Yet somehow Garbage’s brand of electro-rock stunned everyone – critics and fans alike – they shifted four million copies of their debut, and won Grammies on their way to world domination. Then they split. Fear not, though: Garbage are back.
Shirley Manson became the poster girl for late-Nineties rock, adding a twist and intellect to the riot grrrls that came before. She was the alternative frontwoman who didn’t pull her punches, and was immeasurably appealing as a result. And then there was that drummer, the quiet man who just happened to have twiddled the nobs on such era-defining albums as Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream and Nirvana’s Nevermind, persuading Kurt Cobain that overdubbing his guitars didn’t mean abandoning his punk rock roots.
1995’s Garbage was chock-full of alt-electro-rock, with enough riffs for the headbangers and enough tunes to storm the charts. Their follow-up, Version 2.0, was a chart-topper, and enabled the band to take headline status. Third and fourth long players Beautiful Garbage and Bleed Like Me followed, before their indefinite hiatus of 2003 looked like, for Garbage fans, it had all gone to shit.
The foursome are back, though, with new record, Not Your Kind Of People (their outsider sensibilities intact), and headline shows across the summer.
The Troxy | 490 Commercial Road, E1 0HX
Wed, may 9 | Doors at 7pm | £25
Tube | Limehouse
troxy.co.uk
