strange little birds, devoured by our obsession...

“You come on like a drug, I just can’t get enough, I’m like an addict coming at you for a little more!” Temptation Waits

Version 2.0 turns twenty today!

I was 13/14 when I first heard Version 2.0 by Garbage. It was 1999 and I had gone with a friend from school to the cinema to see Big Daddy starring Adam Sandler. 

The film was silly but fun. There were a couple of songs from the soundtrack that grabbed my attention. One in particular was When I Grow Up by Garbage, (which was taken from V2.0). The friend I had gone with, told me had Version 2.0 and that he would make me a copy of it. 

I had heard of the band but never gone out of my way to listen to their music. Over time, I’d seen some of their videos on MTV and even a programme (VideoTech with Margarita Taylor) on ITV which premiered the incomparable video for Push It.

The very first time I listened to a record by Garbage was on a cassette that had been recorded from a CD. I feel a tad embarrassed by writing that. 

Despite the fact that the sound quality may well have been less than perfect, it didn’t matter in the slightest. It must have been good enough because the music was like nothing I had ever heard or experienced in my life. That is said without hyperbole. It didn’t compare to any of the mainstream pop I had grown up listening to. 

After nearly twenty years of being a Garbage fan, the only way I can describe that first listen was one of total awe; I didn’t know music could do THAT. 

Version 2.0 remains my touchstone record to this day. It is a loud and wondrous beast of a record; filled to the brim with strange digital sounds, buzzsaw guitars, gorgeous melodies and some unforgettable choruses. 

I sought out a proper copy of the record from a clearance bin in Woolworths (just to further inform you of how long ago this was!) and it still sounds as amazing to me today as it did all those years ago. 

Garbage introduced me to a whole world full of wonderful music I was yet to discover and a band and a front woman who have inspired and changed my life all for the better. 

The album debut at number 1 on the UK album charts and went on to equal the sales of its predecessor. 

"This is the noise the noise that keeps me awake, my head explodes and my body aches!"

Twenty years ago today, one of my favourite songs of all time was released - Push It by Garbage.

The lead track from their second album, Version 2.0, Push It helped catapult the record to number one in the UK charts in early May 1998.

If I could pin point any song that started my admiration for all things Garbage, it was Push It. Sonically dense "barely-controlled pop-mayhem" as one journalist put it.

The song and Version 2.0 kicked off what would become a musical journey of sorts for me... I started to discover bands I'd not heard of and music I'd never dreamed of listening to before. It is moments like that where I discovered how powerful music can be, where it can take you and how precious it is. Nothing will really compare to that first time when I heard this song - I couldn't really put it into words how it made me feel at the time.

Here we are, twenty years later and it sounds timeless and yet it could have been made yesterday.

The song was backed by an incredible video, directed by Andrea Giacobbe. Costing a reported $750,000, its a beautifully surrealist nightmare and elevates the songs even more.

Happy 20th Anniversary to Push It

Version 2.0 Press Release from Murray Chalmers PR 

“Version 2:0 is in my opinion the quintessential Garbage record. We are all very grateful to the millions of people who took it to their hearts at the time it was released and to those who continue to love on it still”.

Shirley Manson

Garbage are delighted to announce the release of the 20th anniversary edition of their legendary second album Version 2.0. Released on Stunvolume/[PIAS] on 22nd June, Version 2.0 has been remastered for the 20th anniversary and the package features the whole original album, as well as ten B-sides from the era. The standard remastered album is available on CD or orange 2LP, while the deluxe edition with bonus tracks is available in a very special 3LP package with poster and stickers, or as a double CD. Both the standard edition and the deluxe edition will also be available digitally to purchase or stream.

The typically visceral Lick The Pavement is the first offering from the reissue and is out today. 

Upon its initial release in May 1998, Version 2.0 charted at Number 1 and was certified double platinum in the UK with over 500,000 sales. The record went on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide. Version 2:0 was also nominated for four Grammys including Album Of The Year and three MTV Europe Awards. It produced 5 top 20 singles in the UK alone, including the Top 10 singles Push It and I Think I’m Paranoid.

Speaking about the enduring legacy of the record, the band’s drummer and co-producer Butch Vig explains:

“Version 2.0 is the sound of a band growing up, evolving, and more than anything, gaining confidence. When we started recording, we made a conscious decision to not re-invent ourselves, but rather take everything we learned from our debut album and filter it through the new digital technology we were grappling with. Sonically, the album has moments of razor sharp clarity and soft beauty. Indeed, it’s possibly our best album”.

Garbage will be playing a series of live dates in support of the Version 2.0 reissue, including two headline shows at London’s Brixton Academy on the 14th and 15th of September. The shows will see the band perform the classic album in full, as well as a number of B-sides included on this release. Full dates for the tour are listed below.

Shirley Manson recently won the NME’s prestigious ‘Icon’ award at their Brixton Academy ceremony in February. A suitably fitting tribute to one of rock’s great pioneers and provocateurs, the award serves as further indication of the impact Garbage have already left in the alternative rock landscape and on the mainstream.

Pre-order the album here

Download/stream ‘Lick The Pavement’

Album Tracklist:

Temptation Waits

I Think I’m Paranoid

When I Grow Up

Medication

Special

Hammering in My Head

Push It

The Trick Is to Keep Breathing

Dumb

Sleep Together

Wicked Ways

You Look So Fine

B-sides (deluxe formats only):

Can’t Seem To Make You Mine

13x Forever

Deadwood

Get Busy With The Fizzy

Soldier Through This

Thirteen

Lick The Pavement

Medication (Acoustic)

Tornado