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"Stupid Girl" is a song recorded by alternative rock band Garbage for the band's self-titled debut studio album. The song was composed and produced by bandmembers Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig. "Stupid Girl" features lyrics about female empowerment, and a musical arrangement centered on both a repetitive bassline and a drum sample from The Clash's 1980 hit "Train in Vain".
The song was released by Almo Sounds in North America and Mushroom Records worldwide as the band's fourth international single in 1996. "Stupid Girl" became their biggest hit in United States and the United Kingdom, with its performance on the charts driven by an innovative music video and remixes which gained massive airplay across the world. The success of "Stupid Girl" propelled sales of its parent album Garbage into the top twenty of the Billboard 200 and into the top ten of the UK Albums Chart.
Reviews of the song were positive, with praise to the production. "Stupid Girl" was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, as well as the Danish Grammy for Best Rock Song, an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song.
"Stupid Girl" began as a rough demo around January 1994. It was recorded during informal studio sessions between Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in Marker's home basement recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin prior to Shirley Manson joining the group. The band had been jamming using an ADAT eight-track, AKAI samplers and a small drum kit. Vig took a loop from the drum introduction from The Clash's "Train In Vain" and added further percussion. Afterwards, Marker created the bassline, under the request of doing something like Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Suzie Q", "something that's almost like a Motown feel". Erikson finished off what became the song's core with a jangly guitar riff.
After Marker saw Manson's group Angelfish on 120 Minutes, the band invited her to Vig and Marker's Smart Studios to sing on a couple of songs, but after a "dreadful" first audition, she returned to Angelfish. Manson eventually returned to Smart for a successful second time, where she began to work on the then-skeletal "Queer", "Vow" and "Stupid Girl". Working on the lyrics, "Stupid Girl" became an "anthem for a girl who won't settle for less than what she wants". Later she added, " really about squandering potential, our version of Madonna's 'Express Yourself', but a little more subversive". Manson aimed the song as a rebuke towards a friend's foolish behaviour: "A lot of females still find it difficult to find their own voice in society. It's just that women have a different set of problems from men... make the most of your potential." Manson added that "Stupid Girl" was "a song of reproach to a lot of people we know", both male and female, and that "we could have called it 'Stupid Guy,' but we thought another song about a strident female dissing a guy would be tedious."
"Stupid Girl"
MENU0:00
Sample of "Stupid Girl", showing the pre-chorus and first part of the chorus. The music is based around a drum sample from The Clash, and this part of the song incorporates sound effects such as a broken DAT player.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Garbage wanted to write a song that incorporated a very thumpy and repetitive bass line; this would act as a hook. Continuing to develop the demo throughout the recording process for what would eventually become the band's debut album, the group decided to add textures, guitars, and keys to make "Stupid Girl" dynamic rather than built on complicated chord changes. Marker and Vig then added in elements of ambient sound effects throughout the audio mix; including the "glitchy" sound of a broken DAT player used during the pre-chorus. Marker had been dubbing between audio tracks, resulting in scratchy feedback; he sampled the sound and tuned it to fit the song, unintentionally created by an alternative hook. When Manson recorded her first vocals for "Stupid Girl", the band realised that the key that the song had been arranged in was too low, but instead of re-recording the guitars, Vig re-printed them through a pitch-change patch on an effects unit. Erikson commented that the effects are "just ear candy, but they contribute to the character of the song, make the listener think in a certain way about the song". Additional percussion on "Stupid Girl" was performed by Madison musician Pauli Ryan, while the bass guitar line was played on record by Milwaukee session bassist Mike Kashou, both of whom performed on a number of tracks on the band's debut album.
Reflecting on the success of the song in 2002, Vig admitted: "People still ask us who the 'Stupid Girl' is, and that's impossible to answer. The song is sort of meant to be a wake up call. It could be about an ex-girlfriend. It could be about a rock diva that we all know, it could be about your sister. It could also be called 'Stupid Boy'." Looking back, he also stated, "It's impossible to predict what will be a hit. But subconsciously, I knew the song was good when I kept playing the same rough mix over and over again on my car stereo for months."
File Hashes
HASH1: EFE1092996F7C346
HASH2: A0DAAA4F54B2BA79 (MP3)
HASH1: 180D11C19193F83B HASH2: D763222F794CBC5A (FLAC)
HASH1: A00D6FAD51460016 HASH2: 6C9D6D7476AE1495 (FLAC)
Available in:
"Stupid Girl" is a song recorded by alternative rock band Garbage for the band's self-titled debut studio album. The song was composed and produced by bandmembers Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig. "Stupid Girl" features lyrics about female empowerment, and a musical arrangement centered on both a repetitive bassline and a drum sample from The Clash's 1980 hit "Train in Vain".
The song was released by Almo Sounds in North America and Mushroom Records worldwide as the band's fourth international single in 1996. "Stupid Girl" became their biggest hit in United States and the United Kingdom, with its performance on the charts driven by an innovative music video and remixes which gained massive airplay across the world. The success of "Stupid Girl" propelled sales of its parent album Garbage into the top twenty of the Billboard 200 and into the top ten of the UK Albums Chart.
Reviews of the song were positive, with praise to the production. "Stupid Girl" was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, as well as the Danish Grammy for Best Rock Song, an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song.
"Stupid Girl" began as a rough demo around January 1994. It was recorded during informal studio sessions between Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in Marker's home basement recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin prior to Shirley Manson joining the group. The band had been jamming using an ADAT eight-track, AKAI samplers and a small drum kit. Vig took a loop from the drum introduction from The Clash's "Train In Vain" and added further percussion. Afterwards, Marker created the bassline, under the request of doing something like Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Suzie Q", "something that's almost like a Motown feel". Erikson finished off what became the song's core with a jangly guitar riff.
After Marker saw Manson's group Angelfish on 120 Minutes, the band invited her to Vig and Marker's Smart Studios to sing on a couple of songs, but after a "dreadful" first audition, she returned to Angelfish. Manson eventually returned to Smart for a successful second time, where she began to work on the then-skeletal "Queer", "Vow" and "Stupid Girl". Working on the lyrics, "Stupid Girl" became an "anthem for a girl who won't settle for less than what she wants". Later she added, " really about squandering potential, our version of Madonna's 'Express Yourself', but a little more subversive". Manson aimed the song as a rebuke towards a friend's foolish behaviour: "A lot of females still find it difficult to find their own voice in society. It's just that women have a different set of problems from men... make the most of your potential." Manson added that "Stupid Girl" was "a song of reproach to a lot of people we know", both male and female, and that "we could have called it 'Stupid Guy,' but we thought another song about a strident female dissing a guy would be tedious."
"Stupid Girl"
MENU0:00
Sample of "Stupid Girl", showing the pre-chorus and first part of the chorus. The music is based around a drum sample from The Clash, and this part of the song incorporates sound effects such as a broken DAT player.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Garbage wanted to write a song that incorporated a very thumpy and repetitive bass line; this would act as a hook. Continuing to develop the demo throughout the recording process for what would eventually become the band's debut album, the group decided to add textures, guitars, and keys to make "Stupid Girl" dynamic rather than built on complicated chord changes. Marker and Vig then added in elements of ambient sound effects throughout the audio mix; including the "glitchy" sound of a broken DAT player used during the pre-chorus. Marker had been dubbing between audio tracks, resulting in scratchy feedback; he sampled the sound and tuned it to fit the song, unintentionally created by an alternative hook. When Manson recorded her first vocals for "Stupid Girl", the band realised that the key that the song had been arranged in was too low, but instead of re-recording the guitars, Vig re-printed them through a pitch-change patch on an effects unit. Erikson commented that the effects are "just ear candy, but they contribute to the character of the song, make the listener think in a certain way about the song". Additional percussion on "Stupid Girl" was performed by Madison musician Pauli Ryan, while the bass guitar line was played on record by Milwaukee session bassist Mike Kashou, both of whom performed on a number of tracks on the band's debut album.
Reflecting on the success of the song in 2002, Vig admitted: "People still ask us who the 'Stupid Girl' is, and that's impossible to answer. The song is sort of meant to be a wake up call. It could be about an ex-girlfriend. It could be about a rock diva that we all know, it could be about your sister. It could also be called 'Stupid Boy'." Looking back, he also stated, "It's impossible to predict what will be a hit. But subconsciously, I knew the song was good when I kept playing the same rough mix over and over again on my car stereo for months."
File Hashes
HASH1: EFE1092996F7C346 HASH2: A0DAAA4F54B2BA79 (MP3) HASH1: 180D11C19193F83B HASH2: D763222F794CBC5A (FLAC) HASH1: A00D6FAD51460016 HASH2: 6C9D6D7476AE1495 (FLAC) 
Alternative Rock 
... 
Rock/Pop 
20,710 
370 (2%)
None 
Status
UnlockedData Complete
90%External Links
