Absolute Garbage

If you are an avid fan or just interested, this documentary is a must see. It bounces back and forth between 1995 and 2005 with stops all in between.

There is a wonderful MTV clip announcing their first tour along with great shots of world tours, early tours and many, many behind the scenes looks at life. This includes segments on life on tour buses. Life wandering around Moscow; life in the studio. There is a rich segment on the Smart Studios itself, the different recording and tools and gizmos. You get a feel for for the making of their special sound, for example, some songs have more than 120 tracks - just in one song.

You get a sense of the individuals, especially Steve Marker, who seems to shy away from the spotlight. Butch Vig has two grown daughters! Duke Erikson is cool. Shirley Manson is on screen the most, but not always the center of the light.

There are a bunch of wonderful back stories about the 3 boys finding, meeting and getting to know Shirley. A great quote about when they first started to work together and Shirley just started getting into the groove and Butch, Duke and Steve, the 3 producers were at a loss for how to direct her. Luckily, it all just worked out.

"Absolute Garbage" offers a good overview of the ups and downs of the slickly produced alt- rockers. However, the documentary lacked more outside perspectives. It was mainly from the viewpoint of the band. Frankly I would have loved to see interviews with their contemporaries like the Smashing Pumpkins, even if the interviews were from 1995. On another note, some great videos have been left off this collection. Of course there's "Only Happy When it Rains", but where are "Breaking up the Girl", "Androgyny" or "Sex is not the Enemy"? I know these weren't big hits, but why not include every video the band made? In terms of a career defining release, this is a bit lacking.