Throwback Thursday: The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are my favorite band of all time.There, I said it. And I'll stick to it for the rest of my life. The Beatles come close, Radiohead comes close, but Corgan and Company take my personal title of favorite band of all time. And as 2007 dawns, I can say that the impending Pumpkins reunion album is what I anticipate the most about this year musically.
This tends to baffle people. Many folks remember the Smashing Pumpkins in one of two ways:
- The band fronted by the weird looking bald guy with the nasally voice and huge ego.
- The band that came after Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and was the biggest band in the world for a few years before Limp Bizkit came along.
I'll begin with the personal. The Pumpkins were the first band that were truly my own. I grew up in a house listening to classic rock and oldies; I was a bit too young and not quite rebellious enough to buy into grunge when it dropped after Nevermind. But by 1995, I was 12 years old and looking for something to call my own during my tumultuous junior high years. And thankfully, I found Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - a musical masterwork. This album changed my life; without it, I would never have become as involved and active in music as I am today.
And the musical contentions - there are quite a few:
- The Pumpkins are among the bravest bands I've ever encountered. With each and every album, the Pumpkins strove to break new musical ground, pushing their sound to new areas and levels that they had never explored before. No Smashing Pumpkins album sounds alike. Starting as a psychedelia influenced garage rock band that was emulating Black Sabbath, the Pumpkins became the best stadium band in the world for most of the early to mid 1990s. And then! After releasing the biggest album in the world with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Pumpkins put out Adore - which is nothing short of a triumph. Critically lauded but largely overlooked, it was a band reinventing their entire being after kicking Jimmy Chamberlin out of the band - exploring drum machines, acoustics, keyboards and new guitar tones. Upon Chamberlin rejoining the band, the Pumpkins aimed to meld these two worlds - the moody atmospherics of Adore with the anthemic feel of the earlier records. While many contend MACHINA/the Machines of God was an average album, I see it as a band continuing to move forward - taking the lessons they've learned from making previous albums to keep developing new sounds.
- The Pumpkins are among the most dynamic bands that I have ever heard. Not only was the foursome capable of devastatingly loud, crushing guitar riffs, but they tempered it with the ability to scale back their sound - creating music that ebbed and flowed, making outstanding use of crescendo and decrescendo, and clean guitar against distorted guitar. They were just as capable of writing a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad as they were at writing the heaviest of rock tunes.
- Billy Corgan writes great songs. He is a versatile and exploratory songwriter who isn't afraid to tackle a variety of sounds, genres and emotions. His lyrics are honest without being obvious; introspective without being egocentric.
- Billy Corgan is one of the all time best guitar playing frontmen. Seriously - pick another lead guitarist from the modern era, who also sang lead vocals, that can play like Corgan. I have a very hard time thinking of anybody outside of the all time legends. If you don't believe me, go search YouTube for videos of the man playing live. Its just sick.
- Jimmy Chamberlin is the best drummer since John Bonham.
It is my sincere hope that they resonate with some of you that never got into this band beyond what you heard on the radio. This band has done more for me than any other - so it is my absolute pleasure to share this with anyone who will listen.
Gish (1991)
Rhinoceros
Tristessa
Siamese Dream (1993)
Mayonaise
Geek USA
Soma
Pisces Iscariot (1994)
La Dolly Vita
Whir
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Muzzle
XYU
Galapogos
Stumbleine
Adore (1998)
To Sheila
Tear
The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete
Apples + Oranjes
MACHINA/The Machines of God (2000)
This Time
Stand Inside Your Love
MACHINA II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music (2000)
~MACHINA II was released as a series of free downloads by the band. To obtain the full album, you can go here.
If There Is A God (piano/vox)
Let Me Give the World To You
Cash Car Star
Go
Home
Bootlegs and Rarities
1979 (Acoustic - Farewell Concert at the United Center, 11/29/2000)
features Jimmy Chamberlin on guitar and Matt Walker on drums
Muzzle (Acoustic - Farewell Concert at the United Center, 11/29/2000)
Untitled
~the final Smashing Pumpkins single, released the night of their United Center farewell concert to Q101 radio in Chicago, and eventually placed on Rotten Apples, their greatest hits compilation.
YouTube
For Martha (Live)
Cherub Rock (Live)
Tear (Live)
Fuck You (An Ode To No One) (Live)
Past Throwbacks:
1/4/07: Ryan Adams
12/28/06: The Replacements
12/14/06: Talking Heads
12/07/06: Peter Gabriel
11/30/06: The Pixies
11/16/06: Prince
11/09/06: Ben Folds Five
11/02/06: Beastie Boys
10/26/06: Joy Division
10/19/06: They Might Be Giants
10/12/06: The Psychedelic Furs
10/05/06: The Clash
09/28/06: The Smiths
09/21/06: A Tribe Called Quest
09/14/06: R.E.M.
09/07/06: The Cure
08/31/06: Morphine
08/24/06: The Lemonheads
08/17/06: Depeche Mode
08/10/06: New Order
Labels: The Smashing Pumpkins, Throwback Thursday
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Analyzed by Chris on Thursday, January 11, 2007
17 Comments:
What can I say? You've done it again! Brilliant stuff, the post that made my week.
MUCH LOVE from Toronto, you're the greatest :)
Pretty sick dude. Since I'm slightly older than you, The Pumpkins were big in my high school and college years. This brings back some serious memories from those years.
I do agree with what you had to say. While they may have been ridiculously huge at one point, I never felt that the mainstream ever understood them or their capabilities. There was so much more to them than the side the radio showed or the freakshow that the media portrayed them to be. It was almost like they had two sets of fans... the true ones and those that liked them because it was the cool thing to do. Anyway, nice job.
damn, i still listen to gish and/or siamese dream every few weeks. they totally perfect spectors wall of sound feel on siamese dream. i think there are 5 perfect albums and that is one of them.
didn't get into them much after that, but will now have to dig it up again.
and yes jimmy chamberlain is sick sick sick.
I was just listening to Siamese Dream the other day and thinking to myself, "this album rules." I could never get into "Machina" though. I think they sort of lost the magic, then.
Thanks Joe. I remember when Gish came out and I practically creamed my pants. I went and saw them play in a little club in Portland and was won over immediately. Those drums are some of the best ever!
great post. i love the Pumpkins (though not as much as you ;-). Corgan is a great songwriter. thanks
Right on, Chris. I always get sneers from my hipster music connosieur friends whenever I declare my love for the Pumpkins. I was something of a late bloomer when it came to rock; it wasn't until I was almost out of high school that I managed to find the hook between my more tepid interest in film scores to Oingo Boingo (for which I only score points with said friends for sheer uniquity of epiphanic choice). But after over a year of wearing out their last studio album, it wasn't until "Mellon Collie" that the latter teen angst I was experiencing found its tone, from the simmering anger of Danny Elfman to the full blown screaming fit and yearning strains of Billy Corgan. (The next step from there, BTW, was the sheer operatic, reality-shattering howl of Maynard James Keenan from Tool.) There is no part of the Pumpkins catalogue that I do not love; it is exquisite in its design and intent, even in coping with events beyond artistic control, like Chamberlin's dismissal and the death of Corgan's mom.
Obviously, Corgan isn't infallible; Zwan was lovely but ultimately empty, and his solo album, while of course head and shoulders above the pack, is still listless and fails to capture at least this sympathetic listener's attention. You would think, then, that I'd be more psyched for the Pumpkins' reconsitution, but I fear it may be just about 60% of the original: no word yet whether Iha or D'Arcy are involved, which probably means they're not, and while Melissa Auf Der Maur will likely be on bass and is officially an alum of the band, she nevertheless was a touring member, not a studio one, and only for the band's lackluster last year. I hope to hell my fears are unfounded, but I'll believe that when I hear it. Still, whatever the product, I will probably be front and center whenever the band calling itself the Smashing Pumpkins comes to venue near me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
xian said...
wow. chris. if i even remotely had any desire (even if repressed) for penis. i'd want to marry you. just. you know. not.
best post ever.
The pumpkins were MY Pumpkins.
grew up with them. wore the tshirt. watched the movie. bought the coffee mug. you get the idea.
Corgan is a fascinating writer/lyricist and over the years his songs have taken so many different meanings.
Almost as if every time I heard frail and bedazzled or mayonaise, it stood for something completely different than the last time i'd heard them.
your track selection was good.
Here's a mere list of what I thought to be a pretty good "Essential Mix" selection:
:: Musica Sin Sentido ::
good lookin' on the mp3s as well.
Gish I owned in cassette format until my senior year in high school.
siamese taught me what little guitar i know how to play, or at least sparked my interest in playing (i did play in a pumpkins cover band my sophomore year i'll have you know. /loser)
pisces made me fall in love with them.
melloncollie reinforced my interest delving into writing of my own.
adore. i remember rushing to blockbuster music in el paso, tx when this ish came out. TEAR. that is all.
machina reminds me of relocating to austin, tx. after graduation.
the gazillion bootlegs found online and at cd exchange stores along the way.
if i feel passionately about any band. this is the one.
thanks for the post.
Thanks for this retrospective. I had heard the hits before on the radio, but never delved deeper. Theres some real gems here.
Love the band. My favourite album of all time is "Adore" and even though it's almost been 10 years since it was released, nothing else comes close.
jesus! This could have been me talking, word for word. I have written the exact same article in my head a hundred times defending my Pumpkin love. So strange.
I...can´t...the songs you chose, would have chosen these exact same songs..EXACT! The only difference is that in ´95 I was already 14 but otherwise I didn´t really get into them until that year. This is fucking unbelievable. Who are you and what are you doing in my brain!?
COULDN'T. AGREE. MORE.
Big love from Madison, Wisconsin (the beautiful city where 'Siamese Dream' was recorded, FYI.)
Wow, big influx of comments over the last few hours. Thanks all for the comments - and I'm thrilled to see so many people who share the feelings that I do for this band. I pulled the MP3s down, as they'd been up for awhile, but I hope everybody is able to track down some of the tracks here - as well as the many others that I would have liked to post but may have been too long (see: Starla, Thru the Eyes of Ruby, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, etc).
July 7, 2007. Fitting that the band is releasing the new album on what has twice been named Smashing Pumpkins Day in Chicago.
Cheers everyone, and thanks for reading. Keep those comments coming if you've got something to say!
This is wonderful. You took the words right out of my mouth. :)
I'm really gonna miss James and D'arcy though. :(
same here.Back at MCIS days it was my own band and it ll always will be.
cant agree more with you for the analysis.Though i honestly cant see the reason why they are never among what the music press and the likes call legends..
Im getting sick each and every time i hear jimmy drumming quick n steady then slow n steady (well ull have heard drum solos if not from zwan ,from the Metro show),i still have some faith he is a robot :lol:
*ill agree also with what joe said.They did create 2 waves of fans, the die hard -eccentrics maybe- that found a soul mate in these songs and the "rock kids" who moved on to the next top-20 of the charts..
P.S. it still remains the only band i cant find any song i cant relate to,i will skip.considering the amount of unreleased ones thats a huge trackbase.
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