Confessions of a Fanboy

It’s not surprising that Garbage, Beck, and Nine Inch Nails found an audience at more or less the same time. While they aren’t exactly sonically similar, they pack their songs with an amalgam of sounds. NIN went industrial, Garbage was a dance/rock hybrid, and Beck is… Beck. These artists — among others — began treating recording studios as just another instrument able to create and shape sounds. Grunge’s implosion gave way to a scene that made it okay for songs to sound good again.

What is surprising is that I like Garbage at all, or rather that I took when I did. I grew up on hair metal. I hated keyboards — unless they were in a power ballad, and even then I was suspicious of them — and didn’t like any sounds that couldn’t be honestly re-created live. I didn’t like lead singers who overdubbed their own backing vocals; I didn’t like it when single-guitar bands overdubbed 10,000 guitar lines. I’d love to tell you my narrow views of acceptable record making died when I gave up on hair metal, but they didn’t. Many of them have fallen by the wayside over the years.

I think Garbage is the point at which I started to get my head around the idea that integrating computers and electronica with rock and roll might not be a mortal sin. Electronic sounds — like most other tools in an artist’s sonic toolbox — are neither inherently good nor evil. I still get a twinge in my left eye when I type that and probably always will.

My Favorite Garbage Album: Garbage

The reason I choose Garbage as my favorite of their albums is that it’s a rock album that plays with electronics. The band would shift that focus to varying degrees of success on subsequent records. It doesn’t take much to imagine most of the 12 songs on the record as rock songs. The arrangements would have to be altered if the electronics were removed, but the songs work on that level. The electronic elements adorn the songs rather than dominating them.

Another reason the album works is its depth. It is wonderfully sequenced and its length of 12 songs and 51 minutes is ideal. “Only Happy When it Rains” and “Stupid Girl” both charted on the US Pop and Modern Rock singles charts, “Vow” and “Queer” landed on the Modern Rock chart. The strength of those singles helped the album sell more than 2 million copies in the US and more than 5 million worldwide, but Garbage is more than 4 singles and some filler. There is no drop in quality from the singles to album tracks like “Supervixen,” “Fix Me Now,” “A Stroke of Luck,” and “My Lover’s Box.”

The Best of The Best

My favorite song on the album has long been “Vow,” and probably still is. It’s really fucking hard to pick a definitive, permanent favorite song when an album has this many outstanding tracks and its weakest song is still very good. Still, I always seem to come back to “Vow.” I love the bouncing, shimmering guitars in the intro and outro. I love the fuzzed guitars and distorted sounds throughout. I really love Shirley Manson’s menacing vocal and lyrics.

I love the other singles and wholly approve of their widespread popularity. “Stupid Girl” is probably my least favorite of the four, but I still like it. “Queer” has a cool vibe to it, and I love the “you can touch me if you want” outro. “Only Happy When it Rains” describes a mindset very familiar to me.

The Best of The Rest
I created a playlist of the eight non-single tracks through the power of my iPod, and I’m impressed by how well they sound together. The quality of all 12 songs is even and remarkably high, but these eight songs almost sound better together than they do interspersed with the hits.

“Supervixen” is undoubtedly my favorite of the non-singles for all the reasons mentioned yesterday. “As Heaven is Wide” is imbued with some of the same darkness and menace as “Vow,” so naturally I love it but “My Lover’s Box” is just a little bit better. “Stroke of Luck” and “Milk” are both serve as nice changes of pace.

What’s Not To Like?
The formula of three veteran producers, big guitars, pop hooks, and a sexy, Scottish redhead has made Garbage one of my favorite bands. Other bands tried to find success using similar formulas, and only one ever came close to being as good as Garbage (Transister). Mostly, there were a lot of disposable songs and disposable beats. Garbage was uniquely able to combine these ingredients into something worthwhile, as evidenced by countless hours and dollars spent supporting them in the 12 years since I bought the first album.

One final note on the debut: I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again, the album would have sold an extra million copies if “#1 Crush” had been included. I hate 13-song albums, but I can’t think of a track I’d subtract to add “#1 Crush” instead. It’s hard to imagine a nearly perfect album could have been even better, but the proof is out there.

Filed under: Tags: Citzen Dick, Garbage