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".
Blackout
Garbage Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Keeping my feelings to myself
I'm already broken hearted
So let's get this party started
The darkness comes with you
With longing and desire
Your anger burns inside your eyes
Get out your head, get out your head
Try not to think, be cool, be calm, be fake
Dumb yourself down, numb yourself out
Fake it till you make it break, make the world black out
All the hurt you nurse inside
You'd better cough it up
Beautiful like shards of glass
In your throat they'll cut you up
Get out your head, get out your head
Try not to think, be cool, be calm, be fake
Dumb yourself down, numb yourself out
Fake it till you make it break, make the world black out
That was such a wicked thing to say
That was such a spiteful thing to do
You smile as the words spew out your mouth
So I laugh in your face right back at you
Oh, whoah
There's no reward for men who weep
No medals given out
But better be the one who speaks
Than be the man who won't
(You, and you, and you, and you)
Get out your head, get out your head
Try not to think, be cool, be calm, be fake
Dumb yourself down, numb yourself out
Fake it till you make it break
Make the world black out
We all blackout
We all blackout
Get out your head, get out your head (we all blackout)
Get out your head, get out your head (we all blackout)
The lyrics of Garbage's song Blackout reveal the struggle of suppressing emotions and thoughts to fit in and numb the pain. The first few lines show the singer's intention to keep everything inside as they are already brokenhearted. The darkness embodied in desire and anger comes with the other person, and they mask their true selves to fit in. The lyrics "Try not to think, be cool, be calm, be fake, dumb yourself down, numb yourself out, fake it till you make it break, make the world black out" indicate how people tend to mask their true selves to prevail in this world. The singer advises the person to let go of the bottled-up emotions instead of nursing them inside as beautiful as shards of glass that could cut them up in the throat.
The chorus "Get out your head, get out your head, we all blackout" repeats the message of a masked society that needs an outlet to break free momentarily. The verse "That was such a wicked thing to say, that was such a spiteful thing to do, you smile as the words spew out your mouth, so I laugh right back into your face" portrays the person as hypocritical and spiteful, spewing venomous words but still smiling. The last verse "There's no reward for men who weep, no medals given out, but better be the one who speaks than be the man who won't" portrays the struggle between expressing vs. suppressing emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Keeping my thoughts under wraps tonight
I'm hiding my thoughts from others tonight.
Keeping my feelings to myself
I'm hiding my emotions from others.
I'm already broken hearted
My heart is already broken.
So let's get this party started
Let's start the party anyway.
The darkness comes with you
You bring darkness with you.
With longing and desire
You desire something strongly.
Your anger burns inside your eyes
You're angry and it shows in your eyes.
They flash like burning coal
Your eyes are as bright as burning coal.
Get out your head, get out your head
Stop overthinking.
Try not to think, be cool, be calm, be fake
Don't think too much, act cool and calm, even if it's not genuine.
Dumb yourself down, numb yourself out
Lower your intelligence and dull your emotions.
Fake it till you make it break, make the world black out
Act fake until you break down and make everything go dark.
All the hurt you nurse inside
You're holding onto all your pain and hurt inside.
You'd better cough it up
You need to let it out.
Beautiful like shards of glass
The pain you're holding onto is sharp and dangerous like broken glass.
In your throat they'll cut you up
This pain will hurt you even more if you keep it inside.
That was such a wicked thing to say
Your comment was evil.
That was such a spiteful thing to do
Your action was vindictive.
You smile as the words spew out your mouth
You're happy as you say hurtful things.
So I laugh in your face right back at you
I'll laugh back at you instead of getting hurt.
There's no reward for men who weep
Crying won't get you any awards or recognition.
No medals given out
There are no awards to be won for being sad.
But better be the one who speaks
It's better to express yourself.
Than be the man who won't
Instead of being silent.
(You, and you, and you, and you)
Referring to multiple people.
We all blackout
We all experience a blackout.
Get out your head, get out your head (we all blackout)
Stop overthinking (we all experience a blackout).
Get out your head, get out your head (we all blackout)
Stop overthinking (we all experience a blackout).
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Steve W Marker, Douglas Elwin Erickson, Bryan David Vig, Shirley Ann Manson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Steven Morris
Top three amazing Garbage albums
Garbage 1995
Version 2.0 1998
Strange Little Birds 2016
Good old Garbage is back :)
But of course I like all of there albums.
But these three are my absolute favourite albums.
Luis Guillermo
The entire album is a gem 🙏🙌💪❤️
Der Typ Da
naah
Nicole Colon
Just fucking amazing! This is the type of music you actually feel. This is what gets you through the days that you think you can’t get through.
Bazil Kali
Been a fan since the first album came out. My oldest bro turned me on to Garbage. I'm so glad this band exists. Every song is so damn good
This girl named Sandi…
This one is my favorite from Strange Little birds <3
muebleoalgo
Love that bass and the dark atmosphere of this song. It's really powerfull. Not to mention Live, It blows your head and smash your ears.
SJ H
muebleoalgo I love how it all unfolds at the end and melds together so seamlessly
Michael LD
Chanson à part, une réussite. Les sons et chants en fond sont très réussis. Merci Garbage !
Владимир Словак
Супер вещь! Вообще их люблю.
alexia's revenge
2020 still this song is everything to me through lockdown