Released October 29, 1996 Length 4:50 | Format Promo single Label Capitol | |
Recorded 1994–1995
Smart Studios,
Madison, Wisconsin Genre Alternative rock, trip hop | ||
"#1 Crush" is a song by Garbage, released internationally on the B-side to their debut release "Vow", and in the United Kingdom on the B-side to second single "Subhuman".
Contents
In 1996, the track was remixed by Nellee Hooper and Marius de Vries for the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann's modernised William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet movie adaptation. The remix of "#1 Crush" peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks, where it stayed for four weeks, and as of 2014 is Garbage's sole #1 entry on any US chart. "#1 Crush" was the first of two hit singles from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack; "Lovefool" by The Cardigans continued the success of the compilation. In 1997, "#1 Crush" was later nominated for Best Song from a Movie at the MTV Movie Awards.
In 2007, the remix of "#1 Crush" was remastered and included on Garbage's greatest hits album Absolute Garbage.
Song profile
"#1 Crush" was written and recorded between March, 1994 and May, 1995 during sessions between band members Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in either Marker's basement recording studio or at their own Smart Studios in Madison. Manson was concerned that listeners wouldn't realise that the song was about a stalker: "It's about somebody who wasn't quite right. The song however were slightly autobiographical. 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".
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 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".
Garbage's debut international single release "Vow" featured "#1 Crush" on the b-side, and was released in Europe, South Africa and Australasia in June 1995. The August re-release for the United Kingdom saw the track order reversed, with accompanying b-side "Subhuman" released in its own right, with "#1 Crush" remaining as its b-side, and "Vow" being added as a CD single bonus track. In Japan, both "#1 Crush" and "Subhuman" were included as bonus tracks on the Japanese pressings of the band's debut album (titled G in Japan). At the end of 1995, BMG France included "#1 Crush" on an album sampler titled Rare Track Collection to give away free with copies of the debut album purchased in Virgin Megastores.
Nellee Hooper remixed "#1 Crush" for inclusion on the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, working with producers Marius de Vries and Jim Abbiss. In addition to downplaying the guitars and reworking the percussion and synth elements of the song, Hooper added a distorted vocal sample from Madonna's 1995 single "Bedtime Story".
Airplay release
The Romeo + Juliet soundtrack was released in North America on October 29, 1996, ahead of the movie which opened in cinemas on November 1; "#1 Crush" was the album opener, and began to receive airplay at alternative radio. Romeo + Juliet debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200. A week later "#1 Crush" debuted on the Modern Rock Tracks chart at No. 17 and on the Hot 100 Airplay at No. 49. The song had received airplay at 71 monitored radio stations across the United States, and had become the driving force behind the soundtrack which shot up to No. 12 on the album chart. In its second week, "#1 Crush" broke into the Modern Rock top ten (at No. 8). At the start of 1997, "#1 Crush" hit No. 1 on the Modern Rock chart. The same week, the song reached a peak of No. 29 on the airplay chart. Because "#1 Crush" was an album cut, and would not be commercially available as a domestic single, it was ineligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Due to the song's runaway success, Garbage contemplated filming a music video for it. The song stayed at the top Modern Rock position for an entire month, before dropping to No. 2 at the start of February. Top 40 radio picked up on "#1 Crush" and registered a single week on the Top 40 Mainstream at No. 39. During this period, the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack hit No. 2 on the album chart; the band's debut album also rebounded from the lower-seventies into the top 50. By the end of its chart-run in May 1997, "#1 Crush" had spent a total of 16 weeks on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and 22 on the Modern Rock chart.
Critical reception
"#1 Crush" generated a mostly positive response from music critics and radio programmers. Don O'Neal, PD of KFRR in Fresno, California, praised Garbage for following up the mass-appeal crossover "Stupid Girl" with the "almost gothic" "#1 Crush.
Media appearances
Actor Lee Pace performed "#1 Crush" in a drag show in the 2003 movie Soldier's Girl. In 2004, "#1 Crush" became the theme tune to the UK TV series Hex. Debbie Gallagher sings the song in the 2012 Shameless episode "I'll Light a Candle For You Every Day". The song also appeared in the 2014 episode of "True Blood" titled 'Death Is Not The End'. Over two minutes of the song was featured in opening segment of the season 1 La Femme Nikita episode "Obsessed".