MUSIC THREAD

I don't have a problem with their being just two original members of the Smashing Pumpkins on the new record. James Iha and D'Arcy didn't bring much to the party outside of looking cool in videos and photoshoots. Hell, they don't even play anything on "Siamese Dream"....Billy Corgan didn't think they could play their parts well enough for recording so he handled all the guitars and bass, then bitched about it in interviews.

 

The new Crowded House CD, "Time on Earth."

 

Hey Tyler, to this day it remains an unconfirmed rumor that Corgan played everything in Siamese Dream. He sure would be an ass to play for with his obsessive-compulsiveness.

 

From Wikipedia -- with a Rolling Stone article footnoted.
--Rumors circulated that he had recorded all the guitar and bass parts himself. It was never confirmed exactly how much each member participated on the album; Corgan did say he performed a majority of the guitar work, but only because he could record tracks and parts in far fewer takes.[20]

I swing back and forth on the guy. He put on one of the best shows I ever saw (Lollapalooza '94) and one of the worst shows I ever saw (two years later on the Melon Collie tour). He ain't in the Kurt Cobain/Eddie Vedder class, but he's close.

 

Corgan is one of the biggest pricks I've ever met.

 

I haven't heard anything off of it. How is it? As good as the old stuff?

 

Some of it's very good. It started out as a Neil Finn solo cd and sounds closer to his solo work than Crowded House. It's fairly dark, and a lot of it is obviously inspired by Paul Hester's suicide.

I don't know if it's as good as their old stuff as a whole, but I'm a huge fan, so for me that's a pretty high standard. It's certainly one of the best cds I've heard this year. I like it a lot more than Neil's last solo album or the last Finn Brothers cd.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing it. I have tix for their show in Toronto next month.

 

Should be a great show - I saw them in Tempe a few days before Coachella and they were terrific. Is Liam Finn opening? He did an impressive but odd set in Tempe.

 

I'm waffling on buying Pumpkins tickets. They play here in October.

 

Smashing Pumpkins put on the WORST show I ever saw, hands down, no exaggerations. On that same Lollapalooza 94 tour. Saw them twice. San Diego and Detroit. They were lousy in S.D. and Corgan was a complete ass in Detroit. I mainly went to the shows to see George Clinton, A Tribe Called Quest and Beastie Boys (who blew the house down both times).

At the Detroit show, a fan had a T-shirt on and yelled something to Corgan about Ted Nugent that pissed off Corgan. He went on a rant "What did Ted Nugent ever do for Detroit? What did Ted Nugent ever do for you? Are you homophobic, too? Fuck Ted Nugent", or something to that effect, and he proceeded to sing and play his guitar for "Today" like shit on purpose. A couple songs later, he had the audacity to sing play "Disarm" out of key and sing like ass on purpose - tons of people walked out in mid-song.

Then I saw the band 3 years later at a club in Chicago, and came to this conclusion: while it's true the music for some of their songs might be too complicated to play live and have it sound good, Corgan's singing SUCKS live, even when he's trying.

 

Sounds like the Lollapalooza show I saw in Kansas City, though the Pumpkins were OK there. What cracked me up is that somewhere along the way, it became a joke to throw those small super-bouncing balls while they played on stage. It first happened twice at Memorial Auditorium, then it happened again at Lollapalooza. And each time, he got pissed and yelled at the fans. Can't say I blame him, but it was funny to watch nevertheless.

Anyway, the other day I bought the Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, White Stripes, Linkin Park and Beastie Boys with a $50 gift card that I had yet to spend from Christmas. Not regretting any of those purchases after one listen each.