Fascinating fact - part of the analog drum tracks, including some on “I Think I’m Paranoid,” my personal favorite track on the album, were recorded in an abandoned candy factory, which explains the haunted sugar-rush vibe that I was struggling to find words to describe until now. Sarcastic and saccharine might be words a more highbrow critic would use to describe this album, in an effort to tie back to the candy factory thing in a punny way, but I’ll avoid such nonsensical descriptions for your sake.

The pop hooks and electronic-ified production (referenced sardonically in the album title) make this approachable, but there’s a complex kind of nostalgia I get from the album, which is probably a result of the band’s desire to channel their favorite songs across generations. One of the artists Garbage wanted to pay tribute to was the Beach Boys - I’ve always found the Beach Boys sound to have a hard-to-define longing sound to it, like they’re reaching into the universe for a feeling they don’t really understand, and that feeling is reproduced very well on this album in the vocals of “Medication” or the backing guitars of “When I Grow Up,” and the “don’t worry baby”s of “Push It”.

This is a fantastic album that references many of my favorite artists. It gives the sense that Garbage were not only talented artists in their own right, but also massive music fans, which is the kind of attitude that should drive the creation of great music in my opinion. In 2025 it feels like most artists, no matter how derivative their music, seem to think they’re inventing the art of music for the first time. It’s great to listen to a band who can be badass in their own right while remembering that they, like every band who ever lived, at least partially stand on the shoulders of giants.

From the roundup Greatest Albums of 1998.