Being a weeklie podcaste from Madison, Wisconsin featuring several remarkable curiosities therein occurring being a compendium of live music from divers artistes
Show #80: We Meet At Last
July 31st, 2006
Last week I gave a brief little glance at the current Madison music scene. In keeping with the theme of locals, this week I present Garbage.
Garbage are Madison’s most famous musical export. The band concists of Butch Vig, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker, and Duke Erikson. Vig, Marker, and Erikson were staples of the Madison music scene during the latter half of the 1970s and 1980s. Vig and Erikson were in the band Spooner which formed in 1975. Marker, I believe, was their sound guy. The band were popular in the Upper Midwest and they flirted with signing to a major label but that never happened. The band dissolved in 1986. Vig and Erikson teamed up with Phil Davis in Firetown which lasted from around 1987-89. Again, Marker was their sound guy. The end of Firetown brought about a Spooner reunion and they lasted for a few more years until 1993. In the mid-1980s Vig and Marker formed Smart Studios and Vig would go on to make quite a name for himself by producing Nirvana’s Nevermind, Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins, and a whole host of other albums.
With Spooner finally being laid to rest, Vig, Erikson, and Marker formed Garbage. Meanwhile, Shirley Manson was toiling away in Angelfish when Marker saw their video for “Suffocate Me”. She was invited to audition and landed the gig. As students here in Madison were scurrying into their new apartments, the bnad released their first self-titled album on 15 August 1995. It reached #20 here in the States and spawned several singles. “Stupid Girl” proved to be the most popular hitting #24 on the pop singles chart and #2 on the Modern Rock chart.
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Garbage. I think that “Stupid Girl” and “Only Happy When It Rains” are good pop songs but, overall, they just don’t trip my trigger. However, it’s nice to see some local boys do well. While I used to live near Smart Studios, I never ran into Garabge or anyone famous. At least not that I recall. I’ve heard various rumors regarding Vig and Manson but, never having met them, I can’t confirm any of them. Do any locals have any stories about the band that they’d be willing to share?
Anyway, today’s show is the band’s first performance here in Madison. It was recorded on 14 March 1996 at the Barrymore Theatre. It’s a very good audience recording.
Setlist:
Queer
Fix Me Now
Not My Idea
Dog New Tricks
My Lover’s Box
Milk
Supervixen
Stupid Girl
Trip My Wire
Only Happy When It Rains
Vow
Kick My Ass
Subhuman
Girl Don’t Come
Download Show
Garbage
Related posts:
Two Garbage stories:
1)Once I saw Shirley Manson at Genna’s, and she was looking at me oddly. I thought, for just a moment, that she was admiring my unique personal style, but then I realized I’d bumped into her without noticing, and didn’t say ’sorry’, and that she was giving me a “what’s wrong with YOU, bitch?” look. Oops.
2)Pre-Garbage, I walked to Jenifer St. Market in a snow storm and Duke Erikson laughed at me in the soup aisle. I really disliked him for years but finally see how I probably looked pretty funny – there was a ton of snow in my hair because I wasn’t wearing a hat and my coat didn’t have a hood.
Both of those stories are about my vanity, aren’t they? Don’t say anything!
The D.