“Fierce and strong and powerful”: Shirley Manson’s favourite new wave songs
Since the mid-1990s, Shirley Manson has been something of a constant within the world of alternative rock. After forming Garbage in 1993, the Edinburgh-born musician wasted no time in establishing her defiant persona and ethos of rebellion. One of the things that makes Manson’s music so enduring is the wide variety of genres and styles that the singer has adopted over the years, ranging from old-school punk to the occasional flirts with trip-hop. Invariably, though, the earliest influences to make an impression on Manson came with the women of the new wave age.
If you were being a little reductive, you could summarise the new wave boom of the late 1970s by describing it as a collision of punk ethos and pop sensibilities. In reality, many of the groups that came to define new wave – the likes of Blondie, Talking Heads, and The B-52’s, for instance – had first established themselves within the dingy underbelly of the punk movement. However, there are only so many songs you can write with three barre chords and a flimsy grasp on leftist political theory. As such, many of these punk bands began to expand their musical repertoire to incorporate new and exciting sounds, thus bringing about the age of new wave.
New wave allowed many artists to explore avenues of musical expression that would have been frowned upon within the punk movement. It should, therefore, come as no real shock that Shirley Manson has always maintained an adoration for new wave, especially given her embracing of countless different styles within her own career. Couple that with the fact that Manson was coming of age during the period that new wave was at its peak during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it is clear that the genre has been with the singer throughout her celebrated career.
Part of what made new wave so appealing for Manson was the prevalence of strong female musicians, whereas the punk scene which had preceded it had been largely male-dominated. Back in 2021, the Garbage singer appeared on BBC Radio’s Tracks Of My Years to provide an insight into the influences that have made her music career so celebrated. Alongside the likes of ABBA and The Beatles, Manson used the opportunity to espouse the joys of some of her new wave icons.
Selecting ‘Happy House’ by the new wave and goth rock icon Siouxsie Sioux, Manson revealed, “Siouxsie is one of my all-time icons and arguably one of the most influential musicians of my entire life,” explaining, “I saw her on Top of the Pops, I’d never seen anything like it. Here was somebody that was challenging the traditional roles that women were expected to embody. She just seemed like she was coming from another planet entirely and was really fierce and strong and powerful. I didn’t feel she was playing the male-pleasing kind of sex kitten thing. She was almost androgynous in a funny way.”
Seemingly, Siouxsie Sioux continues to inspire the Garbage vocalist to this day, “Every time I’m in the vocal booth,” she said, “I think ‘hmm, let me inject a little bit of Siouxsie here if I can.’” However, the queen of goth was not the only new wave star to make an impact on Manson. “Debbie Harry has been someone who has been a fixture of my entire musical career,” she shared, selecting the Blondie track ‘Union City Blue’ as a particular favourite.
Harry’s influence has continued throughout Manson’s career, with the Blondie star regularly inviting the Edinburgh musician to tour with Blondie, and the pair even shared a manager – Gary Kurfirst – at one point. “Debbie has been instrumental in helping me along the way,” she said. So, it seems as though, without the incredible influence of new wave music, the world may never have heard the name Shirley Manson.
