Beautiful Garbage

This may be a bit sketchy as it's my first post and initially I was a little unsure what to write about. Then it was kind of obvious - what's the one thing I love above most other things? Music. 


I saw Garbage recently and they were amazing. I've been a fan for almost ten years after first hearing "Stupid Girl" on Kerrang! or MTV2 or some other "alternative" music channel, I was finally able to see them live.


When I first discovered Garbage, I instantly I fell in love with the angst and awkwardness of not only the music but the front woman - Shirley Manson. I was just discovering "alternative" music in those early years between 11 and 13, from radio play and music television and sharing CD's with friends, so this video was very vital to me. It introduced to me to a whole new world of music - grunge, alternative, indie, etc. I started researching the band and through them discovered bands like Nirvana  (I would also cite Foo Fighters but One By One was released around the time I saw the video for "Stupid Girl" and dear God did I play that album to death) because obviously Butch Vig (Garbage's drummer) is also a producer and had no less produced the seminal "Nevermind" by Nirvana.


I have always been a fan of music - my parents brought me up on Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Eagles etc, and I was the prime age for the prime of The Spice Girls career (and many other pop groups) so it's safe to say my music taste was vastly influenced from many genres from a young age, however, discovering bands such as Garbage, Placebo, Foo Fighters, No Doubt and Nirvana at the age of 12/13 was seminal to my teenage years.


No less the music, but the musicians in these bands, and even more so, the strong female characters in some these bands who would very quickly become my role models. Shirley Manson was certainly my first teenage role model - fashion and style muse and a bit of a mentor.


Garbage taught me many life lessons, some of which I realised very quickly and others I'm only just noticing, here are just two of them or I'd be here forever.


1. Never change yourself to suit others, only to suit yourself (a lesson I subconsciously learned very quickly).

"You pretend you're anything just to be adored."

"Stupid Girl" is quite clearly about this. I was never bullied or anything at school but I never quite "fit in" with many others at secondary school, and it was quite clear from Garbage's lyrics and musical style that Ms Manson also never really seemed to fit in. She obviously stands out a lot more, aesthetically - bright ginger hair, freckles, piercing green eyes, I was just very plain and simple (until I discovered hair dye obviously). Many teenagers often change the way they think, or the things they do or simply the clothes they wear or they way they do their hair to fit in with different social cliques. Some people just experiment, others genuinely feel they need to look and act a certain way to fit in. I was the experimental kind, feeling the need to rebel against the norm of slicked back pony tails hardened with gel and the baby blue eye shadow. I piled on the black eye liner and black mascara, wearing fishnet sleeves and what not (greeb central). I went through most phases but I never once felt uncomfortable and hoped people would like me more because of my choices. I started experimenting with fashion, make up and hair choices around the time I discovered Garbage and this was obviously some sort of subliminal lesson I had learned then, and I am very grateful that I learned to this day. Shirley Manson and Garbage made me feel stronger, made me feel more human for wanting to rebel against the norm and not like I was some weirdo.


2. Integrity (a lesson I have learned recently).
Garbage have never been a massive band, they quite possibly in fifty years won't be remembered by those who aren't fans, but they have been around for almost 20 years (18 I think) and haven't had a single line up change since their conception. Completing the line up with Manson are Butch Vig (drums and percussion), Duke Erikson (bass, guitar, keyboards) and Steve Marker (guitar and keyboards), they honestly seem to have a great working relationship and great friendships as well (quite often they'll tweet about having drinks to celebrate someone's birthday), and after being in a recording and touring band for almost 20 years that must be something hard to maintain, there is obviously a lot of trust and honesty within the group which in turn must be one of the main reasons they still continue to make new music and to continue touring together (they could all be successful in other bands, or in Vig's case as a producer with Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown winning a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2010). 


Does anyone have any one they feel this way about? Some one that you feel helped you "find your feet" as it were, as a teenager? I'd be interested to hear of other's experiences.