Butch Vig

Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, record producer, and songwriter who is the drummer and co-producer of the rock band Garbage. Vig produced for several alternative rock acts of the 1990s, including Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, L7, and Sonic Youth. Notable albums he produced include Nirvana's diamond-selling album Nevermind, L7's Bricks Are Heavy (1992), the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream (1993), and Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown (2009).

A native of Wisconsin, Vig studied at the University of Wisconsin and performed in local bands Spooner and Fire Town. He set up his own recording studio in Madison, Smart Studios, with bandmate Steve Marker. After becoming well known as a producer, he formed and played drums with Garbage, which sold 17 million records over a ten-year period. Vig returned to producing full-time when Garbage went on hiatus in 2005. The band reconvened in 2010 to record material for their fifth album. In 2012, NME ranked Vig the ninth-greatest producer of all time.

Early life Vig was born in Viroqua, Wisconsin, Betty Vig was a music teacher Vig has two siblings, Chris and Lisa. Vig acquired the nickname Butch as a child, due to the severe crew cut his father gave him.

Career Early musical career While a student at the University of Wisconsin, Vig met his eventual Garbage bandmate Steve Marker. Vig contributed several electronic music soundtrack pieces to low-budget films, including one song on Slumber Party Massacre, a Hollywood B-movie. This soundtrack work stirred Vig's interest in the manipulation of sound. Vig joined a number of garage pop bands, including Eclipse, and in 1978 joined Spooner with Duke Erikson, Dave Benton, Jeff Walker and Joel Tappero.

The following year, Vig helped Marker build a home studio in Marker's basement.

In 1984, Vig and Marker founded Smart Studios in Madison, while still performing drums in Spooner at night and driving a taxi cab during the day. When Spooner lost momentum, Vig formed a band called First Person with Marker and Phil Davis and a side project called Fire Town featuring Davis and Erikson. Fire Town quickly became Vig's priority, and after their first album was signed to Atlantic Records. Cobain said in a 1993 MTV interview that "Butch Vig...recorded the album perfectly". The success of Nevermind earned Vig the nickname "Nevermind Man", according to the BBC. Billy Corgan welcomed Vig's elaborate production on the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. This album met with widespread acclaim and strong sales, breaking another indie band into the mainstream. Vig also produced two critically praised Sonic Youth albums, 1992's Dirty and 1994's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.

Vig worked with Jimmy Eat World on their sixth album, Chase This Light, released in October 2007. His first production for an English band was 2008's All or Nothing by the Subways. He also worked with Against Me!, producing their two Sire Records releases, New Wave and White Crosses, as well as working with singer Laura Jane Grace on her solo EP, Heart Burns. Vig produced the eighth studio album by Green Day, 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. Recently, Vig has been partnered in duties by his engineer and mixer Billy Bush, who also worked on Garbage's albums and live tours.

Vig composed and produced the soundtrack for the film The Other Side. In 2009, Vig recorded two new tracks for the long-awaited greatest hits release by the Foo Fighters, most notably the single "Wheels" and ultimately produced their April 2011 follow-up, Wasting Light. In 2010, Vig produced Muse's single "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)", which was featured on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack.

In 2020, Vig produced the soundtrack for the 2021 film Puppy Love, including tracks by Portugal. The Man, LP, Mickey Avalon, Wayne Newton, and others.

Garbage

Vig stated, "Part of the reason why I started Garbage was that by the time I'd done 'Nevermind,' I'd recorded – I swear to God – 1,000 bands that were just guitar-bass-drums. I was reading about all these other records that I was getting excited about – like Public Enemy using a sampler in the studio – and I just decided I wanted to do a bit of a U-turn." Afterwards, they hired Scottish singer Shirley Manson and began composing together. The band then spent two years working on follow-up album, Version 2.0, which topped the charts in the UK upon its 1998 release and the following year was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Version 2.0 went on to match the sales of its predecessor. Garbage followed this up by performing and co-producing the theme song to the nineteenth James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough.

Despite being named one of Rolling Stones Top 10 Albums of the Year, Garbage's 2001 third album, Beautiful Garbage, failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors. Garbage quietly disbanded in late 2003, but regrouped to complete fourth album Bleed Like Me in 2005, peaking at a career-high #4 in the U.S. The band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me announcing an "indefinite hiatus", emphasizing that they had not broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests. In 2006, Vig returned to producing while Manson worked on a solo album (as of yet unreleased). Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007, and released greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. Worldwide, the band have sold over 17 million albums. The band got back together in 2010 and began recording their new album, Not Your Kind of People, which was released internationally on May 14, 2012. This was followed by Strange Little Birds, released on June 10, 2016, and subsequently No Gods No Masters (2021). Their eighth studio album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, was released on May 30, 2025.

The Emperors of Wyoming In 2011, Vig formed an alt-country band called the Emperors of Wyoming with Phil Davis, Frank Anderson and Pete Anderson. They released a self-titled album on September 17, 2012.

5 Billion in Diamonds In 2017, Vig debuted his band 5 Billion in Diamonds. Their self titled debut album was released on August 11, 2017. Their second, Divine Accidents, was released on November 20, 2020.

Personal life Vig is married to Beth Halper, a former DreamWorks A&R executive; they have a daughter, Bo Violet. They live in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Discography

Spooner Every Corner Dance (1982) Wildest Dreams (1985) The Fugitive Dance (1990)

Fire Town In the Heart of the Heart Country (1987) The Good Life (1989)

Garbage Garbage (1995) Version 2.0 (1998) Beautiful Garbage (2001) Bleed Like Me (2005) Not Your Kind of People (2012) Strange Little Birds (2016) No Gods No Masters (2021) Let All That We Imagine Be the Light (2025)

5 Billion in Diamonds 5 Billion in Diamonds (2017) Divine Accidents (2020)

Production career Vig served as the record producer, or co-producer on the following records:

1983: Mecht Mensch – Acceptance EP 1984: Appliances SFB – "SFB" 1984: Killdozer – Intellectuals Are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite 1984: Juvenile Truth - no enemy 1985: The Other Kids – Living in the Mirror 1985: Killdozer – Snake Boy 1985: Spooner - Wildest Dreams 1985: Tar Babies - Respect Your Nightmares 1986: Killdozer – Burl 1987: The Other Kids – Happy Home 1987: Killdozer – Little Baby Buntin' 1987: Laughing Hyenas – Come Down to the Merry Go Round 1988: Die Kreuzen – Century Days 1988: Killdozer – For Ladies Only 1989: Killdozer – Twelve Point Buck 1989: Laughing Hyenas – You Can't Pray a Lie 1989: feedtime – Suction 1990: Urge Overkill – Americruiser 1990: King Snake Roost – Ground into the Dirt 1990: Laughing Hyenas – Life of Crime 1990: The Fluid – Glue 1990: Spooner - The Fugitive Dance 1991: The Fluid – Spot the Loon 1991: Cosmic Psychos – Blokes You Can Trust 1991: The Smashing Pumpkins – Gish 1991: Nirvana – Nevermind 1991: Tad – 8-Way Santa 1991: Young Fresh Fellows – Electric Bird Digest 1991: Die Kreuzen – Cement 1992: Die Kreuzen – Internal 1992: Sonic Youth – Dirty 1992: House of Pain – Shamrocks and Shenanigans 1992: L7 – Bricks Are Heavy 1992: Chainsaw Kittens – Flipped Out in Singapore 1992: Drain – Pick Up Heaven 1993: Crash Vegas – Stone 1993: The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream 1993: Gumball – Real Gone Deal 1994: Sonic Youth – Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star 1994: Helmet – Betty 1994: Freedy Johnston – This Perfect World 1994: Depeche Mode - In Your Room (Zephyr Mix) 1995: Soul Asylum – Let Your Dim Light Shine 1995: Garbage – Garbage 1998: Garbage – Version 2.0 2001: Garbage – Beautiful Garbage 2003: AFI – Sing the Sorrow 2005: Garbage – Bleed Like Me 2007: Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light 2007: Against Me! – New Wave 2008: The Subways – All or Nothing 2008: Laura Jane Grace – Heart Burns 2009: Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown 2009: Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits 2009: AFI - Crash Love 2010: Against Me! – White Crosses 2010: Muse – "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" 2010: Never Shout Never – Harmony 2010: Goo Goo Dolls – Something for the Rest of Us 2011: Foo Fighters – Wasting Light 2012: Garbage – Not Your Kind of People 2013: Sound City Players – Sound City: Real To Reel 2014: Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways 2016: Garbage – Strange Little Birds 2017: Green Day - Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band 2019: Silversun Pickups – Widow's Weeds 2021: Garbage – No Gods No Masters 2022: Silversun Pickups – Physical Thrills 2026: Silversun Pickups – Tenterhooks

Remix work Vig has remixed songs for the following artists: Against Me!, Ash, Beck, The Cult, Depeche Mode, EMF, Fun Lovin' Criminals, House of Pain, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Alanis Morissette, Nine Inch Nails, Michael Penn, M.O.P and U2, as well as his own band Garbage.