All My CDs, pt 54: Bleed Like Me

Bleed Like Me - Garbage

This was one of just a few albums I've bought and then never listened to, but the others were casual purchases and I'd simply gotten distracted. The situation with this one was a bit more complicated. It was summer of 2012, just after I'd ended a two-year relationship with my first fiance. Bleed Like Me was part of his CD collection, and I'd been meaning to borrow it from him. When it seemed too late for that, I bought it instead, but found that actually listening was beyond my psychological comfort zone. I forgot about it until a week ago, when I realized it was next in line to be reviewed. I took a deep breath and put it on.

My immediate impression was that Bleed Like Me is an album I want on my playlist for my next long-distance race (a half-marathon, this fall). Like Fall Out Boy’s album Save Rock and Roll, it has all the hallmarks of excellent running music: good strong beats, a spunky attitude, and very few lulls in the action. It has already helped me quite a bit now that outdoor running season is underway. The second track even has a title and refrain that urges "Run Baby Run," and is one of the better running songs on the album. (I have found that songs that mention or are about running or racing usually make great running songs. The only exception I've found is Born to Die by Lana Del Rey.)

Garbage exists in a stylistic range somewhere between hard rock and metal on the musical hardness scale. Although most of its members are male, the lead singer is female, and many of the songs have a distinct feminist (not always feminine) agenda. My personal favorite of the moment is Sex Is Not The Enemy, which fiercely defends a sex-positive attitude. There is no way that song would be half as powerful if sung by a man. Most of the harder rock and metal bands in my collection are all-male, and I’m not sure how accurately that represents the outside world, but it encouraged a subtle gender divide in the way I think about music. Garbage challenges that division, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I need to hear more female voices that aren’t soft, sweet, or refined.

If I have one complaint it's that, like Driftless Pony Club, the lyrics are interesting and well-written, but the way they’re sung or the sound mixing makes them slightly harder to decipher without reading along. But it’s a minor drawback, as the songs are invariably enjoyable whether I am contemplating their meanings or not.

I’ve already compared Garbage to two other bands in my collection, and interestingly, it doesn’t stop there. Moreso than with any other band I’ve reviewed so far, I hear similarities to ones I’ve reviewed in the past. Certain passages and riffs remind me of Course of Empire and Fear Factory. The song Metal Heart even reminds me of Evanescence’s more sophisticated moments. Maybe Garbage coincidentally represents a synthesis of elements I enjoy from other rock and metal bands. Or maybe reviewing almost half my collection already has made me especially mindful of the range of styles it contains, priming me to see connections more readily. Either way, it’s clear that Garbage is a band that I should have started listening to a long time ago.

Next: Ellen Hardcastle