While touring in 2002 lead singer Shirley Manson lost her voice and had to have a cyst removed from her vocal chords leaving her unable to speak for a brief period of time. Manson then reportedly separated from her husband though the details have understandably been kept private. As if Shirley’s issues weren’t enough for the band to deal with, Garbage mastermind Butch Vig slipped into a coma due to undiagnosed, Pamela Anderson-grade Type A Hepatitis. When he finally got back on his feet, Vig soon checked back into the hospital, this time for Bell’s Palsy. With its release being a year later than expected, that Bleed Like Me ever got made is nothing short of a miracle.

Bleed Like Me, (originally titled Hands On A Hard Body), is the much anticipated follow up to the band’s third album Beautiful Garbage. Beautiful Garbage wasn’t as widely received as their previous two albums, partly because of its unfortunate release date of September, 2001 and partly because the album lacked a coherent sound. Garbage’s signature sonic blitzkrieg at times got lost within the schizophrenic mix of The Shirelles / DMX / New Wave trappings and though each song worked individually, as a whole the album felt disconnected. Beautiful Garbage sold so poorly in the U.S. that in addition to their own tour, Garbage opened for No Doubt and U2 to help boost sales. Then along came the previously mentioned medical troubles and the usual band squabbling.

This time out Garbage has stripped away most of their layered high-tech guitars and super-samples and what is left at its core is garage rock. Opening Bleed Like Me is “Bad Boyfriend,” with Foo Fighters front man / ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl making an appearance on drums. Manson doesn’t waste any time getting in your face lyrically, right from the start she flaunts her girl-on-top / no-strings-attached approach to dating, “So ripe so sweet come suck it and see / But watch out Daddy I sting like a bee / I know some tricks I swear will give you the bends / C'mon baby be my bad boyfriend.” It’s this sexual bravado that makes straight men drool and gay men raise Manson to icon status. “Run Baby Run” could be an outtake from Version 2.0 with Manson, at times, sounding like Chrissy Hynde. It’s perfect the perfect pop song and should be listened to several times before moving on with the rest of the album.

The title track, “Bleed Like Me,” is evocative of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” in which Manson tells the damaged tales of a chosen few who are anorexic, sexually confused, socially inept, or cutting themselves to relieve their inner demons. At the end of this haunted therapy, Manson reveals that she herself has a past with self inflicted pain as she whispers, “You should see my scars / Try to comprehend that which you’ll never comprehend.”

Bleed Like Me isn’t the force to be reckoned with that Version 2.0 was, but it doesn’t need to be. The worst thing any band could do is find a formula and stick with it and that’s never been Garbage’s MO. Aerosmith lost their edge the second Diane Warren started writing the same syrupy love songs for them over and over and over again knowing they could separate girls with bad perms from their cash. And U2 would not be where they are today if they stopped their constant sound experimentation, broadening their fan base while expanding the minds of their older fans on their quest for world domination. Pay no attention to Gwen Stefani and her Missing Persons identity crisis, watch Shirley as she is well on her way to becoming the next Annie Lennox. With each album she gains confidence both vocally and with her lyrics. If Garbage can manage to not kill each other, they will be one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.

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