FEATURE:
A Buyer's Guide
Part Ninety-Six: Garbage
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WHEREAS most artists require…
at least eight studio albums to gain entry into A Buyer’s Guide, I am making an exception for Garbage. Such an important band and significant one to me, the British-American group are led by the incredible and peerless Shirley Manson. Their most-recent album, No Gods No Masters, was released last year. It is among their best work. Before getting to the albums you need to own from them, an underrated one and their most recent album, here is some biography about the iconic Garbage:
“Headed by iconic frontwoman Shirley Manson, alternative quartet Garbage debuted in the '90s with a guitar-based, electronic-washed sound that built upon the sonic landscapes of My Bloody Valentine, Curve, and Sonic Youth, adding a distinct sense of accessible pop songcraft that would help push them beyond cult fandom into the international sphere through multi-platinum releases Garbage (1995) and the Grammy-nominated Version 2.0 (1998). After a brief stylistic shift on the pop-influenced Beautiful Garbage in 2001, the band hit a chart peak with 2005's no-frills Bleed Like Me. Despite an extended hiatus that threatened to end the band, they returned in the 2010s, settling into established veteran roles with the self-released, rock-focused efforts Not Your Kind of People (2012) and Strange Little Birds (2016). In 2021, they kicked off another decade together with their seventh set, No Gods No Masters.
Garbage was the brainchild of producers Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker. A native of Viroqua, Wisconsin, Vig learned to play piano as a child and drums as a teenager. After leaving college, he met future bandmate Erikson in the band Spooner. One of that band's fans turned out to be Marker, who approached the group and remained in touch over the years. While each one went on to pursue their own careers -- Vig became an in-demand producer, best known for helming Nirvana's breakthrough, Nevermind -- they wouldn't reunite until 1993, when they officially formed Garbage.
In search of a lead singer, the trio caught wind of Scottish vocalist Shirley Manson. Influenced by pioneering female rock vocalists Siouxsie Sioux, Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, and Debbie Harry, Manson kicked off her music career at a young age, joining rock band Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie while just a teenager, playing keyboards and singing backing vocals from 1984 until the band's breakup in 1993. Along with three former MacKenzie bandmates, Manson formed alt-rock foursome Angelfish, which released a single, eponymous album in 1994. Back in the U.S., Marker saw a video for Angelfish's single "Suffocate Me." He contacted Manson and, after a couple auditions, she formally joined Garbage as their lead singer in August 1994.
Late that year and into early 1995, Garbage holed up in their Wisconsin studio to record their debut album. That eponymous first effort arrived in August on Almo Sounds. After receiving support from radio and MTV, the album began to climb the charts toward the end of 1995, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard 200. By the summer of 1996, Garbage had gone gold in the United States, and shortly afterward it achieved platinum status, supported by radio hits "Queer," "Only Happy When It Rains," and "Stupid Girl." Garbage was eventually certified multi-platinum and nominated for a pair of Grammy Awards in 1997. The band closed the era with a standout inclusion on the Romeo + Juliet film soundtrack, "#1 Crush," which topped the Billboard alternative chart in early 1997.
That summer, Garbage began work on their second album. The record, Version 2.0, was released in May 1998. Topping the U.K. chart and peaking at number 13 in the U.S., Version 2.0 produced six singles, three of which ("Push It," "I Think I'm Paranoid," and "When I Grow Up") were U.K. top ten hits. In the midst of an international headlining tour, Garbage received a pair of Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the tail-end of the album cycle, they contributed another hit song to a movie soundtrack, this time for the 19th James Bond flick, The World Is Not Enough.
For their third album, Beautiful Garbage, the band veered in a new direction, incorporating the sounds of hip-hop, R&B, and early-'60s girl groups. The first single, "Androgyny," became a moderate radio hit, but momentum stalled due to decreased promotion following 9/11. Three additional singles, including the electronic-pop "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)," kept the band on international charts into 2002. They promptly returned to the studio for a follow-up, but health issues and rising tension marred the recording process. The resulting album, Bleed Like Me, arrived in 2005 on A&E/Geffen. Their first Top Five showing on the Billboard 200, the straightforward rock set featured production by John King (Dust Brothers) and additional drumming from Dave Grohl. "Why Do You Love Me" became their highest-charting U.S. single since 1998's "Special," and subsequent selections "Sex Is Not the Enemy" and "Run Baby Run" charted internationally. Despite being a return to form after Beautiful Garbage, Bleed Like Me hit a terminal road block when the supporting tour was canceled and the band announced it was going on an indefinite hiatus. During this time, Vig busied himself with various production projects, including nabbing a Grammy for Green Day's 2009 album 21st Century Breakdown. Also otherwise engaged, Manson recorded solo material and made her acting debut on the Fox television show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. A greatest-hits set, Absolute Garbage, kept fans hopeful for an eventual return, which wouldn't happen until 2012.
After years of studio work, Garbage released their fifth album, Not Your Kind of People, in 2012. The first album of all-new material since 2005's Bleed Like Me, Not Your Kind of People was also their first independent release. Self-released on their own Stunvolume label, it included the lead single "Blood for Poppies" and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200. An international tour kept them on the road until 2013. That year, Garbage teamed with Screaming Females for the Record Store Day single "Because the Night." In 2014, they commemorated Record Store Day with the Brody Dalle-assisted "Girls Talk" b/w "Time Will Destroy Everything." The stand-alone single "The Chemicals" was released for 2015's Record Store Day and featured a guest appearance from Silversun Pickups' Brian Aubert. A deluxe double-disc remaster of Garbage arrived at the end of the year, accompanied by the 20 Years Queer tour.
Garbage's sixth album, Strange Little Birds, was issued in 2016. Again self-released, it was a back-to-basics record, recorded in Vig's basement. Their least-produced album to date, it featured little of the obsessive studio tinkering that had characterized their earlier work, showcased by the raw, soulful single "Empty." Strange Little Birds topped the U.S. Independent, Top Alternative, and Top Rock charts, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard 200.
For the 20th anniversary of Garbage's sophomore effort, Version 2.0 in 2018, the band embarked on a tour and released a deluxe reissue that collected B-sides and rarities from the era. Their seventh studio album, No Gods No Masters, arrived in 2021, with its placement in their discography becoming a major theme for the record; they used the lens of the seven sins, sorrows, and virtues to explore chaos and injustice around the world”.
To celebrate the tremendous Garbage, below are my suggestions with regards their albums that you need to own. Such a strong and varied back catalogue, it has been tough selecting the best four from their seven studio albums. Let’s hope that the band keep on releasing great music for years to come. They are most definitely…
ONE of my favourite bands.
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The Four Essential Albums
Garbage
Release Date: 15th August, 1995
Label: Almo
Producers: Garbage
Standout Tracks: Supervixen/Only Happy When It Rains/Stupid Girl
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/garbage/garbage/lp-x2
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6J6VzS5nLEzIdAynrYzqfk?si=F4WnSuJtRdeig1C2Y1Guyg
Review:
“Although they formed in Wisconsin and three-quarters of their line-up is American, coverage of Garbage around their MTV Award-winning debut album – best breakthrough artist, 1996 – was dominated by feisty Scottish front-gal Shirley Manson.
Manson had been a member of Bathgate-based 80s alt-rockers Goodbye Mr MacKenzie, and was also involved in the band’s splinter group, Angelfish. The latter’s 1993 single, Suffocate Me, attracted the attention of American producer Steve Marker, who was after a vocalist to front his new band. The rest, as ‘they’ so often say, is history – although Garbage’s career hasn’t since hit the heights it did with this eponymous effort, which has to date shifted over four million copies.
From second album, the terribly titled Version 2.0, onwards, Garbage’s star has dimmed. A disbanding in 2003 and subsequent reformation for 2005’s Bleed Like Me rekindled interest; but the record itself, their fourth overall, was a critical flop. Newcomers are therefore advised to begin with this debut, and be done with it unless particularly taken by what is, today, some pretty formulaic, albeit arena-sized, pop-rock, lent an edge purely because of the paralysing presence of Manson.
The vocalist holds court from the outset, opener Supervixen painting a picture of a dominatrix-style paramour who’s perfectly aware of their grip on their significant other. “Bow down to me,” comes her instruction, and it’s not just the suggested subject of her attention that obeys – the world, for a year or so, fell at the feet of an opinionated female artist who talked the column-filling talk without missing a beat. Queer is similarly pitched, Manson the antagonist ready to “strip away your hard veneer”. She was both alluring and wholly intimidating, a snarl in her voice but equally capable of a purr to melt away any resistance.
Garbage were as interested in their visual representation as their sound on record, so videos became vitally important. This album was followed by Garbage Video, collecting five official promos for Queer, Vow, Only Happy When It Rains, Stupid Girl and the set-closing Milk, a trip hop-indebted number that’d be remixed by Tricky. Although it expresses weakness, vocally, there’s a paradoxical aspect to the lyrics: she cries, but her tears are power, bringing “you home”. So even at her most vulnerable, Manson maintains her controlling condition” – BBC
Choice Cut: Queer
Version 2.0
Release Date: 11th May, 1998
Labels: Mushroom/Almo (North America)
Producers: Garbage
Standout Tracks: When I Grow Up/Push It/The Trick Is to Keep Breathing
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/garbage/version-2-0-remastered
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0vQQr2bJVVd6vqKprAIhum?si=_SNtz1rnRoqc4sG4XVJBXA
Review:
“Unveiling the new model of a machine that made its debut three years prior, alternative rock outfit Garbage polished the raw grind of their hazy first album with the sparkling digital sheen of 1998 sophomore effort Version 2.0. Emerging from the eerie trip-hop and bleak grunge of the critically acclaimed, multi-platinum Garbage, the quartet expanded their vision, going into overdrive with a futuristic sound that blended their inspirations both classic (the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Pretenders) and contemporary (Björk, Portishead, and the Prodigy). While Garbage retained the sleaze and effortless cool of their debut -- hinted on early tracks "As Heaven Is Wide" and "A Stroke of Luck" -- they infused Version 2.0 with deeper electronic layering, improved hooks, and an intimate lyrical focus courtesy of iconic vocalist Shirley Manson, who seized her place as the face and voice of the band with authority and confidence. On the propulsive "When I Grow Up" and the bittersweet "Special," Garbage took cues from '60s girl groups with "sha-la-la"s and stacked vocal harmonies, grounding them with a delivery inspired by Chrissie Hynde. Elsewhere, the hard techno edges of Curve and Björk cut through the frustrated "Dumb" and the lusty "Sleep Together," while Depeche Mode's Wild West years received tribute on the stomping "Wicked Ways." Beyond the blistering hit singles "I Think I'm Paranoid" and "Push It," Version 2.0 is also home to Garbage's most tender and heartbreaking moments, from the pensive "Medication" to the trip-hop-indebted "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" and "You Look So Fine." Balanced and taut, Version 2.0 is a greatest-hits collection packaged as a regular album, not only a peak in Garbage's catalog, but one of the definitive releases of the late '90s” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: I Think I’m Paranoid
Beautiful Garbage
Release Date: 1st October, 2001
Labels: Mushroom/Interscope (North America)
Producers: Garbage
Standout Tracks: Shut Your Mouth/Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)/Breaking Up the Girl
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/garbage/beautiful-garbage/lp-plus-x2
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4qm3Qamjfbv5sgw2qDSrup?si=boIFATyXRfahzVeALW0aTg
Review:
“Funny what a difference a few years make. Back in 1995, Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson was pop’s potent new female voice, and the band, despite the membership of Nirvana producer Butch Vig, created an electro-rock sound—alt-metal with so much sheen that models could walk down runways to it—that was miles removed from grunge. Now, in the era of Christina and Britney, Garbage face two challenges: to make Manson seem like something other than Spears’ bitter old sister and to keep evolving.
In both regards, the band’s third album, beautifulgarbage, succeeds in modest ways. Manson still revels in the aggressive bite of previous Garbage records, and the band backs it up with throbbing tracks like ”Till the Day I Die” and ”Shut Your Mouth.” But she also reveals more tender aspects, singing softer and sweeter on ”Cup of Coffee,” a breakup song with heartfelt detail, and on the subdued ”So Like a Rose,” where she comes off like a dissolute Dido.
Garbage’s experiments with sonic expansion yield more mixed results. They thaw their sound by adding elements of trip-hop, which works for ”Cup of Coffee” and the first single, ”Androgyny,” in which Manson advocates switching sexual orientation as a cure for personal malaise. But on a record that’s more self-consciously varied than 1998’s Version 2.0, other attempts are gimmicky and less successful, like the girl-group opulence of the cloying ”Can’t Cry These Tears” and the dated, ’80s-new-wave bounce of ”Parade.” (Granted, the lyrics of the latter—”So let’s pray for something/To feel good in the morning”—take on a new relevance now.) If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were listening to a compilation, not a band album. Still, there’s just enough to salvage from beautifulgarbage. B” – Entertainment Weekly
Choice Cut: Androgyny
Strange Little Birds
Release Date: 10th June, 2016
Label: Stunvolume
Producers: Garbage/Steve Marker/Billy Bush
Standout Tracks: Blackout/Magnetized/So We Can Stay Alive
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1012760&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0EBQyjl6kq9iPYMWM7eLWN?si=EQRDZ9rNRXmSJU5gKZlv3w
Review:
“Vocalist Shirley Manson says Garbage’s sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds, is “less fussed over” than any of the quartet’s records to date. This isn’t a code word for sloppy—that would never fly with the band members’ production and mixing backgrounds—but her assessment does describe the record’s airy arrangements and light sonic touches. Unlike 2012’s Not Your Kind Of People, which was all sharp angles and a marbled sheen, Strange Little Birds is atmospheric and meditative.
Minimalist ’90s electro inspires the languid “If I Lost You,” a deeply romantic song with flickering funk blips and oscillating effects which resemble drags on a cigarette. “Night Drive Loneliness” drips with intermingled seduction and regret, which fits its spy movie-theme vibe. The cobweb-coated, smoldering “Even Though Our Love Is Doomed,” meanwhile, boils over into a grinding, droning denouement where Manson repeats the song’s title with increasing agony. And “Teaching Little Fingers To Play” is soft-glow synthpop with a blue-black gothic tint.
Strange Little Birds isn’t all downtempo or dirge-like, though. “Blackout” sounds like an outtake from The Cure circa Pornography, between its rumbling bass and Manson’s creepy-witch singing. Highlight “Empty” is a compact slice of jagged electro-rock, while both “Magnetized” and “We Never Tell” boast bustling electronic programming, slashing guitars, and soaring vocals. Strange Little Birds’ closest sonic kin within Garbage’s catalog is 1998’s Version 2.0, another album whose aggressive songs also have room to breathe.
Most notably, however, the album gives Manson room to stretch out and draw power from vulnerability as well as ferocity. Her voice is at the front of the mix, unsullied by distorting effects, which leads to striking performances. Despite its tender declarations, “If I Lost You” has uncertain, unsettled undertones, while the ominous opener “Sometimes” explores emotional polarity—forgiveness vs. destruction, jealousy vs. insecurity—and the strength that’s often needed for resiliency.
Garbage’s sound has always been futuristic—it’s what’s helped the band endure and stay relevant. But 20-plus years after forming, each band member is still fired up to mine new sounds and approaches for inspiration. That willingness to be uncomfortable and look beneath the surface makes Strange Little Birds a rousing success” – The A.V. Club
Choice Cut: Empty
The Underrated Gem
Bleed Like Me
Release Date: 11th April, 2005
Label: Geffen
Producers: Garbage/John King
Standout Tracks: Run Baby Run/Bleed Like Me/Sex Is Not the Enemy
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=26107&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6EtLmXBiSjkRmMTttJFNo2?si=L-RLYg_fT1OiGkf0G5KIDw
Review:
“After losing themselves under the weight of second hand identities on their last album, Garbage have spent four years finding their way back to the grungy guitars, girl-group melodies and adolescent angst that made them famous. But Shirley Manson and her misunderstood-bad-girl persona remain unscathed. Falling somewhere between boy-baiting Madonna and the Boy's-Own style of Chrissie Hynde, she entices and discards with equal disdain. "I'm no Barbie doll, I'm not your baby girl," she sings in Why Do You Love Me, like a bra-burning Ronnie Spector. Yet she bemoans the feminist cause on the campaigning Sex Is Not the Enemy, in which she advocates free love through a loudspeaker yet vocally sounds at her most weak. Boys Wanna Fight equates world politics with a Saturday night punch-up - which might be merely a simplification, if Manson didn't sound like a stocking-wearing schoolmarm glorying in the masculinity of the fight. She is equally voyeuristic on Bleed Like Me, coldly observing self-imposed starvation, self-harming and sexual confusion. However, while Manson's changeling vocals are always worth listening to, Garbage's songs often aren't” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Why Do You Love Me
The Latest Album
No Gods No Masters
Release Date: 11th June, 2021
Labels: Stunvolume/Infectious Music
Producers: Garbage/Billy Bush
Standout Tracks: The Men Who Rule the World/The Creeps/Wolves
Buy: https://store.hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/no-gods-no-masters-neon-green-vinyl
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0Pr4iEMou8CPCeeN53DxGP?si=vnHZE39pSwWznLdLT_UAwA
Review:
“Bona-fide grunge goddess Shirley Manson and her group of accomplished Wisconsinites are back with their seventh studio album, ‘No Gods No Masters’, unabatedly plunging into political territories not yet traversed by the band in previous years.
Greed is excoriated in ‘The Men Who Rule The World’, as the album's dynamic opening sounds are punctuated by slot machines and hyper-techno samples. Lyrics are peppered with tales allegorising The #MeToo movement, as Manson bites "The king is in the counting house / He’s the chairman of the board / The women who crowd the courtrooms are accused of being whores" then proceeds to demand an end to climate change. For a track with such technical and lyrical dexterity to be delegated as the album opener puts the remaining tracks on an anticipatory pedestal; one that refuses to falter.
‘Waiting For God’ show’s Garbage at their peak vulnerability, possessing elements of Nick Cave’s hyper-literacy and transcendental broodings, whilst maintaining a solid grounding in today’s socio-political realities, as Manson cracks "Smiling at fireworks that light all our skies up / while Black boys get shot in the back". Through this melancholia, Garbage signal a protest of cataclysmic, unchecked racism in its most beastly guise. Draped in industrial synth and driven by Manson’s soul-stirring vocals, ‘Waiting For God’ is the record’s defining track, and signposts the album's proclivity towards darker textures in its second half.
Enter the pulsating ‘A Woman Destroyed’ as Manson delivers a shrill stiletto jab to The Man, reeling "I guess I will be taking my revenge". It would not lay amiss on the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, jostling with themes of sexual violence and fear amidst a backdrop of doom-laded bell-tolls and synths. In contrast, The eponymous ‘No Gods No Masters’ is the most radio friendly of the cohort, driven by its dynamic chorus hook, yet still rings with an urgency propelled by a torrent of crunchy electronic guitar riffs. It is a lamentation of frustrations, as the band are simply trying to make sense of the world. The non-linear structure of closer ‘This City Will Kill You’ succeeds in laying bare cinematic undertones that drive the album in its entirety, with suave keyboard plinks and dreamy narratives.
"This is the record I was supposed to make," Manson shared in a recent press note, and this rings true throughout ‘No Gods No Masters’, as it screams quintessential Garbage, maturing into the political elder sister of their 1995 debut. Listening to ‘No Gods No Masters’ feels like listening to Garbage again for the very first time, which is a terrifically thrilling prospect” – CLASH
Choice Cut: No Gods No Masters