Garbage were formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994, by Duke Erikson, Butch Vig and Steve Marker. Erikson and Vig had been in numerous bands, with Marker as a sound engineer, and they were eventually inspired to form a band. An early comment that their work sounded "like garbage" inspired the band's name. Initial sessions with Vig on vocals, coupled with their past work and experience with all-male groups drove the band's desire for a woman on lead. Marker was watching “120 Minutes” when he saw the video for Angelfish’s "Suffocate Me" with Shirley Manson (formerly of Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie) on lead vocals. He showed the video to Erikson and Vig, and their manager Shannon O'Shea tracked Manson down. In April 1994 Manson met Erikson, Marker and Vig in London, however later that evening Vig was informed of Kurt Cobain's suicide, and due to his close ties with Nirvana and their “Nevermind” album, Garbage was put on hold.
Angelfish toured North America in support of Live later that year, and Erikson, Marker and Vig attended the Chicago Metro gig, with Manson subsequently invited to audition for the band. The audition didn’t go well, but the quartet found they had similar tastes in music. Angelfish disbanded at the end of the Live tour, and Manson called Shannon O'Shea and asked to audition again, feeling that "it would work out". Despite having never written a song prior to this session, Manson began work on "Stupid Girl", "Queer" and "Vow" (ad-libbing the line "I can't use what I can't abuse"), and this time she was invited to join the band. After writing lyrics at a cabin in the Wisconsin woods, and recording the songs at Smart Studios, Garbage sent out demo tapes with no bio (to avoid a bidding war over Vig's production history). The single "Vow" debuted on Hot Modern Rock Tracks at number 39, climbing gradually over the following weeks, peaking at number 26 twice. It also spent 2 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, staying at number 97 both weeks.

In August 1995, first album "Garbage" debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 193, the UK album chart at number 12, and the Australian album chart at number 5, and Garbage were nominated for Brit Awards for “Best New Band” and “Best International Newcomer”. The single "Only Happy When It Rains" reached number 55 on the Hot 100, "Stupid Girl" made it to number 24 on the same chart, and was very popular in the UK, becoming the band’s first top 10 hit by reaching number 4, pushing their self titled debut album to number 6. "Garbage" eventually sold over 4 million copies, and was certified double platinum in the UK, US and Australia. Following a tour to support the album, Garbage were back on the road in May 1996, supporting Smashing Pumpkins on their arena tour. The final single release from the album, a reworked version of "Milk", became the band's second UK top 10 hit, and they won the “Breakthrough” award at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards. A remix of "#1 Crush" (from the soundtrack to Romeo and Juliet) topped the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for 4 weeks from the end 1996, and later received a nomination for “Best Song From a Movie” at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. Garbage were nominated for the Grammy Award for “Best New Artist”, while "Stupid Girl" received 2 nominations for “Best Rock Song” and “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group” in 1997.

Garbage relocated to Friday Harbor, Washington in March 1997 to write songs for their second album, trying to push their sound as far as it could go, hence the album's eventual title “Version 2.0”, which was completed by early 1998. First single “Push It" became their third consecutive UK top 10 hit at number 9 (the video went on to receive 8 nominations at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards) and single "When I Grow Up" spent 3 months in the Australian chart, becoming the band's most successful single there. The album itself debuted at number 1 in the UK and number 13 on the Billboard 200, and Garbage were nominated for 3 MTV Europe Music Awards: "Best Group," "Best Rock Act" and "Best Video" (for "Push It").
Early 1999 saw “Version 2.0” receive 2 Grammy Award nominations for “Album of the Year” and “Best Rock Album”, and was awarded the European Platinum Award by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for 1 million sales across Europe and US. Garbage were also contracted to perform the theme for the 19th James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough”, which reached the top 10 in Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Finland, and the top 40 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK.

April 2001 saw the group begin work on their third record, “Beautiful Garbage”. In October, it debuted at number 13 debut on the Billboard 200, number 6 on the Top Internet Albums chart and topped the Electronic Albums chart for 7 weeks, selling 1.2 million copies in it’s first 3 months. Garbage supported U2 on the third leg of their Elevation Tour, and towards the end of 2001 Rolling Stone's US and Australian editions named “Beautiful Garbage” as one of their critics "Top 10 Albums of the Year".

Work on their fourth album started at a rapid pace in March 2003, with "Right Between the Eyes" written in 30 minutes. However, recording halted during the summer when Manson underwent surgery on her right vocal cord and was not given the okay to sing again until August. In October, due to rising tension and a breakdown of communication within the band, Vig relocated to L.A. and Manson returned to Scotland. Garbage reconvened in L.A. after Christmas, and following Dave Grohl’s guest appearance on drums on “Bad Boyfriend” (a performance which was regarded by the band as "raising the bar" for the record) the band formally relocated to L.A. and wrote 2 new songs, "Metal Heart" and "Boys Wanna Fight". "Bleed Like Me" was chosen as the album’s title, entered the US top 10, peaking at a career high position of number 4, and lead single "Why Do You Love Me" debuted on the Modern Rock Tracks chart at number 39, and numbers 97 and 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100 charts respectively, becoming the band's most successful single for 6 years.

In mid 2005 Garbage cancelled their scheduled October tour dates in France, Belgium and the UK, releasing a statement saying the band had "somewhat overextended themselves" and had decided to conclude their tour in Australia on October 1. This signalled the end of active promotion for "Bleed Like Me", and the band confirmed that they were going "on indefinite hiatus" to pursue personal interests, and had not split.

Garbage ended their self imposed hiatus and resumed work on new songs in during February and March 2007, and released a greatest hits LP “Absolute Garbage” in July. One of the new songs, "Tell Me Where It Hurts", was released as the album's lead single.

Garbage have sold over 14 million albums worldwide.