Garbage built on the sonic landscapes of My Bloody Valentine, Curve, and Sonic Youth, adding a distinct sense of accessible pop songcraft. Garbage was the brainchild of producers Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker. Initially, Garbage was an informal jam session between the three producers held in Marker's basement, but they eventually recruited vocalist Shirley Manson, who had previously sang with Angelfish and Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie. 

Vig is a native of Viroqua, WI, who learned to play piano as a child and drums as a teenager. He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly before pursuing a career in music instead. The first band he joined after leaving college was Spooner, who he played drums with. Also in Spooner was Erikson, who sang and played guitar with the band. Marker was a native of New York who moved to Wisconsin to attend college. He became a fan of Spooner and began recording their songs. Vig left Spooner shortly afterwards, but he kept in touch with the band. After a few years, Spooner became Firetown and Vig played drums in the new outfit. 

 
Firetown broke up in the late '80s, without achieving much success. Prior to the formation of Firetown, Vig and Marker bought an eight-track cassette recorder together and set up a makeshift studio in a local warehouse. This studio was dubbed Smart Studios and Vig recorded numerous local punk and alternative bands at the warehouse. By the late '80s, Smart had become one of the hippest recording studios in America. Many records released on Touch & Go, Sub Pop, and Twin/Tone, among other indie labels, were made at Smart. Vig and Smart broke into the big time in 1991, after he produced Nirvana's Nevermind. Nevermind elevated Butch Vig to the status of a superstar producer and for the next two years, he produced numerous American alternative superstars, including Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, and L7. 

After a brief break, Garbage began work on their second album in the summer of 1997. The record, entitled Version 2.0, was released in May the following year, preceded by the single "Push It." Four years later, they issued a sophisticated third album, Beautiful Garbage, and the first single "Androgyny" became a moderate radio hit. Bleed Like Me followed in 2005.

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For The Record:

Members include Duke Erikson (born Douglas Erikson, 1950), guitar, keyboards; Shirley Manson (born August 26, 1966, in Edinburgh, Scotland; married), vocals, guitar; Steve Marker (born 1960, in Nebraska; attended University of Wisconsin at Madison), guitar, bass; Butch Vig (born Bryan Vig in 1957, in Viroqua, WI; attended University of Wisconsin at Madison), drums. Education: attended University of Wisconsin at Madison

Band formed in Madison, WI, 1994; released debut album, Garbage, Almo Sounds, 1995; released Version 2.0, Almo Sounds, 1998; released Beautiful Garbage, 2001; toured with No Doubt, 2002; released Bleed Like Me, 2005.

Addresses: Record company—Almo Sounds, 360 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048-1928. Website—Garbage Official Website. 

Garbage's music also earned accolades despite their lack of pop pretensions. Rolling Stone's Sheffield declared that the band transforms "subcultural energy into pop flash with a fabulously twitchy singer." Cohen declared that Garbage's team of four "have masterminded a confident collection of emotionally sharp-shooting songs." Originally, the Scot and the three producers had no plans to take their project live, but found themselves surprised by the album's overwhelming critical and commercial success. When they made the video for "Vow," "we played live, and after the first take, the crew was clapping," Vig told Dunn.

Discography:

Garbage, Almo Sounds, 1995.

Version 2.0, Almo Sounds, 1998.

Beautiful Garbage, Interscope, 2001.

Bleed Like Me, Geffen, 2005.

Source: Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide; eNotes

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Janis Joplin was born on 19th January 1943. She was best known as a songwriter, music arranger and singer. She was the frontwoman of Big Brother and the Holding Company in the 1960s before turning to a solo career. Rolling Stone magazine rated Janis Joplin at No. 46 in their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004 and again at No. 28 in the 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Although Janis Joplin’s career was short, it was certainly sweet. Her wild 60s existence and notorious singing style has earned her iconic and immortal status in the history pages of rock and roll.

In 1966, Joplin was invited to flower-child invaded San Francisco to audition for a local band called Big Brother and the Holding Company. The band was successful in creating sufficient buzz to join the lineup for the legendary 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival.

During the set, the band stunned crowds with a rendition of “Ball and Chain” which was a mix of piercing, psychedelic guitar and Joplin’s soulful, blues-inspired vocals.

Shortly after, Big Brother and the Holding Company acquired a three album deal with Columbia Records. Its first release was Cheap Thrills in 1968 and almost immediately went gold thanks to the help of killer singles, “Piece of My Heart” and “Summertime”. Joplin was given top billing with the band and started commanding large audiences and even larger pay cheques. Even US magazine, TIME, said she was “the most powerful singer to emerge from the white rock movement.” Joplin split with Big Brother by the end of 1968.

In 1969, she released an album called “I Got Dem ‘Ol Kozmic Blues Again, Mama”. The album met with praise in the European markets.

Meanwhile, Joplin recognized the damage of her ever-increasing drug use and vowed to quit. Sources say she was shooting approximately $200 worth of heroin per day. She formed a new band, Full Tilt Boogie Band, and began recording her next album to be titled Pearl.

Unfortunately, her efforts to kick the drug habits failed and she accidentally overdosed on heroin while staying in Los Angeles at mere age of 27.

Pearl was released after her death in 1971 and met widespread critical acclaim. The album produced several popular songs including “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Mercedes Benz”.

Joplin is considered the first legitimate female rock star and her breaking with tradition has opened doors to new genres and opportunities for women lead singers. She has an eternal place with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain within popular culture’s “27 club” which is a list of influential musicians that died at the age of 27, often under mysterious circumstances.

Her rebellious and liberated public image has been re-created in various movies including the 1979 film, The Rose, starring Bette Midler. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Juanita Appleby

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While he was drumming with Nirvana, Dave Grohl was recording original songs at home that never received public release. Those tapes would become the foundation of Foo Fighters, the band he formed in 1995, after the death of Kurt Cobain.

Instead of embarking on a career, Grohl decided to form a band. He met bassist Nate Mendel, and joined Grohl’s band along with drummer William Goldsmith and former Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear. The band's self-titled debut, consisting solely of Dave Grohl's solo recordings, was released on July 4, 1995. It was an instant success in America, as ‘This Is a Call’ gained heavy alternative and album rock airplay. By early 1996, the album was certified platinum in the U.S.

Throughout 1996, Foo Fighters supported the album with an extensive tour, enjoying a crossover hit with ‘Big Me’ that spring. Late in the year, the group began recording their second album with producer Gil Norton. During the sessions, William Goldsmith left the band due to creative tensions, leaving Grohl to drum on the majority of the album. Before the record's release in the spring of 1997, Goldsmith was replaced by Taylor Hawkins.

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‘The Colour and the Shape’, Foo Fighters' second album was issued in May of 1997. Smear left the group and was replaced by guitarist Franz Stahl, whose stay proved short-lived; 1999's There Is Nothing Left to Lose was recorded as a three-piece, with ex-No Use for a Name guitarist Chris Shiflett signing on soon after.

Grohls least favourite Foo Fighters album ‘One by One’ appeared in late 2002, followed by 2005's ‘In Your Honor’. After releasing a live album titled ‘Skin and Bones' in 2006, the band returned to Norton's studio and started constructing a dozen fractured and eclectic rock songs to be released in 2007 under the name ‘Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace’.

Grohl has also expanded his music career by drumming in Queens of The Stone Age, and has recently formed a supergroup, going by the name of Them Crooked Vultures.

Carly Page

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Pearl Jam was formed by Jeff Ament (bass) and Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar) in Seattle, Washington in the early 90s. After various line-up changes, the band Pearl Jam was formed with the addition of Mike McCready (guitar), Eddi Vedder (vocals) and Dave Krusen (drums). They signed to Epic in 1991, debuting with ‘Ten’, by which time Krusen had left the band and was later replaced by Dave Abbruzzese. The album remained in the US Top 20 a year and a half after its release, an astonishing achievement for band that aided the birth of Grunge music, even though Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain accused them of, ‘Jumping on the band wagon’.

The eagerly awaited ‘V’s’ seemed overtly concerned with re-establishing the band’s grassroots credibility. There were also numerous references to the death of Cobain. Abbruzzese left the band in 1994 and was replaced by Jack Irons. The new lineup appeared on Neil Young’s ‘Mirror Ball’ and then released the semi-acoustic, ‘No Code’. Hailed as a return to their roots, the hard rocking ‘Yield’ was not a great commercial success despite reaching number 2 on the US album chart, with the effects of the band’s long-term feud with Ticketmaster cutting into their fanbase. Irons was replaced later in the year by Matt Cameron.

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The band bounced back in the summer of 1999, reaching number 2 in the US singles chart with their cover version of Wayne Cochran’s ‘Last Kiss’. The year 2000 proved to be an extraordinary one for Pearl Jam. In addition to a new studio album, ‘Binaural’, they issued an unprecedented 25 separate double albums of live concerts from their European tour. Unfortunately, during their tour, at the Rokslide Festival in Denmark, nine fans were crushed underfoot and suffocated to death as the crowd rushed to the front. The band stopped playing and tried to calm the crowd when the musicians realized what was happening, but it was already too late. Pearl Jam was initially blamed for the accident, but was later cleared of responsibility.

Pearl Jam are currently headlining a number of tours both in Europe and in North America including, the Virgin Festival, the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival and will be playing five shows in Europe and three in North America. In October 2009, Pearl Jam will be headlining the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Mathew Jones

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Formed in Aberdeen, Washington, USA, at the end of 1987, the Nirvana that the MTV generation came to love comprised Kurt Cobain (guitar/vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass) and Dave Grohl (drums).

Having been signed by the Seattle-based Sub Pop Records, the original line-up of Nirvana completed their debut single, ‘Love Buzz’/‘Big Cheese’, of which their debut album ‘Bleach’ followed. The set confirmed Nirvana's ability to match heavy riffs with melody and they quickly attracted a cult following.

The revamped trio of Cobain, Novoselic and newly recruited Grohl secured a prestigious contract with Geffen Records, whose faith was rewarded with ‘Nevermind’, which broke the band worldwide. This was a collection of songs that transcended structural boundaries and almost single-handedly brought the ‘Grunge’ subculture overground. The MTV channel's non-stop airing of the video for the opening track, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", helped push sales of ‘Nevermind’ through the roof, and when released as a single the song reached the US and UK Top 10.

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In February 1992, the romance of Cobain and Courtney Love was sealed when the couple married, The first big story to break concerned an article in Vanity Fair magazine that alleged Love had taken heroin while pregnant. The recording of ‘In Utero’ was not without difficulties. When the record was finally released, the effect was not as immediate as ‘Nevermind’, although Cobain's song writing remained inspired on ‘Penny Royal Tea’, ‘All Apologies’ and the evocative ‘Rape Me’.

Cobain's descent into self-destruction accelerated in 1994, however, as he went into a coma during dates in Italy, before returning to Seattle to shoot himself on 5 April 1994. The man who had long protested that Nirvana were ‘merely’ a punk band had finally been destroyed by the success that overtook him and them.

A legal squabble broke out in summer 2002 between Love and Grohl/Novoselic over the ownership of Nirvana's unreleased recordings. The dispute was eventually settled, however, and in October the first new Nirvana recording to emerge since Cobain's death, ‘You Know You're Right’, made its debut in the US Hot 100. The enduring appeal of Nirvana was confirmed with the following month's publication of Cobain's private diaries, and the commercial success of the same year's compilation album. In 2004, Geffen released a box set comprising three CDs of unreleased material and a DVD of live performances and rehearsals.

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