Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955), nicknamed the Nevermind
Man, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and remixer,
best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band
Garbage and the producer of diamond-selling album
Nevermind
Nevermind by
Nirvana.[1]
A native of Wisconsin, Vig had been based in Madison for much of his
career, from studying at the University of Wisconsin, to performing in
local bands Spooner and Fire Town, and then to setting up his own
recording studio, Smart Studios, with bandmate
Steve Marker
.jpg/500px-Garbage_Rockavaria_2016_(2_von_8).jpg)
Steve Marker in the
town.[2] After becoming well known as a producer, he formed and played
drums with Garbage, who sold 17 million records over a ten-year
period. Vig returned to producing full-time once Garbage went on
hiatus in 2005. The band reconvened in 2010 to record material for
their fifth album.
In 2012, Vig ranked number nine in NME's Top 50 Greatest Producers
Ever.[3]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Early musical career
2.2 Production career
2.3 Garbage
2.4 5 Billion in Diamonds
3 Personal life
4 Discography
5 Production career
5.1 Remix work
6 References
7 External links
Early life[edit]
Butch Vig
Butch Vig was born Bryan David Vig to Dr. DeVerne and Betty Vig,[4] a
music teacher,[5] in Viroqua, Wisconsin.[2] Vig has two siblings,
Chris and Lisa.[5] Vig acquired the nickname Butch as a child, due to
the severe crew cut his father gave him.[2] Vig studied piano for six
years. After seeing
The Who
The Who perform on The Smothers Brothers, he
swapped his piano for a $60 drum kit.[2]
Moving to Madison, Vig enrolled at the
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin to
study film direction.[citation needed]
Career[edit]
Early musical career[edit]
While a student at the University of Wisconsin, Vig met his eventual
Garbage bandmate Steve Marker. Vig contributed several electronic
music soundtrack pieces to low-budget films, including one song on
Slumber Party Massacre, a Hollywood B-movie. This soundtrack work
stirred Vig's interest in the manipulation of sound. Vig joined a
number of garage pop bands, including Eclipse, and in 1978 formed
Spooner with Duke Erikson, Dave Benton, Jeff Walker and Joel Tappero.
The following year, Vig helped Marker to build a home studio in
Marker's basement. Marker and Vig also started a small label, Boat
Records, to release records of both Spooner – which included their
1979 debut EP, "Cruel School" – and other bands they liked, which
led to around twenty local acts. The self-producing was later
described by Vig as "kind of a trial by fire".[2][6][7][8]
In 1984, Vig and Marker founded
Smart Studios
Smart Studios in Madison, while still
performing drums in Spooner at night and driving a taxi cab during the
day. When Spooner lost momentum, Vig formed a band called First Person
with Marker and Phil Davis and a side-project called Fire Town
featuring Davis and Erikson.
Fire Town quickly became Vig's priority,
and after their first album were signed to Atlantic Records. Atlantic
hired producer Michael Frondelli to work with
Fire Town on their
second album. While the sessions did not do well, and the resulting
record sank, Vig learned a lot of production techniques from the
process.
Fire Town split, and Vig reformed Spooner for a final album
before Vig's production work became a full-time career for him.[2]
Production career[edit]
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Vig's first high-profile production work was in 1991, when he produced
albums by two grunge bands, The Smashing Pumpkins'
Gish
Gish and Nirvana's
Nevermind. Vig incorporated overdubs and vocal doubletracking, whereas
Nirvana's previous album, Bleach (produced by Jack Endino) had a more
"lo-fi" sound.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain originally refused to double-track his
vocals and guitars but Vig reportedly got him to comply by saying
"
John Lennon
John Lennon double-tracked". Cobain would later criticize Vig for the
album's slickness, although this might be due to Andy Wallace's mixing
of the album.[9] Cobain said that "Butch Vig...recorded the album
perfectly," in a 1993
MTV
MTV interview.
Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan welcomed Vig's
elaborate production on The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. This
album met with positive commercial and critical reception, also
breaking another indie band into the mainstream. Vig also produced two
critically praised
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth albums, 1992's Dirty[10] and 1994's
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
In 2003, Vig worked with AFI to produce their first major label album
with DreamWorks, Sing the Sorrow. Vig worked with
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World on
their sixth album, Chase This Light, released in October 2007. He is
also working on soundtracks for two new movies. His first production
for an English band was 2008's All or Nothing by The Subways. He also
worked with Against Me!, producing their two
Sire Records releases,
New Wave and White Crosses, as well as working with singer Laura Jane
Grace on her solo EP, Heart Burns. Vig produced the eighth studio
album by Green Day, 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, which won the
Grammy Award
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. Recently, Vig has been partnered in
duties by his engineer and mixer Billy Bush who also worked on
Garbage's albums and live tours.
Vig composed and produced the soundtrack for the film The Other Side.
In 2009 Vig recorded two new tracks for the long-awaited greatest hits
release by the Foo Fighters, most notably the single "Wheels" and
ultimately produced their April 2011 follow-up, Wasting Light. In
2010, Vig produced Muse's single, "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is
Forever)," which was featured on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse
soundtrack.
Garbage[edit]
Butch Vig
Butch Vig playing drums for Garbage.
Vig stated, "Part of the reason why I started Garbage was that by the
time I'd done 'Nevermind,' I'd recorded – I swear to God – 1,000
bands that were just guitar-bass-drums. I was reading about all these
other records that I was getting excited about – like Public Enemy
using a sampler in the studio – and I just decided I wanted to do a
bit of a U-turn."[11] Afterwards, they hired Scottish singer Shirley
Manson and began composing together.[1]
Garbage released a string of singles in 1995–1996, including "Stupid
Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains". Their debut album, Garbage, was
an unexpected smash, selling over 4 million copies and certified
double platinum in the UK, United States and Australia. Garbage won
the Breakthrough Artist award at the 1996
MTV
MTV Europe Music Awards.[12]
The band then spent two years working on follow-up album, Version 2.0,
which topped the charts in the UK upon its 1998 release and the
following year was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Album of the Year
and Best Rock Album.
Version 2.0
Version 2.0 went on to match the sales of its
predecessor. Garbage followed this up by performing and co-producing
the theme song to the nineteenth
James Bond
James Bond movie The World Is Not
Enough.[13]
Despite being named one of Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of The
Year,[14] Garbage's 2001 third album
Beautiful Garbage
Beautiful Garbage failed to match
the commercial success achieved by its predecessors.[15] Garbage
quietly disbanded in late 2003, but regrouped to complete fourth album
Bleed Like Me
Bleed Like Me in 2005, peaking at a career-high #4 in the U.S.[16] The
band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me
announcing an "indefinite hiatus",[17] emphasizing that they had not
broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests.[18] In 2006, Vig
returned to producing while Manson worked on a solo album (as yet
unreleased). Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007,[19] and released
greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. Worldwide, the band have
sold over 17 million albums.[20] The band got back together in 2010
and began recording their new album, Not Your Kind of People, which
was released internationally on May 14, 2012. This was followed by
Strange Little Birds, released on June 10, 2016.
5 Billion in Diamonds[edit]
In 2017, Vig debuted a new musical project, the band 5 Billion in
Diamonds. Their first album was released on August 11,
2017.[21][22][23]
Personal life[edit]
Vig is married to Beth Halper, a former
DreamWorks
DreamWorks A&R executive;
they have a daughter, Bo Violet.[citation needed] They live in the
Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.[citation needed]
Discography[edit]
Main articles:
Butch Vig discography and Garbage discography
Spooner
Every Corner Dance (1982)
Wildest Dreams (1985)
The Fugitive Dance (1990)
Fire Town
In the Heart of the Heart Country (1987)
The Good Life (1989)
Garbage
Garbage (1995)
Version 2.0
Version 2.0 (1998)
Beautiful Garbage
Beautiful Garbage (2001)
Bleed Like Me
Bleed Like Me (2005)
Not Your Kind of People
Not Your Kind of People (2012)
Strange Little Birds
Strange Little Birds (2016)
Production career[edit]
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citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources.
Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly
sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially
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Vig served as the record producer, or co-producer on the following
records:
1982:
Die Kreuzen – Internal
1984: Killdozer – Intellectuals Are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling
Elite
1985: ivory library – 1st e.p.
1985:
The Other Kids – Living in the Mirror
1985: Killdozer – Snake Boy
1985:
Laughing Hyenas
Laughing Hyenas – Come Down to the Merry Go Round
1986: Killdozer – Burl
1987:
The Other Kids – Happy Home
1987: Killdozer – Little Baby Buntin'
1988:
Die Kreuzen – Century Days
1988: The Cheeters – Sign of Fire
1988: Killdozer – For Ladies Only
1989: Killdozer – Twelve Point Buck
1989: Laughing Hyenas- You Can't Pray a Lie
1989: Stuart Stotts – Music in My Mother's House
1989: feedtime – Suction
1990:
Urge Overkill
Urge Overkill – Americruiser
1990:
King Snake Roost – Ground into the Dirt
1990:
Laughing Hyenas
Laughing Hyenas – Life of Crime
1990:
The Fluid
The Fluid – Glue
1991:
The Fluid
The Fluid – Spot the Loon
1991: Gods of the Revolution
1991:
Cosmic Psychos
Cosmic Psychos – Blokes You Can Trust
1991:
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
1991: Nirvana – Nevermind
1991: Tad – 8-Way Santa
1991:
Young Fresh Fellows – Electric Bird Digest
1991: Overwhelming Colorfast – Overwhelming Colorfast
1991:
Die Kreuzen – Cement
1992:
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth – Dirty
1992:
House of Pain
House of Pain – Shamrocks and Shenanigans
1992: L7 – Bricks Are Heavy
1992:
Chainsaw Kittens – Flipped Out in Singapore
1992: Drain – Pick Up Heaven
1992: Gumball – Wisconsin Hayride
1992: Sky Pilot – 'Chicago Illinois - Mike DeFoy"
1993: Gumball – Super Tasty
1993: Gumball – The Damage Done
1993:
Crash Vegas
Crash Vegas – Stone
1993:
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
1993: Gumball – Real Gone Deal
1994:
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth – Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
1994: Helmet – Betty
1994:
Freedy Johnston
Freedy Johnston – This Perfect World
1995:
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum – Let Your Dim Light Shine
1995: Garbage – Garbage
1997: The And – Day
1997: The And – And Night
1998: Garbage – Version 2.0
2001: Garbage – Beautiful Garbage
2003: AFI – Sing the Sorrow
2005: Garbage – Bleed Like Me
2006: Kilroy – LP
2007:
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
2007:
Against Me!
.jpg/600px-Against_Me!_@_Dour_2012_(8436756323).jpg)
Against Me! – New Wave
2008:
The Subways
The Subways – All or Nothing
2008:
Laura Jane Grace
.JPG/440px-Against_Me!_Rock_am_Ring_2014_(50).JPG)
Laura Jane Grace – Heart Burns
2009:
Green Day
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
2009:
Foo Fighters
.jpg/532px-FoosLollBerlin190917-74_(cropped).jpg)
Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits
2010:
Against Me!
Against Me! – White Crosses
2010: Muse – "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)"
2010:
Never Shout Never
Never Shout Never – Harmony
2010: Goo Goo Dolls – Something for the Rest of Us
2011:
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
2012: Garbage – Not Your Kind of People
2013: Sound City Players – Sound City: Real To Reel
2014:
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways[24]
Remix work[edit]
Butch Vig
Butch Vig has remixed songs for the following artists: Against Me!,
Ash, Beck, The Cult, Depeche Mode, EMF, Fun Lovin' Criminals, House of
Pain, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Alanis Morissette, Nine Inch Nails, Michael
Penn,
M.O.P
M.O.P and U2, as well as his own band Garbage.[citation needed]
References[edit]
^ a b "Garbage: Behind The Music". Behind The Music. 2002-03-31.
^ a b c d e f "Welcome to Spooner Town". Record Collector. February 1,
1997
^ "50 Of The Greatest Producers Ever". Nme.com. 2015-11-22. Retrieved
2016-06-26.
^ Burgess, Joan (August 23, 2005). "Obituaries". Madison.com.
Retrieved August 19, 2012.
^ a b "Obituaries (Tuesday August 23, 2005)". Wisconsin State Journal
(reproduced on Madison.com). August 23, 2005. Retrieved
2009-04-05
^ Buskin, Richard (March 1997). "BUTCH VIG:
Nevermind
Nevermind The Garbage".
Sound on Sound. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
^
Steve Marker
Steve Marker of Garbage on his approach to production and the joys
of living in Colorado
^ Punks: A Guide to an American Subculture. Sharon M. Hannon. p. 115
^ Berkenstadt, J. (1998).
Nevermind
Nevermind Nirvana at pg. 96. New York:
Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864775-0
^ 1992 THE BEST & WORST MUSIC, Entertainment Weekly.
^ Mapes, Jillian (October 19, 2011). "Butch Vig: Garbage's Hiatus
Cleared Members' 'Baggage'". New York City: Billboard. Retrieved
2011-10-20.
^ "
Version 2.0
Version 2.0 press release" (Press release). Mushroom Records. March
30, 1998. access-date= requires url= (help)
^ "
Beautiful Garbage
Beautiful Garbage press release" (Press release). Mushroom Records.
July 27, 2001. access-date= requires url= (help)
^ ""Breaking Up the Girl" Hits magazine trade ad". Retrieved
2008-02-24
^ "
Bleed Like Me
Bleed Like Me press release, published by Geffen Records, dated
February 21, 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-24
^ Murphy, Peter S. (2008).
Absolute Garbage
Absolute Garbage biography.
access-date= requires url= (help)
^ "
Shirley Manson
.jpg/600px-Garbage_Rockavaria_2016_(4_von_8).jpg)
Shirley Manson on Garbage Hiatus: 'I'm Burnt, I'm Done, I'm Toast'
says singer". MTV.com. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
^ "Dear worried and confused". Garbage.com. Archived from the original
on February 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
^ "Garbage End Sabbatical for Benefit Show". Music.AOL.com. Retrieved
2008-02-24.
^ "New Best of Album". Garbage.com. Archived from the original on
December 31, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ [3]
^ Darren Levin (August 26, 2013). "
Butch Vig
Butch Vig teams up with Foo
Fighters for "KILLER new songs"". Faster Louder. Faster Louder Pty
Ltd. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig on IMDb
Official website Garbage
Butch Vig
Butch Vig Interview at drummagazine.com
Butch Vig
Butch Vig Interview on nerdist.com (Podcast)
Butch Vig
Butch Vig on Charlie Rose
v
t
e
Butch Vig
Spooner
Fire Town
Garbage
The Know-It All Boyfriends
Emperors of Wyoming
Studio albums
Every Corner Dance
Wildest Dreams
In the Heart of the Heart Country
The Good Life
The Fugitive Dance
Garbage
Version 2.0
Beautiful Garbage
Bleed Like Me
Not Your Kind of People
Strange Little Birds
Compilation albums
Absolute Garbage
Notable Production work
Nirvana Nevermind
L7 Bricks Are Heavy
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth Dirty
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
Green Day
Green Day 21st Century Breakdown
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters Wasting Light
Related articles
Discography
Smart Studios
The
Smart Studios
Smart Studios Story
v
t
e
Garbage
Shirley Manson
Steve Marker
Duke Erikson
Butch Vig
Studio albums
Garbage
Version 2.0
Beautiful Garbage
Bleed Like Me
Not Your Kind of People
Strange Little Birds
Compilation albums
Absolute Garbage
The Absolute Collection
Extended plays
Special
Special Collection
Singles
Garbage
"Vow"
"Only Happy When It Rains"
"Queer"
"Stupid Girl"
"Supervixen"
"Milk"
Version 2.0
"Push It"
"I Think I'm Paranoid"
"Special"
"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing"
"When I Grow Up"
"You Look So Fine"
"Temptation Waits"
Beautiful Garbage
"Androgyny"
"
Cherry Lips
Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)"
"Breaking Up the Girl"
"Shut Your Mouth"
Bleed Like Me
"Why Do You Love Me"
"Bleed Like Me"
"Sex Is Not the Enemy"
"Run Baby Run"
Absolute Garbage
"Tell Me Where It Hurts"
Not Your Kind of People
"Blood for Poppies"
"Battle in Me"
"Automatic Systematic Habit"
"Big Bright World"
"Control"
Strange Little Birds
"Empty"
Other singles
"Subhuman"
"#1 Crush"
"The World Is Not Enough"
"Because the Night"
"Girls Talk"
"The Chemicals"
"No Horses"
Home video
Garbage Video
Absolute Garbage
One Mile High... Live
Books
This Is the Noise That Keeps Me Awake
Concert tours
Garbage tour
Version 2.0
Version 2.0 tour
Beautiful Garbage
Beautiful Garbage tour
Bleed Like Me
Bleed Like Me tour
Not Your Kind of People
Not Your Kind of People tour
20 Years Queer
Strange Little Birds
Strange Little Birds tour
Rage and Rapture tour
20 Years Paranoid
Additional personnel
Billy Bush
Daniel Shulman
Eric Avery
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Matt Chamberlain
Matt Walker
Related articles
Discography
Awards and nominations
Smart Studios
Spooner
Fire Town
Goodbye Mr Mackenzie
Angelfish
"Korean Bodega"
Book: Garbage
Category: Garbage
Portal: Alternative rock
Commons: Garbage
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VIAF: 316879914
MusicBrainz: ba30915c-4d33-43c5