Garbage

This blew my expectations away. I only knew Only Happy When It Rains going in, and I don’t care for it. And honestly, the opening track was a snoozer. But goddamn, every other song. Just. Fucking. SLAPPED. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard alt rock blend genres like trip hop and industrial so masterfully into their sound. The songs are catchy, edgy, sexy. It’s a masterpiece of songwriting. Garbage absolutely does NOT live up to their name.

Not garbage! This Aussie gives it four Anzac biscuits out of five.

i forgot how many bangers garbage have. very strong album that.

I was aware of Garbage growing up, knew the singles, but never had their albums or followed them. I'd assumed they were all scottish and part of the brit pop scene. Definitely higher quality tunes here than the glut of 90s alternative rock bands. Bit of trip-hop vibes in some tunes like 'as heaven is wide'. 'Stupid girl' is still great.

Like to say there's something important happening musically in this album, which did go Platinum in the US...so they must have done something right in connecting to the disaffected youth of the 90s? Garbage the band was apparently the "brainchild" of Butch Vig and Duke Erikson - Vig went onto produce Nirvana's Nevermind album, and the album's most well known track, Stupid Girl, borrows drums from The Clash's Train in Vain, and baselines from Credence Clearwater Revivial's Susie Q. But great music transcends time and makes you feel something. This album contains glimmers of genuine cool, but at its worst, is crass commercialisation of anti-establishment sentiment that makes me want to skip most of the tracks. Overall? More mash than bangers....skip this Garbage.

Rarely have I heard an album that blends similar genres in a way that the feel seamless as they intertwine. The influences of Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Industrial, Grunge and mainly Alternative Dance with Alternative Rock as the main genre creates a sound that makes you wonder if the description one person gives will be same the next will give it. Either way, this album is great introduction to a more hazy and noisy sound that, while not being as great as let's say "loveless" by mbv, has a much lower entry bar that might help people understand the greatness of said record when they haven't really set foot into mbv's extremely shoegazey and noisy sound sound. The opening track 'Supervixen' already gets you into the hazy and sometimes dreamy mood that still shares a lot of elements with Dance music that make you feel like you've been put on both ecstasy and LSD on the same time. I especially like the very shoegazey moments that explode out of thin air all over the song. With 'Queer' a slightly Trip Hop inspired sound appears and the shoegaze vanishes. But that allows the song to have a very strong chorus that shares some industrial elements as well. The guitar after the second chorus comes out of nothing and really makes this song a highlight on the album. 'Only Happy When It Rains' is one of the best known songs on the album and I do really like the grunge inspired crunchy guitar that really drives the song through out and the chorus is also really catchy but the longer the song goes on the more uninteresting it becomes after a while. The song 'As Heaven Is Wide' goes a very different direction with a more electronic and sample style sound that still works as a very dancey song with a lot of focus on drums and bass. While the sound they create might be something really different and forward thinking, it isn't as interesting as previous songs. 'Not My Idea' is one of the noisiest songs on the album and they perform that really well. The jarring guitar that appears throughout the song really sets a tone that is alternated with a more casual chorus. The song generally has a lot of dynamic and melodic changes that make it sound very special although like songs before, looses its interest after a while. A more psychedelic approach has 'A Stroke of Luck' that combines sounds from Trip Hop and Dream Pop with Grunge and Industrial parts to create a very mysterious and nocturnal sound. The second half of the album starts with 'Vow', a return to the Noise Pop and Shoegaze style that although I like the sound of the instrumental, gets ruined for me as I really do not like the vocal performance on this song. But as much as I do not like the vocals, the better is the guitar bridge which makes me really conflicted on this one. 'Stupid Girl' is another highlight of the album for many. Although the structure is something heard a million times before, the chorus is incredible once it starts. The continuing build-up really works to make the song feel organic and different for the most but not all the way. I like the electronic moments on 'Dog New Tricks' but I feel like the song had much more potential that wasn't build on enough. The hazy sound is done very well and it's much more dynamic than 'Stupid Girl' and I prefer it too but I still feel like they could've done more with the song than they ended up doing. 'My Lover's Box' might be interesting to some but it is not to me. The song just flows past my ears without sticking. The chorus is quite nice but that makes up a total of like 45 seconds in the whole song so I am not very fond of this one. A similar problem has 'Fix Me Now' although I like the chorus much more once it's actually there but considering it takes half the song the make it remotely interesting, the song just isn't as great as a lot of other songs even if the chorus is one of my favourites on here. It's the rest that makes it uninteresting. Closing track 'Milk' is the only song that is fundamentally different as it takes a very ethereal wave and electronic sound with typical Trip Hop drums. But all that makes it for me the best song on the album. It is just so beautifully dark and well... ethereal. The (I think) mellotron sample that reminds me a bit of Strawberry Fields Forever just adds to that. favourites: Milk, Queer, Supervixen, Only Happy When It Rains least favourites: My Lover's Box, Vow, Fix Me Now Rating: decent 7 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Not bad, absolutely fine to have playing during work. But there's nothing remarkable about it either. And I don't think I could listen to much more of them than this album at a time without getting restless.

I remember when this came out and it felt fake from the get-go. I was 11 at the time so I couldn’t articulate it back then, but looking back now (and having just read Wikipedia) I know: it was pop music pretending to be alternative, complete with an imitation Courtney Love shoe-horned in at the last minute. But just like Linkin Park a few years later, the approach worked – Garbage sold millions and millions of albums. But 27 years later, none of it holds up. By the metrics we look back on the 90s that this could be measured against - pop, grunge and britpop - it comes across as fucking BLAND, overly long and full of manufactured Gen X cynicism. Basically no redeeming features or staying power. 1/5.

Thick with the sort of 90s-00s edgy grime that rests upon the windowsill holding a copy of Underworld and Vampire: The Masquerade. Love it.

Like the Gorillaz LP I wasn’t too crazy about the opening track but loved it after that. The song intros are catchy – they drag you in quickly. The band has a good ear for new-wavy pop riffs - with some distorted guitar thrown in. I like the balance of guitar vs electronic beats, and the fact that they can jump back and forth seamlessly between rockers to a more trip-hoppy feel. It was a good idea to recruit Shirley Manson on vocals - she’s quite versatile and varies her style nicely with each change of pace. It seems like all members contribute to the song writing which is good because it doesn’t bore you after a half dozen songs, in fact my favourite might be the last one, Milk (not sure if this is the Tricky production or not). A 9/10 for me.

3 Americans and 1 Brit bridge the Britpop divide, packed with actual hits and could-have-been hits. But has the studio wizardry that sounded futuristic at the time dated? A little. And is not the follow up Version 2.0 even better? I think so. A strong 4.

Probably deserves a better rating from me for the extreme competence of the execution but in the end there's something a little too calculated in this, finely engineered to be a hitmaker of its era. The petulant lyrical sensibility (so exactly summarized by the album's biggest hit) is all the more eye-rolling for this blatant pop pandering.

For whatever reason I havent really connected with Garbage. There’s some solid music here but I still feel kind of meh about it

I avoided this when it came out, assuming it was a half-baked dull grunge-adjacent cash in. Once again, my jaundice bats 1.000! Snoozey college rock tunes, clumsy mild-dominatrixy lyrics sung a bit off-key, no respite from the pleasantly mild trip-hop shadow beats throughout - music for people who found "Nevermind" a bit too intense but liked the T-shirts, appropriate given Butch Vig's role in the whole affair. How would you describe it: refuse, rubbish, scrap, trash...?

I forgot to write this review last night, which tells us something. I associate Garbage with a mini-movement of bands that took the beigest elements of trip-hope - the beigest genre- and slapped them on watered down grunge or shoegaze (Sneaker Pimps for the former, Curve for the latter), and bored me. A couple of ok singles, I guess, and a wash of beige.

This remains one of my favourite albums of all time. So much raw energy and anger, the guitar is aggressively delicious and I can't get over how good the lyrics are.

These guys and gals are from Madison so I was prepared to be generous. But no. “Stupid Girl” seemed like it has some fun hooks, I guess, but the rest was pretty unlistenable.

Garbage is exactly that, garbage. I hate to be so basic in my review and say the very obvious thing, but it's not just obvious in this case, it's resoundingly true. This is one of those bands that I skip when they come up in playlists or change the station on the radio for. I hate their sound, I hate the singing. The lyrics are all such whiny pathetic attempts to be the "edgy cool girl". "I'm only happy when it rains" - oh how pithy! how unique you are! *eyeroll*. This is the lowest point of 90s alt rock for me. I tried going into this with a more open mind today, to see if some of the deeper cuts annoyed me less than the singles, but it truly was all GARBAGE.

This album took me back to my junior high days- LOVE.

Aunque afloje de repente.

Allein für „Milk“ wären schon fünf Sterne verdient.

An album of excellence. 25 years later (has it really been that long?) and it's still just as fresh as it was in the mid-90's. Not one week track or filler. Albums don't get any better.

MMMMM this feels like mid 90s alt comfort food. Stupid Girl partial writing credit is Joe Strummer from The Clash! Queer is an excellent song. Only Happy When It Rains is another great track.

Fantastic album start to finish. Never listened to anything except the two main hits. This was a surprise 5* for me

Awesome guitar. Fave track = Supervixen, the opener.

one of the best records in th world

LOVED oldschool garbage. My brother used to listen to them and the cranberries and so I was very much so indoctrinated at an early age.

My 90s rock nostalgia bias strikes again! Come to think of it, I enjoyed it more now than I did back then.

Exactly my style.

I had a crush on Shirley Manson in the 90s, but in hindsight, I think I probably had a raging erection for Butch Vig and his music production. Might still do.

Easily my favorite female vocal lead. Another ultimate perfect album. Wish I could add every song to my playlist. One of my easiest 5’s! 1. Only Happy When It Rains 2. Queer 3. Vow 4. Stupid Girl 5. Supervixen The whole damn album is a banger!

soooooooo good

Now we're talking. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. A full 51 minutes of nonstop bangers. There's so many different genres thrown into this thing that you'd think the end product would be an unfocused mess, but every single song lands, is distinct from one another and nothing feels out of place or boring. Okay, maybe a part of that is my nostalgia talking, but this album is definitely not garbage (world's most original joke). The best songs are "Supervixen", "Queer", "Only Happy When It Rains", "Stupid Girl", "Milk". Can't narrow it down more than that.

Awesome from beginning to end. One of my favorite albums of all time!

5. This might just be my favourite album ever.

This was very refreshing to get right after Permission to Land and Appetite for Destruction, they've aged like avocado, Garbage's self-titled has aged like cognac. Garbage's strength is their unique sound that blends influences from 90s genres like grunge, shoegaze, noise pop, industrial rock, baggy/alt dance, IDM electronica, and even grebo. I don't think any other band really sounds like them, even though they fit snug into the generic "alternative rock" label. Shirley Manson is an extremely talented vocalist who's sultry but depressed vocals fit well with the rest of the band's music.

30 seconds in I had completely fallen in love with Supervixen. My first time listening to Garbage and I really loved it. I also have Dinosaur Jrs first album 4*, and I think this one is better. There is more variety and experiment with the music. However I’m still not sure it quite hits 5*

This his some good spots and a some bad spots for me. The singles were ubiquitous in my teen years as Shirley was scottish so Garbage were claimed as one of ours even though they are an american band playing american rock. Shirley herself was responsible for scarousing many teenage boys and i was one of them. The second half of the album showcases the songwriting chops of the band and there are some good tracks. However there is a lot of this that strikes me as bland 90's american college rock of which ive had my fill. This genre for a brit is the equivalent on this list of the americans who complain about too much british indie. Ive struggled through pixies, janes addiction and this and it just bores me generally

Sounds very mid 90s. Shirley Manson’s voice is fairly distinctive. They sounded like a more poppy version of Hole on some songs.

Dull, tuneless, fake.

Quality album

Эстетика попадает в меня по полной. Very decent.

kinda diverse, kinda different i like it alot hard to describe what it is though

Good rock album!

Solid 90s

One of the key britpop albums - loooove it

Such a classic, hard hitting 90s sound. Feels very emblematic of its era without feeling dated. The vocals are just sex.

I fell in love to this album in highschool. Tiffany, the lead singer, and thinking for myself.

I’m only happy when it rains

Rock gay, amei

Fantastic 90s rock album

Amazing album. Slightly uneven around the "no my idea" mark, but finishes strong with an impressive number of just banger tracks. Holds up well 27 years later.

A greatly innovative album, awesome tunes through out

I was very surprised by the quality of this record. It has a very interesting sound, and reading into the production really showed how great this band is. Their style is grunge, but stands out from the rest of the pack with their interesting and unique sounds, and sampling production. Hearing some of these foreign sounds puts you in the space they want you to be in, then they hit you with a crunchy guitar and a wall of sound. Pretty great stuff.

Great sound.

Classic that instantly takes me back to being a student

Stimulating and moody at the same time, this is captivating indie/pop/rock with good vocals from Shirley Manson, brazen lyrics, some interesting sound effects, backwards guitar (plus some odd pauses in the middle a song). Tracks like 'As Heaven is Wide', 'A Stroke of Luck' and 'Dog New Tricks' have a woozy, discordant psychedelic edge and these are the more satisfying tracks. 'Stupid Girl' is the monster hit that any 90's teen will recognize. All in all, it's a worthwhile effort that neatly sums up all that was good about guitar based alternative/rock in the mid nineties.

This is an absolute top album for me. Didn't discover Garbage until the end of the 90s so I hadn't heard this album much.

Hot damn. What sn album. It's pop, it's industrial, it's perfect. I love the bendy blending of guitar and vocals.

Total surprise but loved this.

Since my teenage years, I've had a fascination with Shirley Manson, and Garbage by extension of that. Her look and her voice are dark, haunting, edgy, and captivating, and I'm just an absolute sucker for that, along with the expected 90s alt-rock sound. That said, I really only knew their hits going into this, so I was excited for the full listen opportunity here. I am always impressed when a debut album from a band can leave such a mark, and this self-titled debut does just that. Several 90s anthems come from this album, not the least of which is "Only Happy When It Rains", which has been featured, used, or alluded to in so many things where that signature 90s edge is required. There are aspects of industrial, dance, and trance mixed in on this album, which keep things fresh and interesting. It manages to do this while still staying true to its alternative, post-grungy core. This album is full of bangers and hits, and even the tracks that are less so drew me in and had me very interested and enjoying the experience. Either way, I didn't find a single filler track. When the album finished playing, I turned around and immediately listened to it a second time, and honestly, I can't wait to listen to it again.

A 90's classic. Solid throughout and still sounds great 30ish years later.

One of my favourite albums.

Every song on this album is good. Such an amazing debut. Everyone should have this in their collection.

Fuck yeah.

Wonderful album

One of my all-time favourites. Glad to listen to it again after a while

Bad ass!

Fajne

Love!

Supervixen, queer, only happy when it rains is one of the best three song opening rushes that I’ve herd in a while. The rest of the album is green though really unique sounding on an instrumental level ( singing is great too but the 90’s was like the decade of amazing singers so Manson fairs quite low in my personal ranking ). Other personal favourites include: as heaven is wide, not my idea, a stroke of luck, vow, stupid girl, dog new tricks,my lovers box,fix me now, milk. Oh that’s all of them well I guess it’s a 5 then!!!

Shoegaze and grunge guitar with trip hop beats leaning on the darker synth textures of 80s British alternative (Depeche Mode, new order) . A wonderful synthesis of the nineties. Totally holds up. It pulls on the attributes from contemporary and past music while clearly delineating a path to 2000s alternative, a really great album to hear.

A classic album. 'Only Happy When it Rains' is what got me into Garbage and girl grunge in the first place, so of course this is going to be a five star listen. The best part is that it isn't just the only good song on the album. Start to finish, this album is full of bangers. 'Queer' is delightfully strange, 'Stupid Girl,' 'Vow,' and 'Not My Idea' rock, and everything else from beginning to end is just as engrossing and bewitching. I don't know what I expected the first time I picked up 'Garbage,' but it wasn't such a pure gem of an album.

havent rated in an album in literal ages but just saw i got this one and had to rate it its like a 9.5 this album is incredible

Good. I would listen to this again

Fav songs: - Supervixen - Queer - Only Happy When It Rains - As Heaven Is Wide - A Stroke Of Luck - Stupid Girl - Milk

So much better than anything Courtney Love or Hole ever did. But the media didn't throw hosannas at Shirley Manson, and saved them all for Courtney for whatever reason. This album is begging to be rediscovered. Maybe the comparison to Love and Hole isn't appropriate. The more apt link is to Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders.

LOVED THIS. Want I return to it and also check out their other stuff.

Rock met toch wat pop vermengd. Top frontvrouw en zalig album

This is an easy 5 stars for me. This album is great from start to finish.

I think this album was innovative in the sound and recording style, as it mixed a lot of styles together. Some really good rock songs on this album and I think this is an album that must be heard just for the sound and the fact there are some great songs. Garbage is an underrated band in how many hits they had and the techno-rock/pop sound.

stuuuuupid giiiiirrrrl

Hacía mucho tiempo que no lo oia, y me ha traído buenos recuerdos

I mean. It's a fantastic album. So. Much. Angst.

Serious 90s nostalgia! Love it!

A perfect piece of ‘90s alternative rock and among the best that decade has to offer. Shirley Manson is full voiced and fierce and the band behind her more than up to the task of matching her kinetic energy.

Garbage rocks!

It's surprisingly dark and noisy and that's a compliment. It was supposed to be 4 but the more I listen the more I like it

Was really good, 5/5

Milk y stupid girl. La pura nostalgia noventera. Tenía el KCT

10/10

this fucks i love all the song s

Good Album

Feels like pop music put through a grunge or industrial filter. Works surprisingly well, but that's probably because it's carried hard by the gorgeous production and the absolutely phenomenal vocals. I'd probably call it a 4.5 if I was being nuanced, but I was surprised just how much I enjoyed this record. Favorite tracks: "Queer", "Only Happy When It Rains", "Not My Idea"

Claus 90s. A little overproduced. But basically perfect for it's time.

really liked it, punky alt classic rock

Like meeting up with a dear friend I haven't seen in 20 years. 'Vow' was my angsty pre-teen anthem.

Great Album! Love the grunge sound and the industrial noises used kinda like Nine Inch Nails.

Garbage is good. I love that ska alt style

I have a fond memory of this album. Was on a camping trip with a friend and his family in the days of the discman, so obviously I had some CDs with me. His older, then like teenage sister spotted this one in my case and we listened to it and hung out for a bit. Reinforced that I was into cool shit since she was super alt at the time.