It was the best of times, it was most assuredly the worst of times. Initially, 2001 looked like a banner year for peppy techno-rock quartet Garbage. Still swooning from the alterna-chart success of its eponymous 1995 debut and punkier '98 followup Version 2.0, the band--comprised of three brainiac producer/ prodigies and a Scottish siren named Shirley Manson--believed the release of its third salvo Beautiful Garbage would be a career-topping cakewalk. But Dickens himself couldn't have scripted a more disastrous downfall.

Read the full feature article at Paste Music and look for a review on Garbage's latest album Bleed Like Me next week.