On Wednesday, Garbage revealed the cover art for Not Your Kind Of People, the group’s first studio album in seven years, out May 14. The cream version on the right is the standard version, while the red version is slated for the deluxe edition.

I admit to initial disappointment upon seeing the artwork. Where’s the flash, the drama? How about a gorgeous shot of Shirley Manson and the boys? But then I remembered the band’s previous album covers have never showcased the members, and thought specifically of the artwork for their 1995 self-titled debut:

Then a brand-new band with what was, to some, an off-putting name, Garbage’s pairing of a pile of pink feathers with a messy typewriter font hinted at the mix of pleasure and pain awaiting inside. After hearing the music, the name didn’t matter much.

Now with 17-plus years of history behind them, Garbage needs no introduction. The cover art for Not Your Kind Of People is a simple, yet forceful announcement: “Yes. We’re back.” Harkening back to the band’s initial branding — a single letter and typeface brilliantly burnished in the mid-’90s — a giant lowercase “g” nearly says it all, and the basic background supports that focus. It may not be revolutionary design, but don’t we all just want to get to the new music inside?

I still remember the excitement upon hearing “Vow” for the first time on the radio in the spring of 1995, anxiously awaiting the single’s release, and then playing it to near-death. Garbage’s debut album, released that fall, exceeded expectations from the blast of opening track, “Supervixen,” to the captivating yearn of “Milk.” I had a new favorite band.

“Stupid Girl” was the fourth single released from Garbage, and The Clash-sampling tune became their breakthrough hit. The song climbed to #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock in the summer of 1996, and even reached #5 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart thanks to a remix by Todd Terry (also serviced to Top 40 radio, which had embraced his re-do of Everything But The Girl’s “Missing.”) “Stupid Girl” was also nominated for two Grammy awards, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Song by a Duo or Group, though the band took home neither.

“The song is really about squandering potential — kind of our version of Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself,’ but a little more subversive,” Shirley Manson remarked at the time. Speaking about the song several years later, Butch Vig said it could have just as easily been titled, “Stupid Boy.”

The “Stupid Girl” music video was directed by Samuel Bayer, who had previously lensed “Vow” and “Only Happy When It Rains”:

Purchase Garbage – “Stupid Girl” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

Yesterday, Garbage announced the first single from Not Your Kind Of People will be “Blood For Poppies.” [UPDATE: Listen to a snippet, courtesy Live 105.] The band also posted a video, in which we get to hear the album’s tracklisting straight from the foursome’s mouths:

Here’s the full tracklisting for Not Your Kind Of People:

1 “Automatic Systematic Habit”
2 “Big Bright World”
3 “Blood For Poppies”
4 “Control”
5 “Not Your Kind Of People”
6 “Felt”
7 “I Hate Love”
8 “Sugar”
9 “Battle In Me”
10 “Man On A Wire”
11 “Beloved Freak”

The Deluxe Edition includes four bonus tracks:
12 “The One”
13 “What Girls Are Made Of”
14 “Bright Tonight”
15 “Show Me”

Garbage – Not Your Kind Of People is out May 14. Pre-order now via Amazon.