When you were young and appearing on the Edinburgh fringe, singing a song while waving a rubber chicken around your head, did you think, “Shirley, one day you will sing the theme tune to a Bond movie [The World Is Not Enough]”? Tictoon
[Roars with laughter]. The song they’re referring to is Only the Chuckies – meaning chickens – Gang Cheep, which I sang in a musical with Edinburgh Youth Theatre. I never in my wildest imagination thought I was going to amount to very much at all.
My 10-year-old son likes Stupid Girl, but is concerned that the song title could be offensive. How would you explain it to him? wyngatecarpenter
It’s a rebuke to a particular type of person who isn’t being honest about how they’re portraying themselves in culture. I chose the gender back then because it felt less obvious than a feisty feminist singing about a “stupid boy”, but if I was writing it now I’d swap the gender because women have been getting a real kicking lately.
How much sexism did you face as a rising female rock star in the 90s? Is it better now or is it still too depressing to ponder? StupidGrrrl
The outrageous way I was spoken to or about in my career – and still am – continues to amaze me. While we were promoting our last record [2021’s No Gods No Masters] one journalist suggested I needed to go on medication because I’d spoken about sexism, misogyny and climate change. Two different journalists – male and female – asked if I was thinking of retirement. I was 54 then. I’m in a band with people considerably older and they would not endure those kind of questions.
Being a woman in the music industry for 20-plus years, do you feel you are closer to having equal power with the many men running the music industry vs when you started? KeelyGrace26
Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Billie Eilish are enormously powerful, but that is a hundredth of the music industry. For the most part it’s still a male producer, label head, writer and performer, and they aren’t spoken about in the same way. The way Billie Eilish’s body was discussed after she appeared on the cover of Vogue made me sick to my stomach. So not much has changed.
In an old interview, you admitted to doing something terribly awful and embarrassing when you were about 18. Could you share what you did? Benth24
I took a crap on a cheating boyfriend’s breakfast cereal. I’m not ashamed; I’m rather proud of it. A dear friend did similar when she discovered her girlfriend was cheating and said: “While I was doing it, I thought of you.” I recommend it as an act of revenge. It leaves you feeling empowered and gleeful.
Do you have advice for somebody who’s too shy to perform or lacks confidence as a performer? Starbelly
I lacked confidence and suffered from shyness, but performing is something you learn. If you put hundreds of hours into it and it’s still too taxing, then it’s not for you. But if you push through the discomfort and each time it gets a bit easier, suddenly you’ve had a 30-year career. With me there’s very little difference between my public and private personas. This is who I am, so performing is an act of defiance.
What attracted you to act in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and how do you feel about it now? DeborahGeller
It was a fantastic experience and I’m very proud of it. It came at a time when I was feeling really powerless. My mother was dying of dementia. My band had lost our record deal. I was 40 and felt like my career was over. Then I got offered this incredible role [as Catherine Weaver]. A Terminator is indestructible, so I fell into this fantasy of being able to fix anything, fix my mum … It was crazy, magical thinking, but it brought me a lot of solace.
You once recorded a haunting cover version of the Jam’s classic B-side The Butterfly Collector as an extra track. Which Garbage B-side are you most proud of? VerulamiumParkRanger
Our version of Starman. David Bowie has been so influential in my life so to do one of his songs and have it elegantly received was a real triumph. I got introduced to him once. He came to the door of his dressing room in the union jack jacket and, of course, I babbled nonsense and made a fool of myself, but that fleeting moment was unforgettable.
I always think that when a pop star shaves off or bleaches their hair halfway through an album campaign it’s a cry for help. Were you OK during the Beautiful Garbage period? Robot3021
I was far from OK. I was going through a very painful divorce. I cried every day, and every night I used to fall asleep in a bath tub. It felt like I was being turned inside out, raw and hurting.
Would you ever perform live with your old Goodbye Mr Mackenzie band mates?ScotlandGMM
They’ve asked me, but the timing has been horrendous. I’d want to do a really great job, which would require rehearsals. I work too hard with my own band currently, but at some point I’d love to do it.
If you could choose a group of people to hang out with for one evening, who would they be? CostasK
Tracey Emin, Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde and, if dead people too, then Louise Bourgeois, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and my mum. All these women have inspired me throughout my life and taught me to stand within a male-dominated culture. I’d also want my niece – and my nephew would be the obligatory male.
What inspired the lyrics to All the Good in This Life? My husband rides a dirt bike, so the words “with the riders in the dirt back on Aztalan turf” struck a chord with me. Jenletty78
I love that song and it’s arguably the best love song I’ve written. I’d watched the Aztalan motocross riders and been blown away. It was romantic and thrilling and terrifying, and then I’d met this young boy, a young musician. It wasn’t a sexual thing but he captured my imagination as a muse. I don’t have children, but I was 40 and feeling maternal and wrote almost a song to a son.
As someone who writes songs as a hobby, I wrote a song about my dead brother and often wonder if I’d be able to get through it live without getting emotional. Have you ever cried on stage? Hectormandarin
Oh, multiple times. On stage there’s a protective switch which means you can deliver emotional lines without necessarily feeling emotional. I’ve sung So Like a Rose, about suicide, a million times and then suddenly it will catch me. You’ve got to power through that moment and, of course, the audience feel the authenticity and love it. Suddenly you’ve got this powerful channel of communication, so even in your shame at losing control it turns into something magnificent and transcendent.
Which song best defines the message of Garbage through all these years? AlexRdzS
It was never my favourite, but in the last couple of years I’ve fallen in love with Only Happy When It Rains because it represents us as a band beautifully and perfectly. We have a shared philosophy of being able to get a kick out of the dark. Whenever things have been challenging, our sense of humour and collective ability to capture energy from failure has propelled us through and allowed us to rise over and over again.
• Garbage’s career-spanning Anthology is released on Stunvolume/BMG on 28 October.
