Shirley Manson

On the song that changed her life.

On Song Exploder today, I published a new episode of my Key Change series, where I talk to fascinating people about a song that transformed them. For this month’s episode, my guest is Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage. I met Shirley around 2007, when I moved back to Los Angeles and signed a record deal…she would sometimes be at events hosted by the label, and I slowly got to know her. She’s unbelievably cool, the way you hope a rock star could be. She possesses unflinching honesty, unique style, genuine empathy, and an incredible Scottish accent. No one else can make an f-bomb sound so beautiful.

For all those reasons, Shirley was my dream pick to host the podcast The Jump, which I helped create back in 2018. It was a show whose concept kind of lived between Song Exploder and Key Change: musicians tell the story of a song from their own career that represented a turning point for them. I had an instinct that Shirley would be a great host, and she was. Part of that instinct came from my experience with her as a podcast guest.

Shirley Manson was one of the very first people I interviewed for Song Exploder. Along with her bandmate Butch Vig (the super producer behind Nevermind by Nirvana, Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins, Dirty by Sonic Youth, and many more), Shirley told the story of making the Garbage song “Felt.” (I remember being at her house, in her living room, having a fantastic conversation, only to look down after 15 minutes and see that I had not been recording. How?! Why?! I had barely been doing the podcast for 2 months; I was so mortified at my lack of professionalism. But, kind-hearted person that she is, she let me start all over again, and re-answered my questions like nothing had happened.)

In that interview, she told me how the band Siouxsie and the Banshees had influenced her, so it made complete sense to me that she chose the song “Drop Dead/Celebration” by Siouxsie and the Banshees to discuss on Key Change. What I didn’t know was that her connection to it dates back to when she was a young teenager. It’s a song that affected her ‘on a cellular level,’ she told me. You can listen to the episode here.

There’s something wonderful about talking to a hugely successful artist about another artist that they admire. Suddenly, they just feel like any other fan geeking out. That’s always been part of the aim with Key Change, and I feel like this episode really hit it because of how passionately Shirley spoke about her hero, and because of what a great storyteller she is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hrishikesh

PS: Three things. I finally saw Flow, the Oscar-winning animated film, and it was lovely. In the Snack Club department, I was introduced to my new favorite Trader Joe’s treat, dark chocolate covered honey grahams with sea salt. Dangerous! Did I eat a whole bag by myself? Yes. Do I regret doing that? Only a little. Did I recently learn that the rhetorical device of asking a question and answering it yourself is called anthypophora? Clearly!