Synopsis

Garbage perform in a bleak, cluttered warehouse while Shirley Manson sings directly to the camera in a series of striking, theatrical settings. The male band members smash records, videotapes, instruments, and other discarded objects, turning destruction into part of the performance. Manson also appears alone in rundown bathroom stalls, while a group of children in animal costumes plays in a gray field. Near the end, the warehouse imagery and outdoor scenes are intercut, blending the video's playful absurdity with its deliberately gloomy mood.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Los Angeles in mid-January 1996, during the same production period as Garbage's "Stupid Girl" video.

• Almo Sounds reportedly assigned this video a larger budget because the label believed "Only Happy When It Rains" had greater commercial potential than "Stupid Girl."

• MTV added the clip immediately upon its US debut on February 12, 1996, placing it in the network's Buzz Bin rotation. The exposure helped the song move from alternative radio toward Top 40 audiences.

• The video was included on the 1996 home-video release "Garbage Video," issued on VHS and Video CD. That release also contained outtakes from the shoot.

• A remastered version later appeared on the band's 2007 greatest-hits DVD, "Absolute Garbage."