Absolute Garbage - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Absolute Garbage received a mostly positive response from music critics upon release. Slant magazine's Sal Cinqumani 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 5-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 the BBC, 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." DigitalSpy's Nick Levine wrote, "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 wrote, "a slick blend of grunge rock power and sultry girl-group harmonies" and added, " 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, "that they never quite managed the brilliance of their early work." Johnny Dee of Classic Rock explained, "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 (decade) 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 Byrant gave the album two out of five stars and also felt that Garbage's work had dated, expanding "something that was once so much a part of the zeitgeist has remained rooted to the era it marked, untranslatable across the millennial divide". 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."