Queer (song)

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For other songs with similar titles, see Queer § Arts and entertainment.

"Queer"
Single by Garbage
from the album Garbage
B-side
  • "Trip My Wire"
  • "Butterfly Collector"
ReleasedAugust 1995
Recorded1994–1995
StudioSmart (Madison, Wisconsin)
Genre
Length4:36 (album version) 4:06 (single version)
LabelAlmo
Songwriter(s)Garbage
Producer(s)Garbage
Garbage singles chronology
"Subhuman"
(1995) 		"Queer"
(1995) 		"Only Happy When It Rains"
(1995)
Music video
"Queer" on
YouTube

"Queer" is a song by American

crossover
composition.

In 1995, "Queer" was released as the band's second international single (fourth in the United Kingdom). The song quickly became a modern rock success for the fledgling band, with positive reviews from music journalists, and was Garbage's first top-20 in both the US

first-person perspective. The video clip gained significant airplay on MTV, was credited with presenting Garbage as a new, credible act with strong focus on visuals, and the following year was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards
.

Composition

"Queer" began as a rough demo around January 1994, recorded during informal studio sessions between

prostitute observing an odd, emotionally scarred boy.[10]

After Marker saw

ad-lib in an audition that was described as "dreadful". The singer afterwards returned to Angelfish, which folded shortly later.[11][12] Manson eventually returned to Smart for a successful second audition and then began working on the songs Vig, Marker and Erikson had created, which at this point included "Queer", "Vow", "Stupid Girl" and "My Lover's Box", but there wasn't enough material in terms of complete lyrics or melodies to give Manson enough to work with.[7] Manson rewrote "Queer" into a trip hop arrangement[13] and added ambiguous lyrics that allowed the listener to make up their own mind about what the song meant. She also re-sang the "Queer" vocal in an understated style.[6] "I wanted to sing it harder but I couldn't. So I sang it all soft" Manson later recalled.[10] Erikson added: "None of the other singers that we tried had that kind of dynamic ability in their vocal."[7] It was then that the band knew that Garbage was going to work.[14] and Erikson called Manson and extended an invitation to join Marker, Vig and himself to complete a full album instead of a few tracks.[7]

For the verses, Marker incorporated a drum

sample from Australian band Single Gun Theory's track "Man of Straw" on "Queer";[15] this loop was layered with an additional drum part performed by Madison percussionist Clyde Stubblefield, who was known for being the most sampled drummer in history for his uncredited part on James Brown's "Funky Drummer".[16] Vig opted to hire Stubblefield to play on the record rather than sample him as "you don't use a sample when the genius who played the sample lives down the street from you", and the drummer also contributed to album cut "Not My Idea". Bass guitar parts were completed by Milwaukee session bassist Mike Kashou.[17] The band wanted to sample a clarinet part from a Frank Sinatra record, but the licensing for the sample would have been prohibitively expensive. Mulling over some options, such as having a session musician interpolate the part themselves still led to having to pay large royalties. The idea was dropped.[18] The band still liked the idea of using a clarinet, and recorded a part by Les Thimming on the final mix.[17]

Manson later explained, "It's not, as you might think, to do with being gay, but tolerance. My granny has the expression 'Or's queer, except thee and me, and sometimes even thee's queer', that is that you think you are normal and the rest of the world is freaky, but we're all equally to blame".

gay issues in the mainstream media that people are finally ready to deal with it. Even if it's something controversial, people are still beginning to open up".[14] Erikson added: "The song isn't about sex at all, it's about the loss of innocence".[14]

Release

In August 1995,

12" vinyl and distributed to dance clubs.[30] The fourteen week chart-run of "Queer" at alternative ultimately extended into December.[31]

On October 23, 1995, "Queer" was issued as the band's second single in Australia

ARIA singles chart.[35] In New Zealand, "Queer" debuted on the RIANZ singles chart at number 45 at the start of November, rising three weeks later to a peak position of number 37.[36]

Initially,

backed with a newly recorded track—"Trip My Wire" on the first and a cover version of The Jam's "Butterfly Collector" on the second.[38] Four remixes of the title track were spread out across the CDs, with one also appearing on the flipside of the vinyl.[37]

"Queer" was the first Garbage single to include remixes as a commercial B-side; Mushroom spread four across the UK formats. These were completed by producers Adrian Sherwood, Danny Saber, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, and Florida-based group Rabbit in the Moon.[38] In 2007, the "Heftybag" mix by Rabbit in the Moon was remastered and included on the limited edition of greatest hits collection Absolute Garbage.[40] In 2015, all five remixes of "Queer" were remastered and included as on the Garbage (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) digital bundle.[41]

Early indications showed that the single had a

Top of The Pops,[44] and performed both "Queer" and "Only Happy When it Rains" on MTV's Most Wanted.[45]

Across Europe, "Queer" was issued by

MTV Europe playlisted the "Queer" video with Buzz Bin status for six weeks.[47] By the start of 1996, "Queer" was picking up airplay across the continent;[48] with strong support from alternative rock radio stations over the first nine weeks of the year.[49] In Belgium's Wallonia region, "Queer" peaked at number 24 at the end of January.[50] "Queer" debuted and peaked at number seven in Iceland the following month.[51] In Spain, "Queer" peaked at number 33 on their airplay chart.[52] In April, performed "Queer" live on French television show Nulle Part Ailleurs and headlined a show at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris;[53] To support this, BMG France released a new three-track CD single of "Queer" backed with "Trip My Wire" and the Rabbit in the Moon remix.[54]

Collector's format

As Garbage had received significant attention from the special packaging of their first three releases, "Queer" was also released in this manner.

carrier bag.[56]

Critical reception

Upon both the release of Garbage and the release of "Queer" as a single, the song received a positive reception from

shuffle into a lullaby to sexual non-conformity".[66] Rolling Stone described the song as a "more roundly shaped tune orchestrated with this same love of junk and command of finesse."[67] Kerrang! rated "Queer" as their Single of the Week, stating "an incredible knee-trembling fuck tune... the dirtiest pop tune you'll hear all year. [You'll be] sucked into dark satin sexiness and you'll never want to leave. Gorgeously decadent and utterly fabulous."[68]

Music video

Garbage attacking the detained protagonist of the "Queer" video

The music video for "Queer" directed by Stéphane Sednaoui for Propaganda Films and was filmed in July 1995 in Los Angeles.[69] Filming locations included at Fairfax Avenue sidewalks and under the East 4th St bridge over South Santa Fe Avenue.[70] Sedanoui's video concept developed from his own personal experience of being "shredded into pieces" by a beautiful woman. Garbage loved his storyboard for "Queer", feeling it matched the ambiguous nature of the song.[71] Manson had chosen Sednaoui as director after she saw the "Big Time Sensuality" music video he directed for Björk, and later said that Sednaoui "doesn't just take an idea and apply it to different artists, he seems to be able to figure out where the artist is coming from and make the photographs and the videos unique to that group."[71]

The black and white storyline of the video saw a young male's first person perspective of exiting an elevator onto a Los Angeles street and meeting Manson. She coyly entices him to follow her to her home where the men from Garbage are waiting. They detain him inside, forcing him up onto the second-level of the house, where Manson throws him to the floor, strips him of his clothing and blinds him with gaffer tape. He recovers to find Manson shaving his head, before she drags him outside by his legs. He is then seen strangely happy, and in full colour, leaving the street.[69]

Director Stéphane Sednaoui shot the whole video himself with a hand-held camera. Here singer Shirley Manson spins him.

Sednaoui operated the camera for the whole shoot.

strobe lighting was combined with the rotation of the platform, however the effect caused the band to suffer from vertigo after a number of takes.[69] Manson later claimed that the video helped establish her group; "He really defined for us who we were visually. Stéphane was able to look at the band and listen to the music and figure out what was the perfect visual partner for the band. People think we're a very stylish band, and it's all to do with him". She added, "I'm really proud of "Queer", I think it's one of our best videos."[71]

The "Queer" video premiered on North American networks on August 14, 1995;

Las Vegas, Nevada for indefinite display.[77]

The "Queer" video was first commercially released, accompanied with

Video-CD.[78] A remastered version was included on Garbage's 2007 greatest hits DVD Absolute Garbage[40] and made available as a digital download via online music services the same year.[79] The video was uploaded to YouTube in 2013.[80]

Track listings

Charts

Release history

Region Date Format Label References
United States August 1995 Modern rock radio Almo Sounds [20]
Australia October 23, 1995
White Label
Europe
CD maxi single
 BMG
United States October 31, 1995 Contemporary hit radio Almo Sounds [26]
November 11, 1995
12-inch promos
)
United Kingdom November 20, 1995
  • CD single
  • 7-inch single
Mushroom
France April 1996 CD single BMG France
United Kingdom May 5, 1997 12-inch single (Queer Remixes) Mushroom

References

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Bibliography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Queer_(song)&oldid=1197035517"