Remix Collaboration
After Garbage's fifth single "Stupid Girl" had been released internationally, the band's record label were considering what the follow-up single would be; at one point "Supervixen", "Fix Me Now" and "Milk" were all in the frame. The band performed a headline concert at New York's Roseland Ballroom in mid-April 1996 and were joined at the aftershow by British trip-hop musician Tricky. The two groups hung out for the night, and decided to collaborate on a duet version of "Milk" featuring both Shirley and Tricky on vocals. In early May, the two acts spent a session in Chicago's CRC Studios working on the new version. The session was setback with numerous glitches including a malfunctioning tape machine and a mixing console caught fire. Manson found the experience of working with a male vocalist "enchanting and illuminating".
Internet rumours abounded that the session had been a disaster, with the band's audio engineer claiming the results were not as expected, and that Tricky himself had been difficult to work with. The band's manager disputed the reported events, placing blame on problems at the recording studio. The band eventually put out a press statement to deny the rumours stating that the session had in fact went well, the rework of "Milk" was still a work in progress and that further production by both Tricky and Garbage was required. Tricky finished his duet version of "Milk" in New York's Platinum Island Studios; Garbage completed their own guitar-led version of "Milk" in Madison during a break in their world tour. Garbage's rework was finished in two versions; the first was titled the Siren mix and featured only Manson's vocal; the second also incorporated Tricky's vocal and was titled the Wicked mix. Tricky took exception to Garbage releasing their own version as a single instead of his, and complained about the situation to the press.
Read more about this topic: Milk (song)