TMWIH & THE GRAMMYS

[GoGoGrrrl]

Actually, I can think of one reason it would be cool if they were nominated...it's always fun to see what Shirley wears

[Tornado]

gogogrrrl said:

Actually, I can think of one reason it would be cool if they were nominated...it's always fun to see what Shirley wears

Again a self-advertising dress like in '99?
That would be great!

[acereject]

shirleebee said:

^Right, as I stated, they merely submitted the song for consideration (yes, you have to apply to even be considered for a nomination - radio airplay isn't enough). But many acts don't even bother to do that, so it's still an interesting/ambitious move on their part, even if the odds are very much against them.

I think it'd surprise a lot of people that every awards thingy in the world isn't an automatic appraisal of hit songs.... the record company has to forward tracks/albums/videos to whatever category - or else it won't get considered.

Same applies to tv and movies - there was a furore over here from Ricky Gervais and the media when the BBC didn't forward The Office to the Baftas (I think) one year, even though it had won a Golden Globe in the previous months.

I'm actually surprised that UMG/Geffen even bothered, but if they did get nominated it would be great news. I've always felt that Garbage's support in UMe was limited to the guy who launched the BLM promo (and sadly died just around the album's release). Everything promo wise from the company seemed to drop off following that. It's as if they felt one moderate comeback hit would sell the second single - and sadly that just didn't happen anywhere despite 3 tracks following WDYLM worldwide.

[Zelig]

They should be too fucking embarassed to submit this song for shit because that is what it is...why would you want to promote the fact that your new single is nothing more than a Pretenders rip off and a rather poorly executed one at that-there is nothing new or original about it which is as far from Garbage like as they could get...it felt like a half assed offering cause they felt like they HAD to put something new on AG...I would have rather had an unreleased B-side or one of their many other recorded but not released songs they have...I love Garbage but I also care enough to be blatantly honest so I had to say this...

[GoGoGrrrl]

^ Well a lot of people would sincerely disagree. I think it's a great song, but the Grammys are lame. I think this song and Garbage are above the Grammys.

[Red Hot Kitchen]

gogogrrrl said:

^ Well a lot of people would sincerely disagree. I think it's a great song, but the Grammys are lame. I think this song and Garbage are above the Grammys.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Dance Away]

Well, I guess all arts award shows are "lame" affairs, but it must be quite a rush to be recognized by your peers at one of those award shows.

As for TMWIH, I often find myself lamenting that Betcha wasn't chosen over TMWIH to be the new release single. When I imagine in my mind a video made for Betcha that's as visually edgy, fun, and addictive to watch as Push It or Paranoid, it comes so easy for me in my mind to think that Betcha would have gotten so much more exposure on radio and music television channels around the world. There's no doubt in my mind that had Betcha been chosen as the new release single, it would have certainly gotten a whole lot more airplay coverage on radio and TV in the USA (and TMWIH never made it onto TV in the USA, right?).

When the choice was made to go with TMWIH for a new single release, I wonder if a TMWIH vs Betcha argument happened amongst the band members, or happened between the band members and the record company execs.

I'm so totally of the mindset that choosing TMWIH over Betcha for the new release single was a major faux pas [in terms of doing the thing that would optimize your odds of achieving commercial success] for Garbage.

[oscillations.]

TMWIH has a dignified elegance about it, whilst Betcha is trashy fun. They couldn't be more different, but I've come to like them both equally. I'm not sure either really possesses an instantly identifiable element needed to turn heads in 2007.

[acereject]

I think the problem with TMWIH for most G fans is that it isn't indicative of the Garbage sound.

Great best of singles are usually the definitive "tick every box on whats makes them great" tracks for an artist (Kylie "I believe in you", or Mary J Blige "MVP"), or the below par ones are the ones that sound like they were phoned in for a contractual obligation (Natalie Imbruglia "Glorious", Spice Girls "Headlines lol)/

TMWIH would have been better received had it been a single, or even an album track on a full studio album. As the single from Absolute Garbage it was overshadowed by the strength of Garbage's own back catologue... which many reviews pointed out.

Either way I loved it and still do.

[oscillations.]

"Music is my Radar" by Blur (on their 2000 GH) doesn't sound anything like they ever did before. It was indicative of their "new"/Think Tank direction, however, but it took us a few years to realize this.

[Dance Away]

shirleebee said:

TMWIH has a dignified elegance about it, whilst Betcha is trashy fun. They couldn't be more different, but I've come to like them both equally. I'm not sure either really possesses an instantly identifiable element needed to turn heads in 2007.

oscillations. wrote: "TMWIH has a dignified elegance about it, whilst Betcha is trashy fun."

...and on the AG album, the ratio of trashy fun songs to elegant songs is about 3 trash fun songs to 1 one elegant song. So with a 3-to-1 ratio favoring trashy fun songs on the AG album, I think Betcha would have been a more compatible fit on the AG album. I think most Garbage fans love Garbage most for their trashy fun songs. So wouldn't it have been a better choice to put a new trashy fun song on the AG album?

Hey, I like TMWIH too. But TMWIH doesn't sound like a Garbage song to me. Before TMWIH was released, if someone had approached me with a sample of the TMWIH song and asked me if was a new Garbage song or a new song from Shirley's upcoming solo album, I would have answered "Shirley's upcoming solo album."

TMWIH on the AG album reminds me of "Free as a Bird" on the Beatle's anthology album ... (I know that's far too harsh a comparison. "Free as a Bird" was a totally lame disaster whereas TMWIH is certainly not.) ... in the sense that "Free as a Bird" doesn't sound anything like a Beatles song; it sound's like a John Lennon song made to appear on a solo album, which it was (Lennon had his life cut short and was robbed of the oppurtunity to put "Free as a Bird" on a solo album). And TMWIH doesn't sound anything like a Garbage song; it sounds like a Shirley Manson song made to appear on her upcoming solo album, ...which raises the question in my mind: was TMWIH a Shirley Manson created song originally intended for release on her solo album?

[oscillations.]

I have to disagree on all accounts.

1. Who cares about what fans want or a style ratio being maintained on the album? It's their vision, their craft, and they can do what they wish with it. Nothing is worse than a band delivering something purposely familiar for the sake of their fans.
2. "Free As A Bird" is terrific, and better than TMWIH could ever hope to be.
3. While it wouldn't surprise me if Shirley's album features orchestral, midtempo songs, I think this was specifically written for the compilation. And no, I don't think they cared whether it would do well or not. This is a band who is planning for their next album to commit "commercial suicide". I think G have gotten over their popularity complex. It's only their fans who care how they chart at this point.

[Dance Away]

shirleebee said:

I have to disagree on all accounts.

1. Who cares about what fans want or a style ratio being maintained on the album? It's their vision, their craft, and they can do what they wish with it. Nothing is worse than a band delivering something purposely familiar for the sake of their fans.
2. "Free As A Bird" is terrific, and better than TMWIH could ever hope to be.
3. While it wouldn't surprise me if Shirley's album features orchestral, midtempo songs, I think this was specifically written for the compilation. And no, I don't think they cared whether it would do well or not. This is a band who is planning for their next album to commit "commercial suicide". I think G have gotten over their popularity complex. It's only their fans who care how they chart at this point.

Oh well, que sura sura.

And on that note, time to crack open a Heine, tune into "Ralphie's Radio" on Live365.com, and resume putting up more plastic on the windows around my house (winterizing the house).

Ralphie's Radio (Christmas pop tunes of the '40s decade)
www.live365.com/stations/hoolster

Girls On Stage (female alternative rockers, including our Shirley)
www.live365.com/stations/belka_strelkanew

[Dance Away]

Published on May 13, 2005:

Butch Vig interviewed by Richard Harrington of The Washington Post in an article titled "Garbage, Wiping the Slate Clean"
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/AR2005051200707.html
Butch in his own words:

“I’ve been bugging the band for a few years to make what I call ‘the bummer record,’ all really slow, Leonard Cohen-style songs, just super depressing yet intimate, because I love Shirley’s voice on those kinds of things. I think we could make an amazing record that would probably be commercial suicide!”

----------

Published on August 10, 2007:

Butch Vig interviewed by Andrew Weaver of thescene.com.au.
www.thescene.com.au/Music/Features/GARBAGE-INTERVIEW/
Butch in his own words:

“We’ve talked very loosely about making more of an unplugged, acoustic kind of record which I keep referring to as ‘The Bummer Record’ – let’s record 12 really depressing, dark, sultry songs. It’s probably commercial suicide, but at this point I don’t think we really give a shit what the record company thinks; we’re mostly interesting in making a record that we’re happy with. But who knows? Once we start writing songs it depends on where the songs take you. We may end up making a techno record.”

[GoGoGrrrl]

zardoz said:

...and on the AG album, the ratio of trashy fun songs to elegant songs is about 3 trash fun songs to 1 one elegant song. So with a 3-to-1 ratio favoring trashy fun songs on the AG album, I think Betcha would have been a more compatible fit on the AG album. I think most Garbage fans love Garbage most for their trashy fun songs. So wouldn't it have been a better choice to put a new trashy fun song on the AG album?

I don't think that most of AG is trashy fun songs at all. I think the songs are generally well-crafted pop songs, and when they aren't they suffer. Betcha is not a well crafted pop song; to me it is clearly a novelty b-side & far more shallow than TMWIH. TMWIH is closer in song writing quality, if not style, to their past work.

As for the band's future, I hope they let their creativity reign and don't feel pressured to fit any Garbage "mold" in order to sell. I'm excited to see what they do.

[acereject]

The "bummer record" has been talked about since 2001...quite frankly I'll believe it when I hear it!

In Hot Press interviewed for BG, Butch talked about doing slow songs and covers of the Velvet Underground's "Candy Says" and the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" (well they did one of those songs 6 months later, and one of the other bands other songs).

In Kerrang! at the end of the BG tour, Butch talked about the "bummer record" again.

This is not news to me basically...

[Clay]

I never realized there was TMWIH hate! I love the song personally.

But on the other hand, a lot of people like AHIW and I can't stand it. So I guess it just goes to show (whatever)...

[Dance Away]

AHIW? What the hell is that?! I had to go get my Garbage CDs to identify that one (As Heaven Is Wide). LMAO

Perhaps "techno fun" is a more appropriate term than "trashy fun."

oscillations first used the term "trashy fun" to describe Betcha ("TMWIH has a dignified elegance about it, whilst Betcha is trashy fun.").

Betcha is techno fun.

Have you noticed that Butch is the only band member who ever talks about this "bummer record" in all these band member interviews. Wonder what the other band members are thinking of Butch's idea of a "bummer record."

I've located on the web the entire May 2005, Washington Post interview of Butch. I edited my prior post to put that link in there.

[selection7]

Someone should win a grammy for the arrangement or production on the arrangement for that song (if such an award existed, lol)...incredibly perfect.

And TMWIH sounds plenty like garbage. It's not the first time Shirley has gone with a Chrissy Hynde-like delivery. The guitar break/fill solo is also classic garbage. But let me add that it's odd to see a complaint about not seeing OHWIR v.2, v.3, v.4, etc. Most people think it's a good thing when a band can take core elements of what kind of band they are or what they're good at and push it in new directions with equal success.

I wonder if it was a mistake to release it by itself (from a album catalog perspective, not from a getting new fans perspective). As good as Garbage are, it's still hard to come up with truly great songs and their next album will have one less because they didn't hang on to TMWIH.

[Dance Away]

I love the music of Chrissy and The Pretenders. I love the sound of TMWIH. And I've decided it's time for me to stop criticizing the decision of putting TMWIH on the AG album.

I'd love to see Shirley and Chrissy get together and do a duet album of cover or new songs. They sounded so great together singing "Talk of the Town" live on The Pretenders tribute show on VH-1. What a blast it would be if Garbage and The Pretenders did a world concert tour together! With Shirley's adoration of Chrissy, no doubt Shirley would be estatic with joy if Garbage and The Pretenders hooked up to do a world concert tour together. I'D LOVE TO SEE THAT HAPPEN!!!