onthebeatntrack

Mine was as a 15 year old (slightly-girly) man-child seeing Garbage at Melbourne’s Festival Hall in 1996. You don’t believe me, do you? NOT the girly man-child bit, I understand it’s not outside the realm of possibility that you might believe that. No, you just think Garbage are a bit too cool for a first concert and I’m skipping less impressive gigs which came before. Might I remind you that I’ve clearly never been concerned about my credibility in the past and I’ve no reason to start lying to preserve whatever’s left of it it now. I promise you, IF my first ‘real’ live music experience was East 17 or EYC or even Eternal (who? you might ask), I would admit it … and perhaps a little too freely.

Garbage were the very first ‘alternative’ band that I discovered all by myself and liked without any peer-cool-pressure. I stumbled upon Queer and Vow late one night on Rage and they were catchy enough to please the part of me that wouldn’t have an issue with East 17 being my first concert, yet rockin’ enough to be cool and not to be considered commercial – essential criteria when you’re in year 9 and your credibility is just about the only thing that is important.

It’s no surprise that these tunes had hooks that were edgy and cool and yet still so widely appealing – they were co-written by band member Butch Vig who had a history of helping to send otherwise non-commercial genres into the mainstream. He did produce Nirvana’s Nevermind, after all.

And so my infatuation was ignited and Garbage became MY band that I could tell all of MY friends about, because I was totally cool and (wannabe) alternative. My friends then bought me the CD for my 15th birthday and I love-love-loved it. Sure, I had to get myself another copy after an incident with an incense cone but the lesson that plastic doesn’t make an effective coaster for things that burn was utterly invaluable, let me tell you. Along with Queer and Vow, my rotation of favourites went from Milk to Fix Me Now and As Heaven is Wide. For the record, my favourite Garbage song is #1 Crush from the Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack. You can listen why …

In hindsight, it might be the longest real relationship I’ve had with an album because still today I listen to it from time to time. It’s in great mid 90s company with Veruca Salt’s American Thighs and Hole’s Celebrity Skin.

Aside from the music, I really really really loved Shirley Manson. Loved her. Really. She made being a chick and fronting a band cool – to everyone. She was strong, sexy and made the men in the group seem insignificant – she somehow seemed independent. Sure, Nina and Louise from Veruca and the incomparable Courtney Love were rocking it out long before, and arguably better, but they were way over that line of commercial appeal, a line that Shirley Manson (and later, just as effectively, Gwen Stefani) toed ever so perfectly. Even as Garbage (and No Doubt) became more and more commercial and synonymous with the world of pop music, they still had an edge and they still maintained enough credibility to be cool. And the same went for their front-women.

Garbage eventually took a ‘break’ in 2005 and inevitably there was talk of Shirley Manson going solo. She recorded tracks for an album but, apparently, the record company found them ‘too noir’. Now, I don’t exactly know what that means but I think it sounds like it would be incredible (you see, my credibility ain’t so important nowadays). It is something I would really have liked to ‘see’.

So here we are in 2011 and Garbage are now recording a comeback album. It’s to be released next year and while I can’t say that I am jumping out of my skin excited, I’m definitely intrigued to hear what they do. And if they tour I might just head along and reignite some of that nostalgic infatuation from that age when my credibility was more important – still non existent, but more important.