Blood For Poppies

"Blood For Poppies" is the lead single from Garbage's fifth studio album, Not Your Kind Of People, released in 2012.

Since their rise to fame in the mid-to-late 1990s, Garbage has remained one of my favorite bands of the era, and like many of my other favorite alternative rock acts who were popular at the time such as Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Hole and The Cranberries, my love for their music also led to major JT40 success. But while most of them (or their lead singers) had #1 hits on my chart by 2007, Garbage never had a #1 hit on my chart... until April 2012.

"Blood For Poppies", the lead single from the band's fifth studio album "Not Your Kind Of People", was released to radio in mid-March 2012, although it was leaked a week ahead of its radio release. Lyrically, the song was inspired by an "abstract dream" lead singer Shirley Manson had after watching a documentary on the opium trade (hence the song's title): "It’s not literal in any sense whatsoever but it’s a song about disorientation and delusion and the human struggle to stay sane in the face of insanity."

A review in Billboard Magazine praised the song for its "mix of crunchy and funky guitars during the verse" and an "infectious, sing-along chorus." Many fans believed it was Garbage's best song since their heyday in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Prior to "Blood For Poppies", Garbage had been one of my chart's most successful acts not to reach the #1 spot. They came close with "Why Do You Love Me" in 2005, which was barely beaten by Jann Arden's "Where No One Knows Me", as well as "Tell Me Where It Hurts" in 2007, losing out to Kelly Clarkson's "Sober".

"Blood For Poppies" debuted at #8 on the week of March 18, 2012, marking the band's highest debut by far, as well as the first top 10 debut since my chart's revival 11 months earlier. Two weeks later, the song became their first to reach #1, helping them break the record for longest wait before an artist's first #1, a record that had been broken by both Within Temptation and the Red Hot Chili Peppers just weeks before.

"Blood For Poppies" is the 150th song to reach #1 on JT40.