Initially, Garbage was an informal jam session between the three producers held in Marker's basement. Steve Marker saw the music video of "Suffocate Me" by Angelfish on MTV, recorded it and showcased it to his band mates. They invited the Scottish vocalist Shirley Manson to join Garbage, she accepted, and soon Angelfish disbanded. According to Vig, Garbage was named before Manson joined the band, after the percussionist Pauli Ryan walked in while Vig was working on a remix for Nine Inch Nails and said it sounded like "garbage".
In August 1995, the group released their debut album Garbage, preceded by their first single "Vow" in March 1995. This album was an unexpected smash, selling over 5 million copies and reaching double platinum status in the UK (#6), USA (#20), Australia. Also it received great reviews from critics and featured on the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die." They released five singles from this album: "Vow", "Only Happy When It Rains", "Queer", "Stupid Girl", and "Milk". A non-album single entitled "Subhuman" was issued on 7 August 1995.
In 1996, the band released a short-form VHS and Video CD entitled "Garbage Video" (also known as "Home Video"), that included all of Garbage's promotional music videos filmed up until that point.
In 1997, Garbage were nominated at Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal for "Stupid Girl", Best Rock Song for "Stupid Girl". In the same year, the remixed version of "#1 Crush" (original version released in 1996) was included on the multi-platinum movie soundtrack William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Also it was nominated for Best Song From a Movie at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
They spent over an year working on their follow-up album Version 2.0, which was released on May 1998 and hit #1 in the UK and #13 in the US. It was supported by six singles: "Push It", "I Think I'm Paranoid", "Special", "When I Grow Up", "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" and "You Look So Fine". The music video of "Push It" featured state of the art effects and it costs over $400,000 to make. Version 2.0 sold over 5 million copies, almost the same as their debut.
In 1999, they performed the theme song to the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough. That year, they also contributed the song "When I Grow Up" to the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy. Version 2.0 was nominated at Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album, and "Special" was nominated for Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal and Best Rock Song.
In October 2001, Garbage issued their third and most pop album beautifulgarbage, preceded by the single "Androgyny" in September 2001. All four singles released ("Androgyny", "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)", "Breaking Up the Girl" and "Shut Your Mouth") were moderately successful. This album got 6th place at Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of The Year. The world tour from October 2001 to November 2002 was affected by Butch's health problems.
The band struggled to remain together and almost split in 2003, before returning with the fourth studio album Bleed Like Me in April 2005, peaking at a career-high #4 in USA. Four singles promoted the album: "Why Do You Love Me", "Sex Is Not the Enemy", "Bleed Like Me", and "Run Baby Run". Garbage cut short their 2005 world tour, and announced an indefinite hiatus, but emphasized it was not a break-up.
In July 2007 the group released a greatest hits album and a DVD entitled Absolute Garbage. The compilation featured a selection of their singles, a new single "Tell Me Where It Hurts" (#50 UK), and a remixed version of "It's All Over But the Crying" (the limited edition had also a remixes disc). The DVD included most of their music videos and a documentary related to the band.
In 2008 a new track called "Witness to Your Love" was issued on a charity compilation in the USA. Shirley Manson recorded a solo album but her label refused to release it considering it to be "too noir". In the same year she started to play a regular role on US TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
According to a post from Shirley's Facebook profile, the band returned back to studio in 2010. On 14 May 2012, Garbage released their fifth studio album, Not Your Kind of People. The album was supported by the singles "Blood For Poppies", "Battle in Me", "Automatic Systematic Habit" and "Big Bright World".
On June 10th 2016, Garbage released their 6th album "Strange Little Birds".
As Heaven Is Wide
Garbage Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nothing that you pray would forgive you
Nothing's what your words mean to me
Something that you did will destroy me
Something that you said will stay with me long after you are dead and gone
If flesh could crawl
My skin would fall
As far from God
As heaven is wide
As far from God
As angels can fly
If holy is as holy does
This house will burn straight down to hell
Take it's conscience with it
As it falls
Nothing said could change the fact
My trust was blind you broke the pact
If gods my witness god must be blind
If flesh could crawl
My skin would fall
From off my bones and run away from here
As far from God
As heaven is wide
As far from God
As angels can fly
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish
Take it back I dare you take it back
No you can't, you should have thought of that
What's inside a man that goes so wrong
Choke on guilt that's far too good for you say one word I'll laugh and bury you
And leave you in the place where you left me
If flesh could crawl
My skin would fall
From off my bones and run away from here
As far from God
As heaven is wide
As far from God
As angels can fly
I wish I could fly
As angels can fly
The lyrics to Garbage's "As Heaven Is Wide" suggest the singer has been wronged by someone and no apologies or words from the offender will change the fact that they were hurt. The repeated phrases of "nothing that you say will release you" and "something that you did will destroy me" show the persistence of the harm caused by the person's actions. The lyrics also touch on the theme of religion, with references to God and heaven. The singer wishes to be as far away from God as possible, suggesting a loss of faith due to the betrayal they experienced. The line "if holy is as holy does" suggests that actions speak louder than words when it comes to being a good or righteous person. The final lines of the song express a desire to escape the pain and fly away like angels.
The imagery in the lyrics is powerful, with the suggestion that the singer's skin would crawl and fall off if they could physically experience the pain caused by the offender. The repetition of the phrase "as far from God as heaven is wide" emphasizes the singer's desire to distance themselves from anything holy or good. The use of the word "conscience" suggests that the offender has done something morally wrong and that their guilt will eventually catch up with them.
Line by Line Meaning
Nothing that you say will release you
Your words won't absolve you of what you did.
Nothing that you pray would forgive you
Your prayers won't make up for your wrongdoings.
Nothing's what your words mean to me
I don't trust your words anymore.
Something that you did will destroy me
Your actions will have a lasting impact on me.
Something that you said will stay with me long after you are dead and gone
Your hurtful words will continue to haunt me even after you're gone.
If flesh could crawl
I feel so disgusted and violated.
My skin would fall
I would do anything to get away from your presence.
From off my bones and run away from here
I want to leave this situation behind.
As far from God
I want to distance myself from everything that is pure and good.
As heaven is wide
I want to go as far away from the concept of heaven as possible.
As angels can fly
I wish I could escape this situation like angels can fly away from danger.
If holy is as holy does
Just because someone looks or acts holy doesn't mean they necessarily are.
This house will burn straight down to hell
The consequences of your actions will be severe.
Take it's conscience with it
Whatever guilt this situation brings on you, don't leave it behind.
Nothing said could change the fact
There's no excuse for what you did.
My trust was blind you broke the pact
I trusted you without question, but you betrayed me.
If gods my witness god must be blind
If there is a God, he must not have seen what you did or he would have stopped you.
Take it back I dare you take it back
You can't undo what has been done.
No you can't, you should have thought of that
You can't fix what you did by taking back your words.
What's inside a man that goes so wrong
What causes someone to act so cruelly?
Choke on guilt that's far too good for you say one word I'll laugh and bury you
You deserve to feel guilty, and I won't hesitate to retaliate against any defensiveness.
And leave you in the place where you left me
I want you to experience the same pain you caused me.
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish
I wish things had turned out differently.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Douglas Elwin Erickson, Shirley Ann Manson, Steve W. Marker, Bryan David Vig
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Darkicity
I love the dark sound and lyrics of this song, I wish Garbage had more songs like this. They are amazing
John Gabriel Suarez
My most favourite song of Garbage and my most favourite song in Gran Turismo Franchise. I love this song when racing on Grand Valley Speedway and Special Stage R 11. Good thing I passed all the licenses tests and won all the cups.
Christopher Tichanuk
this song + plus driving a dodge viper on special stage route 5 in gran turismo = pure bliss
marrymeKimLip
I know right👌
Maciej B.
Supra Mk3 bro.
Bryce Valdez
You made the image of my childhood into reality
Vaddyr Febres Mora
Special Stage Route 5 whit my NSX, 🥲
carlosx sanchezx
the harmony of garbage is really awesome...just the right people together in a band....so much heart and talent...
Dave Ulmer
Awesome song, Shirley is just brilliant! Just love her voice!
missinglink516
I love the way the fuzz bass just tears into the opening...This whole song is brilliant