Video: Garbage, ‘No Gods No Masters’

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Garbage (Photo by María José Govea)

On the heels of last month’s tease of their upcoming album’s incisive lead track, “The Men Who Rule the World,” Garbage now unfurl their seventh album’s title track, “No Gods No Masters.” With spacey, rocket-ship synths and the band slamming on all four cylinders, it’s an optimistic rock anthem soundtracking the peeling away of outdated idols and the emergence of a new future. 

Frontwoman Shirley Manson was inspired by the difference in public opinion between protests in Chile and the United States. “I tried to make sense of the world, I was trying to make sense of left and right, literally,” said the singer-songwriter. “I went to Santiago during the protests there, which were profoundly moving… the whole city was covered in graffiti, like all the old museums and palaces. And I was shocked. The beautiful people that I was with said, ‘But why are you so shocked? We’re protesting human lives and you’re more shocked that property and buildings and monuments have been hurt here. And, in fact, human beings are being hurt, and this is what you must focus on.’ That was like a slap in the face.”

Manson paralleled that to the toppling of confederate statues, “All these people, they have more value than a monument to slave traders, but they don’t have more value in the consciousness of society, and I think it’s devilish and obscene, and I want power to be dismantled, and a society re-imagined. So, this song is about re-imagining our society for the future, for our children and not making the same mistakes over and over again and allowing greed to corrupt our thinking.”

The song’s video, directed by Scott Stuckey and produced by Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds) via her production company, Our Secret Handshake, features the band rocking in a dark, underground setting juxtaposed with them under secretive hoods with Manson crowned as an angelic, maternal martyr.

“No Gods No Monsters” (the album) is out June 11 via Stunvolume/Infectious Music, with the deluxe version releasing the next day.

||| Watch: The video for “No Gods No Masters”

||| Previously: “The Men Who Rule the World,” Live at the Shrine Auditorium, Live at the Hollywood Bowl, “Empty,” Live at the Greek Theatre, “Blood for Poppies”