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Billy Corgan possibly reforming the Smashing Pumpkins (for real this time)

Started by Spiteface, August 14, 2016, 02:51:15 PM

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Spiteface

http://www.nme.com/news/smashing-pumpkins/95334

He hinted at some things lately and it appears that in addition to running another low-rent wrestling company he may be shopping around a tour with the full original lineup of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Jimmy Chamberlin's been back on drums and on the most recent acoustic tour, James Iha has been making his first appearances with the band since 2000. D'arcy also gave an interview indicating she would be up for doing it again and that shocks me as much as Iha sharing a stage with Corgan if I'm honest. I always thought she should stay away for her own good. I think people would even be OK with the Machina-era incarnation of the band.

The timing's just about right, 2018 would be the 30th Anniversary of the band (October 5th 1988 was Jimmy's first gig with the band) and it seems Corgan's been mellowing out on his attitude towards nostralgia of late, compared to the 2008 20th Anniversary debacle. Bloody hell, he's even been playing the odd Zwan track here and there. There's a new Pumpkins album that's well overdue though, supposed to be out last year, as well as the Machina reissue...

Obviously, I'd love to see the original Pumpkins together again, but I was fine with the newer one as well.

hewantstolurkatad

Needs the extra money of a real reunion to fund his wrestling promotion.

Good to hear he's willing to play zwan though. That was the last decent album he put out

Glebe

Times change, people change...

Quote"James Iha, I think, is just a piece of s—. I think he's one of the worst human beings I've ever met in my life."

It's not quite setting up your own wrestling company, but rather bizarrely, Bob Mould was a scriptwriter for WCW at one point.


Glebe


Howj Begg

Do you need more reasons to hate Smashing Pumpkins/Billy Corgan apart from their awful, terrible music?

Well look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2IzNEQEKk

Spiteface

Trust me, if this kind of stuff didn't stop me listening, I'm pretty much a lifer by now. And Siamese Dream is fucking excellent, you are wrong.

Anyway, he's denying he's reforming the original band (at least not yet), but has confirmed he's speaking to D'arcy for the first time in 16/17 years:

http://www.nme.com/news/smashing-pumpkins/95731

SavageHedgehog

To combine the current top two threads, I've always been amused by Billy Corgan's quote about The End Is the Beginning Is the End [nb]Which I like, and I'm not really a Pumpkins aficionado (more through ignorance than judgement), although it's no Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me[/nb], the lead promotional single for Batman & Robin, as sourced on wikipedia:
QuoteAt one point I found myself going, "I can't write a song about Batman, I'm in an alternative band."
But this existential dilemma for the Simpsons guest star was resolved when he decided that
QuoteThe song's lyrics [could] represent the Batman of the 1940s, when he was a "darker character".
Phew, glad he sorted that one out!

Shaky

Among the legions of twatty 90's rock stars, Billy is a rare and exquisite bell-end.

hewantstolurkatad

Stand Inside Your Love must be a contender for the worst music video I've ever seen. It has a linger effect that actually drags the song down.

Song could've been amazing with different production too.

Spiteface

Quote from: hewantstolurkatad on August 18, 2016, 07:38:27 PM
Stand Inside Your Love must be a contender for the worst music video I've ever seen. It has a linger effect that actually drags the song down.

Song could've been amazing with different production too.

I'm wondering if the long-threatened Machina reissue will completely remix both albums. They could both use it for different reasons. Corgan was talking about actually re-releasing it as the concept album he originally planned it to be, complete with a fake gig by "The Machines of God" in the middle, canned crowd noise and all.

Pissant

The machina 'concept' should just be quietly abandoned forever.  He went for Ziggy and got Vorgon, which is very much like his poetry, or his interviews, or any of the new stuff.  Best thing since adore are the reissues, 'tis a fact sadly.  I would however go for a full-on reunion with only gish to adore songs with the full band.

My girlfriend bought me new-album tour tickets for my birthday a couple years ago.  I couldn't even pretend to hide my disgust.  And we soon split up after that.

I'm still trying to track down the Stand inside your love 'single' version of speed kills though (online admittedly, I know I could just buy the single again).  Maybe I'm misremembering, but I think it was Machina's best track.

hewantstolurkatad

I'd have absolutely zero faith in any kind of overarching concept from a guy who quite stubbornly insisted on making this video Just leave Machina to rot in whatever corner it's lying in.



Also, what is Vorgon?

Depressed Beyond Tables

Everything up to and including Mellon Collie is fucking ace. Gish has to be the best debut album from any band ever. They went down the pan when their songs lost the dynamics that was signature of their best early stuff. Soma is a perfect example of what the Pumpkins could do after spending a long time in the practise room. Totally hypnotic, and encompassing the entire spectrum of noise and energy.

When they sacked Jimmy, quite reasonably in the circumstances, Corgan stubbornly thought he was the band, and the song would remain the same. Their music became derivative to the point of boring.

Here's a typical 'kitchen sink' version of BWBW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbq1GnibJPU

No matter how many members of Stomp you add it never quite recaptures the nuance they had at their peak.

Pissant

Quote from: hewantstolurkatad on August 18, 2016, 11:28:14 PMAlso, what is Vorgon?

A typo apparently.  Although in my defence you can have Vorgons (with the 'r') too, as they were bald Star Trek aliens who were also, in all likelihood, talking utter gobshite.

RIP the genius of The Aeroplane Flies High box-set.  The world hasn't figured out a way to make you good again yet, although judging by the Manson tour reviews you can still rock the house given a suitable financial incentive.

I expect most of you have seen this, but in case not, I'll post as it's quite brilliant: every pumpkins song rated.

Edit: Apparently Corgan is afraid of memes.  Well he shouldn't go around dressing like a big girl then should he?




Depressed Beyond Tables

Quote from: Pissant on August 19, 2016, 05:22:22 AM

I expect most of you have seen this, but in case not, I'll post as it's quite brilliant: every pumpkins song rated.


A daft project to even undertake. What numpty puts a Fleetwood Mac acoustic cover before all that other brilliance? Jesus wept.

PaulTMA

Quote from: SavageHedgehog on August 17, 2016, 04:59:08 PM
To combine the current top two threads, I've always been amused by Billy Corgan's quote about The End Is the Beginning Is the End [nb]Which I like, and I'm not really a Pumpkins aficionado (more through ignorance than judgement), although it's no Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me[/nb], the lead promotional single for Batman & Robin, as sourced on wikipedia:But this existential dilemma for the Simpsons guest star was resolved when he decided thatPhew, glad he sorted that one out!

Corgan is about the only notable musician I can think of who chooses to use the term "alternative" to describe what he does himself.  And it seems he does constantly.  I'm sure he even talked about Pavement betraying "The Alternative Dream" or somesuch at some point. 

Spiteface

Quote from: hewantstolurkatad on August 18, 2016, 11:28:14 PM
I'd have absolutely zero faith in any kind of overarching concept from a guy who quite stubbornly insisted on making this video Just leave Machina to rot in whatever corner it's lying in.

It's going to be reissued, as Corgan's been slowly remastering and reissuing expanded versions of each of the studio albums, plus Pisces Iscariot and The Aeroplane Flies High (the latter coming with plenty of awesome live performances from the Mellon Collie era of the band). He still has the notes from when he was going to go with the concept thing, which quickly got dropped. There's also the unfinished animated series "Glass and the Machines of God" that tied into that stuff.

I'd just like the best possible version of Machina II, that isn't just a vinyl rip. And the "Farewell" gig at the Metro on DVD at long last.

Quote from: Depressed Beyond Tables on August 19, 2016, 12:29:36 AM
When they sacked Jimmy, quite reasonably in the circumstances, Corgan stubbornly thought he was the band, and the song would remain the same. Their music became derivative to the point of boring.

Here's a typical 'kitchen sink' version of BWBW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbq1GnibJPU


The Machina versions were "better", when they'd bolt a cover of Once in a Lifetime and the whole thing was detuned down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JxRmYEKEuE

Incidentally, I like a lot of those late Mellon Collie gigs with Matt Walker on drums. They were playing some of the songs a bit differently already, but still some good stuff on those. And versions of Silverfuck in excess of 25 minutes, which I loved.

He's also admitted that after Jimmy and Jonathan Melvoin OD'd and Melvoin died, they should have just stopped everything to just get shit sorted out, let the band decompress.

Oh, and people repeating some of the thing he's said about the ex-members at various points... have you read him throwing Zwan under the bus? He's never gone back on that either, that I can recall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwan#Break-up

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Howj Begg on August 15, 2016, 12:16:55 AM
Do you need more reasons to hate Smashing Pumpkins/Billy Corgan apart from their awful, terrible music?

Well look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2IzNEQEKk

Perfect video/audio synchronicity at 2:25.

Noodle Lizard

Has anyone been watching these weird daily vlogs he's been doing on YouTube?  If this was a comedy character, I'd say it was some of the funniest online comedy I've seen in a while.  My favourite is today's one, where at one point he's walking around some yard sale complaining about how everything's made in China:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYdhYaALBiw

Spiteface


Dr Syntax Head

Apparently D'Arcy didn't even know it was happening.

I'm happy with my memories of hearing Gish and Siamese Dream back in my 90s teenage utopia. A reunion seems pointless to me (and that's coming from someone that lost it over the shoegaze band reunions that have happened in recent years)

Sin Agog

Quote from: Dr Syntax Head on January 24, 2018, 10:05:04 PM
Apparently D'Arcy didn't even know it was happening.

Didn't John Paul Jones say the same thing about the Led Zeppelin reunion?

Poor bassists.

Gregory Torso

What's the issue with D'Arcy? Not followed this band for years but I was a fan when Gish came out.

Spiteface

Quote from: Sin Agog on January 24, 2018, 10:14:01 PM
Didn't John Paul Jones say the same thing about the Led Zeppelin reunion?

Poor bassists.

I think when he found out that Page & Plant were working together again in the 90s, he was upset that he wasn't asked to join in. Mybe he thought a Led Zep reunion was on the cards then or something.
Quote from: Gregory Torso on January 24, 2018, 10:36:48 PM
What's the issue with D'Arcy? Not followed this band for years but I was a fan when Gish came out.


Crack, initially. Left the band in 1999, for reasons that weren't discussed at the time, later arrested for possession of crack. Along with other stories, it sounded like she just couldn't hack it anymore, and drugs. Given Jimmy had not long rejoined the band, I can imagine drugs being a sticking point, given Jimmy's heroin addiction ultimately resulted in someone dying (him and the band's touring keyboardist overdosed on tour, the keyboardist died and Jimmy was fired).

Spiteface

Looking like some kind of lineup info is taking shape. A photo leaked of Billy Corgan and whoever will put up with him:



Looks like Jeff Schroeder is remaining in the band in some capacity (He's the only other member outside of Corgan to be part of the band since the 2007 revival). Corgan's been downplaying him taking on bass duties, which could mean either Corgan's doing that and leaving Schroeder and James Iha to guitars, or a three-guitar Pumpkins, with a session bassist. I'm down for that latter one, as I actually liked Zwan.

Bence Fekete

https://www.alternativenation.net/smashing-pumpkins-bassist-darcy-first-interview-in-20-years/

Therapeutically honest interview with the D'Arcy in which she somehow manages to make both herself and Billy look like tedious rockstar cunts.  Slams his 'I only do texts' ego, calls james 'spineless' (she's heard his solo album then), and how her and Jimmy were never pals - though it sounds like these days they all really hate her.  Which is a shame.  I always felt her presence was somehow vital even if not entirely musical. 


VelourSpirit

new song with the original lineup minus darcy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx9ya42QLXs
errr it's fine. actually it's probably exactly what I was expecting. not keen on the mix. i can't imagine listening to it again.

Spiteface

Live on Jimmy Fallon:

Solara: https://youtu.be/F8PYdpzhTY0

Zero: https://youtu.be/yRV1n00iga0

I'm kinda the fanboy around here and will pretty much defend the Pumpkins' output from Zeitgeist onwards (Because unlike other bands of that era that reformed the newer Pumpkins were at least trying to be a functioning band out of the gate), but fuck me Billy looks bored here.

VelourSpirit

At least Iha still looks cool as fuck. They're sounding really tight. Corgan really does seem bored, especially on Solara even though it's actually sounding better live.