Song of the Day (A-Z): Garbage – Queer

Day 17 (Q). I was actually quite worried about the letter Q. I couldn’t think of anything for ages. When I sat down & started to look through my record collection though I actually found plenty.

Garbage were a great Indie Rock band from the mid-to-late ’90’s. Garbage featured Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s Nevermind, & seemed to have some crossover potential with the heavier Rock crowd. I remember their song Push It being on a free Kerrang! CD & their music in general being played at the Alternative Nights at local nightclubs (which mainly played Metal/Nu Metal at the time).

Queer, like much of their material, seems to draw liberally from a wealth of influences ranging from Trip-Hop to Industrial. I don’t really remember it’s release but I imagine the title probably caused a bit of a stir & generated some excellent publicity. Attitudes towards sexuality were still fairly underdeveloped (to put it diplomatically) in 1995.

Hey boy, take a look at me
Let me dirty up your mind
I’ll strip away your hard veneer
And see what I can find

The queerest of the queer
The strangest of the strange
The coldest of the cool
The lamest of the lame
The numbest of the dumb
I hate to see you here
You choke behind a smile
A fake behind the fear
The queerest of the queer

This is what he pays me for
I’ll show you how it’s done
You learn to love the pain you feel
Like father like son

The queerest of the queer
Hide inside your head
The blindest of the blind
The deadest of the dead
You’re hungry ’cause you starve
While holding back the tears
Choking on your smile
A fake behind the fear
The queerest of the queer

I know what’s good for you, you can touch me if you want
I know you’re dying to, you can touch me if you want
I know what’s good for you, you can touch me if you want
But you can’t stop

The queerest of the queer
The strangest of the strange
The coldest of the cool
The lamest of the lame
The numbest of the dumb
I hate to see you here
You choke behind a smile
A fake behind the fear
The queerest of the queer
The strangest of the strange
The coldest of the cool
You’re nothing special here
A fake behind the fear
The queerest of the queer

I know what’s good for you I know you’re dying to
I know what’s good for you
I bet you’re dying to
You can touch me if you want
You can touch me if you want
You can touch me
You can touch me
But you can’t stop