"Subhuman" is a 1995 song written, recorded and produced by alternative rock band Garbage, and was originally released as an international b-side on "Vow", Garbage's debut single. That song had earlier been pressed as a limited edition 7" vinyl in the United Kingdom for the purposes of launching the band; when it came to re-releasing "Vow", Mushroom Records felt that "Subhuman" was strong enough to be issued as an A-side to follow up "Vow". A last-minute decision was made to switch the songs. "Vow" was relegated to bonus track on the CD single. "Subhuman" was released as the band's second single exclusively in the United Kingdom, and it gave Garbage their first chart appearance, peaking at #50 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was promoted by a press junket organised by the record label on a boat sailing down London's River Thames, and attracted media attention for the distinctive rubber packaging of the vinyl format. "Subhuman" was also used by the label as an opportunity to massively raise general awareness of Garbage and as an advertising campaign to brand the "G" logo by promoting the single release with plain white flyers, stickers, carrier bags, T-shirts and subway posters emblazoned with the band's "G" logo. "Subhuman" was never intended to be an album cut, and was not included on the standard editions of the band's debut album, Garbage which was released later that year. The single was excluded from the 2007 greatest hits album Absolute Garbage and from the 2012 greatest hits album The Absolute Collection. It was however remastered and included in the CD and streaming editions of the 2022 greatest hits album Anthology. Song background "Subhuman" was written and recorded over the course of 1994 during sessions between band members Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in either Marker's basement recording studio or at their own Smart Studios in Wisconsin university town Madison. The band has kept the story behind the song ambiguous, although Erikson has said that the lyric "burn down all your idols", the first line of the song "pretty much sums it up". The opening noise emerged from Vig accidentally wiring the mixing console to the air conditioner. First single Midway through the recording sessions for the band's debut album, the band's manager, Shannon O'Shea, secured the group an inclusion on Volume, a compilation album and magazine title. However, the deadline given