Queer (song) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Upon both the release of Garbage and the release of "Queer" as a single, the song received a positive reception from music journalists. Leo Finlay, in a Music Week article highlighting the campaign for the debut album's release wrote, "'Queer' is eerily reminiscent of Magazine's stranger moments". A reviewer for NME wrote that the single was "an ode to recognising and tolerating those mis-shapen ones among us", and when reviewing the album, their own Shannon O'Connell wrote, "there is a bit of Pat Benatar in back-alley swagger". A reviewer for VOX described "Queer" as "Voice of the Beehive roughing up L7", Jackie Hinden of Hot Press wrote that the song was "a slinky work-out against a restrained work-to-rule industrial backing", and the publication later made it their Single of the Fortnight, describing it as "Almost indecently brilliant. There's an intelligence at work here in the lyrics and in the music which makes "Queer" a unique proposition, and Garbage utterly indispensable". A writer for Melody Maker wrote that "Queer" was "sleek, cultivated perversion... sinister and menacing", while Raw's review described it as "brilliant, Seductive and slow-burning", and the single reviewer for NME considered that Manson's performance "elevates a sing-song shuffle into a lullaby to sexual non-conformity". Kerrang! rated "Queer" as their Single of the Week, stating "an incredible knee-trembling fuck tune... the dirtiest pop tune you'll hear all year. sucked into dark satin sexiness and you'll never want to leave. Gorgeously decadent and utterly fabulous";