Garbage is the most famous song. Shirley Manson's style: how has the Garbage vocalist changed over the past twenty years? Growing up a star: what influenced the style of Shirley Manson

5-12-2011

At the origins of the American alternative team Garbage there were three very experienced musicians and producers - guitarists Duke Eriksson and Steve Marker, as well as drummer Butch Vig, who became famous as the producer of the album Nevermind. Around the mid 80s. all three somehow collaborated in different teams, while in the early 90s. did not decide to assemble their own full-fledged team. The name Garbage (garbage, garbage - English) came after one caustic commentary on their joint work. Starting the search for a vocalist, the musicians soon came to the conclusion that a girl should stand at the microphone. Accidentally, Marker saw the band's clip on TV Angelfish, whose vocalist was someone Shirley Manson.

All four musicians met on the day of death from Nirvana- April 8, 1994 Close cooperation, however, had to be postponed until later due to the fact that Angelfish were on tour at the time. Yes, and Manson's first audition left much to be desired, but the musicians were imbued with sympathy and, as it turned out, had many common interests. At the end of the tour Angelfish broke up, and the vocalist herself contacted the manager of Garbage and asked for a new audition. Despite the fact that the process did not go as it should this time, Manson was taken on as a vocalist. From that moment on, the band began recording a demo tape, trying to move away from the sound in the "" style, in which the musicians worked before.

In the same 1994, the Mushroom UK label took the group under its wing. Garbage's first release was the song "Vow", released on a music compilation from Volume magazine - at that time it was the only completely finished song. Oddly enough, "Vow" was a good success - the track was immediately snapped up by various radio stations. Since the rights to the song belonged to the magazine, a limited series of singles from "Vow" were released through their own label, Garbage. The musicians continued to prepare the album.

The self-titled debut album was released in August 1995 and settled at the very end of the American Billboard 200 hit parade - in the UK and Australia, the disc took much better places. The band immediately went on tour and received a Brit Awards nomination for Best New Foreign Artist. The musicians spent the whole next year on tour in support of their first child. Singles " Only Happy When It Rains», « Milk" and " Stupid Girl"Took good positions in the charts. Reworked with musician Tricky, the single "Milk" entered the top ten in the UK. Garbage played the song at the MTV European Music Awards and even won the Breakthrough of the Year award. A remix of "#1 Crush" was featured in the movie " Romeo and Juliet”, and also received a 1997 MTV Movie Award nomination. In the same year, the group received three Grammy nominations.

Almost a year - until mid-February 1998 - was spent preparing the second album. The group actually tried to surpass themselves, which, in principle, they succeeded. Album Version 2.0 was released in May and immediately topped the British charts (in the US, it managed to take only 13th line). Singles " push it», « Special" and " I Think I'm Paranoid” also enjoyed great popularity on the other side of the ocean, and the latter was included in the soundtrack for the video games Gran Turismo 2 and Rock Band. The group from May 1998 until the end of 1999 was on tour. In October, Garbage received three nominations for the MTV European Music Awards, and in early 1999, two Grammy nominations for Version 2.0 at once - however, again they failed to receive a single statuette. Sales, meanwhile, exceeded 1 million discs, for which the musicians received an award from the International Recording Federation. Single " When I Grow Up" sounded in the film "Big Daddy" and became the group's most successful single in Australia. This was followed by a collaboration that made the group even more famous - in October the single " The World Is Not Enough”, recorded together with composer David Arnold and the orchestra especially for the next Bond series “The whole world is not enough”. The single entered the hot tens of many European countries. At the end of the tour, the musicians took a vacation.

The band reunited in the spring of 2001. Plans were made to release a compilation of B-sides, but the plans did not come to fruition as American distributor Garbage Almo Records was sold to UMG. The band decided to leave the label, but UMG was against it, and the case ended in a court case that sided with the musicians, whose new home was Interscope. The album was recorded in the summer and the first single was "Androgyny". However, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks took the nation's interest away from the music, and promotion of the album stalled. The album itself Beautiful Garbage released in October and still managed to take a good position in the charts, and sales in the first three months amounted to 1,200,000 copies. Garbage toured a lot in the North (as an opening act for U2) and Central America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. However, the tour was somewhat spoiled by the illnesses of the musicians. Some of the concerts were canceled due to problems with Manson's voice, and the group went to Europe with Matt Chamberlain for drums - Vig first fell ill with hepatitis A, and then he was struck by Bell's palsy. Single " Breaking Up the Girl” sounded in an episode of the series “Daria”, and “ Cherry Lips became a #1 hit in Australia.

After a long break, in March 2003, Garbage reconvened to work on their fourth disc, but the work did not go well due to the fact that Manson had to undergo an operation on the ligaments, and also because of the complicated relations within the team. As a result, the musicians went to different cities and countries. However, after a pre-New Year's meeting with fans, Vig, who by that time had already put an end to Garbage, decided that he was in a hurry with conclusions. Already in January, the group gave their first performance, and after that they went to the studio, where they recorded new material until December. The album Bleed Like Me was released in April 2005 and took a good position in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Then Garbage again went on tour, which, however, quickly ended - the last performance was a concert in Australia on October 1st. The reason, according to the official statement, was the general fatigue of the musicians both from the tour and from each other. The members of the group officially announced that the group had gone on an indefinite hiatus, and after that, everyone went about their own business. Manson began working on a still unreleased solo album, along the way participating in various projects, Vig again took up producing, Ericsson collaborated with the BBC and worked on an anthology of American folk music, and Marker began to compose music for films.

Garbage reunited again in January 2007 when the band performed at a charity concert for musician Wally Ingram, who was diagnosed with throat cancer. The group then recorded the song " Tell me where it hurts”, which became the single from the Absolute Garbage compilation released in July. Vig stated that Garbage planned to begin work on a fifth album in 2008, but silence soon fell again.

In early 2010, Vig received a Grammy for producing the best rock album, 21st Century Breakdown.

On August 26, 1966, the vocalist of the popular band Garbage was born. Scottish singer Shirley Ann Manson will celebrate her 47th birthday this Monday.

The singer has been fond of music since childhood - she played the piano and guitar. Before Garbage, she managed to participate in several musical projects, but only this group brought her recognition and world fame.

In honor of the singer's birthday, we have selected for you the best hits of the team and invite you to remember and listen to them again.

Shirley Manson joined the band in August 1994 - then the musicians were already finishing their first album. Thus, she almost did not participate in the "birth" of the songs, but she brought her amazing vocals to the group, without which it is now simply impossible to imagine her.

By the way, the singer's vocal is really unusual - it is called contralto, which means the lowest singing voice. Finding one is not so easy.

In general, in 1995, the debut album Garbage went on sale and brought the band wildly popular. It has sold over 4 million copies. Songs became big hits

"Only Happy When It Rains"

"Stupid Girl"

After a large-scale tour that followed immediately after the release of the album, the group is taken for the second. And this time Manson made a huge contribution to the process of creating songs - she became the main lyricist for this record.

The second album was not inferior to the first, the group went on tour again. In parallel, they continue to work - during the tour, the famous The World Is Not Enough:

This composition was recorded for one of the James Bond films. It is hardly necessary to say what a resounding success it was - you can still hear it on the radio, even after so many years.

The group became the third Scottish performer to glorify the famous super agent. Prior to this, the James Bond theme was performed by Lulu and Shinna Watson.

The most successful Garbage album was released in 2005. Many critics agreed that it was on this disc that Manson most revealed herself as an author - her lyrics became open and very touching.

It was this album that opened the main single, and now the most famous hit of the group - "Why Do You Love Me"

Largely due to this, the album took record positions in most of the world's music charts and stayed there for a record amount of time.

Before recording the album, Manson underwent a major operation - she had a cyst removed from her vocal cords. The singer had problems with her voice for a long time. It is all the more surprising that despite the problems, she was able to perform her solo parts no worse, and somewhere even better than before.

After such a resounding success and a number of sold-out concerts, the group takes a break. Until 2007, little was heard about the musicians: most took up solo careers, but no one reached the popularity of their joint success.

In 2007, Garbage still get together. The new album was not released, but the group released a single "Tell Me Where It Hurts"

This song, stylized as 70s pop music, quickly became a hit and delighted all old and new fans. We talked about the revival of the team, about the first indicators of their fruitful work.

Unfortunately, this was not the case - soon after the recording of the single, the musicians broke up again. However, the reunion was announced again in 2010, and in 2012 the musicians released their new album. It turned out no worse than the previous ones - singles

"Blood for Poppies"

and "Battle in Me"

took the top lines of the charts and made it clear that the musicians are still capable of much.

Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson has always stood apart from her peers. While many of them put too much emphasis on visual perception and flashy outfits (every time provoking scandals and often forgetting that music still dominates the musical project), the flamboyant native of Edinburgh confidently honed her style, almost never hitting the mark. under the scrutiny and barrage of criticism from the Fashion Police. Shirley Manson's style seems to have never known failure. He just was and is. Inspired by one of Shirley's latest photoshoots for Billboard magazine, we decided to recall how the images of one of the brightest rock vocalists of our time have changed over the past twenty years.

Growing up star: what influenced the style of Shirley Manson?

Born in 1966 (yes, this year the singer will be fifty years old), Shirley Manson witnessed the change of different fashion eras with her own eyes. In the late 1960s, fashion was dominated by hippie culture and its opposite in spirit, minimalist avant-garde pop art. The crazy 1970s gave the world disco, safari and military styles, giving way to punk culture in the second half of the decade. In the 1980s, the time came when fashion trends, as such, ceased to exist separately from each other. And the same punk fashion became the quintessence of this mixture. Depending on their taste and musical preferences, young people actively worked on their unique style, looking for inspiration in literally everything: in the past decades and even centuries, in other cultures, in different trends and types of art. And the style of Shirley Manson in its own way became unique precisely because of the atmosphere of freedom and rebellion in which she happened to grow up.

Having experienced serious problems with the perception of her own appearance due to peer attacks, the owner of big eyes and a luxurious mop of red hair began to spend a lot of time on the streets of Edinburgh along with various informals. Shirley's tastes were largely influenced by the post-punk wave with its gravitation towards gothic and pretentious gloominess, as well as the style of her favorite performers - Patti Smith, Debbie Harry (you can read about the style of the Blondie vocalist), Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Pretenders and others. It is thanks to such a wide choice of fashion guidelines that Shirley Manson learned to skillfully combine femininity and androgyny in her images, to emphasize sexuality, while not being vulgar.

As a result, already in the early 1980s, even before participating in his first group, Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, Shirley rose to prominence in music circles as a stylish person. It was not uncommon for her to work as a stylist with various musicians. With her height of 170 cm, the singer managed to become a model in Jackie magazine, as well as a seller in the famous Miss Selfridge store (in outfits from which the girl often went to clubs).

This is how we saw Shirley Manson in the 1990s

Already during participation in his second group Angelfish (1992-1994), Shirley gravitated toward interesting sexual images that the whole world would later see in videos and at Garbage concerts. The main element of the singer's wardrobe was a small short dress. In different styles and colors, Shirley's dresses most often sent us straight to the 1960s. But! As soon as heavy boots and a classic black mesh were put on down, the outfit began to become more aggressive, provocative and daring. The girl complemented the image with voluminous styling (at that time, the singer's hairstyle ranged from a ragged bob to long hair below the shoulders), as well as catchy makeup using bright monochrome shadows or elaborate black smoky eyes. To imagine Shirley in the 1990s without eyeliner and bright ruby ​​lips was almost impossible.

However, in the band's videography, one can also find an example of a more relaxed image of the singer, such Manson could be seen on tours. In the 1995 Vow video, Shirley appeared in black jeans and a T-shirt, plain black boots. The heart of the image was a bright shaggy fur coat of rich red color, which contrasted advantageously with the red hair color.

Particularly piquant and memorable at that time was the image of Shirley in the I Think I'm Paranoid video, where the singer appeared before the audience in a short black polka-dot dress with bare shoulders, which was complemented by panties with the same print and heavy black boots. If you grew up in the 1990s, you will remember exactly how sexy this video was.

Late 1990s - early 2000s: the other side of Shirley Manson

However, already in the course of the promotional campaign of the second disc Version 2.0, Shirley Manson's style began to undergo changes. Clips Special, You Look So Fine, and then the soundtrack to the Bond film The World Is Not Enough showed us the luxurious Shirley, who is no stranger to femininity in its most classic and even austere manifestations. The images of that period combined women's military and evening wear, a reference to the military fashion of the 1930s and 1940s and the aesthetics of sadomasochism. For example, consider the aviator-style fur-collared vest and leather miniskirt from the Special video. Or the canonical image of Manson from the video The World Is Not Enough, where the singer appeared before the public in a tailored ruby ​​evening dress with an equally sophisticated hairstyle. By the way, Shirley was very good at the tall horse.

Followed in 2001, the album Beautiful Garbage and the clips released one after another in support of the record were accompanied by a sharp change in the image of the singer. If in the Androgyny clip we saw Shirley for the last time with her usual red hair color, then in subsequent videos the performer appeared before the public as a bright blonde. She also opted for a short boyish haircut with lots of ragged asymmetrical strands. In the style of clothes, however, as well as in the texts, Manson flirted with the theme of glamor, but, according to the musicians themselves, this period of creativity was filled with irony: it is no coincidence that the album's title is translated as "Beautiful Garbage". Shirley's outfits were dominated by an interesting cut, a combination of leather and hard fabrics, as well as shoes with heels.

With the release of the record Bleed Like Me, the singer returned to her usual red hair color and systematically demonstrated different sides of her style. For example, in the Why Do You Love Me video, we saw not only the old style of Shirley Manson (think of the scene where she dresses in a little black dress against the background of a photo of Debbie Harry), but also could appreciate the tweed jacket straight from the 1960s, as well as the variety stockings and a pair of wonderful striped socks. In the urban clip Run My Baby Run, filmed in a documentary style, Shirley showed her casual style at all: sneakers, jackets, neckerchiefs. However, in the video you can also see the allegorical image of a girl with long blond hair and a golden cloak. Clips Bleed Like Me and Sex Is Not The Enemy can be called more fashion-oriented.

There is 1970s glamor and animal prints, interesting military looks. By the way, the work of Garbage of this period became more socio-politically oriented: Manson often wrote texts on the topics of equal rights and military operations that were of concern to her. That is why military style and khaki print most often appeared in Shirley's concert wardrobe.

Late 2000s - 2010s: Shirley Manson takes glamour to the absolute

After the release in 2007 of the greatest hits collection and the new song Tell Me Where It Hurts, the audience saw Shirley Manson in a sophisticated way. To this day, the singer often adheres to the retro style in her outfits. Experiments with pre-war feminine looks, such as in the videos of Blood For Poppies and Big Bright World - flowing dresses and tops that emphasize the figure, soft curls or interesting high buns. He uses leopard print, preferring it both on stage and in clips, and in life (by the way, it was he who became the centerpiece in the design of the latest album of the Strange Little Birds band).

Shooting for NOTOFU magazine (2014)