The Smashing Pumpkins

This is the Bad Man's review of the band Smashing Pumpkins.

I used to like them.  I was misguided.  I liked their sophomore effort, "Siamese Dream", although now I realize that is way too close to a Cure album/song title for comfort.  I suppose I could have liked "Gish"; can't quite recall.  And "Mellon Collie..." I have in my insipid albeit massive CD collection as well, for some reason.  Looking back I consider them a solid "alternative" band, which for me now isn't exactly a flattering compliment.  The same could be said of, uhhh, Bush - yikes!

So some years back in the mid to late 90s I went to the Shark tank (okay, if you really must know it was Monday, December 16, 1996 at 7:30 for $25) to see SP and Garbage.  Not a great venue for acoustic clarity, I was completely enthralled with the opening act thrown down by Shirley Manson and friends in Garbage.  Her raw energy was great, the crowd was a mass of undulating pandemonium.  Later Billy James Darcy and the drummer came on stage and did their thing.  It was then that I realized - "they're a fucking metal band!!"  The set was loud, repetitious, boring, too long, lacking in any variety of style, pretentious, and overall self-indulgent.  I gained a lot of respect for Shirley that night, and lost all I had for Billy.

KSJO, the "rocker" San Jose south bay radio station (now gone, as is KOME) christened the concert "The Concert of The Year".  Ouch.  I guess I'm not a rocker after all.

A similar thing happened when I saw Pearl Jam at the MTV Music Awards 15 years or so ago, September 2, 1993 to be exact.  At the time Pearl Jam wasn't too terrible a band, as the grunge movement was 2 years old in its short courtship with American mainstream music before it thankfully died a necessary and gratifying death simultaneously with the handful of metal chunk buckshot entering Kurt's brain on April 5, 1994 (so why I have to grimace through Soundgarden radio sewage and tolerate Pearl Jam reunion tours is beyond me; some folks apparently didn't get the memo).  But as I watched Eddie and pals posture around the New York venue I was left asking myself what it was that made me consider liking such a suck-ass band.  Then Neil Young joined them on stage.   Never having came around to tolerating anything remotely resembling bluegrass, and wanting to vomit whenever I had to suffer through a song by the bearded and bloated Crosby-Stills-Nash, and just not at all getting the Grateful Dead thing (other than tie-die skull logos, which are always cool), I had spent most of my musical life ignoring Neil Young.  I was blown away.  Because of that performance I discovered him; his album (yes, w/Crazy Horse) "Rust Never Sleeps" is now firmly ensconced in my top 200 albums of all time.

Back to the Smashing Pumpkins, I do know that Butch Vig produced "Siamese Dream", and of course he also produced Garbage and Nirvana (in my top 10) and Sonic Youth (also in my top 10) and he's great.  And I suppose I should admit Billy's a great song writer - few songs apparently have been written by someone other than him, Prince, and/or Danny Elfman.  Oh and P-Diddy, but I'm too closed minded to know (or care) about that.

On paper I should like them - "densely layered and guitar-heavy sound, grunge, heavy metal, power pop, psychedelic rock, shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica."  But I guess I've moved on, probably mostly becuz you can't turn on the, as Jane's Addiction says, god-damned radio without hearing "Today" or "...still just a rat in a cage".  Ugh.

I also thought it was interesting and probably not too cool the way Billy made it way too clear that SP were he and James and Darcy when their first drummer went the way of drugs or whatever.  The new drummer was brought on as just a session musician to fill a void.  I know it was the 3 of them before they even first got a drummer, but come on, that's just cold.  Not to mention dysfunctional, pompous, and short-sighted.