fan letter to Garbage.
November 17, 2002 2:54 a.m.

Garbage.net for the longest time was one of my favorite online bands sites. I preferred it to the official because I was able to find most of the things I was looking for, news, tour information, and other such thing in a much easier and quicker format. Tonight when I visited the site to see if there was anything new I found myself on a personal page. Confused, I scrolled down until I found something relating to Garbage and followed that link.

I was very disheartened at the result. The web manager was explaining how he had lost interest in the band, and his reasons why. The main one being his dislike for Beautiful Garbage. It was for this reason I felt inclined to write the band an encouraging rebuttal. I wasn't sure if they had read the web manager’s views or not, but I assumed they had.

I will admit upon my first few listens to Beautiful Garbage I was somewhat disappointed. I wasn't quite sure what I thought of the new sound. I played it off and on, but nothing significant. However, last summer I was in the mood to play it one day, and so I did. I have to say that since that day I have been playing that cd almost non stop. It has become my favorite of the three.

One thing I have always said that makes me love Garbage is the fact that everyone one of their cds sound different. What's the purpose of owning multiple albums by a specific artist is they all sound the same? Garbage experiments with different sounds and different concepts.

The site manager made reference to the raw energy of the previous records;...what drew me to the band was their raw EMOTION, which is so much more abundant on BG. BG just feels so much more pure. Not that the others weren't, it's just I feel that I've just gone deep in to they soul that is garbage. To liken the band, and their collection of albums to a person, their self titled cd is the first layer of a person; it's the loud bravado that they put up initially. Version 2.0 is much like when you have gotten to know a friend a little better and they start to open up to you. I feel that Beautiful Garbage is the point when you learn of your friends weaknesses. The parts of them they don't show everyone, the parts of them that they are ashamed of or fearful of, their vulnerability. This record seems so personal! So many of the songs remind me of my relationships with my closest friends. There have been nights when I will drive around for hours listening to Drive You Home on repeat.

Once I absorbed it, Beautiful Garbage touched me on such a personal level that I am ashamed for whatever ill thoughts I might have had of it initially. I think when I anticipated the album I forgot to anticipate the concept of change. the concept of growth, and that threw me off guard.

In short, my purpose for writing this letter is to encourage. I believe that every Garbage cd is better than the ones that it precedes and that I am looking forward to the next (though I acknowledge that might be a while because the last just came out.)

your loyal fan,