Supervixen Lyrics

"Supervixen" is the opening track to Garbage's debut album. "Supervixen" was released as an airplay-only single to Modern Rock radio in North America in October, 1996. "Supervixen" was titled after Russ Meyer's 1975 violent love-triangle movie Supervixens. "Supervixen" was written by Garbage in 1994 during sessions between band members Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson and Steve Marker at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison musician Mike Kashou performs bass guitar on "Supervixen". Lyrically, Manson states that "["Supervixen"] is all about saying "idolise me, I'm going to give you everything you want, but you have to do something in return". It's a bargaining song about a relationship. I'm not saying "I'm a wee Scottish lass fae Edinburgh and I'm great". It's actually about this supervixen, this Russ Meyer-type woman." "Supervixen" received a largely positive response from music critics, many of whom chose to single out the track in their reviews of the Garbage album. The Jewish Chronicle wrote "from the staccato riff that dominates "Supervixen" the scene is set - Eurythmics meets Patti Smith in some Grungy nightclub where bitchy back-biting is the name of the game." Hot Press reviewer Jackie Hayden wrote "The sound drop outs should act as a warning to be on your guard". Kerrang!'s Paul Rees described the song as "a whirlpool of clattering synth stabs that break of in shattered shards", while Paul Yates of Q magazine said that "Garbage's signature lies in songs like "Supervixen", good pop tunes dealt a rough treatment and brazen vocals". Ikon's Jamie T. Conway gave a negative review for the album but described "Supervixen" as Pixies-lite and a "strangely appealing" exception. Peter Murphy of Bauhaus (band) wrote of "Supervixen" in his biography for 2007's Absolute Garbage sleeve-notes: "The song used silence in a way I'd never heard before. When the music stopped, it wasn't a pause for effect. There was no residual cymbal swish or reverberation or amp hum. That silence was total. It meant business. It was a sort of black hole implosion into which you feared your soul might be sucked."