"[1] The band emphasized that they did not want to reinvent themselves, but embrace their sonic identity, reflecting their classic sound whilst updating it for 2012.

The album contains bass guitar parts recorded by Justin Meldal-Johnsen while Finnish actress Irina Björklund performs the musical saw on one track.

Photos for the album package were shot by Autumn de Wilde at the Paramour Mansion in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.

[2][3] Aside from a reunion in 2007 to compose new tracks for the compilation Absolute Garbage, the band members found themselves involved in various projects, with Butch Vig producing Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Muse,[4] while singer Shirley Manson recorded an unreleased solo album and made her professional acting debut as a series regular on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

One week later, the group informally convened in Los Angeles, where they laughed, drank, and reminisced of the old days, leaving behind the tensions among them and general weariness that was partly responsible for their 2005 breakup; they set up their equipment and "started fucking around".

[7] In mid-2010, the entire group were in Los Angeles for a birthday, where Manson suggested they book a studio and spend time writing.

After convening, and composing and performing song ideas together through multiple sessions, they then decided to move forward with the band and embark on a full-length album.

[7] The working process was also different; while the previous records had the band gathering for an entire year at Smart Studios, the band would instead work two weeks per month in Los Angeles, with Erikson and Marker flying in from Wisconsin and Colorado, respectively, then spend another two weeks in their home studios while e-mailing ideas back and forth to develop songs.

The band then moved to Bush's studio Red Razor Sounds at Atwater Village, where the engineer did a rough mix of the tracks.

[18] Vig declared that the album's mood emerged from the combination of the "trashy and lo-tech" studio which he compared to a small clubhouse with the band's ProTools and samplers.

[9][18] The band worked on estimatedly "25 or 26 songs" during the album sessions; While a few were still "bits and pieces", Vig stated they might finish them as further bonus tracks, B-sides, or as part of an EP at a later point.

[10] Throughout the recording sessions for the album, the band mentioned several song titles via Facebook and Twitter; these included: "Alone", "Animal", "Choose Your Weapon", "Time Will Destroy Everything" and "T.R.O.U.B.L.E.".

[20][21][22][23] Manson confirmed on Twitter that "Animal" became "The One", a song from the deluxe version,[24] while "Time Will Destroy Everything" was released as the b-side to the band's 2014 Record Store Day single, "Girls Talk".

[25] According to Vig, Not Your Kind of People evokes ambient vibes of Garbage's first two albums, Garbage and Version 2.0: "There's lots of elements of things we've always loved: noisy guitars, big electronic beats, atmospheric film moments", adding that the band "wanted to make a record sound like something that we want to hear when we're driving the car.

[32] Manson explained that the album title Not Your Kind of People was "a call to arms in a way to anyone who feels like we do about the world", saying that "it can be great to be outsider."

"[10] Many songs have a more optimistic view in life, inspired by Manson overcoming a desire to quit music after the death of her mother and realizing how important her work is to her.

"[42] A post on Garbage's Facebook page on January 23, 2012 announced that the band launched their own record label, Stunvolume, to self-release their new studio album, distributed in the United States by Fontana.

[1] In the United Kingdom, 250 copies of the deluxe edition were signed by Garbage and issued as part of the Record Store Day campaign.

"[1] Los Angeles-based studio SMOG Design handled the album's artwork and creative campaign, featuring band photographs by Autumn de Wilde.

[61] The title track, "Not Your Kind of People", was re-recorded in simlish and featured on the newly added "Dark Wave" radio station in The Sims 3: Supernatural expansion pack.

"Sugar" appeared in an episode of The Following,[62] and "Not Your Kind of People", was also later featured in its entirety in the trailer and soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

[65][66] "Thinking about going back on the road is both thrilling and terrifying in equal measure," Manson stated, "...but we've always enjoyed a little pain mixed in with our pleasure.

"[1] Manson considered that self-reflection helped change the way the group approached touring, and, as a result, "we're playing the best shows of our career.

He praised the title track, deeming it a "surprise" and a "beautiful, otherworldly cross between a John Barry Bond theme and a David Bowie outsider anthem.

"[82] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that unlike their previous two albums, "there is no grappling with new sounds and styles, only an embrace of the thick aural onslaught of "Stupid Girl" and "Vow".

"[72] Tim Grierson wrote in The About Group that out of the many '90s bands that reunited in the last few years, "none have done it with as much gusto as Garbage" as they "return with their sexy, edgy vibe intact" and Manson "sounds as ferocious and bruised as ever.

Their "fuzzy-guitar/catchy-hook formula continues to dominate the album" and amidst the fuzz and electronics, "the title-track, Sugar and Beloved Freak do offer moments of (relatively) quiet bliss" — songs that "refreshingly showcase the essence of Manson's voice".

[84] In his review for Time, Adam Kivel likewise stated that the album is most likely to resonate with fans of 90's alternative fusion, characterizing it as "an anomaly" in the current musical climate and not likely to gain significant radio-play.

"[77] NME writer Rick Martin, despite hearing "flashes of their previous class" proving "they haven't completely lost their confrontational electro-rock streak", considered too much of it "pedestrian, anodyne and utterly unremarkable", and wondered "why they ever ditched the near-perfect mid-'90s FM rock of "Stupid Girl".

"[86] Similarly, Jamie Carson of Clash disapproved of the production, calling it "pompousness" and "annoying",[74] and Mark Davison of No Ripcord remarked that "for all the interesting noises that the band have come up with ... the production really doesn't do them any favours, cramming them into a fairly narrow space and stripping them almost entirely of any sense of atmosphere", concluding that the album is nonetheless "enjoyable, and will probably go down better than their last two releases.