part of 1996 touring in the U.S. In their live set they included a cover version of Vic Chestnutt's "Kick My Ass", which became quite a favourite among fans. Their recorded version of the song was released on the various artists compilation "Sweet Relief 2", which also included versions of Chestnutt's songs by R.E.M., Soul Asylum, Kristin Hersh and others. On 24th of August '96 Garbage played at the Reading festival, going down well with those who saw them. The MTV Europe awards were held on the 14th of November. Garbage won the "Best Breakthrough Band" award, and also had "Stupid Girl" nominated in the "Best Song" category.
The videos for all the Garbage singles, plus an additional film accompanying the b-side "Sleep" are now available on the "Garbage Video". Also included are various bits of behind the scenes footage shot during the making of the films. Most recently Garbage contributed a remixed version of their early b-side "#1 Crush" to the soundtrack of "Romeo and Juliet". This will most likely be the last new music release until Garbage have completed work on their second album.
