As polished and professional as it was,
Garbage's third album,
Beautiful Garbage, killed whatever momentum the quartet had as the LP commercially crashed and burned not long after its 2001 release. Subsequently, the band faded out of view, taking a long hiatus before regrouping in 2004 to record their fourth album,
Bleed Like Me, which was finally released in the spring of 2005. Although it was released halfway through the first decade of the 21st century, it belongs to the midpoint of the last decade of the 20th century, sounding like a virtual Cliff Notes of the sounds, themes, and styles of the post-grunge '90s. As they beefed-up the guitars, the band toned down some of the electronica underpinnings that have been present since their debut -- they've not been excised, merely subdued, so this is still recognizably the work of a group that called their second album
Version 2.0 with tongue firmly planted in cheek. But
Garbage don't just hark back to their earlier work on
Bleed Like Me, they conjure all kinds of ghosts from the '90s, building "Sex Is Not the Enemy" on a
Kim Deal bassline, while pasting together a guitar riff straight off of
Stone Temple Pilots'
Purple and a chorus from
Elastica's classic "Stutter" for the album's first single "Why Do You Love Me." Other sounds of the '90s flutter throughout the album -- the title track reaches back even further as its cavalcade of misfits uncannily recalls
Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in its structure, sentiment, and melody -- while lead singer/lyricist
Shirley Manson trots out a litany of doomed relationships, kinky sex, wallowing despair, teenage cutters, and hostile confrontations, all topics that were de rigueur for '90s alt-rock.
Manson doesn't seem like she's pandering -- several songs appear to cut close to the bone -- and neither do the band. They're all old pros and they construct their music well, so it's hooky and loudly stylish. Problem is, it's a style that's about ten years out of date.
Bleed Like Me doesn't sound like a revival, it feels like it's out of time, as if they don't quite know how to do anything else but sound like it's the heyday of post-grunge alt-rock. Since the band's drummer and chief sonic architect
Butch Vig helped create that sound with the albums he produced for
Nirvana,
the Smashing Pumpkins,
Sonic Youth, and
L7, that's not a surprise, nor is it necessarily a disappointment, because the music isn't bad. He and his colleagues remain talented, capable professionals, crafting an appealing, tightly constructed album that plays to the group's strengths. It's an enjoyable record, but it's hard to escape the nagging feeling that
Garbage has painted itself into a corner: they haven't found a way to expand their sound, to make it richer or mature -- they can only deliver more of the same. While they do this well, it's nevertheless more of the same. [Two decades after its original release,
Garbage unveiled the 20th anniversary deluxe edition/remaster of
Bleed Like Me in 2024. Adding a wealth of B-sides and remixes to the original track listing, it's yet another time capsule of a prime, yet underrated period for the band. Even though reception was mixed upon its release, fans and critics couldn't have known just how much things would change in the years that followed, making
Bleed Like Me the "last" classic from their initial run, aging better than
Beautiful Garbage, and going unmatched until 2021's
No Gods No Masters. The ten B-sides are, of course, the biggest gift to fans, showcasing their hard-rocking side -- "Space Can Come Through Anytime" -- and their soft side -- "Nobody Can Win" -- while paying homage to influences like
the Ramones with their cover of "I Just Wanna Have Something to Do," the
Pretenders with the grand "Tell Me Where It Hurts," and
Blondie's "Badass [2003 Demo]." In addition to the buzzing highlight "Betcha," "Never Be Free" should please fans of
Version 2.0, just as fans of their self-titled debut can rejoice in "Honeybee," which sounds like it was plucked straight from grunge's prime time. The remixes pound harder ("Bad Boyfriend - Sting Like a Bee Remix"), throb on the dancefloor ("Bleed Like Me - Kupper's Klub Radio Edit," "Sex Is Not the Enemy - Devil's Gun Circuit Sex Remix"), and dig deeper into dark electronic corners ("Sex... - IL's Vocal Mix," "Never Be Free - Goth Mix"). It may come as a shock to critics of this era, but this deluxe bonus ends up being more interesting than the deluxe
Version 2.0 and offers more variety than the deluxe
Garbage. With the aid of hindsight,
Bleed Like Me deserves a place in the pantheon of
Garbage classics, an oft-forgotten gem that wound up being the last big gasp in vitality until their 2020s revival.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Neil Z. Yeung
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