“Temptation Waits”: Alternative Rock Delves Deeper
“Temptation Waits” is the first song off Garbage’s second album, Version 2.0. Much like their other songs, it was written by all the band members in a collaborative effort. Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage, blasts the vocals of this “almost-pop” song while accompanied by the rambunctious band comprised of members Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker. The song was written and recorded in 1998, and though it was never released as a single in the United States, it was released as a single in Spain in 1999. The album, Version 2.0, was released in May of 1998 and went on to become multi-platinum over the next couple of years. This was no small feat, considering alternative rock was no longer leading the charts in 1998, and Garbage found itself on the fringe of alternative rock with its gritty lyrics and clashing instruments. Though there is a splash of pop in “Temptation Waits”, it truly represents that poetic grunge that Garbage embodies.
For many years “Temptation Waits” was the opening song during their tours. Eventually it was replaced by “#1 Crush” as the opener and then shuffled somewhere in the middle of the song line-up. During their tours, Garbage was fond of incorporating outside tracks of other songs or even movie clips to introduce a song or to end a song. For instance, the beginning of “#1 Crush” has slightly distorted ‘vocals’ of Madonna from her song, “Bedtime Story”. The vocals are more like heavy breathing and moaning, and you can hear them on the remixed single. When they play it live, the heavy breathing is more drawn out and extended. “Temptation Waits” had a similar live opening during their tours in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. There was an intro from an old movie trailer that would be played before the drum beats started. It was a line from a trailer for Bad Girls Go To Hell, and it was a man saying, "You. You. You. Do you know bad girls go to Hell?” In addition to these extra intros and outros adding to the song’s meaning or ambiance, they were often humorous. For instance, when you hear an older gentleman sputtering the words “Do you know bad girls go to hell?” in a tone of indignation, and then it is followed up by a woman in a pink boa with bonfire red hair blasting into the mic about being a demon and a vampire and an addict, it creates an exhilirating and somewhat comical effect.
Alternative
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