(no subject)

[miko2]

Today's Song: Tarantula by Smashing Pumpkins

I've been listening to Zeitgeist by the Smashing Pumpkins lately. Such a controversial album -- so many fans want to pass judgment on it simply because James Iha and D'arcy were not part of the band reunion. These people tend to forget that Billy Corrigan was 95% of the Smashing Pumpkins anyway -- most of their albums, he reportedly played everything but the drums himself. When bassist Melissa Auf der Maur (who also played bass for the band for a while) heard that Corrigan and Jimmy Chaimberlain were on board for a reunion, she noted that Corrigan really didn't need anyone else besides Chamberlain to make a Pumpkins cd.

Then there are the other idiots who say "Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes are great additions to the band". I suppose. You need someone up there in order to perform these songs live.

One Amazon reviewer wrote, "Note to Billy Corrigan: Whine rock is dead." Oh gee, glad I have such an arbiter of taste to tell me what to listen to. Except I can listen to whatever I want, and I happen to like this cd quite a bit. It's not classic Smashing Pumpkins but it's still pretty good, and I was always a fan of the band, even if Corrigan does have a whiney voice.

I'd be happy if the band put out music like this forever -- and maybe they will. Except, I suspect that Corrigan himself is not content to just make good music. One reviewer I read stated that the end of the Pumpkins was indeed the end of an era in the musical life of Billy Corrigan -- it marked "the end of when people paid attention to him." He goes on to state that the reformation of the Pumpkins is a last-gasp effort by Corrigan to reclaim some of the spotlight that he so desperately needs... and I kind of suspect he's right. Some people become famous and whine about how much they hate it, and you believe that they're being honest -- Kurt Cobain, for example. But when Corrigan whines about being in the spotlight, it sounds very hollow because he worked so very hard to get there in the first place.

Some bands, after their moment in the sun, continue to create great music in relative obscurity for years. The Church, for example, were last visible in the early 1990's, but have continued to make very good music ever since then. The Smashing Pumpkins, I suspect, would not be content to do the same. Which makes me sad because I like their music. We'll see, though -- as of now they have no recording contract but Corrigan and Chamberlain have purchased their own studio and vowed to continue to record new music, so that's a good sign for a fan like me. And they did release a 4-song EP several months ago. You can only get it on iTunes within the U.S. -- I think I'll download it.

Smashing Pumpkins -- Tarantula