1. Bad Boyfriend
2. Run Baby Run
3. Right Between the Eyes
4. Why Do You Love Me
5. Bleed Like Me
6. Metal Heart
7. Sex Is Not the Enemy
8. It’s All Over But the Crying
9. Boys Wanna Fight
10. Why Don’t You Come Over
11. Happy Home
Once upon a time, a new band flew out of nowhere: Garbage. Fronted by the dead sexy and lively Shirley Manson, and backed by producing and studio masters Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker, Garbage flew out of the gate with an innovative sound laden with both chunky guitars and electronic punctuation. The infectious pop ripped up and down the charts, and there was a lot of promise on the horizon.
Then came Version 2.0, which didn’t quite live up to its predecessor. After that, beautifulgarbage, which was too bland to pick up any sort of buzz. See, after Garbage took their new and lively sound to the mainstream, everyone and their brother started tossing it into their mix. When all was said and done, the songwriting wasn’t there, and Garbage was drowned out by others who were off and running with their ideas.
The only thing left for Garbage, honestly, was to pick up the songwriting and recapture the audience. Unfortunately, that’s long since been their biggest hurdle as they have continually suffered from a case of supreme blandness. The hope being, of course, that all of this would be water under the bridge with their fourth disc, Bleed Like Me.
In some ways, Garbage has succeeded. Immediately noteworthy and ear-grabbing are the opening track and single “Bad Boyfriend” with its distorted guitar and Dave Grohl drumming fury; “Right Between the Eyes,” something which almost sounds like an ode to U2, and “Why Do You Love Me,” something straight out of the Blondie songbook. In other words, Garbage has traveled back to the land of early ’80s rock and attempted to rejuvenate it with their mesh of new sounds and Manson’s sultry flavor. It works, because the source influences worked.
And even the rest of the songs, they’re not too bad in themselves. “It’s All Over But The Crying” is sort of a messy ballad that hasn’t seemed to settle on what it was aiming to do, and “Sex Is Not the Enemy” is just not well at all. In fact, it’s the whole latter half of the disc that seems to have no direction and no identity. Somewhere along the line, Garbage ran out of things to write about, it seems. And whatever it is they are writing about, it’s neither relatable nor fun. Generic lyrics, generic riffs, and a whole lot of wasted talent.
Garbage lost their niche years ago; their sounds became the mainstream, and therefore became what later played out and made way for the pop we see today. They’re not rock enough to be rock, and they’re not pop enough to be pop. Where that mesh was a staple of the ’90s, it’s definitely become dated. Quite simply, Garbage could have used a massive overhaul; instead, we get the same fuzzy guitars, the same overdubs, the same over-rich sound with Manson’s voice — arguably their strongest asset at this point — taking a backseat.
I would just like to ask the band one thing: what was their plan with this album? What were they trying to accomplish? It just sounds like a mess. There’s potential, as shown by bright glimmers of hope in the first half of the disc, but then it becomes “Why Don’t You Come Over” and other tripe.
