Duke Erikson

Douglas Elwin "Duke" Erikson (born January 15, 1951) is an American musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer and record producer, best known as a co-founder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Garbage has sold more than 17 million albums worldwide. Erikson's musical career began in 1974 following the establishment of Spooner with Butch Vig, who he would later join in the bands Fire Town and Garbage. Spooner's debut album, Every Corner Dance, was released in 1982 and was followed by 1984's Wildest Dreams. In 1986, Erikson, together with Vig, formed Fire Town, releasing their debut album In the Heart of the Heart Country in 1987, before releasing their second and final album, The Good Life, in 1989. In 1993, Erikson, Vig and Steve Marker formed Garbage, recruiting Scottish singer Shirley Manson to join the band following an appearance by her band Angelfish on MTV's 120 Minutes. Their debut album was released in 1995 and achieved considerable worldwide success, spawning the successful singles "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When it Rains". They followed this success with their critically acclaimed second album, Version 2.0 in 1998, before writing and recording the theme song for the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough in 1999. Garbage continued to record and tour throughout the early 2000s, releasing their third album, Beautiful Garbage in 2001, and their fourth, Bleed Like Me in 2005 before entering an "indefinite hiatus". They briefly regrouped in 2007 to release the compilation album Absolute Garbage and lead single "Tell Me Where It Hurts". They regrouped in 2010 to begin recording their fifth album, Not Your Kind of People (2012), and subsequently releasing Strange Little Birds (2016), No Gods No Masters (2021) and Let All That We Imagine Be the Light (2025).