UPDATED AUGUST 2025
I’ve talked about music that inspires my urban fantasy saga, the “Shadowdance.” Maybe you haven’t heard of the bands, or are looking to get inspired for some urban fantasy.
My “Music Inspires the Shadowdance” postings will help you change that! This one is about Garbage and their song, “Push It.”
Wait? Where have I heard Garbage from?
Besides a host of hits (“Stupid Girl,” “I Think I’m Paranoid”), if you’re a James Bond fan, you heard Garbage perform the theme song to The World is Not Enough.
You also heard a remix of their song “#1 Crush” in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
Garbage started when American musicians Duke Erikson (guitar, keyboards), Steve Marker (guitar), and Butch Vig (percussion) decided to get out from under the current grunge scene — which each of them helped bring about. Vig in particular: he produced the grunge anthem album Nevermind by Nirvana.
They found Scottish musician Shirley Manson (vocals, guitar) and set up the band out of a studio in Madison, Wisconsin.
All four members are involved in songwriting and production. Garbage has sold over 17 million albums worldwide. They’re currently on tour for the thirtieth anniversary of their self-titled and first album, and their latest album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.
Music that inspires action urban fantasy chase sequences
Back when Garbage hit the scene in 1995, I was hooked on how it wasn’t a grungy dude in the lead. I’ve always been partial to female singers, just as I’m partial to female protagonists.
I so loved Garbage’s industrial pop sound that I made a band for the “Shadowdance” saga. Originally they were the Widdershins, a German term meaning “to go counter-clockwise” that was also used by the Lowland Scots.
That Scottish thing?
Borrowed that from Garbage’s lead singer, Shirley Manson. I even went so far as to make the Widdershins lead singer, Tara MacNaughton, a Scot. You’ll meet her in my second “Shadowdance” trilogy, the Illusion of Love saga.
As time developed, the band name changed to Bleeding Souls. I’ll give you some inside on that when I get to Evanescence. Tara’s name changed to Nadia.
Oh, the creative process!
Anywho, you can read more about Garbage here.
This is one of my favorite Garbage songs, “Push it,” off their 1998 release Version 2.0. Listen to it while reading the woodland motorcycle chase between Adriana and some werewolves in By Virtue Fall. When I re-release it, anyway.
But that’s a story for another post!
