Garbage to get your weekend rolling in a disorderly fashion. Recorded at the Loreley Festival in Germany on June 20, 1998 and preserved for posterity by the ever-present West German Radio.
On August 15, 1995, Garbage debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 193. In the United Kingdom, its release was preceded by non-album track “Subhuman” and “Only Happy When It Rains” as singles to promote the album instead of “Queer”. The album debuted on the UK album chart at No. 12. In Australia, the album debuted at No. 5. “Queer” was quickly released in the United Kingdom and Europe, while Garbage began their first tour. Garbage was nominated for Brit Awards for Best New Band and Best International Newcomer.
Garbage had no plans to perform on stage, but once urged to play live during the recording of the music video for “Vow”, they enjoyed the performance and decided to schedule a tour. The Garbage tour started in November 1995 and continued throughout 1996. “Only Happy When It Rains” was released as a single in North America; “Stupid Girl” was released to promote European dates. MTV announced that “Only Happy When It Rains” was certified a “Buzz clip”, guaranteeing heavy rotation on its network from February 13. “Only Happy” peaked at No. 55 on the Hot 100. “Stupid Girl” received frequent video and radio airplay in the UK and peaked at No. 4, becoming the band’s first top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart and elevated the album to No. 6.
In May, Garbage reworked “Milk” with Tricky in a Chicago recording studio before supporting Smashing Pumpkins on their arena tour until the overdose of Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. “Stupid Girl” peaked at No. 24 on the Hot 100. Its Top 40 radio remix by Todd Terry received massive airplay.
Garbage Video, a compilation of the album’s promotional videos, was released in November 1996. Garbage was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, while “Stupid Girl” received two nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group.
Worldwide, the final single release from the album was the reworked version of “Milk”, which became the band’s second UK top 10 hit. The band performed the song live at the MTV Europe Music Awards in London on November 14; Garbage won the Breakthrough award at the event. In North America, Almo Sounds released album track “Supervixen” to Modern Rock radio, while Mushroom Records released a remix of “#1 Crush” in March 1997 as a single from the soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet, which topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart for four weeks from the start of the year; the remix was also featured as the theme for the TV show Hex. “#1 Crush” was later nominated for Best Song From a Movie at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
Press play and jump into Saturday.
