Butch Vig was one of rock’s most in-demand producers having worked on albums like Nirvana’s megahit, Nevermind. By the mid-’90s, Vig was burned out from an exhausting schedule. Working with fellow musicians and producers Steve Marker and Duke Erikson, the trio begin remixing rock songs before hitting on the idea of forming a band to try making similar material of their own. After Vig tried his hand at recording vocals, the group realised they wanted a female vocalist to bring a new sensibility. They stumbled upon Scottish singer Shirley Manson in a video for her band Angelfish and reached out to her. There followed a series of meetings and auditions before Manson was brought into the fold.
Feature: Music Garbage – 1995 – Rock
At those auditions, rough sketches of Garbage tracks were in the mix, with Manson telling Billboard magazine in 1995, “There were only scratchy lyrics to songs like ‘Queer’ and had to ad-lib”.