10 Greatest Female Singers In Rock History
5. Shirley Manson - Garbage
As much as the grunge scene may have broken down a lot of barriers for outcasts, things were pretty much the same at the top of the charts. Even though you had people like Kurt Cobain advocating for different causes and supporting bands from the underground, it was still just a bunch of dudes reaching the top, only in flannel shirts this time around. Once things got a little more aggro, Shirley Manson was the kind of frontwoman who could practically scare you to death.
Playing up some of the gothic imagery in a lot of their material, the first two Garbage records stand as some of the best dark rock that the '90s had to offer, with Manson's lower register getting a lot more sinister with each song. While a song like Only Happy When It Rains might hook you in at first, the back catalog is still delightfully unhinged, like when she's going for something more electronic or atmospheric like As Heaven Is Wide or Stupid Girl.
Considering that this was also the moment when the industrial rock boom was about to kick into high gear, Shirley was just the kind of woman who was able to toe that line effectively. You may be lured in by the tunes at first, but it's sometimes a false sense of security before you get pummeled over the head.