Articles Shirley Manson: The Most Shagable Babe
From NY ROCK, June 1998

By Gabriella

Having been called everything from “the most shagable babe” to “the new sex symbol,” Garbage’s singer, Shirley Manson has clearly captured the attention of the music world. She’s an infectious darling who’s not afraid to mince words and easily breaks out into roaring laughter. Beneath the surface known as Ms. Manson, however, lies a mysterious gloom captured in her lyrics and voice.

Everyone had been eagerly awaiting your new album. The record company had announced it a few times but it didn’t arrive until recently. What happened?

It wasn’t that we tried to create a hype as a lot of people claim. We didn’t try to make the public more eager for the new album. We wanted to release the album earlier but it took us longer than we expected to finish it. We also changed our distributor and that caused a further delay.

What’s the reason for the title of the album: Version 2.0?

It’s our second album. So, it’s a pretty good name. You have been called the most shagable babe. That’s certainly flattering, but I can imagine it may also be annoying…

Sometimes I wonder myself. I used to be a shop assistant and nobody ever called me a sex symbol. I was the skinny redhead. People didn’t tell me I’m sexy. They told me I’m too skinny and too pale. All of a sudden people consider me a sex symbol just because I sing in a band and I’m on stage. Sometimes I think I could wear a bin-liner over my head and there would be a couple of weirdos out there who’d consider it sexy. I feel the same way I did when I was in school. I’m having the same insecurities. They don’t go away just because they call you a sex symbol.

Probably a lot of it is the result of some interviews you gave. You were quite open about your sex life…

It’s fun to shock people. Most of them are so uptight and then they hear stuff about this wild chick Shirley and they try to ask me stuff and at the same time they’re embarrassed. It’s fun seeing people blush.

I once read an interview where you claimed that you feel desperately unattractive. How does that go together with being called the most shagable babe on the planet or being a rock icon and a pin-up?

Fame doesn’t make you more confident. I have to live with myself. I have to look in the mirror and I see myself with my eyes, not with the eyes of some love-struck boy in the audience. Maybe a lot of it stems from my childhood. Kids can be cruel and they were. They slagged me off, laughed about the way I looked and compared me to animals, bloodhounds, dead fishes. You know when I look into the mirror I still see it again. I’m better now. I really am, but I remember that I didn’t dare to go into shops because I felt so ugly. I was afraid that people were laughing behind my back. I always dragged somebody with me to go shopping. I didn’t dare to go on my own. Of course, now there are people who claim that I’m just doing it to be interesting. They understand nothing. I wish they’d experience that feeling before they judge.

Isn’t that something almost every artist has to face? The media probably doesn’t want to realize that you can be famous and unhappy… I don’t think that’s it. I’m not an unhappy miserable person, not at all. It’s just that I’m not always happy. There’s a difference between being unhappy and not being happy, a state in between. You’re not desperate but you’re also not happy…

Something that always amazed me were your comments. You’re pretty outspoken but at the same time you manage to sound cute and not crude…

Probably because I’m nice and polite. I’m not trying to offend. A lot of people take that for weakness and they’re in for a harsh surprise. I really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone to mess with me. Sometimes I’m surprised how dumb people can be. I always used to say "Are you flirting with me?" in a cheesy little girly voice. I nicked that line from Natural Born Killers. That’s what Juliette tells the bloke before she mops the floor with him and the killing starts, but they never got it. They never picked it up. They think I’m cute and sweet.

Are guys really coming on so strong?

Sometimes they do. Stuff like, "Show us your tits!" Amazing that they want to see them anyway; the guys in the band have bigger ones. At one concert, guys were spitting. That was a bit much. Would you like it if they’re spitting on you? It wasn’t the kind of situation where it would have been kinky. It was just a couple of idiots in the audience who thought -- oh no, I don’t think they were thinking anything at all. They probably didn’t even have brains and were just zombies.

So what did you do?

I told them to stop and when I caught a guy spitting again or rather caught the spittle, I called the security and made sure he was taken care of. I stopped the concert until he was out. I was so mad. Why do people come to a concert if they’re going to spit? Strangers spitting at you. That’s disgusting. They call themselves fans.

There’s a lot of talk about how the band got together. That the guys saw you on MTV. It seems like the other band members picked you as the singer, but most people identify Garbage with you…

We collaborated and we worked together, even more on Version 2.0 than on our first album. I wouldn’t be happy in a band that just wants a girlie standing there, singing and looking cute, and I wouldn’t stay in a band where I’m not happy. I’m too damned pigheaded to do that and they don’t want it. Their intention was to get a singer who sounds like a woman and they got a whole woman, not just a woman’s voice. It’s pretty good how it all turned out.