text: absolute garbage absolute garbage is the first greatest hits album by american rock band garbage , released on july 23 , 2007 . the album was compiled and released by geffen 's imprint almo sounds through universal music enterprises back catalogue division in north america and by a & e records throughout the rest of the world . it was released while garbage were on " hiatus " following the band 's one - off reformation to perform at a benefit concert early in the same year . the album includes remastered versions of 16 of the band 's singles which run chronologically in the track listing , as well as a brand - new track , specially recorded for the compilation , " tell me where it hurts " , which preceded the album as its lead single . absolute garbage was released on cd and a special edition two - cd set which included a second disc of remixes . a dvd compilation rounded out the formats ; among the 16 garbage music videos featured is an hour - long documentary film titled thanks for your uhh , support , containing footage filmed backstage and behind the scenes , archive live performances , and interviews spanning the band 's entire career . background the band 's drummer , butch vig felt that absolute garbage would be " a full stop on part of our career " , marking the group 's movement to a new part of their development , rather than simply a contractual obligation , while guitarist duke erikson stated that " putting out a collection of our singles would be a good way to stay busy without working so hard " . however , singer shirley manson revealed in 2012 that the compilation emerged from a demand by the band 's uk label a & e records in order to meet their quarterly requirements . when garbage began to collate the material for absolute garbage , it transpired that the analog masters of their eponymous debut album had been lost . neither of the band 's record labels had them , and after further searching , the band established that none of the mastering facilities they had used had stored them either . vig and audio engineer billy bush were able to track down an archived , but rather incomplete and damaged , set of 16bit safety dat mixes . despite the backups being far from an optimal situation , mastering engineer emily lazar at the lodge in new york city was able to reverse engineer the missing songs from the damaged archive . lazar used some alternate versions of the songs when completing the final master . her assistant , joe , mastered and edited the remixes for the special edition . eschewing the midwestern location of their wisconsin - based smart studios , garbage chose to record new material for the album in grungeisdead , vig 's california - located home recording studio . the band members had been sharing ideas over the internet prior to the sessions , and were keen to record them ; vocalist shirley manson had came up with the song title " tell me where it hurts " a few years previously , and had matched newly written lyrics with a burt bacharach - style string arrangement that the band had created via email correspondence . after producing an electric guitar - heavy version of " tell me where it hurts " , garbage recorded a second mix of the track with more emphasis on the strings and recruited their former touring bassist , daniel shulman , to perform bass guitar on the song . the band completed another three songs during the sessions , including " betcha " ( vig : " it 's fuzzed up " ) , " girls talk shit " ( " pretty cool sounding , lots of fast pizzicato guitars and cellos " ) , and " all the good in this life " , which vig described as " kinda pink floyd - y " . vig had created a new version of their song " bad boyfriend " , which had opened their bleed like me album , when he had been updating his home studio the previous year . keeping to the garbage formula of incorporating non - musical sounds in their work , vig used a digital recorder to capture the sound of his baby daughter 's swing in motion as a percussive loop . thinking that the compilation would benefit from the inclusion of a new remix , vig presented his rework to manson and erikson who had been unaware of the new version . both agreed that " bad boyfriend " should be included , but rather than solicit an outside producer , vig spent a few days finishing the mix . inversely , garbage recruited production team jeremy wheatley and brio to create a new version of bleed like me track " it 's all over but the crying " ; the band hoped the song would be a possible second single . a rock version of version 2 . 0 's " push it " was completed by producer chris sheldon . the group argued over the albums running order , eventually dropping a few of their singles , including " androgyny " ( from beautiful garbage ) after manson objected to its inclusion , before finalizing on the 18 tracks that the group believed represented their best work . vig oversaw the liner notes and thanks list for the album : " it 's been a burden because we 're encompassing what we 've done over the last 10 years in one short paragraph " ; music journalist peter murphy composed a biography on the band 's history for the booklet , while the album artwork was designed by tom hingston studio — a foil blocked silkscreen image photographed by david hughes . the booklet also compiled a number of promotional photographs of the group taken over the course of their career by stéphane sednaoui , ellen von unwerth , rankin , pat pope , warwick saint , and joseph . the band compiled an hour - long documentary titled thanks for your uhh , support for the dvd format , featuring footage filmed backstage and behind - the - scenes , and archive live performances and interviews spanning the band 's entire career . as well as interviews with the members of garbage , the documentary also features duke erikson 's daughter roxy , madison club owner and friend jay moran , engineer billy bush , former touring bassists daniel shulman and eric avery , foo fighters ' dave grohl and taylor hawkins , white stripes ' jack white , and former mtv news anchor kurt loder . region 0 pressings of the dvd contained all 16 music videos to accompany the singles featured on the cd formats , with the exception of " # 1 crush " , for which there was no clip filmed . region 1 releases did not include the video for " tell me where it hurts " . garbage later said that the album was released as a contractual obligation to warner music : " this was the final straw that broke our backs " , recalled manson five years later . " the record company we had been sold to in the u.k. demanded that we release a " greatest hits " in order to meet their quarterly requirements . we were not in a position to stop it . as a result , they shoved this collection out with no promotion whatsoever . it was right there and then that we realized how crazy and out of whack things had gotten . " garbage remained on hiatus for a further three years until regrouping to record their fifth studio album , not your kind of people , released in 2012 . release and promotion at the end of 2005 's bleed like me world tour , garbage disbanded to go on a " hiatus " . a month later , music retailer hmv 's uk website listed a greatest hits compilation for release the following year . by january 2006 , the title changed to absolute garbage . on november 10 , a press release from warner music group announced a march 19 , 2007 uk release date for the album , while the nme reported that the album would be preempted by a single on march 5 . in january 2007 , vig became the first band member to publicly confirm the project : " we 've been working on absolute garbage for a while " . on may 11 , the band 's website unveiled the artwork for absolute garbage , and on may 22 , confirmed the album 's track listing , physical formats and an initial july 16 – 17 street date . the date was later moved back a week due to " production issues " concerning the north american dvd . the launch of the absolute garbage promotional campaign began at the end of may 2007 , when geffen records updated garbage 's myspace profile streaming audio player to include the album 's lead single " tell me where it hurts " and the remix of " bad boyfriend " , while the music video for " tell me where it hurts " was premiered on uk channel 4 's video exclusive slot . radio edits of the guitars up and orchestral versions of " tell me where it hurts " were distributed to radio at the beginning of june . in the united kingdom , the song was playlisted by xfm scotland upfront , radio forth and was c - listed on bbc radio 2 for five weeks . the alternative rock remix of " push it " was playlisted by xfm for three weeks . " tell me where it hurts " was released by a & e records on 7 " vinyl , dvd and cd single ( featuring " betcha " as the b - side ) on july 16 in the united kingdom , where it debuted at number 50 on the uk singles chart . manson complained that the release was " shoved out with no promotion whatsoever " , declaring that it was the moment the band " realized how crazy and out of whack things had gotten " , inspiring them to work independently afterwards . on july 23 , 2007 , absolute garbage was released in the united kingdom , with the north american street date following a day later . the digital download format includes " all the good in this life " as an itunes exclusive bonus track . in 2012 , absolute garbage was superseded by a reconfigured greatest hits set titled the absolute collection , which was released in australia and new zealand on november 2 via liberator music . critical reception absolute garbage received mostly positive reviews from music critics . slant magazine 's sal gave a positive overview of the compilation , writing that the album " serves as an anthropological study of the musical relics of a bygone era " , while laila hassani of heat summed up her five - star review by writing , " few modern female - fronted rock bands stand the test of time , but this reminds you why , along with gwen stefani 's no doubt , garbage are one of them . " a reviewer for instinct wrote " this hits collection is loaded with songs best described as massive ... you 'll find something to love here " . jaime gill , in a review for bbc music , felt that " absolute garbage is a fine legacy , the sound of a briefly brilliant and always interesting band " and that overall the album " sounds like no other greatest hits you own . " digital spy 's nick levine wrote , " by wrapping their nut - grabbing hooks and transcendent melodies in layers of gutsy guitars , garbage managed to make pop music for people who thought they didn 't like pop music . for that reason , whatever happens next , they deserve to be remembered fondly . " a reviewer for the daily mail described it as " a slick blend of grunge - rock power and sultry girl - group harmonies " and added , " [ absolute garbage ] already sounds dated , but the songs stand up well . " many reviewers felt that the chronological running order put more emphasis on the band 's well - regarded earlier periods . " the selection of songs perhaps indicates garbage view their career the same way many fans do " , wrote victoria durham of rock sound , and " that they never quite managed [ to match ] the brilliance of their early work . " johnny dee of classic rock expressed , " the later material here sounds formulaic , however , new song " tell me where it hurts " adds strings to the dynamic and sits well alongside their peerless early material " . allmusic reviewer stephen thomas erlewine considered that despite ignoring 2000s singles such as " run baby run " , " it already seems that the comp has lingered far longer than necessary on the last stage of garbage 's career " , in contrast to the debut album singles " still sounding sleek and alluring . " kerrang ! magazine 's tom also felt that garbage 's work had dated , expounding , " something that was once so much a part of the zeitgeist has remained rooted to the era it marked , untranslatable across the millennial divide . still , songs like ' stupid girl ' and ' only happy when it rains ' [ from the debut ] maintain an urgency and spite that sees their intent remain intact . " billboard writer kerri mason praised the choice of remixes on the special edition : " the band continually brought the best of dance 's best producers , not one of the thirteen tracks is a throwaway . " ben hogwood of musicomh called the compilation a " deserved retrospective " , further noting that " the best way to get to know garbage is through their albums , which demonstrate their strength in depth . in particular the self - titled debut and version 2 . 0 withstand a heavy hammering on any stereo . " commercial performance absolute garbage debuted at number 68 on the billboard 200 , selling 11 , 000 copies in its first week . as of august 2008 , it had sold 66 , 000 copies in the united states . the album debuted at number 11 on the uk albums chart with 13 , 372 units sold in its first week . track listing all songs written and composed by garbage , except where noted . personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of the special edition of absolute garbage . charts release history