History Music / Garbage

* {{Fanservice}}: Played straight most of the time but is zigzagged on occasion. Videos such as "Vow", "Queer", "Run Baby Run" and "Blood for Poppies" downplay this by having Shirley in normal attire while other videos feature her in short dresses. "I'm Think I'm Paranoid" (see PantyShot below), "Cherry Lips" (An invisible Shirley sees her [[DressHitsFloor clothes fall off]] and walks naked to the bathroom) and "Bleed Like Me" turn this UpToEleven. Also, the video for "Androgyny". To quote: "It has men who look like attractive women, women who look like attractive men, Shirley Manson wearing a rather sexy outfit that looks like a weird hybrid between suit and a dress, Shirley Manson wearing suspenders and the aforementioned androgynous people, in various states of undress, doing vaguely hinted at things with each other in a tightly-packed environment. Something for everyone, really."

* PantyShot: Parodied in "I Think I'm Paranoid". Shirley plays with her dress in the video and frequently lifts it up slightly or kneels down in front of the camera.

** "Special" samples Music/{{Pretenders}}' "Talk of the Town". Chrissie Hynde's lawyers denied the band permission to use the sample, but Shirley got Chrissie on the phone and got Chrissie to write a letter giving the band permission to sample "my music, my lyrics; indeed, my very ass".

* TakeThat[=/=]SexIsLiberation:
** "Sex Is Not The Enemy" is very much aimed at MoralGuardians and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush criticizing their attitudes about love and sex. (Shirley declared that a major inspiration was the outcry following Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction).

Garbage are an American AlternativeRock group from Madison, Wisconsin. They basically play [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly alternative rock with heavy pop, electronic, and industrial influences]].

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: To celebrate the debut album's 20th anniversary, Shirley dyed her hair the same pink featured on the cover. ''Strange Little Birds'', released one year later, still has her with that color.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: "I read that I'd made it up as a mixture of Creator/ShirleyTemple and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson — and I wish I had — but, yes, it is my name."

* EyeScream: "Blood for Poppies" has Shirley's left eye being slit open in a shout out to the 1929 film ''Film/UnChienAndalou''.

* IntercourseWithYou: At least half of ''Version 2.0''[[note]]"I Think I'm Paranoid", "Hammering in My Head", "Push It", and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Sleep Together"]] are pretty blatantly about sex. "Temptation Waits" and "You Look So Fine" are about sexual attraction, and [[spoiler:"When I Grow Up" has references to unprotected sex and [[{{Squick}} "golden showers"]]]].[[/note]] "Alien Sex Fiend", "Bad Boyfriend", "Sex Never Goes Out of Fashion", "Anonymous XXX" is about prostitution and the lack of emotional connection it involves.

* NothingButSkinAndBones: ''Bleed Like Me''.

** And then ''Strange Little Birds'' ends with "Amends", a particularly resentful and pained BreakupSong, to bring the trope back on full force.

** "Supervixen", "Vow", "Parade," "Blood For Poppies," "Anonymous XXX," "No Gods No Masters".

* AscendedGlitch: The tape where they recorded "Supervixen" kept skipping, [[ThrowItIn and the band decided to keep it as they felt it worked]]. (And apparently lots of fans complained that their albums were broken, given it's the opening track...)
* AwesomeMcCoolName: "I read that I'd made it up as a mixture of Creator/ShirleyTemple and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson — and I wish I had — but, yes, it is my name." (Three guesses on [[Music/MarilynManson how]] this is HilariousInHindsight.)

* KidsRock: Both Vig's and Marker's daughters both contributed to the final chorus of "Not Your Kind of People".

* ICallItVera

* RecordProducer: The band is always credited for producing its own albums. (the only outside producers were David Arnold on "The World Is Not Enough", and [[Music/TheDustBrothers John King]] on "Bad Boyfriend" and B-side "Space Can Come Through Anyone" — the other ''Bleed Like Me'' songs they worked on with him were re-recorded).

* ReligionRantSong: "As Heaven is Wide" is a Type 1 [[note]]Although it's really more about somebody who has been hurt by a (supposedly) religious man than about God or religion themselves, so shades of Type 3 are also present[[/note]].

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Usually ranges from 1 (such as "So Like a Rose" and "You Look so Fine") to 5 (such as "Why Do You Love Me" and "Subhuman"), with a couple songs being a 6 (such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb7fLA5ccWg "Vow"]], "Battle in Me" and "No Horses").
* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: Aside from rare optimistic songs such as "Big Bright World" and "Not Your Kind of People", their lyrics usually rank from 6 to 8, given that sadness, sex and overall mental instability are recurrent (the latter two in particular peak to the point of violence in "Vow", "#1 Crush" and "Godhead").

* FakeGuestStar: [[Music/JanesAddiction Eric Avery]] is basically all but a full time member now, as he started playing with them in the Bleed Like Me World Tour and has been their live bassist ever since, and even recorded on ''Not Your Kind of People'' and ''Strange Little Birds''.

* LyricalDissonance: Most of their songs are cheery, with gloomy lyrics about [[BreakupSong breakups]] ("Special", ), failed relationships ("Cherry Lips", "Breaking Up The Girl"), or "I'm a really screwed person." ("Bleed Like Me", "I Think I'm Paranoid").

* LyricsVideoMismatch: Garbage's "Special" looks like a clip out of TabletopGame/CrimsonSkies and it has nothing to do with the song.
* MaleBandFemaleSinger: The previous page image.

** "The One":

* RefugeInAudacity: The videos for "Tell Me Where It Hurts", "Cherry Lips" and "No Gods No Masters".

Garbage was formed in 1994 by RecordProducer Butch Vig, noted for his work with famous alternative rock acts like Music/{{Nirvana}} (''Music/{{Nevermind}}''), Music/SonicYouth, Music/TheSmashingPumpkins and Music/{{L7}}. Vig took up the position of drummer and brought in some old bandmates and fellow producers, guitarist/keyboardist Steve Marker and bassist Duke Erikson. The lineup was completed with the recruitment of Scottish vocalist Shirley Manson, formerly of alt-rock bands Angelfish and Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. Their bandname comes from somebody commenting that Vig's remix work sounded "[[ItWillNeverCatchOn like garbage]]", a quote frequently attributed to [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] for some reason.

** Inverted with "Beloved Freak", a slow tearjerker-like ballad about accepting and embracing yourself as an outsider.

* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Supervixen". And "Queer". And, well, quite a lot of the first album.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_grbg_1928.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Marker, Manson, Erikson and Vig]]

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: A large proportion of their videos are at least partially done in black and white. Such videos include "Queer", "Push It", "I Think I'm Paranoid", "Why Do You Love Me", "Blood for Poppies", "Big Bright World", and "The Chemicals". Part of the video for "Tell Me Where It Hurts" is done in black and green due to the usage of NightVisionGoggles.

* IntercourseWithYou: At least half of ''Version 2.0''[[note]]"I Think I'm Paranoid", "Hammering in My Head", "Push It", and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Sleep Together"]] are pretty blatantly about sex. "Temptation Waits" and "You Look So Fine" are about sexual attraction, and [[spoiler:"When I Grow Up" has references to unprotected sex and [[{{Squick}} "golden showers"]]]].[[/note]] "Alien Sex Fiend", "Bad Boyfriend", "Sex Never Goes Out of Fashion".

* LighterAndSofter: Their first, SelfTitledAlbum is quite easily the band's darkest and angriest[[note]]Since several of its songs were written before Shirley joined the band, she modified the lyrics and music (most notably "Vow") to sound more feminine[[/note]], so the rest of their discography is essentially lighter and softer in comparison. It’s subverted with ''beautifulgarbage''; although it’s musically lighter and softer with the incorporation of hip hop and electronica influences, the lyrics are more melancholic — Manson having [[CreatorBreakdown just gone through a divorce]] may be relevant.

* LongestSongGoesLast: Common, with the only exceptions being the first album, ''Not Your Kind of People'' (though the deluxe edition fits), and ''Strange Little Birds''.

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: Aside from rare optimistic songs such as "Big Bright World" and "Not Your Kind of People", their lyrics usually rank from 6 to 8, given that sadness, sex and overall mental instability are recurrent (the latter two in particular peak to the point of violence in "Vow" and "#1 Crush").

** Played straight with "Bleed Like Me" ("fuck"), "Cherry Lips", "Why Do You Love Me" and "Boys Wanna Fight" ("shit") and "Shut Your Mouth" and "What Girls are Made Of" ([[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both]]).

* RefugeInAudacity: The videos for "Tell Me Where It Hurts" and "Cherry Lips".

* SurrealMusicVideo: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmd3UiNfNkA Push It]]", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpRiSb_Ir-s "I Think I'm Paranoid"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OdTBCgqRt4 "Blood for Poppies"]].

The band's gravy train slowed down somewhat after TheNineties ended, thanks to record label problems and a mixed reception for ''beautifulgarbage'' that frequently included charges of both TheyChangedItNowItSucks and ItsTheSameNowItSucks — a reception that translated into poor sales. During the TroubledProduction of their next album, they nearly broke up due to intra-band tensions in 2003, but managed to regroup and finish ''Bleed Like Me'' in 2005, which once again suffered a mixed reception but did slightly better in the charts. They went on a hiatus for five years afterwards, during which time Manson played a regular dramatic role as the liquid metal Terminator known as Weaver in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''. Despite generally positive reactions, she didn't continue with acting. Manson announced in October of 2010 that the group had reformed and was working on a fifth album, which was released in 2012 as ''Not Your Kind of People''. The title track was used in the trailer for ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Metal Gear Solid V]]'', so the group has at least [[Creator/HideoKojima one Japanese fan]]. ''Strange Little Birds'' followed in 2016, and the band were reported to be working on another album as of 2019 (but Manson admits that they’re not the fastest creators in the business).

Their discography as of 2017:

* DownerEnding: [[OncePerEpisode Every album they ever made]] throws a depressing ballad at the end: "Milk", "You Look So Fine", "So Like a Rose" and a few others.

** "Supervixen", "Vow", "Parade," "Blood For Poppies".

** OohMeAccentsSlipping: Except in "Stupid Girl", where she pronounces the word "stupid" as "stju-pid" as opposed to the American pronunciation as "stoo-pid", and adds some TrrrillingRrrs to "girl" ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJD21xh9Bto&t=89s something that confused the rest of the band]]). This isn't a one-off either, with the same pronunciation also present in the songs "Breaking up the Girl", "Boys Wanna Fight", "If I Lost You" and "Night Drive Loneliness".

* WomanScorned: "Not My Idea", "Vow", "Automatic Systematic Habit", "Fucking With You".

* EyeScream: "Blood for Poppies" has Shirley's left eye being slit open in a shout out to the 1929 film ''Film/UnChienAndalou''. "The World Is Not Enough" has a particularly notable eye-scream from Shirley Manson when she sees her robotic double enter her dressing room to kill her.

* FauxDeath: A [[https://schonmagazine.com/shirley-manson-is-dead-interview/ photoshoot]] for a 2019 interview featured Shirley first apparently having died, complete with police tape; then as a grisly corpse in a mortuary with foam coming from her mouth; then being made up by unseen hands to look like she's alive (including a bit of {{Fandisservice}} where she appears to be wearing only a transparent vinyl raincoat); until finally her heavily made-up "corpse" is posed in various positions. It's...disturbing and funny.

* GenreBlindness: "The World Is Not Enough" features the line, "No one ever died from wanting too much." No one apart from every ''Film/JamesBond'' villain ever! It's subverted though when you watch ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' and realize that it's from the point of view of [[spoiler:[[VillainSong Elektra King]].]]

* KissOfDeath: The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5vSyxzefRE The World Is Not Enough]]" — the android Shirley Manson kills people by kissing them. The real Shirley Manson [[ScrewYourself suffers the same fate]].

* ZettaiRyouiki: The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21Qza6vadU Bleed Like Me]]".

* "Destroying Angels" (featuring [[Music/{{X}} John Doe and Exene Cervenka]]) (2018)

* AwesomeMcCoolName: "I read that I'd made it up as a mixture of Creator/ShirleyTemple and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson — and I wish I had — but, yes, it is my name." (Three guesses on [[Music/MarilynManson how]] this is HilariousInHindsight)

** The album also has a ProtestSong against [[TheWarOnTerror Dubya and friends' foreign policies]], "Boys Wanna Fight".

* TrrrillingRrrs: "I'm only happy when it rrrains!"

* MaleBandFemaleSinger: The current page image.

[[caption-width-right:350:Marker, Manson, Erikson and Vig]]

* MaleBandFemaleSinger: Shirley Manson is also TheFaceOfTheBand (and the page image).