NAME: Marco

 

LOCATION: London, UK

 

YEARS SPENT OBSESSING OVER GARBAGE: Well, since late 1999/early 2000 around the time When I Grow Up was featured in the film, Big Daddy starring Adam Sandler. My friend taped me a copy of Version 2.0 to listen to. That record had such a profound impact on me, it changed my whole musical landscape as it were. I started listening to all sorts of alternative acts from that point; from Placebo to Muse to PJ Harvey to The Pxies to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

 

FAVOURITE GARBAGE ALBUM: It has to be a toss up between the Debut and Version 2.0, though I found renewed love with the band through Not Your Kind of People in 2012 - its classic Garbage.

 

FAVOURITE SONG: I always think I have a favourite Garbage song then it changes again. Supervixen, Vow and Push It are definitely up there as my top favourite tracks. Though, having said that, Automatic Systematic Habit from Not Your Kind of People has my highest playcount on iTunes right now so...

 

FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO: It is an obvious choice but it has to be Push It.

 

This is without a doubt my favourite contemporary music video of all time! I saw this video premiere on UK terrestrial TV back in 1998 before I was even a fan. The band were interviewed on a weekly music show called VideoTech for ITV, which was hosted by Margherita Taylor. I remember being completely taken back by such an arresting set of imagery. At the time I don't think I had seen anything quite like it on a pre-watershed TV programme, bearing in mind I was only 13 years old . Not that the video presented itself to me as scary per se but it has a dreamlike or nightmarish quality to it, with incredibly surreal characters (a man with a lightbulb for a head for instance!) that inhabit this world which appears to be much like our own but is somehow completely otherworldly at the same time. Adding to this sensation, it doesn't feel like the video is set in a particular time or place.

 

Whatever it was, it remains an incredibly rich and powerful piece of work which captures the intensity of the track brilliantly. When I became a fan a few years later, I remembered the video quite vividly, which before the likes of YouTube etc, made it difficult to be able to watch again. I do firmly believe on some some level it is part of the reason I got into the band, there was something there that was different, an energy if you will, it was nothing like the music I was listening to at the time. Does that make sense?

 

FAVOURITE LYRIC: Probably Supervixen "Make a whole new religion, a fallen star that you cannot live without and I will feed your obsessions, there is nothing but this thing that you will never doubt".

 

Close second would be something like The Trick Is To Keep Breathing; "I won't be the one who is going to let you down, maybe you'll get what you want this time around".

 

FAVOURITE MEMORABILIA: It is very hard to pick one thing so I'm going to have to list a couple. Off the top of my head, my complete collection of TRASH ITEMS. That was big sign I was a mad Garbage fan , it took four years to obtain them all. I love the limited edition singles from Version 2.0 in 3" blister packs. I love the various rare and / or one off pressings of some Garbage records I own, including the Japenese cassettes from the beautifulgarbage era, the Portugese pressing of beautiful.. with an alternative cover, the digipack version of the Debut and something like the edition of Version 2.0 with a bonus VCD. I love the 7" vinyls used for the run of singles for the Debut - just stunning!

 

Lastly, anything like the Breaking Up The Girl keyrings I own, to the various notepads, stickers, postcards and the very random like the I Think I'm Paranoid condoms...

 

LEAST FAVOURITE GARBAGE ALBUM: Bleed Like Me. I don't hate or dislike any Garbage record but its the one I've never fully loved like the others.

 

LEAST FAVOURITE SONG: Hmmm, I don't really hate any song, hate is too strong a word. There are just songs I dislike or are more indifferent about. I've never cared for Why Don't You Come Over from Bleed Like Me. I love every single track from the first two records but I'm not so keen on b-sides Driving Lesson, Alien Sex Fiend and Tornado. I'm not fond of Bright Tonight from the new record either. Anyway, enough on that. The songs I love far outweigh the ones I do not.