"You Look So Fine" is a single released in 1999, and was the final single taken from Garbage's second album Version 2.0, where it was also the closing track. "You Look So Fine" closed either the main set or encore at every headlining show Garbage performed on the two-year-long Version 2.0 World Tour.
The release of the single was promoted by a torch song version arranged by Fun Lovin' Criminals, on which singer Shirley Manson performed a new vocal. The new version was part of a remix trade between both bands, where Garbage remixed Fun Lovin' Criminals single "Korean Bodega" in reciprocation.
In 2007, "You Look So Fine" was remastered and included on Garbage's greatest hits album Absolute Garbage, and was included on their 2022 greatest hits album Anthology.
Song profile
"You Look So Fine" was written, recorded and mixed at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin towards the end of their year-long sessions for Version 2.0. The track began as a basic vocal/acoustic guitar/piano composition. Butch Vig described the song as his favourite track from Version 2.0 citing its "Carpenters covers Sonic Youth quality"
When Garbage had printed what they presumed was the final mix of the song, Manson had the idea to add an orchestral outro section to the song after returning to the studio from a screening of the movie Titanic. "I was kind of rattled because I thought the movie was shit... I came back to the studio [as the boys were working on "You Look So Fine"] and I was all grumpy about it." Manson felt that even though it was very late at night, and the rest of the band were tired, that they instinctively knew that her suggestion was a good idea.
Chrysalis Records issued "Korean Bodega" as a single across Europe on April 26, 1999. The Garbage version (titled "Aero Mexicana remix") featured on the A-side to one CD single and on the cassette formats. A week later, "Korean Bodega" debuted as the band's second biggest hit at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. All of the press advertising for the release of "Korean Bodega" heavily mentioned Garbage's remix and the fact that Shirley Manson had contributed vocals to the new version. Synching both releases up, a database mail-out to Fun Lovin' Criminals fans was sent to promote "You Look So Fine", while a mail out for "Korean Bodega" was sent to Garbage fans. "Korean Bodega" spent three weeks on the UK charts.
Single release
Both the original and Fun Lovin' Criminals versions of "You Look So Fine" were serviced to radio in the United Kingdom and Ireland at the beginning of May 1999. The final single from the album would also serve to end the album promotion in the United Kingdom after launching the release of Version 2.0 Special Live Edition, a limited edition repackage with a bonus disc of four tracks recorded live at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and would support the announcement of Garbage's last UK date on the Version 2.0 tour. "You Look So Fine" was A-listed at XFM, GLR and Capital, B-listed at Radio One, C-listed at Virgin and playlisted by a further 56 regional radio stations becoming the #6 Most Added song at radio by the middle of the month. The same week, the band's debut album Garbage shot back into the top 50 of the UK Album Chart peaking at #44 (its highest position since the previous August). At the start of June, Garbage followed up the chart position of "You Look So Fine" by performing the song on both Top of The Pops and TFI Friday. and subsequently climbed to #27 the following week. "You Look So Fine" ultimately spent four weeks on the UK Singles Chart, leaving the top seventy-five at the end of June. Ouï FM supported the release of the single by broadcasting live recordings of the band performing at Roskilde Festival. To mark the certification, RCA issue both "You Look So Fine" and "Temptation Waits" to Spanish radio stations. "You Look So Fine" peaks at #15 on the Spanish singles chart, while also reaching #26 on the airplay chart. Version 2.0 had re-entered the ARIA Album Chart top ten a month earlier, a year and a half after its original release, thanks to the success of earlier single "When I Grow Up" The single was issued as a maxi-CD backed with "Get Busy with the Fizzy" and both mixes of the title track. "You Look So Fine" just failed to make the Australian ARIA Top 100 Singles chart, peaking at #101. Originally, actor Brad Pitt was cast as the role of the rescued man, but dropped out the night before filming.
With a concept for the video to visually look like a "mixture of a piece by Ingmar Bergman and a Samurai warrior movie", the director created a rock pool and white sand dune landscape dominated by a large pair of eyes in the background sky. Throughout the video, an effect similar to bioluminescent insects flying at night is also employed. The establishing shot is of the landscape, which fades to reveal Manson tending to an unconscious man who has washed up on the shore. While she tends to him, the male members of Garbage are seen lurking in silhouette in the background, while she sees her own reflection acting independently of her at the man's other side. After a while, the man regains consciousness as the sky changes to pink and the image onscreen changes to soft focus, before fading out as Manson sings the final lyrics.
The "You Look So Fine" video was first commercially released on All About Garbage, a covermounted CD-ROM issued by Italian magazine Tribe in 1999. A remastered version of the music video was included on Garbage's 2007 greatest hits DVD Absolute Garbage
Remixes and alternate versions
{| class="wikitable"
!align="center"|Track title
!align="center"|Length
!align="center"|Remixer/Producer
!align="center"|Commercial release
|-
|align="left" rowspan="1"|"You Look So Fine" (radio edit)
|align="left" rowspan="1"|3:50
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Garbage
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Yes
|-
|align="left" rowspan="1"|"You Look So Fine" (Deep Drama mix (Radio edit))
|align="left" rowspan="1"|3:58
|align="left" rowspan="3"|Eric Kupper
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Yes
|-
|align="left" rowspan="1"|"You Look So Fine" (Deep Drama Club mix)
|align="left" rowspan="1"|8:39
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Yes
|-
|align="left" rowspan="1"|"You Look So Fine" (Deep Drama dub)
|align="left" rowspan="1"|7:57
|align="left" rowspan="1"|No
|-
|align="left" rowspan="1"|"You Look So Fine" (Fun Lovin' Criminals version)
|align="left" rowspan="1"|3:36
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Fun Lovin' Criminals
|align="left" rowspan="1"|Yes
|}
In 2002, British electronica group West London Deep sampled Manson's vocal from "You Look So Fine" on their white label record "You're Taking Me Over". Manson later refused clearance for the sample and the song's commercial release was canceled and withdrawn after remixes by Inner City, Problem Kids and Desyn Masiello & Leon Roberts had been circulated promotionally. West London Deep reworked the track without Manson's vocal and retitled it "Gonna Make You My Lover".
In 2007, Fun Lovin' Criminals' remix was remastered and included on the Absolute Garbage bonus disc Garbage Mixes.
|align="center"|101
|-
| align="left"|Europe Top 50 Airplay (Music & Media)
| align="center"|37
|-
| align="left"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)
|align="center"|13
|-
| Ireland Airplay (IRMA)
|align="center"|15
|-
|align="left"|Spain Top 40 Airplay (AFYVE)
|align="center"|16
|-
|align="left"|UK Singles (CIN)
|align="center"|19
|-
|align="left"|UK Indie Singles (CIN)
|align="center"|3
|}
References
External links
- Garbage official website
- "You Look So Fine" music video
- "You Look So Fine" lyrics
- "You Look So Fine" release discography