Garbage

Released: June 10, 2016

Songwriter: Duke Erikson Steve Marker Butch Vig Shirley Manson

Producer: Garbage

[Verse 1]
Imagine this: we make things right
So beautiful, we cling tonight
To all our dreams, we pin them up
We lose our minds if we lose our hope
We swear to change, but we bottle it
Stick to our guns and all our sins
We bury fear, we drink to it
We might cheat death if we worship it

[Chorus]
So we can stay alive
Our sex, our power, our drive
We lose ourselves inside
So we can feel alive

[Verse 2]
You're the one who should be on trial
For all your hate and your denial
Be careful what it is you break
Every broken thing can't be fixed
And all those fragile things we are
They find their voice, they find their power
They take a grip around your throat
They keep squeezing till your life runs out

[Chorus]
So we can stay alive
Our sex, our power, our drive
We lose ourselves inside
So we can feel alive

[Bridge]
(Masochistic victim sadist
Victor vanquish valour sadness
Lust and love, our lives, our blindness)

(We can feel alive)
All alone we fight the fear
By ourselves in every way
(We can feel alive)
All our lust, all our greed
All our hate, we're on our knees
(We can feel)
Hear us beg, hear us pray

[Chorus]
We can stay alive
We can stay alive
We can stay alive
We can stay alive
We can stay alive
We can stay alive

Garbage is a Scottish-American Alternative rock band, formed April 8th 1994. Once producer Butch Vig decided to break out of the rock he had been producing ever since Nirvana’s Nevermind, he got together with his college/studio partners Duke Erikson and Steve Marker to write some demos that would basically be remixes in song form. Once someone commented that “it sounds like garbage”, Vig decided to embrace the name. Then they invited Scottish singer Shirley Manson after seeing her on MTV, and the band’s sound was completed with sly, dark and snarky lyrics delivered in a sultry way.

The band’s eponymous debut album was a surprise hit upon release in August 1995, selling more than 4 million copies worldwide. Follow-up Version 2.0 (1998) was equally successful, even receiving a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Then the band recorded “The World Is Not Enough” to the eponymous James Bond movie, and the record industry started to bring the band down.

Beautiful Garbage (2001) was barely promoted due to a release too close to the 9/11 attacks, and underperformed at the charts. Fourth album Bleed Like Me (2005) had a troubled production where bandmembers were frequently arguing, and eventually the album’s tour was cut short and Garbage disbanded for 2 years, only regrouped in 2007 to record new tracks for greatest hits compilation Absolute Garbage.

more tracks from the album

Strange Little Birds

From the album

Strange Little Birds (2016)

Garbage popular songs

So We Can Stay AliveGarbage

Garbage

Strange Little Birds