Garbage’s Shirley Manson describes Patti Smith as “one of the touchstones in my life”

Garbage’s Shirley Manson has said that Patti Smith is “one of the touchstones in my life”, who has inspired her “as a human being and as an artist”.

As part of The Line of Best Fit’s Nine Songs series, the singer selected Smith’s ‘Revenge’, from her 1979 album ‘Wave’ as one of her favourite songs.

She explained that Martin Metcalfe, the frontman of Manson’s earlier band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, turned her onto Smith’s work by introducing her to the seminal 1975 song ‘Gloria’, which caused Manson to fall “into a tunnel of love” that remains to this day.

“We’ve shared stages with her,” she continued. “And I’ve met her several times, our history is long at this point. But she is extraordinary. And what really strikes me every time I see her play, is unlike every other artist I think I’ve ever seen in my life, she is augmented by her age, she’s not diminished by it.

“Every time she appears, she appears even more powerful, even more potent, even more challenging, and arresting. She’s taking us to task, but it also feels to me like it comes from a place of real generous love, I find that really beguiling in her. And I think this is, again, why she has managed to straddle all these decades in an industry that eats women.”

Manson is not the only one to have namechecked the punk icon recently – Taylor Swift also gave her a shout out on the title track of her runaway new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.

“I laughed in your face and said, ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel / We’re modern idiots.’,” Swift sings on the song.

Smith herself responded to the namedrop: “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Thank you Taylor,” she wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of herself reading a Thomas book.

Last month, Garbage revealed to NME that they are currently in the studio working on a new album.

“Going into this next record, I feel a shift,” she said. “I’m trying to dampen my outrage. As a society, we’ve become so beaten down and broken-hearted. I’m trying to reach for something that’s a little bigger than me, because if I don’t then I’m going to drown in my own dismay.”

As for when fans could expect to hear the band’s new record, Manson said: “We are in the studio as we speak, actually. It’s supposed to be done by the end of May, and we’re on target.”

They are also set to embark on a UK and European headline tour this summer, which includes a show at the OVO Arena Wembley in London. Find any remaining tickets for the UK dates here.

Garbage’s 2024 UK and European tour dates are:

JUNE
26 – Milan, Italy, Magnolia
27 – Lausanne, Switzerland, Les Docks
29 – Tilburg, Netherlands, 013
30 – Luxembourg, Rockhal

JULY
2 – Wiesbaden, Germany, Schlachthof
4 – Berlin, Germany, Uber Eats Music Hall
5 – Cologne, Germany, Palladium
6 – Paris, France, Le Grande Rex
9 – Barcelona, Spain, Razzmatazz
10 – Madrid, Spain, Mad Cool 
12 – Glasgow, UK, TRNSMT Festival 
14 – Edinburgh, UK, Usher Hall
15 – Bridlington, UK, Bridlington Spa
17 – Wolverhampton, UK, Wolverhampton Civic at The Halls
19 – Manchester, UK, 02 Apollo
20 – London, UK, Wembley OVO Arena

Elsewhere in her NME interview, Manson opened up on the “devastating” time Garbage’s label chose to invest in No Doubt over them. She also spoke about working with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, calling him “the most incredible expanse of joy”.