So why is Garbage on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
It’s funny, thinking about Garbage as both band name and album title.
Garbage was released in 1995, and I still can’t help but think the band’s name is deeply steeped in Gen X irony and self-mockery.
Bands today seem to have run out of names entirely, so we end up getting things like Japanese Breakfast, Your Grandparents, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Puppy Angst, and Sorry Mom*.
* I was going to make up a band name or two as part of that list for kicks, but turns out I really didn’t need to (yes, they are all real)!
Maybe instead of a name like Garbage, a new band these days might call themselves The Most Proficient Band In Its Genre or something, but they’d probably do it non-ironically.
Anyway, Garbage and Garbage. Part of the irony here is that the album’s sound is as slick and pleasurable and non-garbage-y as you’ll find. Masterminded by producer Butch Vig – an expert at turning bands with raw talent and some edge into radio ready megastars (see: Nirvana’s Nevermind and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, for example) – he also assembled the band and served as its drummer.
Garbage also landed right in that hard-to-describe post-grunge moment when radio was hungry for something that still felt authentically “grungy” but was also polished enough for mainstream radio.
Garbage leveraged bits of trip-hop and industrial gloss into their alt-rock template, making music that was as likely to play on MTV as it was to blare through shopping mall speakers. Shirley Manson gave the band its edge, sex appeal, and MTV-era charisma, turning Garbage into unlikely alt-rock icons even as the whole package was Gen X vibes repackaged for the mainstream.
“Queer” is my favorite Garbage song. It’s a sublime blend of slowed down alternative rock and sheeny lounge music vibes, with Shirley Manson’s vocals elevating both the song and the band to the next level. Also: kind of an oddly hypnotic music video too, I must say.
“Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl” (along with the ferocious “I Think I’m Paranoid,” off of Version 2.0 from 1998), are the songs that people are most likely to recall from the band these days. Both work as mid-tempo alt rockers and hummable car stereo songs.
Beyond the hits, Garbage holds up as a strong end-to-end listen. “Not My Idea” has strands of Elastica and Veruca Salt influence, but leans just a hair more pop than those bands, and Manson’s voice is stellar throughout. And it also shows how Garbage could flirt with Britpop textures without losing their pop shine.
Some stats & info about Garbage
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Dance Music, Shoegaze, Alternative Pop, Martini Lounge
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Garbage released? 1995
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #373 out of 1,000
Garbage on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Garbage that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
You wanna hear about my new obsession? I’m riding high upon a deep depression. I’m only happy when it rains.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.