Garbage тобының студиялық қиындықтары мен жаңа альбомға қадамдары

Smart (Madison, Wisconsin)
Sound City (Van Nuys, California)
The Boat and GrungeIsDead (Silver Lake, California)
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Alternative rock Before the tour started, the band spent two weeks at Smart Studios—their recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin—to write new material for their upcoming album. Upon completion of the tour in December 2002, the group took some time off; Shirley Manson returned to her native Scotland, while Butch Vig completed production work on albums by AFI and Jessy Moss. The band regrouped in February 2003 to perform "Pride (In the Name of Love)" at a MusiCares tribute to U2 frontman Bono. Immediately after the event, they returned to Madison to continue working on their follow up record.

On the first day in the studio, Garbage composed a new track, "Right Between the Eyes", in 30 minutes. Other tracks written during the early sessions were "Hangin' with the Bitches" and "Never Be Free" (with John 5). Vig said that the quick start made the band feel optimistic and gave the impression that the album would be completed as rapidly as in six months, but "[the album] took a slow spiral downhill". On September 10, a backhoe careened into the outer walls of Smart Studios, causing extensive damage. Both Garbage and the band Paris, Texas had been working on their albums in the studio. The sessions were permeated by passive aggressive tensions and an overall lack of artistic focus. According to Vig, "there were a lot of personal arguments and we couldn't agree on songs". Manson suffered writer's block and had trouble writing lyrics, and Vig did not like the way the songs sounded. The drummer said that the group frequently argued during production, and that the entire band almost quit. Duke Erikson said that nobody could agree about the music's direction, and the band was on the verge of breaking up. He said, "When you lose that common bond of the music, you've got nothing". Vig left the studio and returned to Los Angeles. Over the Christmas period, he encountered excited Garbage fans eager to hear about the album's progress. Not wanting to disappoint them, he disclosed some song titles to them; after this encounter, he realized that the band still had a future.

At the beginning of 2004, the band decided to try to salvage the album, taking their management's suggestion to work with an external producer for the first time. The musicians also decided that neutral territory would be beneficial, and went to Los Angeles. John King, one half of the production duo Dust Brothers, was enlisted to produce "Bad Boyfriend". The recordings were completed in King's studio The Boat and Sound City in Los Angeles. Towards the end of the recording sessions, Grohl spent a day performing on drums for "Bad Boyfriend". The band said his performance was "raising the bar" for the record, Manson overcame her writer's block and began to inject political slants into her lyrics, matching them with some new material the band wrote immediately after the King sessions; both "Metal Heart" and "Boys Wanna Fight" referenced the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Despite a plan to record some material with producer Tony Hoffer, the band decided to complete the rest of the album themselves. Erikson later said, "It was kind of seductive to think that maybe someone else [would] solve all of our problems, but in the end you gotta do it yourself". Feeling that previous album Beautiful Garbage seemed fractured, the band decided to use their live sound; Vig said that he wanted "the pumping energy that all the best raw rock records have". The band decided that their fourth album would have a straightforward rock sound, instead of a reliance upon electronica and computer interventions. The musicians composed separately at their home studios, sending each other tracks through e mail and couriers, and the band returned to Wisconsin to finish the album. Bleed Like Me emerged from a collage of samples and loops, and this time the sound was simpler. Erikson said that rather than production, they depended on the songs. while Meldal Johnsen played bass guitar. Most of Manson's vocals were recorded at Vig's home studio, GrungeIsDead. On October 18, the band began mixing the album. and the band included live strings at the last minute on "Happy Home". While the project's working title was Hands on a Hard Body, after the 1997 documentary of the same name, when Manson announced the album's release in November 2004, she confirmed that it would be titled Bleed Like Me. By December 6, 2004, the album was officially completed. It was mastered in New York City;

Listen|filename=WhyDoYouLoveMe. ogg |title="Why Do You Love Me"|description=Sample of lead single "Why Do You Love Me", described as "a melodic Phil Spector girl group sped up fast kind of song" based around a metal riff. and that after many years being insecure about articulating her feelings writing lyrics, The songs about relationships follow Manson's tendency to discuss dark topics and emotions; "Bleed Like Me" discusses problems with empathy and "Bad Boyfriend" is about "a predatory female meeting a predatory man". The album closer "Happy Home" is about conflict within the band and in the wider world during production, the search of forgiveness, peace and coming to terms with one's place in a chaotic world. Matt Walker played drums in the August 22 concert in Chicago because Vig had to depart for his mother's funeral. After being initially organized low key, and released a press statement saying that the band members had overextended themselves. The tour concluded with a concert in Perth, Australia, on October 1, after six months of concerts. In 2012, Manson recalled, "The making of this record was very sad for me. Being the only girl in a gang of four can get pretty lonely. We were all struggling to find our chemistry together, and as a result, the experience of making and promoting this was tense and unenjoyable. Ironically, our shows were selling out every night. But after a while, we decided that we needed to go home to lick our wounds."

The album was preceded by the lead single "Why Do You Love Me", which peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart—Garbage's highest charting single since 1996's "Stupid Girl"—while reaching number eight on Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States, and becoming the band's first single since 1999's "Special" to enter the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 97. The title track was released as the album's second single in the US, reaching number 27 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number six on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. "Sex Is Not the Enemy", the album's second international single and third single overall, peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. The final single, "Run Baby Run", charted at number 47 in Australia and at number 97 in Germany.