Only Happy When It Rains is a song by Garbage, released in September 18, 1995, for their self-titled debut studio album (1995). It was recorded at the band’s own studio, Smart Studios, in Madison, Wisconsin, and is known for its tongue-in-cheek lyrics parodying the typically angst-filled themes of mid-’90s alternative rock.
Replacing “Queer” at the last-minute as the lead-in single for the debut album, Only Happy When It Rains was the band’s breakthrough track in the United Kingdom, receiving positive reviews from the music press and strong support from BBC Radio One. In the United States, the single built upon the success of “Queer” at alternative radio and in early 1996 charted strongly on the Hot 100.
The music video made MTV‘s next-big-thing Buzz Bin category, helping Only Happy When It Rains to cross over to Top 40 radio formats, and propelling the album Garbage from being a Heatseeker title into the top half of the Billboard 200 album chart. In Europe, where it was the fourth single from Garbage, it followed the success of “Stupid Girl“, by reaching the top ten European Alternative Rock airplay charts over the summer of 1996.
Only Happy When It Rains is one of Garbage’s enduring works, covered by multiple artists, including Metallica, featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5, and heard in episodes of ’90s television shows such as Homicide: Life on the Street and The X-Files. In 2019, it was used in the Captain Marvel soundtrack.
Tracklist:
- Only Happy When It Rains
- Girl Don’t Come
- Sleep
The music video for Only Happy When It Rains was filmed in mid-January 1996 in Los Angeles by director Samuel Bayer, simultaneously with the video for single “Stupid Girl”. As Almo Sounds thought Only Happy When It Rains would be more successful, the video was given a higher budget than the video for “Stupid Girl”. The music video debuted in the United States on February 12, where MTV playlisted it immediately as a “Buzz clip”, thus guaranteeing it heavy rotation.
The video begins with a short prologue sequence in which several children dressed in animal costumes play in an overcast field, before cutting to Garbage as the song begins. Garbage are located in a litter-strewn warehouse, where the male band members destroy vinyl records, videotape and musical instruments as Manson performs to the camera. Some sequences feature Manson performing the song while on her own in dilapidated toilet stalls. The video ends with inter-cut footage of Manson joining the children on the field.
The Only Happy When It Rains video was first commercially released along with out-take footage shot while filming on VHS and Video CD on 1996’s Garbage Video. A remastered version of the video was later included on Garbage‘s 2007 greatest hits DVD Absolute Garbage and made available as a digital download via online music services the same year. The Only Happy When It Rains video was uploaded to VEVO in 2013.
Garbage
Shirley Manson: vocals, guitar
Steve Marker: guitars, bass, samples and loops
Duke Erikson: guitars, keyboards, six-string and fuzz bass
Butch Vig: drums, loops, noise and efx
Additional musicians
Mike Kashou: bass
Pauli Ryan: additional percussion
Production
Recorded & produced by Garbage
Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Second engineer: Mike Zirkel
Mastered: Howie Weinberg (Masterdisk)
Editing & post production: Scott Hull (Masterdisk)
