"Only Happy When It Rains" is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

song written and produced by American

band

Garbage Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...

for their self-titled debut studio album (1995). It was recorded at the band's own studio, Smart Studios, in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, and is known for its tongue-in-cheek lyrics parodying the typically angst-filled themes of mid-'90s alternative rock. Replacing "

Queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

" 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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, receiving positive reviews from the music press and strong support from BBC Radio One. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the single built upon the success of "Queer" at alternative radio and in early 1996 charted strongly on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. The accompanying music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, made

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

'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 Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, featured as a playable track in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

'' Guitar Hero 5'', and heard in episodes of '90s television shows such as '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

''. In 2019, it was used in the '' Captain Marvel'' soundtrack.

Recording and composition

"Only Happy When It Rains" was written and recorded between March 1994 and May 1995. It was written in sessions with band members Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in Marker's basement recording studio, and recorded at Smart Studios in

Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

was played by Mike Kashou, and additional percussion by Pauli Ryan. In the latter stages of the album's recording, Garbage mixed this song twice before it was mastered. At the last minute, Vig made the guitar tracks louder; he later claimed it still did not sound the way he heard it in his head. The mix was noted for Manson's voice being at the same volume as the instruments; in mainstream pop, the lead vocal is usually louder than the instruments. Lyrically, Manson described "Only Happy When It Rains" as "about wanting love but knowing life will always get in the way... yet not being obliterated by that. It's a song for people that know what it is like to live on the dark side of life. It's about devotion but a different kind—a devotion to the truth and to freedom... and to hell with the consequences." The song is in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. The G natural minor scale is: Changes n ...

, the

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

of 4/4, and at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 120

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Its

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

s are Gm–F–E–Cm–E–F in the verses and C-F-A-B in the chorus. Marker explained the song's bleak lyrics as a mockery of the angsty " wearing your heart on your sleeve thing" prevalent in mid-1990s

songs, as well as a self-deprecating reference to Garbage's own dark lyrics. Manson explained that the song was "a dig at ourselves because we like records that don't make us feel very happy, and at this so-called 'alternative' scene of 'we're so weird and more wonderful than everybody else'". Vig added that "'Only Happy When It Rains' was "about what happened with

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

and the angst-filled thing which has dominated the American

scene... With us there's self-deprecation, we have to poke fun at ourselves because we're so incredibly obsessive about the songs and the lyrics, which makes us filled with self-loathing, hurhur." Garbage said they referenced both the title of The Jesus and Mary Chain song " Happy When It Rains" (1987) and Manson's own Scottish psyche. When "Only Happy When It Rains" was

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

in 2007 for Garbage's greatest hits album '' Absolute Garbage'', it had to be reverse engineered from a damaged

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "wikt:back ...

DAT as the analog masters for the debut album had been lost. This resulted in some discernible differences in the remaster. The original master tapes were found a few years later. In 2015, an early demo mix of "Only Happy When It Rains" was included as a previously unreleased bonus track on ''Garbage (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)''.

Release

Initially,

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival ...

had scheduled "

" to be the lead single for the UK release of the debut album ''Garbage'', matching the single release strategy internationally. At last minute, it was decided to release "Only Happy When It Rains" as a single ahead of the album, with "Queer" rescheduled to later in 1995. "Only Happy When It Rains" was quickly picked up by radio, and was C-listed by Radio One, and reached number 47 on the airplay chart. Mushroom issued the single on a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl, CD and cassette on September 18, 1995. All formats were backed with two new tracks recorded specifically for the single: "Girl Don't Come" and "Sleep". Continuing their theme of collectible 7-inch vinyl releases, which had seen "

Vow A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise that is solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

" packaged in an aluminum sleeve and " Subhuman" in black rubber, Mushroom packaged the 7-inch format for "Only Happy When It Rains" in a "Prismaboard" (rain-effect) die-cut card sleeve, with a

hologram Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interf ...

logo sticker on the inner jacket. The B-side of the vinyl was pressed with a double-groove, so that either "Girl Don't Come" or "Sleep" played depending on where the

stylus A stylus is a writing utensil or tool for scribing or marking into softer materials. Different styluses were used to write in cuneiform by pressing into wet clay, and to scribe or carve into a wax tablet. Very hard styluses are also used to En ...

landed; the songs were shorter on the vinyl than they were on the CD or cassette formats to accommodate both on one side of the disc. This pressing was limited to 5,000 copies. The original design for the vinyl was for the sleeve to be made from wood, or corrugated cardboard, with wing-nuts in each corner like a flower-press. The nuts were meant to be unscrewed to find the vinyl disc inside - between ten layers of different types of cardboard.

Reception

Upon both the release of ''Garbage'' and of 'Only Happy When It Rains' as a single, the song received a positive reception from

music journalists Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. Larry Flick from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described it as "solid all the way through", praising the overall production. Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' named it Pick of the Week, adding, "When Shirley Manson requests "''pour your misery down on me''", it's hard to say no. Rarely has sadism sounded as inviting as it does on Garbage's high-energy, poppy masochistic anthem." He noted Manson's "alluring vocals" and stated that "giving the song its cool rock star vibe is the strong guitar solo in the middle. A winning song, 'Only Happy When It Rains' validates the accolades being heaped upon the group." Caroline Sullivan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described it as "perversely pretty". Patrick Brennan of ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' declared it his Single of the Fortnight, writing, "It's hugely refreshing to come across a song which celebrates all those sad moments of loneliness that can be so life affirming". Another ''Hot Press'' editor, Jackie Hinden felt that 'Only Happy When It Rains' was "like a Pretenders for the nineties". A reviewer for ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' wrote, "A truly inspired single... Garbage combine a slightly sinister acidic approach with an infectious melodic atmosphere and an alternative punch. The result is awesome". Alastair Mabbot, writing for '' The List'', described the song as "'' Spitting Images notion of alternative rock". A reviewer for ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' stated that "Shirley Manson's vocals veer between fuzzy darkness, grinding catchy and crystal brilliance." The magazine's Leo Finlay compared the song to Mazzy Star, and that it "employs the current hip status of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

to devastating effect". ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote that tunes like 'Only Happy When It Rains' "could, and maybe should, be hits." In reviews for the debut album, Robert Yates of '' Q'' wrote that there was "a nice self-deflating

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

touch to he song. '' Spin''s Eric Weissard said the song was the only one he hated in Garbage's debut album, but reacted positively to the intro where "backward guitars produce a chiming solo." At the end of 1995, ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' rated 'Only Happy When It Rains' the 49th best Song of the Year, writing up: "In a year of sunny

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

, reservoir supplies of ironic bubblegum pop-noir were dangerously low. This burst of mocking miserablism helped". The track has been described as Garbage's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

, and in 2000 was ranked as 69th in a list of 100 Greatest Pop Songs Of All Time jointly compiled by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' and

Commercial performance

After its first week on-sale, "Only Happy When It Rains" debuted and peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 29. At the end of the month, Garbage made their debut live appearance to perform the single on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', providing momentum for the album ''Garbage'' to debut on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

at number 12. In United States, after multiple stations began playlisting "Only Happy When It Rains" from mid-December 1995, Almo Sounds officially serviced the track to alternative radio at the start of January 1996. By the end of its first week, "Only Happy" had been added by thirty-five stations, in addition to the nine who jumped the release date. The track gained another eighteen stations the following week, and increased its playcount by almost 500 plays and a week later debuted on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. On February 20, Almo Sounds issued a commercial single for "Only Happy" in two formats, CD maxi and

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single (music), single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980 in music, 1 ...

, backed with "Girl Don't Come" and "Sleep" as b-sides. On March 26, Almo serviced a new single remix of "Only Happy When It Rains" (which muted the synths) to Top 40 radio. Thirteen stations initially playlisted the single remix, rising to fifty by the end of the following month. Almo's marketing partner, Geffen, was at this point committed to working "Only Happy When It Rains" up to be a sizable hit. Garbage made their US TV debut performing "Only Happy When It Rains" on '' Saturday Night Special'' on April 27 as the song peaked at number 54 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. In mid-May, "Only Happy When It Rains" peaked at number 16 on the alternative charts and at number 55 on the

, eventually spending twenty weeks on the chart. Garbage rounded out the promotional work for the track by performing "Only Happy When It Rains" at the

1996 MTV Movie Awards The 1996 MTV Movie Awards was hosted by Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo. Performers * Whitney Houston — " Why Does It Hurt So Bad" * Garbage — " Only Happy When It Rains" * Roberta Flack and Fugees — " Killing Me Softly" * Adam Sandler ...

on June 8. In Australia and New Zealand, Garbage's Australasian record label,

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, released "Only Happy When It Rains" on May 27, 1996 as the follow-up to " Stupid Girl". The single was issued on CD single and cassette, backed with "Driving Lesson" and a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

remix of album track "Dog New Tricks", both of which had been recorded by the band earlier in the year. On June 16, 1996, "Only Happy When It Rains" debuted on the ARIA singles chart and spent nine weeks in the top 100, peaking at number 80. A month later, the song debuted at number 42 on the New Zealand singles chart, peaking the following week at 38th. Across Europe, Mushroom Records international distributor BMG released "Only Happy When It Rains" in two formats, a two-track card sleeve CD single with "Dog New Tricks", or a four-track maxi single with "Dog New Tricks", a remix of "Stupid Girl" by Red Snapper and a remix of "Queer" by Danny Saber. Following the band's performance at the Lowlands Festival, the single was a success in the Netherlands, peaking at number 34 on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

and number 36 on the Single Top 100. "Only Happy When It Rains" began to be playlisted by a number of radio stations across the continent, eventually reaching number eight on the European alternative rock chart by September 1996.

Music video

The music video for "Only Happy When It Rains" was filmed in mid-January 1996 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

by American 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

playlisted it immediately as a " Buzz clip", thus guaranteeing it heavy rotation. The video begins with a short

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Ancient Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier st ...

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 Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...

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 Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

in 2013.

Remixes and samples

Covers

As one of Garbage's signature songs, "Only Happy When It Rains" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by a number of artists over the years. In 2000, comedic musician Richard Cheese performed a lounge arrangement of the song on his album '' Lounge Against the Machine''. In 2006,

The Pretenders The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...

played the song with Shirley Manson at VH1 Decades Rock Live!. In 2007,

covered the song during an acoustic performance at

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's Bridge School Benefit show. In 2010, The I.M.F.s ( Bernard Fowler, Stevie Salas, T. M. Stevens and Dave Abbruzzese) played a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

version of the song at Rockpalast. Actress Katerina Graham recorded a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

cover for use in '' The Vampire Diaries'' second season episode "The Sacrifice". In 2017, New Years Day and Lzzy Hale from Halestorm covered the song at Alternative Press Music Awards. New Years Day later included a studio version of the cover featuring Hale on their 2018 EP ''Diary of a Creep''. In 2009, "Only Happy When It Rains" was featured as a playable song in the videogame '' Guitar Hero 5''. By playing the song in "Career Mode", a virtual

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

of Shirley Manson could be unlocked for use elsewhere within the game.

Media

"Only Happy When It Rains" appeared in the ''Homicide: Life On The Street'' episode "White Lies" and in a 1999 episode of ''

'' entitled "Terms of Endearment". The song was going to appear in the 1997 movie '' Nightwatch'' (along with " Supervixen"), but they got replaced by different songs in the final cut. "Only Happy When It Rains" also appeared in the 2019 movie '' Captain Marvel''. In 2021, it appeared in season 1 of the show ''Cruel Summer''.

Track listings

* UK 7-inch single # "Only Happy When It Rains" – 3:58 # "Girl Don't Come" – 2:03 # "Sleep" – 1:41 * UK CD and cassette single # "Only Happy When It Rains" – 3:58 # "Girl Don't Come" – 2:33 # "Sleep" – 2:11 * US CD and cassette # "Only Happy When It Rains" - 3:58 # "Girl Don't Come" - 2:33 # "Sleep" - 2:11 * Australian CD and cassette single # "Only Happy When It Rains" - 3:58 # "Driving Lesson" - 3:47 # "Dog New Tricks" (The Pal Mix) - 4:05 * European CD maxi # "Only Happy When It Rains" - 3:58 # "Dog New Tricks" (The Pal mix) - 4:03 # "Stupid Girl" (Red Snapper mix) - 7:37 # "Queer" (Danny Saber mix) - 5:40 * European CD single # "Only Happy When It Rains" - 3:58 # "Dog New Tricks" (The Pal mix) - 4:03

Personnel

Garbage * Shirley Manson –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Steve Marker – guitars,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, samples and loops *Duke Erikson – guitars, keyboards, six-string and fuzz bass *Butch Vig –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, loops, noise and efx Additional musicians *Mike Kashou -

*Pauli Ryan - additional

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Production * Recorded & produced by Garbage *Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, USA *Second

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

: Mike Zirkel * Mastered: Howie Weinberg ( Masterdisk) * Editing & post production: Scott Hull (Masterdisk)

Charts

Release history

References

External links

*
"Only Happy When It Rains" lyrics
{{Authority control 1995 singles 1995 songs Garbage (band) songs Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Song recordings produced by Butch Vig Songs written by Shirley Manson Songs written by Duke Erikson Songs written by Steve Marker Songs written by Butch Vig Satirical songs