Born in a glorious century where albums could have more than ten tracks, Version 2.0 is one of the nineties’ most remarkable rock albums. After issuing a perfect first album, Garbage had to prove this success was not a one-shot. They also had to avoid the danger of mimicking their firstborn.
Version 2.0 is one of our all-time favorite albums. We share 5 fun facts to make you rediscover this glorious record.
Why is this album so special?
After a full year of experimenting and recording, Version 2.0 got out of the studios. It was a sublime encounter between goth pop, electronica and rock, with fiery lyrics, painfully intimate yet relatable. Like many artists during that period, Garbage wanted to see what technology could do for their music. It was the age of Bjork, Portishead, the Prodigy and the critics agreed that these new tools were quite a successful addition to Garbage sound. The future of alternative rock seemed nicer than never!
As teenagers, we were immediately hooked by the Song “Push It” but “Version 2.0” has so much more to offer! The album is full of gorgeous rock ballads like “You Look so Fine” or “The Trick is to Keep Breathing”, sublime tensions like “I Think I’m Paranoid”, infectious beats and melodies like “Hammering in my head” or “Dumb”, not to mention the incredible “Special”. Garbage managed to take everything that worked in their debut album and made it even better!
5 facts to love Garbage’s “Version 2.0” even more!
Since we finally managed to create the Garbage cake we dreamt of, we dived into old interviews about the making of “Version 2.0”. Here are a few things we learned.
1/ The working title for Version 2.0 was Sad Alcoholic Clowns. Well, we don’t know about you, but we would have totally bought an album with a name like that!
2/ The album name is “Version 2.0” because of the unusual amount of electronica used in it! In fact, in some interviews, the bandmates recall spending all their time in front of a computer.
3/ The band recorded the album in Wisconsin and Shirley Manson was far from her home and family. This inspired the intimate atmosphere of the album and the introspective lyrics.
4/ Some songs contained more than 120 audio tracks during the recording process!
5/ For “Push it”, Garbage sampled… The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby”.
Don’t know about you, but this album deserves some cake! Love Garbage? Check out the article we wrote on their third record, BeautifulGarbage.
