Stupid Girl (Garbage song)


"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 band members Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig. "Stupid Girl" features lyrics about a young woman's ambivalence and is a musical arrangement centered on 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 the band's biggest hit in United States and the United Kingdom, with its performance on the charts driven by an innovative music video and remixes that gained massive airplay across the world. The success of "Stupid Girl" propelled sales of its parent album Garbage into the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and into the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart.
Reviews of the song were positive, with praise for 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.

Development

Production

"Stupid Girl" began as a rough demo around January 1994. It was recorded during informal studio sessions with 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 to the Clash's "Train in Vain" and added further percussion. Later, Marker was asked to create a bassline like that of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Suzie Q", "something that's almost like a Motown feel." Erikson finished 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 attempt, when she began to work on the basic forms of "Queer", "Vow" and "Stupid Girl".
Manson's lyrics for "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 intended the song as a rebuke toward a friend's foolish behavior: "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."
Garbage wanted to write a song that incorporated a thumping, repetitive bass line to 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 the product of 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 realized that the song's key 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 the record by Milwaukee session bassist Mike Kashou, both of whom performed on several other tracks on the 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."

Composition

"Stupid Girl" is a moderately fast alternative rock song with touches of electronica, set in common time. It is built on a I-IV change in F, with both chords, F7 and B7.
The tonal function of a dominant seventh chord is to resolve up a perfect fourth. In non-classical harmony, the chord is often used similarly, but especially in blues, funk, and early rock music, it is also commonly used for its color, which seems to mesh major and minor together with its major third, minor seventh and the dissonant interval between the two. When the F7 chord is played, it should traditionally resolve to a B major 7th chord, the M7 being the major 3rd of the tonic.
Instead, on the B note is another dominant seventh. Such chords are the basis of the twelve-bar blues, and are used in this way to give "Stupid Girl" a bluesy, rock-'n'-roll feel. The chord change is manipulated to emphasize the B's flatted seventh, giving the song a sulky mood. This chord change is used for the intro, verse, chorus and the instrumental sections, except for the pre-chorus, which is in the relative key of D minor. Regardless of the chord progression, the song seems to fall somewhere between major and minor, and the use of four-note seventh chords help to form a rich atmosphere. "Stupid Girl" is mainly carried by this arrangement, along with the drum beats sampled from "Train in Vain".
In the intro, four bars set the rhythm, adorned by only a guitar pick-slide and audio effects. The verse adds Manson's vocals and a bass riff that uses flattened blue notes to give "Stupid Girl" a funky, unsettled feel. The eight-bar pre-chorus abruptly cuts in with minor chords, and sampled feedback replaces the bass, which drops out. This, coupled with Manson singing high in her range, creates tension and enables the presence of the bass to be felt when it re-enters on the chorus. The guitar figures in the bridge include a phrase played low and rhythmic guitar stabs on the opposite side of the audio mix. In the chorus, Manson's main vocal is answered by an "aah-ah" of voice and guitar together. The word "girl" lands on a flattened bass note.

Single release

Release and promotion

The first single release of "Stupid Girl" occurred in Australia and New Zealand on January 22, 1996, when the White label issued both CD and cassette versions backed with "Trip My Wire" and remixes of "Queer" by Adrian Sherwood and Martin Gore. A week later, White issued a second CD featuring a cover version of the Jam's "Butterfly Collector" and a further two "Queer" mixes produced by Danny Saber and Rabbit in the Moon. In July, White released a limited-edition EP titled Stupid Girl collecting the UK B-sides and remixes for the Australian market. BMG released "Stupid Girl" across Europe on February 28. The single was issued as a CD maxi backed with both "Butterfly Collector" and "Trip My Wire". When Garbage returned to tour Europe's rock festivals in August, BMG reissued "Stupid Girl" in France and Germany.
Mushroom Records sent "Stupid Girl" to radio stations in the UK a month in advance of its release, and it was A-listed at Radio One, Virgin and Capital. Mushroom issued "Stupid Girl" on March 11 as a 2×CD single set and limited-edition 7" vinyl packaged in two differing colors of fabric. The song was backed with "Driving Lesson", a new version of "Dog New Tricks" and a remix of "Stupid Girl" produced by Red Snapper on the first disc, with "Alien Sex Fiend" and two versions of "Stupid Girl" remixed by Dreadzone on the second. The vinyl was backed with the mix of "Dog New Tricks". The single was supported by Garbage's first-ever UK tour, which launched on March 19. In the midst of the tour, Garbage performed the single on Top of the Pops and a live showcase performance of "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains" on TFI Friday.
In North America, where "Only Happy When It Rains" had been the band's breakthrough single, Almo Sounds planned either "Stupid Girl" or a re-release of Garbage's debut single "Vow" to follow it up. On May 25, Almo sent "Stupid Girl" to alternative radio, while Garbage joined the Smashing Pumpkins' North American arena tour as the opening act through June and July. The tour was halted after Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin fatally overdosed, and the Smashing Pumpkins resumed without Garbage a month later. Almo reissued "Stupid Girl", with a remix produced by Todd Terry, to Top 40 radio. On July 9, Almo released "Stupid Girl" to record stores on CD and cassette single, backed with "Driving Lesson" and the Todd Terry version. Almo provided remixes of the song to clubs. On July 11, Garbage performed "Stupid Girl" on the Late Show with David Letterman, and in October performed the song at the VH1 Fashion Awards, which earned attention because of Manson's wardrobe malfunction. On August 6, Almo issued a 12" vinyl release featuring "Driving Lesson" and remixes of "Stupid Girl" produced by Todd Terry, Danny Saber, Rabbit in the Moon and Jason Bentley.

Chart performance

"Stupid Girl" first charted on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in the week ending February 4, 1996, debuting at number 99 and peaking at number 47 on March 24, 1996. The single charted for two non-consecutive weeks on the New Zealand Top 40, peaking at number 32 in February. In Iceland, "Stupid Girl" debuted at number 18 at the start of April, and shot up to number 4 in the second week, where it remained for three weeks. In Spain, "Stupid Girl" peaked at number 40 on the airplay chart. In Ireland, "Stupid Girl" peaked at number 16. In France, "Stupid Girl" peaked at number 38 on the singles chart, and Garbage re-charted to peak at number 16 on the album chart.
At the start of March, "Stupid Girl" debuted at number 48 on the UK airplay chart, and the band's debut album re-entered the album chart at number 27. Later, "Stupid Girl" debuted as the highest new entry on the UK Singles Chart at number 4, the highest position attained by any Garbage single. In its second week, "Stupid Girl" dropped to 10th as Garbage broke into the top ten albums list for the first time. On the airplay chart, "Stupid Girl" peaked at number 5 and spent the entire following month within the top ten. "Stupid Girl" spend seven weeks in the top 75 and sold 120,000 copies.
In North America, Almo Sounds serviced "Stupid Girl" to alternative radio on May 20, where after its first week on air it debuted on the Modern Rock Tracks chart at number 38. Two weeks later, it broke into the Modern Rock top 20 with an "Airpower" rating, meaning the song had registered over 900 plays for the first time on alternative radio. The song debuted at number 66 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. At the end of the month, "Stupid Girl" reached the top ten on the Modern Rock chart, peaking at number 2 in August, and not leaving the top ten until September as Garbage ascended into the top 40 of the Billboard 200 for the first time. The remixes were listed on the Hot Dance Break-Outs list as "Stupid Girl" debuted at 46th on the Hot 100.
By August, "Stupid Girl" continued to chart, debuting at number 68 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, at number 47 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart and at number 46 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart. The success propelled the album Garbage to as high as number 20 on the Billboard 200, doubling its sales to around 40,000 units each week and allowing it to attain platinum certification by the RIAA for shipping one million units. The remix album peaked at number 30 on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart. In mid-August, "Stupid Girl" peaked at number 26 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and picked up enough mainstream rock airplay to spend two weeks at number 39 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. At the start of September, "Stupid Girl" became a crossover hit on both alternate and contemporary hit radio, and it reached number 25 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Two weeks later, the song earned Garbage's highest position on the Hot 100 when it reached number 24. It also peaked at number 33 on the Single Sales chart and at number 5 on the Club Play chart. "Stupid Girl" continued to gain a larger crossover audience throughout October, debuting on the Adult Top 40. The song left the Modern Rock chart in mid-November after 25 weeks and remained on the Hot 100 for 20 weeks until the start of December.

Remixes

In 1996, Mushroom released a white label to clubs featuring the Red Snapper and Dreadzone mixes in advance of the UK release of "Stupid Girl". The Red Snapper mix was later released in Europe on the B-side to "Only Happy When It Rains", while White Records released this mix along with the Dreadzone mixes on the Stupid Girl extended play. Almo Sounds commissioned additional remixes from Danny Saber, Rabbit in the Moon, Jason Bentley and Todd Terry for the North American release of the single. One of Todd Terry's mixes was also provided to Top 40 radio. Mushroom later released this version, along with the Danny Saber mix in the UK on the B-side of "Milk", while White included the Todd Terry mix on the bonus disc of the Garbage: Australian Tour Edition. In 1997, Mushroom released four Todd Terry mixes on a set of 12" vinyls in the UK. An instrumental version of the Red Snapper mix was also included on the compilation album Big Beat Elite. In 2007, Todd Terry's radio mix was remastered and included on the Absolute Garbage bonus disc Garbage Mixes.
Danny Saber's remix brief for his version of "Stupid Girl" sought to create a version of the song for radio airplay on new wave/alternative rock stations. Garbage's management wanted Saber to retain the original's "Train in Vain" loop, as it had cost the band a significant amount to license. Saber opted for a Soft Cell/house music combination; incorporating the original vocal line, tempo, key and feedback. Saber created a new bassline for the remix, arranging the mix around it. Saber completed the remix in a single day, with one further day required to mix.

B-sides

Garbage recorded a number of tracks for the B-side of "Stupid Girl" in January 1996 during rehearsals for their first full-length concert tour. During the rehearsals, Garbage remixed their album track "Dog New Tricks", wrote and recorded "Driving Lesson" and "Alien Sex Fiend". The band also recorded the Vic Chesnutt song "Kick My Ass" for inclusion on the charity album . Daniel Shulman plays bass on all four tracks. On October 14, 1998, Garbage, Electronic Arts, AT&T and Broadcast.com linked up to promote a live webcast from Garbage's headline show at Dallas Bronco Bowl by offering a free.a2b file format digital download of "Driving Lesson", which registered over 6,000 downloads.

Formats and track listings

  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Butterfly Collector" – 3:41
  3. "Trip My Wire" – 4:29
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Trip My Wire" – 4:29
  3. "Queer " – 5:12
  4. "Queer " – 5:36
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Butterfly Collector" – 3:41
  3. "Queer " – 7:17
  4. "Queer " – 5:39
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Driving Lesson" – 3:48
  3. "Dog New Tricks " – 4:02
  4. "Stupid Girl " – 7:37
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Alien Sex Fiend" – 4:37
  3. "Stupid Girl " – 6:08
  4. "Stupid Girl " – 6:34
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Dog New Tricks " – 4:02
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Stupid Girl " – 3:49
  3. "Driving Lesson" – 3:48
  1. "Stupid Girl " – 5:53
  2. "Stupid Girl " – 6:11
  3. "Stupid Girl " – 5:20
  4. "Stupid Girl " – 4:23
  5. "Stupid Girl " – 5:53
  6. "Driving Lesson" – 3:48
  1. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  2. "Stupid Girl " – 6:08
  3. "Dog New Tricks " – 4:02
  1. "Stupid Girl " – 3:44
  2. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  1. "Stupid Girl " – 6:34
  2. "Stupid Girl " – 6:08
  3. "Stupid Girl " – 7:37
  4. "Stupid Girl" – 4:19
  5. "Alien Sex Fiend" – 4:37
  1. "Stupid Girl " – 5:53
  2. "Stupid Girl " – 3:11
  3. "Stupid Girl " – 6:11
  4. "Stupid Girl " – 3:34

    Music video

The music video for "Stupid Girl" was filmed on January 16, 1996 in a Los Angeles warehouse by director Samuel Bayer. The four-hour shoot took place after filming the "Only Happy When It Rains" music video. The "Stupid Girl" video was given a smaller budget, as Almo Sounds believed that "Only Happy When It Rains" would be a bigger hit than "Stupid Girl". According to Manson, the other band members were drunk and exhausted after three days shooting the first video.
The "Stupid Girl" video debuted internationally on February 1, 1996, and in North America on May 5. MTV added the video the week of May 13 and certified "Stupid Girl" a Buzz Clip. It was the band's third consecutive video to be guaranteed heavy airplay on the network. VH1 added the video at the start of September and featured it in a Pop-Up Video episode.
The video for "Stupid Girl" is a performance piece inspired by the title sequence from David Fincher's 1995 movie Se7en. The clip was shot in a warehouse decorated with plexiglas sheets upon which the song's lyrics were written. Bayer cut the film into pieces and soaked it in his bath, applying deliberate fingerprints and abrasions to the footage before putting it back together by hand. "Film is generally treated like this pristine canvas," Bayer later explained, "If it's scratched, it's considered ruined. I wanted to add to the excitement of "Stupid Girl" with a really organic video, something that had a handmade quality." To accomplish this, Bayer showed some of the filmmaking process itself; Manson is shown behind a clapperboard and reels visibly spool past the frame, while penned marks, sprocket holes, spots and reference numbers are seen. At one point, the frame lurches, as if to suggest that the camera operator has lost control of the camera. Bayer's colorist made use of sepia, blues, greens and reds to suggest that each frame was individually hand-tinted. Vig would compliment the video for mirroring the band's sound: "some of it looked beautiful, some of it looked distorted, and kinda fucked up - and it sorta described some of our music visually." Bayer later re-edited a second version of the video, with alternative footage from the original shoot, for a remix version of "Stupid Girl" by Todd Terry. Bayer would later shoot Green Day's 2004 "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video in a similar manner.
The "Stupid Girl" video was nominated in the Best New Artist in a Video category at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to the Stéphane Sednaoui-directed video for Alanis Morissette's "Ironic".
The "Stupid Girl" video was first commercially released on VHS and Video-CD on 1996's Garbage Video, along with "making-of" outtake footage. A remastered version was later included on Garbage's 2007 greatest-hits DVD Absolute Garbage, and was made available as a digital download via online music services the same year. The "Stupid Girl" video was uploaded to YouTube and Vevo in 2013.

Critical reception and legacy

"Stupid Girl" received an overwhelmingly positive response from music critics both upon the release of Garbage and upon its single release. Selects Ian Harrison called the song "Duran-like", describing it as "mighty doomy pop neatly tailored to enhance one's natural discontentment." Vox magazine's Craig McLean called it "malignant, dirty, devious, sneering pop", while Metal Hammer's Pippa Lang compared Manson's "ever-so-sexy, sibilant" vocals to Trent Reznor's. Kerrang! described "Stupid Girl" as "a classy piece of predatory pop perfection that wields an iron punch beneath velvet glove."
The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, but lost to Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" and Dave Matthews Band's "So Much to Say", respectively. "Stupid Girl" was also nominated for a Danish Grammy for Best Rock Song, and for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. In 1997, Broadcast Music Incorporated awarded "Stupid Girl" a Citation of Achievement for Best Pop Song, meaning it was among the year's most-performed songs. Erikson said the song was "a crowd favorite" that improves the set list's mood whenever it gets played, and Vig added that "we've played 'Stupid Girl' on stage more than a thousand times and I'm still not sick of it."
In 2005, "Stupid Girl" was featured in Curtis Hanson's film In Her Shoes, while later that year, Alexz Johnson recorded a cover version of the track for the soundtrack album Songs from Instant Star. In 2011, it was nominated for the final track listing on STV's Scotland's Greatest Album.

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australia Singles Chart 47
Canada Top 100 Singles 30
Canada Alternative 30 2
France Singles Chart 38
Iceland 4
Ireland Singles Chart 16
New Zealand Singles Chart 32
Scotland 8
United Kingdom Singles Chart 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 10024
U.S. Adult Top 40 36
U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play 5
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 39
U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks 2
U.S. Top 40 Mainstream 25

Chart Peak
position
UK Singles 197

A The 2007 entry of "Stupid Girl" on the UK Singles Chart reflected the number of individual digital downloads of the remastered version included on Absolute Garbage.
Year-end charts
Chart Position
Iceland 67
UK Singles 113
UK Airplay 36
US Modern Rock Tracks 10

Certifications