Friday's Deep Cut: 'Hammering In My Head' by Garbage

Every week, SPIN explores the lesser-known tracks from iconic artists in its Deep Cut Friday series. Few bands have blended the gritty edge of industrial rock with catchy pop melodies as seamlessly as Garbage. Interestingly, part of one of their standout albums was recorded in an abandoned building that once served as a candy factory.

During a feature on the making of 1998s Version 2.0 for Keyboard magazine in August 1999, drummer Butch Vig and guitarist Steve Marker shared that they set up a drum kit in the empty Wisconsin structure to capture the buildings distinctive acoustic properties. The session was interrupted by local authorities after neighbors complained, yet some of the drum recordings were still used on three tracks of the album, including the notable Hammering In My Head.

The track highlights frontwoman Shirley Mansons most striking vocal work, especially in the extended spoken outro, which might subtly reference the candy factory setting: Sweat it all out in our electric storms and our shifting sands / our candy jars and our sticky hands. An Eli Janney remix, known as Hammering In My Head (Americruiser Remix), was never officially released but eventually surfaced online. Last year, Garbage performed the song live for the first time since 2018, and it has remained a fixture on the Happy Endings tour, which concluded in November and is expected to be their final North American headlining tour.

Other Notable Garbage Deep Cuts

Supervixen

Released on Garbages 1995 self-titled debut, this track left a lasting impression. Its sudden silence a few seconds in initially confused listeners, but it has become one of the albums most memorable openers.

Bad Boyfriend

Drummer Butch Vig and Dave Grohl first rose to fame with Nirvanas Nevermind. They reunited years later when Grohl played drums on the opening track of Garbages 2004 album Bleed Like Me, and Vig later produced Grohls 2011 Foo Fighters project Wasting Light.

Chinese Fire Horse

From Garbages eighth album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light (May release), this track features Manson challenging sexist and ageist critics with defiant lyrics: You think Im too ambitious / Youre so dumb it makes me cry.

Author: Chloe Ramirez