It's not entirely uncommon for record producers, successful or otherwise, to start their own band and put records out. Rupert Hine made an art form of the concept in the early 1980s and even managed a hit single, and the practice is rampant in the dance genre. Butch Vig, the man who produced that album a few years ago, is a tangential exception to the producer-wanting to-be-a-musician cliche. He's been playing in various unknown bands for years, and recording them for almost as long. And, to be fair, Garbage is not Butch Vig's band. While his sonically spectacular production values are stamped all over the fledgling Madison, Wisconsin band's debut album, it's a work that is a truly collaborative effort between Vig, his longtime studio and band buddies Steve Marker and Duke Erikson, and an unexpected wild card in the person of former Goodbye Mr MacKenzie and Angelfish member Shirley Manson, imported from Scotland for the occasion. The debut Garbage single "Vow" caused a minor tidal wave of interest from press and public alike, initially almost impossible to buy but now climbing the mainstream charts in Australia. As it should - the perfect meeting of the grunge ethic with pure pop - and sweetened by the most spectacular production ever lavished on a single - it takes a mere two listens to set up a permanent home in that bit of your head that plays songs at you all day while you're trying to concentrate on something else.
Now, before you stick this slice of digital technology in your CD player, be aware of a very important fact; Garbage are not a grunge band. They've been insisting as much in interviews and press releases since "Vow" came out, but this album is confirmation that all Garbage want to be is the best pop band on the planet. In the process, they're happy to throw in elements of the various forms of alternative rock that have changed lives over the past few years, but despite the pervading lyrical themes of anger, lust and the dark side of the human mind, the songs defiantly hammer pop hooks into your head at every turn - pop hooks atop sonic deconstruction, at that, though there's no gratuitous noise here. Everything happens for a reason on this album.
So the complete digital silence that acts as an unspoken drum beat in opening track "Supervixen" makes perfect sense, as well as giving headphone listeners their first of many unsettling moments. Alternating anthemic guitar choruses with seductive verses, it's a song that delivers the mandate for the album in four minutes. Garbage have a habit of throwing pop hooks into their songs as if it were the easiest thing in the world, and "Supervixen" is full of them. "Queer" is sleazier and darker, propelled by a drum loop borrowed from Single Gun Theory's "Man Of Straw" and populated by backwards tape loops, a couple of dozen guitars and a lost jazz quartet. And without pausing for thought, "Only Happy When It Rains" takes a midwestern rock verse and launches it into a soaring chorus that proves once and for all what the likes of Transvision Vamp did wrong - they never wrote this, for starters.
"As Heaven Is Wide" and "Not My Idea" borrow from the industrial side of things for a moment, the latter alternating perfect indie-pop verses (borrowing a Headless Chickens drum loop this time) with chunky guitar. But it's "A Stroke Of Luck" that takes the first big chance. It is, you see, a dark but gentle slice of seduction that sounds for all the world like Portishead with guitars, and should be listened to late at night for best effect. Following immediately is the phenomenal "Vow", swagger and glitter welded together at high temperature. "Stupid Girl" uses the digital trash from a faulty DAT deck as a musical instrument, which says more about this band's ethic than any review ever could. A couple of highlights are saved for late in the album: "My Lover's Box" is a pop masterpiece that implodes on itself in the final minute, and by the end it's possibly the loudest thing ever recorded on CD. Closing track "Milk" is unexpectedly reflective and honest, a gentle finish that defies those who'd like to smugly categorise this band.
Garbage is a genuinely exciting record both in terms of pop music and production; indeed, as a pop album it's the most compelling piece of work in many years. Forget the dross populating the mainstream charts; if you want to hear the future of pop music, you need this album.
