"#1 Crush" is a song by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...

, released internationally as a

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to their debut single "

Vow A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedd ...

" (1995), and in the United Kingdom on the b-side to second single "

Subhuman ''SubHuman'' is the sixth studio album by Recoil. Alan Wilder stated in a YouTube greeting that there would be a new album coming in spring or early summer 2007. On 23 April 2007, he released information regarding the album via Myspace and hi ...

" (1995). In 1996,

Nellee Hooper Nellee Hooper (born Paul Andrew Hooper on 15 March 1963) is a British record producer, remixer and songwriter known for his work with many major recording artists beginning in the late 1980s. He also debuted as a motion picture music composer w ...

and

Marius de Vries Marius de Vries (born 1961) is an English music producer and composer. He has won a Grammy Award from four nominations, two BAFTA Awards, and an Ivor Novello Award. Education Marius de Vries was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, Bedford ...

remixed "#1 Crush" for the soundtrack to

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...

's modernised ''

Romeo + Juliet Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy '' Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a pr ...

'' film adaptation. In addition to downplaying the guitars and reworking the percussion and

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

elements of the song, Hooper added a distorted vocal

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

from

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's 1995 single "

Bedtime Story A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".Dickson, Marguerite Stockma ...

". The remix of "#1 Crush" was released in March 1997 and went to number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart, where it stayed for four weeks, and is Garbage's sole number-one entry on any US singles chart. "#1 Crush" was the first of two hit singles from the ''Romeo + Juliet'' soundtrack.

Song information

"#1 Crush" was written and recorded between March 1994 and May 1995 during sessions between band members

Duke Erikson Douglas Elwin "Duke" Erikson (born January 15, 1951) is an American musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer and record producer, best known as a co-founder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Garbage has sold more than 1 ...

Shirley Manson Shirley Ann Manson (born 26 August 1966) is a Scottish musician and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage. Manson gained media attention for her forthright style, rebellious attitude, and di ...

Steve Marker Steve Marker (born March 16, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a cofounder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Early life Steven W. Marker was born in Mamaroneck, New York on Marc ...

and

Butch Vig Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of the diamond-selling Nirvana album ''Neve ...

in either Marker's basement

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

or at their own

Smart Studios Smart Studios was a recording studio located in Madison, Wisconsin. It was set up in 1983 by Butch Vig and Steve Marker to produce local bands. The studio produced bands such as Killdozer, The Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Tad, and Nirvana. After in ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. Manson was concerned that listeners wouldn't realise that the song was about a

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

: "It's about somebody who wasn't ''quite right''. The song however were slightly

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

. Everybody's felt obsessive about something or somebody in their life. I've felt ''crazy'' about somebody before," she explained, "That feeling - usually when you've split up with somebody - when you're absolutely obsessed with what they are doing. It's all to do with being pathetic". "#1 Crush" was slated for inclusion on ''Garbage'', until

Almo Sounds Almo Sounds was a record label which was started in 1994 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss after they sold A&M Records to PolyGram. The intent for the label was to recreate the initial concept of A&M Records as a small, "boutique" label. The label ...

co-founder

Jerry Moss Jerome S. Moss (born May 8, 1935) is an American recording executive, best known for being the co-founder of A&M Records, along with trumpet player and bandleader Herb Alpert. Music career After graduating from Brooklyn College with a degree ...

called his label manager worried that the song might end up "a suicide note". Garbage themselves didn't think the song was particularly strong, Erikson remembering "the lyrics were a bit over the top". Reflecting on the lyrics, Manson felt, "All real love is a form of obsession. If you love someone more than anything else, that degree of exclusivity requires an abnormal amount of passion and care. And that can be positive," contrasting with the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of "#1 Crush, "It's just that keeping it short of unhealthy, short of violence, really requires a bit of moderation. You can't let something like that take over ''all'' of your thought processes". Butch Vig later described "#1 Crush" as "disturbing". In August 1995, "#1 Crush" was released on the b-side of Garbage's singles "

" (in Europe, South Africa and Australasia) and "

" (in the United Kingdom). Both "Subhuman" and "#1 Crush" were included as

bonus tracks An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

on the Japanese release of ''Garbage'' (titled ''G'' in Japan).

Remix Release and commercial performance

Early in 1996, Garbage's manager Shannon O'Shea pitched "#1 Crush" to

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

for inclusion on the ''Romeo + Juliet'' movie. The song was received enthusiastically by Fox; however Almo were dead set against the sync opportunity as the soundtrack would be released on another label,

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

. After months of negotiation, Almo finally agreed. By this time, Garbage had scored two big hits in the US ("

Only Happy When It Rains "Only Happy When It Rains" is an alternative rock song written and produced by American alternative rock band Garbage for their self-titled debut studio album (1995). It was recorded at the band's own studio, Smart Studios, in Madison, Wisco ...

" and " Stupid Girl") and had broken through into the mainstream. The promotions team at Capitol planned to release the Garbage track first and then follow it up with a second song from the soundtrack:

The Cardigans The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows since 2 ...

Lovefool "Lovefool" is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish Rock music, rock band the Cardigans' third studio album, ''First Band on the Moon'' (1996). It was released as the album's lead single in Sweden in mid-1996 and on 9 Sep ...

". Almo were concerned that "#1 Crush" was competing with the last single releases from the debut album: "

Supervixen "Supervixen" is an alternative rock song written and performed by alternative rock band Garbage (band), Garbage and is the opening track on their Garbage (album), self-titled debut studio album (1995). The song was titled after Russ Meyer's 1975 ...

" had just been released to alternative radio and "

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

" to adult radio formats. Almo had already pressed CDs and cassettes for the physical release of "Milk", and refused to give Capitol single rights. No commercial single for "#1 Crush" could be made available in stores, therefore the song would be ineligible for the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. Capitol's promo rep was keen, however, for Garbage to shoot a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song. The soundtrack album for ''Romeo + Juliet'' was released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

on October 29, 1996, a few days ahead of the movie itself which opened-wide in cinemas on November 1; "#1 Crush" was placed as the album opener. O'Shea had already gave a couple of radio stations the jump by providing early copies of the track on hastily burned

CDRs #REDIRECT Charles Darwin Foundation The Charles Darwin Foundation (Spanish: ''Fundación Charles Darwin'') was founded in 1959, under the auspices of UNESCO and the World Conservation Union. The Charles Darwin Research Station serves as headqua ...

. "#1 Crush" quickly got added to 22 station playlists, even though "Supervixen" was officially the current Garbage single and still increasing in airplay. The following week, "#1 Crush" was the Most Added track at alternative radio, eclipsing "Supervixen" by adding a further 38 stations, while "Supervixen" gained none. The ''Romeo + Juliet'' OST debuted at #44 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

. The quick pick up at radio meant that "#1 Crush" debuted at #17 on the

chart and #49 on the

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout ...

chart; "Supervixen" quickly lost traction as "#1 Crush" soared ahead, gaining more station adds and almost tripling its weekly play total. At this time, Almo was still refusing to support the single and were now focused on servicing "Milk". By December, the soundtrack album had shot up to #12; ''Billboard'' declared that "#1 Crush" has become "the driving force behind the 'Romeo + Juliet'' OST as it broke into the Modern Rock top ten. Due to the song's runaway success, Garbage contemplated filming a music video for it at the end of their touring commitments. Almo had reluctantly agreed to get behind "#1 Crush" after Geffen executives put pressure on the label to do so. "Milk" didn't even chart. On the first week of January 1997, "#1 Crush" peaked at #29 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart as it hit the #1 spot on the Modern Rock chart. The song would spend the next four weeks at the summit. The ''Romeo + Juliet'' OST eventually hit #2 on the albums chart; while ''Garbage'' rebounded from the lower-70s into the top 50. By the end of its chart-run, "#1 Crush" had spent a total of sixteen weeks on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and twenty-two on the Modern Rock chart. Erikson later recalled: "Turns out we didn't even need a video." From March through May 1997, ''Romeo + Juliet'' opened in cinemas throughout Europe. In April, Mushroom serviced "#1 Crush" to European radio, where it placed on ''Music & Medias Most Added list, and re-released the debut album bundled with a bonus "#1 Crush" CD single. In 2007, the remix of "#1 Crush" was remastered for both Garbage's

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

album ''

Absolute Garbage ''Absolute Garbage'' is a greatest hits album by American rock band Garbage. It was released worldwide on July 23, 2007 through Warner Music imprint A&E Records with a North American release through Almo Sounds, Geffen Records, and Universal Mus ...

'' and ''Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture (10th Anniversary Edition),'' and in 2012, it was included in the band's second greatest hits album ''

The Absolute Collection ''The Absolute Collection'' is the second greatest hits album by American-Scottish alternative rock band Garbage. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on November 2, 2012 on their own label Stunvolume, via Liberation Music, and supersedes ...

'' released in Oceania. In 2015, an early demo mix of "#1 Crush", was included as a previously unreleased bonus track on ''Garbage (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)'' along with new remasters of the original version and the remix. The same year, ''The Absolute Collection'' was remastered for iTunes where the "#1 Crush" remix was replaced with the original version. In 2022, the remix was remastered again and included in the band's third greatest hits album ''

Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''.

Critical reception

"#1 Crush" generated a mostly positive response from music critics and radio programmers. Don O'Neal, PD of

KFRR KFRR (104.1 FM) is a commercial alternative rock music radio station in Woodlake, California, broadcasting to the Fresno, California area. Its studios are located at One Putt Broadcasting in Downtown Fresno, across from the historic Warnors Th ...

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

, praised Garbage for following up the mass-appeal

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

" Stupid Girl" with the "almost

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

" "#1 Crush". "#1 Crush" was nominated for Best Song from a Movie at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.

Media appearances

Aside from ''Romeo + Juliet'', "#1 Crush" has become an enduring work for the band, featuring in multiple media since and has also covered by multiple artists. In 2004, the original version of "#1 Crush" became the

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

to the British sci-fi drama '' Hex''. The song was also licensed for episodes of the shows '' La Femme Nikita'' and ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The serie ...

'' and is performed by a character in the series '' Shameless'' and movie ''

Soldier's Girl ''Soldier's Girl'' is a 2003 biographical drama film written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Frank Pierson. It is based on a story of the relationship between Barry Winchell and Calpernia Addams and the events that led up to Barry's murder by a fe ...

''. In 2022, the remix was used in episode 7 of the second season of ''

American Horror Stories ''American Horror Stories'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for FX on Hulu. Premiered on July 15, 2021, the series serves as the third installment in the '' American Story'' media franc ...

''.

Credits and personnel

Garbage * Shirley Manson –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Steve Marker – guitars,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, samples and loops * Duke Erikson – guitars,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, six-string and fuzz bass * Butch Vig –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

) Production * Recorded & produced by Garbage * Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, USA * Second

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

: Mike Zirkel *

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

(

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

) * Editing & post production: Scott Hull (Masterdisk) "#1 Crush (Remix)" * Remix and additional production:

* Additional programming:

* Mix engineer:

Jim Abbiss Jim Abbiss is a British music producer, best known for his work on records including the debut album of Editors ('' The Back Room''), Arctic Monkeys' Mercury Music Prize winning debut album, ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'', Ka ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Official Garbage website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Number 1 Crush 1997 singles Capitol Records singles Garbage (band) songs Mushroom Records singles Song recordings produced by Butch Vig 1995 songs Songs written by Shirley Manson Songs written by Duke Erikson Songs written by Steve Marker Songs written by Butch Vig