Number of Good Songs Had By the Smashing Pumkings

Pumkings lol

original run released roughly 150+ songs and they're all good at the very least

better question would be how many songs of theirs are transcendent and manage to show all sides of the band

like what's one song where they show off nearly every side of the band and what they can do?

for me that's "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans." you don't have to listen to all 2 hours of MCIS to hear every spoke of the wheel- it's more or less all there in that one 9 minute song.

thru the eyes of ruby, that one with the guitar solo and maybe half of another one. 2.5 feels right

Can we get a poll option expressing their # good songs as a % of oases # good songs

one poll at a time man

oh 'porcelina of the vast oceans'! that's the .5 I think

I don't think I've ever heard a song by them.

xps lol fuck off is anyone outside of the podcast voice belt of America ever going to a 9 minute smashing pumpkins song for fun or any other reason

Please correct the spelling in the thread title, it's Smashing Pupkins.

Oasis has 1 good song. However they did it like three times, so Oasis with the win.

Oasis Interview vs Smashing Pumpkins Interview however...that would be a tough one.

well the first 2 minutes of Porcelina is a fade-in

can only vote if you confirm that the Pearl Jam song with Cypress Hill on vocals instead of Vedder counts

the correct SP comparison is with Nine Inch Nails, who have at least ten good songs

does pearl jam have good songs?

if you choose that option you'll need to factor that in

hard disagree on NIN having more than 2.5 good songs. i can only think of 2: head like a hole and closer

I do like what I've heard from SP even though Corgan is increasingly the '90s altrock star most likely to turn into Curt Schilling or Scott Baio. and I guess his vocals are what keep me from really digging much deeper.

I was sure I could think of more than two and a half Pumpkins songs I honestly like, but if I'm being honest I'm not so sure. I bet if I listen to the albums I would find a few more I have forgotten about, which yes is maybe Pearl Jam territory. I would certainly much rather see Pearl Jam live or Nine Inch Nails than Smashing Pumpkins.

SP and PJ both have 'a lot' of good songs

xxxpost
NIN get a half for the redic break down during "Perfect Drug" which otherwise is not a good song

Can we program in a poll where anyone misusing collective "has" to refer gonna bands output gets expelled

Americans, you mean?

Might just retitle the thread so the poll is about a different band every day.

I didn't want to make it about Americans but yes Americans

I think they have the same number of good songs, but PJ earns some sort of extra credit for openers, rock the vote etc
2.5

I do like what I've heard from SP even though Corgan is increasingly the '90s altrock star most likely to turn into Curt Schilling or Scott Baio. and I guess his vocals are what keep me from really digging much deeper.

― omar little, Monday, February 19, 2018 1:14 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i totally get this and hear this a lot from people. and that's why i recommend the gravity demos. though these lean on the heavier side of the band. i'd link the incredible 23 minuet riff collage PASTICHIO MEDLEY but it's not on youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hofsINFuDwk

forgot to mention i recommend those things because they are instrumental

i voted a lot even though i only like some

music is subjective guys idk if u kno

something between 2.5 and 50

love this band

only "1979" so same as PJ I guess

relevant quotation marks lol

i like ‘1969’ until billy opens his mouth

er ‘1979’ obv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcRLp8KmluI

for the record i live in the bible belt & don't listen to podcasts

I came here to say that the only Smashing Pupkings songs I've knowingly heard are "1979", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", and the rat in a cage song, and that while all three of those songs are bad songs, it doesn't seem fair to judge their entire discography on that basis

but it turns out that "Bullet With Butterfly Songs" is the rat in a cage song, so I voted for "no actual good songs" to punish Billy Corgan for making a fool of me

Cherub Rock is a perfect song you should know that one too

I just pulled it up on youtube but it doesn't ring a bell. aside from the two songs I mentioned (and "Tonight, Tonight", which it turns out I also recognize) it doesn't seem like the Pumpkins got much airplay on the mnstrm rock stations I listened to in the early to mid '00s

At some point I narrowed my necessary Pumpkins down to Rhinocerous, Mayonaise, Soma, and Drown. There are other songs with great riffs in them, but nothing that I listen to on purpose.

I enjoy a much wider swath of PJ's catalog, but don't listen to it as often for some reason?

They have a bunch of dope songs imo, 1979, Ava adore, bullet, they only come out at night, disarm, idk i think they’re generally good if overrated by billy corgan & fans

They have a bunch of dope songs imo, 1979, Ava adore, bullet, they only come out at night, disarm, idk i think they’re generally good if overrated by billy corgan & fans

Ive never liked pearl jam

poll runner please confirm that what i choose is my choice

I voted lol britishes

Is that on Gish or

no gods no pumpkings

mr pumpkins, smash me a pump
make it the pumpkinest that i've ever seen

anyway does anyone else think billy shaving his head was the first sign of his eventual downfall

what are you talking about, its the look that solidified him as the pumpkin king of halloween town

top 10, no particular order

Acting Tips
Seventh Grade
James Dean on Havenhurst
Fifth Grade
Splash Mountain
My Place
Utah
Second Grade
Lindsay
1979

Ladies Love Pearl James

mr pumpkins, smash me a pump
make it the pumpkinest that i've ever seen

anyway does anyone else think billy shaving his head was the first sign of his eventual downfall

damn, didn't realize this was a poll about the Smashing Pumkings, the Kings of Pum.

ts: the smashing pumpkins vs the smashing pumkings vs just smashing pumpkins

everyone saying they only have 2.5 good songs has probably never heard Siva

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzBVvD1vUvM

I have heard Siva. I have downloaded the "Mashed Potatoes" collection. I have experienced Viewphoria, Earphoria and Netphoria. I have heard the 'superior' mono mix of Adore, played on vinyl. I have at one point owned The Future Embrace.

The Passion Shopkins only have 2.5 good songs.

*Vieuphoria

ah well good then. imo the mono version of adore is not superior and billy was just being difficult when he said that

'blank page' tho

but really adore means they have at least 16 good songs, 15 if you want to be thorny about "ava adore"

all the boys think she's a spy
she's got smashy pumpkus eyes

i like anton webern

(xps) ...hence the quotes around superior.

Truth is Pisces Iscariot alone has more than 2.5 good songs.

Anyway, it's cool that you're into the Pumpkins. If you're receptive to further suggestions, may I recommend The Cure?

i like anton webern

Symphony is about as good as it gets. Will never part with Siamese Dream, though.

which is the one that goes "today is the greatest something something"?

http://sickhorses.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/billy-corgan.jpg

title track on the 'greatest something' ep

it's a crappy song

It has a sweet child o mine quality that is bad

works fine on the album, though

smashing pumkids

Today is the greatest crappy song I know

otm

but really adore means they have at least 16 good songs, 15 if you want to be thorny about "ava adore"

― lowercase (eric), Monday, February 19, 2018 7:49 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

now see this is my guy

In some alternative reality where they had done Gish, then finished the demos for Siamese Dream, before Billy Corgan tragically OD'ed, their legend would have slowly grown over the last few decades (like Neutral Milk Hotel or pre-Green Album Weezer), and the answer would be firmly in the double digits.

However, we live in a different strand of the multiverse which also has infowars and juvenile text message exchanges regarding reunion tours. Not to mention all that post-1993 output.

almost every song they released up until 1998 is good don't @ me

I like the drums and a lot of the guitar sound on the first album.

Prefer the gypsy pumkings tbh

Like many of the better alt rock bands of that era, they had a number of good songs which would have been amazing if they were instrumentals.

Like, how many bands were there in the '90s whose weakest link by far was the noise pollution coming from their frontman's facehole?

a lot

But yeah, if you're able to filter out Corgan's voice (which I'm seemingly able to do), basically this:

almost every song they released up until 1998 is good don't @ me

― Simon H., Tuesday, February 20, 2018 7:36 AM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, this.

I vividly remember when they debuted the first single off of Mellon Collie, and he started in with "The world is a vampire", and me thinking "he's can't seriously think that voice sounds good."
I was a pretty huge fan up until that moment, but I got off the bus in a hurry. The singing on the first 2 albums had very little hint of that adenoidal whine.

Pre-Bald Billy Punkins were okay, but the appearance of Nosferfat-u and the rat in a cage was the end of me ever wanting to listen to them voluntarily. Also, they were hot garbage at the Lollapalooza I saw them play. When a zitty Pavement fan thinks that your band can't "bring it" live, the whole enterprise is in trouble.

Counterpoint: they weren't good until he went bald

Mellon Collie is definitely where his voice begins to transition from weird to insufferable but I think it works well on "Bullet"

yeah that's a killer song. first time I heard it was a live broadcast and he really snarled that opening line. made the song. was a bit disappointed when i heard the recorded version but it's still a great song.

One of the many reasons Siamese Dream is their best record is that Butch Vig slathered enough reverb and processing onto his voice to make it tolerable, it's this barely human sounding wispy thing rather than this nasty weedly slimy thing.

you know, despite liking the Pumpkins through the nineties Siamese is the one that never really clicked too well with me. I like 'Soma' off that one.

In Spanish we refer to them as Smashing Pompis.

http://www.spanishdict.com/traductor/pompis

Corgan is pretty pompous ya

Pre-Bald Billy Punkins were okay, but the appearance of Nosferfat-u and the rat in a cage was the end of me ever wanting to listen to them voluntarily.

Technically Billy still had his hair in the "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" video, so there!

I find it funny that people are still arguing so vehemently about Corgan's voice in 2018, about 25 years after my classmates and I did the same thing during recess in 8th grade. I never thought it was that bad...

it would be a bit weird if he'd sounded like Sade

it's interesting how the 3/4 reunion announcement has made ppl talk about the Pumpkins and BC again for the first time in many years, IRL and on here it's mostly ppl that aren't fans or are casual fans. hence the voice discussion

and yea Billy sounds different on Gish and especially SD because Butch Vig made him do hundreds of takes, going so far as to comp individual syllables. on MCIS, not only did Billy record with a handheld mic w/o headphones, he didn't double track much, and Flood encouraged him to go for "passion rather than pitch," so... ymmv

I gave them 2.5 based on Gish alone, where I could 3, which were surely eroded to 2.5 by everything else they did.

which 3 tho

imo "good tracks" needs to be an integer. the line is set at 2.5 good tracks to set a clear threshold. so people claiming fractions of good tracks are misinformed rats in cages despite all their rages.

his voice is good, his commercial sell out songs from the mid-late 90s are awesome

that suggests he ever had any indie hangups about 'selling out' to begin with. are you talking about the soundtrack songs, "Eye" and "The End is the Beginning is the End"?

.5 is symbolic

it means i like a couple tracks but i don't buy their whole shtick

kinda like when you like one or two things in a song and then the singer messes it up

i didn't realize any of this wasn't symbolic. still, there are correct and incorrect ways to do things. going to flag your post, but note for the mods that it should only count as .5 a flag post. i disagree with the post's content, but i appreciate that you had the good sense to double space.

i would resist aligning their whole schtick with my music taste personally but think they certainly have more than 2.5 good songs, think billy corgan possibly had a deluded view of what he was good at but was nonetheless talented & applied his passion in ways that did result in good music, maybe semi-accidentally (or more accidentally than most artists) i almost feel like 'intent' for corgan couldn't possibly align with what makes him good, but at any rate, what symbolic answer is that? i voted 'a lot'

anyone saying 2.5 to me feels like they're really pushing against the grain of history or just have a distaste for their work idk

like 0 and 2.5 might as well be the same answer

I think his intent, at least early on, was to make emotional rock anthems that combined 70s prog/AOR with 80s/90s alternative rock? Which is what he achieved?

yes. he said this re: the band's conceptual origins in a 1995 MTV 'Rockumentary' that aired the week that Mellon Collie came out: "It seemed very obvious to me that if someone could somehow combine everything that they liked about music into a almost like a hodgepodge band, that seemed obvious to me where I wanted to go, so I just picked like my 7 favorite bands." ---which is a low number tbh. he was equally influenced by Boston, ELO, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Queen, The Beatles, and Cheap Trick as he was Joy Division, Bauhaus, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, U2, R.E.M., The Cure, Jane's Addiction... it's funny, writing that out, I realize how similar Billy's curated 'hodgepodge' mentality is to Pavement's record collector nerd mentality, but without any of the coy / pretentious pose.

i mean obviously Billy is pretentious, but he was always open about the process and his own grandiosity. familiarity breeds contempt

I Am One, Siva, Tristessa+(1979-Bullet w/ Butterfly Wings)
____________________________________ =2.5

"You Hurt Me Deeply In My Heart"

im sure he had more ideas about his music than reductive genre formula mathematics but ok sure

Obviously

Thread is super-illuminating in that it proves decisively that NV is the only one who makes funny jokes on this board

anyone saying 2.5 to me feels like they're really pushing against the grain of history or just have a distaste for their work idk

yeah, disliking the majority of a band's music pretty much means you have a distate for their work.

resist aligning their whole schtick with my music taste personally

"I realize how similar Billy's curated 'hodgepodge' mentality is to Pavement's record collector nerd mentality, but without any of the coy / pretentious pose."

wait, why are pavement pretentious? they were totally fun and goofy. i also don't get the coy part. they weren't shrinking violets.

There are probably about 5 songs that I like enough that I won't change the radio station if I'm driving, I guess that's worth about .5 good per song, none of these are their biggest hits though so I never hear them anyway.

Smashing PumpKing's X might be a tribute band that could do well w/a v specific demographic

"I realize how similar Billy's curated 'hodgepodge' mentality is to Pavement's record collector nerd mentality, but without any of the coy / pretentious pose."

wait, why are pavement pretentious? they were totally fun and goofy. i also don't get the coy part. they weren't shrinking violets.

― scott seward, Tuesday, February 20, 2018 2:37 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i don't really get that at all

or i should say i think flapz just wanted to talk shit abt pavement and drag em into the pumpking patch

post/username combinations I have enjoyed xxp

princesscarolyn.jpg

As someone who was a teenager in the 90s in North America, I had a lot of friends who were really into the Smashing Pumpkins so I heard a lot of their stuff, but never really got into it that much. Always seemed like it was never quite as good as everybody was saying it was.

All that being said, I guess I'd probably be defending this band right now if in 1995 I had put my limited funds towards randomly buying Melon Collie the month it came out instead of some other well reviewed or hyped album (Garbage?). That's just how these things go.

been meaning to relisten to garbage again

so have I. I keep listening to other stuff though.

that happy when it rains song is good

Really, I've been meaning to critically reevaluate (privately, in my mind) everything I've ever liked.

you should actually start a thread and chronicle this reevaluation in minute detail culminating in a poll

pavement had at least 8 great songs. and lots of good ones.

zero good smashing pumkings song forever

ty for this thread some of us who hate this fuckin band need it

despite all yr rage iirc

I'm struggling through Mellon Collie and it's basically just this sea of bad music with two toweringly brilliant epics in the middle - TTEOR especially feels like the work of a different band

my theory is that they didn't have enough collective energy to fully work through their songs, so they put a lot into a few of them and basically knocked the rest out without really thinking. like, Zero is a nice idea that could really go somewhere and...doesn't. and then again that's one of the rare good ideas to begin with. most of these songs don't seem to have had much put into the original conception

have you struggled through pisces iscariot

I can provide a Paypal address?

i don't own it but have u tried the internet?

Pumpkins are over and done but have boatloads of great songs.

What most amuses me is how a topic like this actually brings all the ilm boys to the yard, in 2018. Well played NV, well played.

my gourd is better than yours

resist aligning their whole schtick with my music taste personally

― Planck Blather (darraghmac), Tuesday, February 20, 2018 2:18 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

im basically saying i dont buy into the mythic grandeur of the Pumpkins project but i do think they made a decent number of good songs, idk what's weird abt that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps3SQJhn1aI

I agree with D-40 on the "there is no mythic grandeur to this high grift" but disagree on the "is even one note of theirs worth playing twice" position

have felt like the world was trolling me on this band for two-plus decades now, Christ they suck

or i should say i think flapz just wanted to talk shit abt pavement and drag em into the pumpking patch

Your outright hatred surprises me. I mean, you can think they suck, for sure, but it's almost as if it's personal.

You're such diametrical opposites it's hard for me to grasp why you'd invest in hatred for this band instead of, y'know, shrug it off. (though I will always defend your right to hate bands with a passion, obviously)

xp to j0hn

Heard Garbage pink and orange albums today at the gym. They have at least 2.5 good songs in them.

Garbage One: Vow and Stupid Girl are 1.5. Queer and Only Happy When it rains a .5 each.

2.0: the first four singles are a .5 each. The rest of the album a .5

if you don't like their music, you have to at least give billy some credit. he had a good contract while playing the human brother in Small Wonder, and he could have sat on those millions.

Never liked Stupid Girl.

just started listening to this album (garbage). Supervixen is reasonably enjoyable, looking at the track list, I'm remembering that "As Heaven is Wide" is the track I liked a lot. I'll post an update when I get there.

Supervixen, OHWIR, Vow and Stupid Girl would have been a stellar EP

Rest of the album isn't too bad either. Much better than any SP record anyway

how were the ideas, though?

You don't like Siamese Dream, imago? I'm actually a little surprised.

LJ, I refuse to believe you really think the second disc of Mellon Collie is a "sea of shit". It simply must tickle even your specific progge fancy.

(you said sea of bad music, sorry :)

does the drummer use sticks to strike the drum heads? that seems like a fine idea for any song.

Siamese Dream never really clicked with me although I'll probably try it out again. Is it Soma that's the OK one, or Hummer? I forget haha

Second side of Mellon Collie has better hit-rate than first. Apart from the enormous Ruby we've got...I mean, TOASE is pleasingly abrasive, as is XYU, and By Starlight is nice I guess

"Soma" and "Hummer" are probably my two favourites.

Soma Hummer, happened so fast

Hummer is my fave SP song, just before 'Set the Ray to Jerry'. Love the great music this band gave me when 16, but also luv2laugh at all this. NV on the ~Zeitgeist~ yall.

Billy playing all the bass parts etc in the studio just confirmed his place as the shit yank Noel Gallagher

dmac mercilessly calling out bonehead and guigsy itt

iet

Your outright hatred surprises me. I mean, you can think they suck, for sure, but it's almost as if it's personal.

what can I say, I was in my early 20s when they became successful, and I was like...the last ten years of work in the underground are yielding...this??? and then people signing onto it when the dude has never written a lyric worth remembering

I take shit this bad personally, yeah

my boredom has outshone the sun
it's so dumb
I just want to have some
little fun
*guitar solo*

we made out to cupid de locke
we slam danced to cherub rock
*guitar solo*

I can relate to JCLC's hatred of BC's lyrics, but I do think some of the Adore era stuff is actually pretty strong in this regard, definitely helped along by the fact that it was driven by genuine loss as opposed to the usual petty treacheries. There was some unity of delivery, content and intent there I don't think is matched on any of the other records.

I agree wholeheartedly, though I doubt JCLC took note of those lyrics, and I really can't blame him for holding a grudge. Corgan wrote some shitty lyrics. But also wrote lots of good ones, but that was probably when a lot of people had already signed off.

Adore is real though. In terms of lyrics and music - regardless of who played what instrument (lol billy all of them). But especially lyrics, or dealing with death in the family.

2.5 obv

terrible horrible bands. i'm happy all the 90s bands are dying/dead.

i'll never forget the first time i heard pumpkin spice, i started running to my radio to hit the "OFF" button but i didn't make it in time and i threw up all over myself thank you so much pumpkins i ruined my brand new carpet because of your nauseating music

donrickles

Is Noel Gallagher the shit Brit Billy Corgan though, deems?

can only vote if you confirm that the Pearl Jam song with Cypress Hill on vocals instead of Vedder counts

still waiting for the go-ahead to say this band had one good song, NV

Hijacking this thread.

Xxxxpost: stupid girl was one of their better songs live tho

https://youtu.be/D3V0Nkub3U4

Listening to Siamese Dream because of this thread, "Disarm" should have been a warning sign for how it was going to go horribly wrong.

I have to say also that burning SP for their lyrics against other big bands of the period is weird to me, like I love PJ and Soundgarden too but I would never highlight their lyrics *in particular* as being all that great

definitely helped along by the fact that it was driven by genuine loss as opposed to the usual petty treacheries.

Gish and Siamese Dream are largely about child abuse and trauma

In which case, it's a weakness of BC's lyrics and delivery that the thematic seriousness rarely lands. Again, not an issue with Adore.

I get what you're saying re: "petty treacheries" as there's a lot of that on Mellon Collie ("Zero," "X.Y.U.", "Fuck You") and some on SD ("Soma"). but Mellon Collie also has "To Forgive"... I mean, that's about Billy's dad beating him on his birthday. I know that doesn't necessarily beget great lyrics, but Adore wasn't breaking new ground so much as maturing, and like you said there is a real unity of vision and voice on that record that isn't present on the more cocky & adolescent records that preceded it.

xp

yeah I understand that, though I'd say "To Forgive" is the exception, a song that would probably fit in the Adore song cycle better than anything else on MCIS or before. "Disarm" too but the ostentatious arrangement on SD really obscures the pain of the song. I never liked "Disarm," but this solo mellotron & voice arrangement from the In Plainsong shows in 2016 absolutely blew me away. Made me hear the song in a totally new way which I didn't think was possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPymWbq2GD4

Thanks for that clip - love the mic hit.

haha i know! and Billy's bleat cutting out- so funny how it's so short but immediately recognizable

I USED TO BE A LITTLE BOY

sorry, carry on

I voted none, but to be honest I think the intro to "Mayonaisse" which wiki tells me was written by James Iha (and most importantly is instrumental) is pretty good. So technically 0.5 but I rounded down.

I was in my early 20s when they became successful, and I was like...the last ten years of work in the underground are yielding...this???

i guess i wasn't there & i know there was a lot of controversy about the Smashing Pumpkins and their relationship to the "underground" but to me it's just like, listening to Pisces Iscariot I just hear classic after classic after classic. they captured lightning in a bottle. their music is singular and special in spite of & because of the unimpeded ego of their frontman. four bars of "Whir" is worth a bajillion Steve Albini recordings to me, personally.

i like cherub rock and rhinoceros and 1979 so i'm over 2.5 but not by much. i like the idea of a grandiose rock band with that big muff direct sound, but most of their songs are a chore and the later material is a joke.

crüt my thoughts exactly

call all destroyer good post. those are a good pick only 3 too

@ imago - you ever heard the live version of Thru the Eyes of Ruby? this would be my favorite Pumpkins song by far if the studio version included the extended coda they always played live '96-'97. it sorta peters out and settles into the mellon collie theme reprise on the album, but live they'd build it back up into this colossus, it's just incredible

coda starts at 5:15, the peak of the entire body of work by the band imo starts at 6:52

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdjIdc9-13U

Number of good songs ever by anyone: 15.75

the best band of their generation, even though corgan is a dreadful lyricist

like charlie brown, I have never seen the great pumkings

(2.5 songs is the right answer - oh, let's say Disarm and 1979 and Cherub Rock - but the real cultural contribution, the one that shall be remembered, is 'you hurt me deeply in my heart')

2.5 is the right answer regardless of any actual reasoning

you 2.5 me deeply in my heart

the best band of their generation, even though corgan is a dreadful lyricist

― ufo, Wednesday, February 21, 2018 1:34 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

His lyrics are gloriously ridiculous, just like his singing. Big part of why Melon Collie is their apex.

Pearl Jam are the only band I've seen live to make me weep. I haven't seen Pumpkins live but I'm pretty sure Corgan could also reduce me to tears, albeit for different reasons.

I always cry when the Pumpkins play 'I Dreamed a Dream' live. But boy do I laugh when they play 'Master of the House'.

PO2.5

Number of Good Poll Options Had By the Pearl Cream

Where do you like to listen to #PearlJam?

— Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) February 22, 2018

lmao holy shit @ "at the gym"

hey spin the black circle is a great gym song

don't tickle squatters not fair to

I can provide a Paypal address?

― imago, Tuesday, February 20, 2018 4:17 PM (five days ago)Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sheez. The good days are well and truly over

(I think you might like "Starla", imago--stoner rock epic the last half of which is fully in thrall to some inexorable vertiginous build)

haha OK, will check out

will check out gratis, even

'Starla' is one of their very best tracks.

hmm this isn't bad at all yeah

it's their Safesurfer, haha

the 5 minute guitar solo that's essentially the second half of Starla was recorded in 1 take at 7am when they were under deadline to deliver a B-side. they really should've done more spontaneous stuff like that in the studio. X.Y.U., Pissant, and Marquis in Spades are the only other SP tracks I can think of that were recorded totally live, vocals and all.

Starla's also the track in which you can hear an ambulance drive by, no?

yes! also on "Soothe" you can hear the early morning buses outside Billy's apartment

I always liked that they kept that in. At the time it felt very PI-y to have done so, b-sides and all, but you are right about the spontaneous approach over all and that that did them a world of good. It's a shame Corgan lost the ability to let it hang loose once in a while.

*cue: 'horses run once in awhile for u*

It's a shame Corgan lost the ability to let it hang loose once in a while.

ha this reminded me that "Shame" from Adore was recorded mostly live, with the vocals at the end overdubbed. Probably some guitars, too. I'm excluding anything (like "For Martha") that was tracked live but without vocals.

Yeah! Adore was probably an exception, in that it's so achingly close the way it's recorded and not polished (Blank Page, Annie Dog etc). Death does that tho.

oh yeah, add Annie-Dog to the list. I think Dusty + Pistol Pete, too, though that might just be an example of a song that didn't change much from the demo and one that wouldn't be on the album if D'arcy hadn't fought for it. Blank Page doesn't really count because the parts were recorded separately. Although the lyrics were written in the studio as he was tracking the piano, and I believe recorded shortly thereafter. Such a sparse track (what else is on there besides the ring-modulated guitars?), and a top 10 pumpkins track for me.

oh yeah, a lot of "To Sheila" is live - guitar & main vox tracked live.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Show will be timed to minute and will run same set list every night due to production concerns, massive setlist, and need to be A level Broadway type show. We have to prove to the world we can compete at highest level or tour will never get out of America.

https://www.alternativenation.net/smashing-pumpkins-darcy-shares-billy-corgan-guns-n-roses-reunion-offer/

cool man

They will never get out of America

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I saw Smashing Pumpkins at primaverasound a decade ago. It was like watching scarecrows with guitars on stage... even Low gave a more lively performance that night.

Jimmy Chamberlin's drumming was the thing that hooked me in after Gish came out. They had a bunch of tunes that had a cool galloping groove and I really liked that feel (like Siva, I Am One & Bury Me). Did not really become a sustaining fan of the band, but I like that first one and some of their other tunes.

Yeah Gish is the one I love too. Chamberlin is really good, I know Corgan writes mostly everything but I can’t imagine SP being half as famous without those drums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoG0P0C3geQ

Oooh, this one is even better!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW8ie73w78k

I remember back when Gish came out, I don't remember why I bought it - I was in Philly at the time, in high school, and I think I saw a review of it in Option? Anyway, even back then it was the drums that kept me hooked, and ... maybe everything but the drums that kept me from going back to it that often? I'm not sure I ever owned a copy of Siamese Dream, but if I did it was to listen to his playing on Geek USA.

Pinkpop 1994 Jimmy cam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8Ky7Lb2Ko

Whoa that view is amazing. Do they have a cam for every band member and do this for all pinkpop performances? I can imagine selling dvds of concerts where you can choose the same concert but sticking to a certain view you want to see instead of cutting to different takes be helpful for learning musicians and hardcore fans.

Btw that flawless-blink and you’ll miss it moment qhen Jimmy changes a broken stick for a new one at the start of minute 30 is fucking pro.

nah just a hero that uploaded one of the cam feeds

Chamberlin put out a jazz album recently that's quite good.

there's some great Genesis videos that are just Collins playing drums that are cool

http://images2.onionstatic.com/clickhole/5203/3/16x9/800.jpg

I had no idea that Corgan was MAGA until this thread pulled me into his sad orbit

Wow that Pinkpop version of Hummer ("minute 30") swings and breathes so much more than the album cut.

I've been making records since 1992 and that fuckin text chain between him and Darcy is some of the most loathsome shit I've ever seen from one musician in a band to another. "Your shoulder needs to heal, so maybe 2-7 songs" "well, the doctor says I'll be completely healed" "right, we don't want you to exceed your comfort level. maybe a very tight guest spot" "good news! I don't need surgery" "cool, we're looking at fucking Peter Hook's son"

I took it as (initially) tacitly acknowledging that she has not played for two decades, is probably not up to a full show let alone a six-month tour, and is possibly lying about an injury as a defense mechanism, and giving her room to set terms with which she'd be comfortable, at which point he would talk concretely about those as the plan. It then falls apart bcz she doesn't really want to do it, and Corgan can't stay focused on not being a sulky tyrant of "vision"for too long.

Peter Hook's kid is a harsh toke... might as well twist the knife all the way and get Wolfgang Van Halen (though to be fair he'd probably say no because his dad would kick him out for moonlighting)