Paranoid Android

The Second Season of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” has begun broadcasting in the States with a surprise piece of casting. In retrospect, the addition of Shirley Manson, lead singer of rock band Garbage, to the original team of actors shouldn’t have caught me unawares, due to the recent penchant for substituting pop stars for actresses in science fiction, but, nonetheless, I was slightly taken aback. I think that’s probably down to the fact that unlike Billie Piper, Hannah Spearritt and Kylie Minogue, Shirley Manson at least has some credibility! The difference is that Scot’s lass Shirley hasn’t built her career on a succession of namby-pamby pop hits exploiting the easily satisfied. I mean, let’s be honest, who on earth handed Billie her initial success for “Because We Want To”?!! It’s unmitigated dross. But, she wouldn’t have landed her plum role in “Doctor Who” without it! And, while Garbage isn’t exactly Beethoven, “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” is a step up from the likes of songs in the mould of “I Should Be So Lucky” or “Don’t Stop Moving”!! Some may argue each to their own, in defence of the Pied Piper, but what makes Billie anymore suitable a piece of casting, in a serious sf series, than the much-maligned Bonnie Langford? If Bonnie was wrong for “Doctor Who”, because she lacked the necessary authority, why, twenty years on, do fans who criticise her then accept someone equally suspect of wanting in gravitas?

Shirley Manson has yet to prove herself as an actress, of course, but her image, in the rock arena, is that of a tough cookie. “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is a hard-as-nails series so it’s likely to suit her perceived persona. There’s no light relief waffle about handy hands in this show! She trained at a theatre school before joining a band so, like Billie Piper, it could be claimed Shirley is returning to her roots. In “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, Manson plays both Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a major technology company, ZeiraCorp, and also a new type of liquid-metal terminator, T-1001, sent by SkyNet to continue the hunt for the Connor family. In addition, she sings the Blind Willie Johnson song heard in the opening scene of “Samson and Delilah”, the first episode of the new season. The episode concludes with an already much-discussed cliff-hanger in which one of the characters, about to take a leak in the men’s washroom, suddenly observes the urinal before him morph into Miss Manson! Happens to me every time I feel the call of nature!! One can only hope she managed to complete the transformation before the possibility of receiving what she herself sings about in the Garbage song “When I Grow Up”. And, before you all rush off to checkout the lyrics, let me reassure you that the guy - having royally pissed her off - is, naturally, quickly dispatched in a manner similar to one of the early death scenes in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.

Garbage - Tell Me Where It Hurts

And, just in case you missed it at the beginning of the week on Channel 4, perhaps because of the late hour, here’s what might well prove to be the final single from Garbage. “Tell Me Where It Hurts” will also be available on the forthcoming greatest hits album “Absolute Garbage”, and is the only new song to be included in the collection. There will also be a special edition including remixes on a second disc as well as a DVD release of the band’s promotional videos. If any of you have any ideas as to what the imagery is all about, accompanying this track, please don’t hesitate to let me know. It looks good, though, which seems to be enough for most people these days! The song itself grows on you but, like the material on the third and fourth albums, “Beautiful Garbage” and “Bleed Like Me”, seems tamer than “classics” such as “Only Happy When It Rains” and “When I Grow Up”!! However, “Tell Me Where It Hurts” is a lot better than most of the rival pap presently on the market!!!

Absolute Garbage

You might think that with a Post-title such as “Absolute Garbage” I’d be writing about government plans to ensure we spend the rest of our lives separating card from the rest of the rubbish! At least five different-colour bins should keep kids happy and a £20-fine if we so much as throw out one Mars bar-wrapper too many!! Then there’s the news that the public may be charged for the use of roads, a sample cost being that a single journey from Bristol to London will come in at £160.80!!! And, what about the new forms to fill in before you can sell your house at between a hefty £400 to £700?!! Film director and former “Monty Python” animator, Terry Gilliam was right in “Brazil”, almost a quarter of a century ago, when he suggested that one day we would be paying to breathe fresh air!!! I don’t know about you but I don’t believe politicians “breathe the same air” as I do. Anyway, enough of this twaddle on trash! This piece isn’t about waste disposal, throwing out the junk, refusing to collect the refuse, it’s about the imminent release of the greatest hits collection of that super-charged Anglo-American beat combo known as Garbage!! Absolutely!!!

More specifically, I’m writing to let you know that the new single and video, recorded especially for inclusion on “Absolute Garbage”, will be aired twice this coming Bank Holiday Monday (technically on Tuesday morning) just after midnight on Channel 4. It’s called “Tell Me Where It Hurts” to which I would answer “in the pocket” if all the complaints of the previous paragraph come to fruition! Garbage are a four-piece, the lead singer, Shirley Manson, hailing from Scotland while the three guys, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig, originate from Madison, Wisconsin, in the USA. They’ve been in existence since 1994 and have produced four studio albums that have yielded a string of hit singles. Most of them appear on their new compilation, the release date for which is uncertain though possibly June 4th. I’m thinking the title, “Absolute Garbage”, is post-modern irony because were Westlife to release a “Best of” collection it would, quite blatantly, be a lie! So, I assume “Absolute Garbage” is anything but that which the title literally suggests!! Perhaps the band are simply being honest in that anyone remotely cultured knows that, even though one may enjoy it, all pop music is absolute garbage!!! However you view it, here’s the track-listing…

Queer
Only Happy When It Rains
Stupid Girl
Milk
#1 Crush
Push It
I Think I’m Paranoid
Special
When I Grow Up
You Look So Fine
The World is Not Enough
Cherry Lips
Shut Your Mouth
Why Do You Love Me
Bleed Like Me
Tell Me Where It Hurts
It’s All Over But The Crying