Garbage – Garbage

            This 1995 album is Garbage’s well-acclaimed debut.  After hearing about this band for so long, I thought it was time for me to actually hear one of their albums.  Admittedly it took me a couple of listens to get into this one.  There were some things that I liked immediately such as the slap-in-the-face opener or the delightful closing track.  Most of the songs in between, however, took longer to appreciate.  The album’s sound is definitely post-grunge, a genre about which I have mixed feelings.  Though it’s similar to grunge, the post-grunge genre has a more commercially refined quality to it.  As a result, it is sometimes unconvincing in its angst.  Some songs like “Only Happy When it Rains,” sound too much like the material of a predictable (if not corporately required) single.  Others such as “Not my Idea” are boarder line generic containing only brief moments of interest.  On the other hand, there were songs that were more enjoyable.  “A Stroke of Luck” for example, pulls the listener in with its slower, more understated sound.  Utilizing a smoother, heavier, urban beat; this track is more a fusion of different styles rather than straight rock.  “Fix me Now” continues in this fusion vein as well providing greater interest.  In addition, lead singer Shirley Manson is dynamic; able to provide a sweet and feminine sound one minute and an angry wail the next.  What separates this album from the classics, however, are all of the songs that fall into the middle category of mediocrity.  Tracks like “As Heaven is Wide” and “Dog New Tricks” are okay for mid 90’s rock.  That being said, they don’t exactly push the envelope; containing very little, if any, interesting sonic experimentation.  In order to garner the reviews that this album has received, I would have expected more of a breaking away from convention.  More than fifteen years on, this album sounds too much a product of the time period in which it was created. 

              While my opinion about the album’s music is mixed, my opinion about the lyrics is anything but.  Most of the songs contain over the top, angst-ridden lyrics reminiscent of The Cure.  In fact, it’s the lyrics that give this album its overwhelmingly melodramatic feel.  Like The Cure (on Pornography at least), they seemed to be written more for the purposes of garnering attention rather than portraying a personal story or providing any insight.  As a result, they come off as being less than genuine and I have a hard time sympathizing with the there author.  Take “As Heaven is Wide”, for example.  Some lines come off as trite and predictable.  Others contain graphic exaggeration.  “If flesh could crawl, My skin would fall, From off my bones, And run away from here” Robert Smith would be proud.  Unlike The Cure, however, Garbage’s sound is more mainstream pop making the lyrics even less believable.  “Not my Idea” for instance sounds like such a bouncy, jangly, up-tempo pop rock tune that I have a hard time believing Manson when she claims, “I’m right here burning down your house”.  She doesn’t even sound credible let alone menacing.  I love plenty of angst-ridden mid 90’s albums from The Bands to Jagged Little Pill.  However, where as those works sound like genuinely creative products from their respective artists, Garbage sounds like the kind of project that was put together by a board of record company execs eager to creatively capitalize on the new grunge sound by mainstreaming it to a large audience.  If the lyrics on this album could be magically separated from the music and erased, I might be able to consider it a reasonable effort.  They can’t however, making Garbage a trite sounding exercise in generic rock, fine for its era, but not much else.