Garbage’s Shirley Manson reveals ‘soul-crushing’ ordeal being cut off from band
The recording of the band's eighth album has been a struggle for the legendary singer.
Garbage legend Shirley Manson has opened up on her ‘soul-crushing’ experience of being cut off from the iconic 90s band when experiencing a major health ordeal.
Formed in 1993, Garbage are best known for hit singles Stupid Girl and Only Happy When It Rains.
But the band – which also includes Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker – have had a wildly successful career spanning four decades, with their most recent album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, set to be released on May 30.
The recording process was anything but smooth, with vocalist Shirley opening up on how an onstage accident caused chaos and a ‘dark and depressing’ atmosphere for the star.
In 2016, the 58-year-old fell off the stage during a show in Los Angeles on the band’s Strange Little Birds tour, with the singer saying she ‘smashed her hip pretty badly.’
‘I was thinking about lyrics, I was thinking about my body, and I tumbled into the security barrier. I smashed my hip pretty badly, but it took five years for it to disintegrate,’ she told The Guardian.
Vocalist Shirley fell from the stage in 2016 during a performance, shattering her hip (Picture: Katja Ogrin/Redferns) The injury forced Shirley to undergo a hip replacement surgery in 2023 (Picture: Paul Bergen/Redferns)The damage caused the singer to go through a hip replacement in 2023, which Shirley said involved ‘a lot of indignity’ during the ‘surprisingly easy’ physical recovery.
She explained to the publication that the brain fog she experienced while battling through pain and painkillers led to the band’s eighth studio album being recorded remotely, with her bandmates sending her musical ideas.
‘I felt really isolated. My band are not communicative at the best of times, and I was completely cut off from them,’ she admitted.
‘The only thing I would get would be these instrumentals with some zany titles.’
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Unfortunately, following the operation, Shirley’s other hip ‘collapsed the day before’ Garbage’s 2024 show at the Ovo Arena Wembley, an event which made her ‘question everything.’
‘It’s been very confronting. It makes you question everything, how you want to move forward in your life, particularly as I’m at this late stage in my career,’ she said.
Recording their latest album, the band shared ideas virtually rather than in person (Picture: Unique Nicole/Getty Images)‘It’s also been really fascinating, though, I’ve got to be honest with you – dark and depressing and soul-crushing, and also kind of wonderful.’
Shirley’s injury forced the band to cancel their entire UK tour, as the artist was forced to undergo ‘surgery and rehabilitation.’
‘No one is more crushed about this than I am. You know I would push through if I could,’ she told NME at the time.
Updating fans, she also shared on Instagram that she believed she had damaged her vocal cords while on the road.
‘I returned home from tour an absolute hot mess,’ she wrote in the caption.
‘So broken that my poor husband had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair. I also had a dose of laryngitis and a massive cold sore on my lip.’
In 2024, Shirley was forced to undergo a second hip operation (Picture: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) Shirley’s injuries led to Garbage cancelling their 2024 UK tour (Picture: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)Sharing an image of her vocal cords taken by her doctor, she continued: ‘I was freaking out that I had somehow managed to damage my vocal cords on top of everything else but yesterday I was scoped and everything is as it should be.
‘These are my vocal cords. My doctor said they were beautiful.’
Across their career, Garbage has sold more than 17 million records worldwide and even produced the theme song for the 19th James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough.
Despite quietly disbanding in 2005, they regrouped to complete their fourth album Bleed Like Me before once again splitting shortly after.
They reformed briefly in 2007, and again in 2011 to release their fifth album Not Your Kind of People.
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