via//chicago

np: "Spaceboy" - Smashing Pumpkins

I've had this post in mind for several weeks now, but I've been a little hesitant to approach actually writing it down. Not because it's hugely controversial or mind-blowing or anything, but I... well, I guess I just wasn't ready to admit all this out loud yet. See, the thing is this. The Smashing Pumpkins have long been one of my favorite bands of all-time, since discovering them way back in about 1992-93 (just before Siamese Dream came out). I spent countless hours with Siamese and Mellon Collie spinning on my CD player in college, in fact the band got me through some relatively tough times. Sure, its cliche to look back now, but Billy Corgan's angst really resonated with me for a time. But there was always more to the band than unfettered rage and I willingly followed the band in new directions. Adore? I loved it. Still do, in fact. Machina? Took me some time, but I really grew to embrace that record as well. I loved a lot of things about the band and became a pretty hardcore fan, at least until the "break-up" in 2000 (but more on that in a minute). In fact, as my musical horizons expanded, the Pumpkins remained one of the few bands that I obsessively followed - collecting hours of bootleg concerts, tracking down compilation appearances, etc.

So why the hesitancy for this post?

Well, its become pretty clear over the past 18 months that this band is no longer for me. I gave the reunion a shot and there were some great tunes (few that made Zeitgeist, sadly) and decent shows. But really, this incarnation of the band has never really enthralled me in any way. I was okay with that though. I had my memories of the classic era and had all the discs and gigabytes worth of shows to relive them. My problem now is that Billy Corgan's recent treatment of fans and general shitty attitude is starting to sour me on the band completely. I'm finding it harder and harder to reach back for Gish or The Aeroplane Flies High without wincing, not because I've lost a taste for the music within, but because I can't help but picture the pale shadow of a band that exists today.

Way back in June of 2005, on the eve of the release of his first proper solo album The Future Embrace, Corgan took out full page ads in the Chicago area papers to announce that he was going to "renew and revive" the Pumpkins. And I'll admit it, I was thrilled for a hot minute. Zwan, his first post-Pumpkins project, had given me some great live shows but a lackluster album that left a lot to be desired. So the thought of my favorite band of all time back in the studio and on the stage? Awesome. But then the details slowly started to leak out. D'arcy wasn't going to be included. Fine, hardly surprising. No Melissa Auf Der Maur either. Okay, I liked her a lot - but I had to admit she really didn't bring a whole lot to the Pumpkins persona I loved. But the news that really gave me pause was that James Iha wasn't going to be a part of it. Wait... what? Despite what you think about the Pumpkins, it wasn't just Billy and Jimmy. A lot of those glorious little guitar fills that helped explode the songs into orbit? Yeah, those were James'. That was a big disappointment to me and the first sign that all wasn't quite right in Pumpkinland.

So we get Billy and Jimmy. Hmm, so how is this going to different from Zwan?

Fast forward to 2007 and the new album is imminent. "Tarantula", the lead single, hits radio and I'll admit to being pretty geeked when I hear it on Q101. Its no "Rocket" or "Zero", but I can feel it. And the first show since the break occurs in Paris. Within a couple days I've downloaded audio and video torrents of the show, just absorbing it all. All things considered, it was a decent show. They hit on a lot of the hits from the back catalog, including an extended jam on "Silverfuck" - always one of my live favorites. There's even this intriguing new jam called "Gossamer" that stretches on for twenty minutes. A couple of the new songs stuck with me, but I was mostly just happy to hear the old classics again. Maybe this reunion thing could be decent after all.

Then comes July 10, 2007 and the first in a disturbing series of ways Corgan craps on his fans (or allows his fans to be crapped on, depending on how you think it all went down). Zeitgeist is released to stores. But instead of being some sort of triumphant return, it all gets kinda confusing. Seems someone (Billy or the label, not sure who is ultimately to blame) decided that it would be a good idea to release four different versions of the album. There was the basic, 12-track, version that you could find at most stores. But, depending on where you bought it, you could be treated to a different bonus track. I believe Best Buy got one exclusive track, Target another, and iTunes yet another. Decent marketing, I suppose. But Pumpkin fans are nothing if not completist by nature. There were more tracks to hear? I gotta get 'em all! And Billy knows this. His interactions with the fan community, which has typically been very positive, acknowledged this - leaking demos, the whole Machina II thing, "accidentally" leaking the long lusted-after Mashed Potatoes rarities collection. So, in essence, he was forcing his loyal, die-hard fans to buy the same damn album three times to get all of it! Pretty shameful. Thankfully, I didn't fall for it. I picked up the regular version and *ahem* acquired the other tracks via the faithful internet. Take that, shady marketing! To add insult to injury, just four short months later the band released an "exclusive" version of the album with all the tracks included. Ridiculous.

Anyway, Zeitgeist. It was, and remains, a halfway decent album. If I'm feeling favorable. There are two great Pumpkins songs ("Tarantula" and "United States") and a couple that had potential, but disappointing production sinks them. Billy's vocals were mixed way too high and a lot of the guitars sounded muddy. Jimmy sounded the best of the bunch, but even his drums sounded a little muted to my ears. I figure it'll be an experience to see the band live, though. Surely a hometown show is in the works for the tour. But then they announce something kinda cool, extended residencies at two different clubs, one on each coast of the country. I didn't go, but I head positive things about the intimate nature of these shows and the decent new material coming out of them. I looked forward to finally catching them here in Chicago.

And... nothing. Rumors fly about a performance headlining Lollapalooza during the August festival season, but we get shot down in favor of a fest out in Baltimore. The band tours briefly in Europe and announces a two-month tour back in the States. Here we go! Hold up, still no Chicago show? Normal, Illinois gets a show - but the city that broke Billy gets no love? I was disappointed. Briefly considered driving down to Normal for the show, but I'd already grown bored with Zeitgeist and figured I'd wait for the inevitable local show. So I wait.

2008 comes in and the band releases a digital EP, American Gothic, that actually has me perked up and interested again. It's only four acoustic-based songs, but there's an inherent sweetness and a sense of melody that reminded me of some of the more intimate demos and early-era songs Billy wrote. I continue to look forward to seeing them live. They announce a Chicago area show, but it turns out to be a ridiculously priced concert at a casino in Hammond, Indiana. Still no live show for me. At this point, I've really gone beyond caring.

Then, this summer and early fall, the exciting rumors start to fly... a 20th anniversary tour! Multiple shows in each city, dedicating nights to certain albums and era. A Gish show! A Siamese Dream show! It was an exciting proposition. And they book three nights in Chicago, exciting. Then the rumors scale things back and its now merely a "celebration of 20 years of the Pumpkins" and the sole-album shows are postponed. I'm all set to finally see the Pumpkins for the first time in 9 years. Then I see the ticket prices. Couple that with the stalling economy and barrage of professional exams coming up for me, and I balked. Just couldn't justify the $90+ price.

Now that we're over a month into the tour, how do I feel about skipping out on the Chicago shows? I'm very, very grateful. This entire tour has turned into a shitstorm of embarrassment for the band and fans alike. Despite being billed as a "celebration of 20 years of the Pumpkins", fans are lucky to get much more than a handful of old tunes. Seems Billy'd rather play new stuff (fine), interminable 20-minute plus covers of "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (these have, from the ones I've heard, been admittedly hit or miss), and sarcastic, audience-baiting covers of "Everything is Beautiful" (wtf?!?). Critics and fans are loudly voicing negative opinions of the shows, and who can blame them? Don't bill a tour as a celebration of the past if you aren't interested in playing the old songs, of course the older fans are going to expect "Mayonaise" and "Today" and a myriad of others! But, true to form, Billy isn't taking the criticism lightly and has taken to firing back at the fans from the stage. Ultimate class Billy, insult the fans that just coughed up 90 bucks to watch you play. Pretty disgusting, even without taking into consideration the time he yelled a homophobic slur to the fan he invited on stage to air his thoughts on a show.

Billy has been so disappointed by the negative reaction that he has vowed to never play another old Pumpkins song again after this tour is finished. And, oh yeah, the era-appropriate box sets he promised to clean out the archives? Those are scrapped, as well as the album tours to support them, because his fans just aren't being respectful enough. Maybe these are empty threats from a frustrated guy throwing a temper tantrum, but nonetheless its a pretty shitty approach to take with your most loyal fans. "You don't like my new stuff? Fine, I'm never going to play the ones you like!" Corgan's negative view towards his fans has grown to worrying extremes in the past few weeks, but the seeds were there back at the residencies last year - as can be seen in the recently released If All Goes Wrong DVD. The documentary is ostensibly about a band embarking on an experimental period in their history, but is really about Billy writing songs in his hotel room (mostly boring) and Billy whining about the fans not liking his new stuff (extremely boring). He comes across as quite a bitter, entitled asshole in many of the interviews. He goes as far as "punishing" one San Francisco crowd for being inattentive by playing a forty-five minute instrumental.

(I'm purposely trying to avoid the whole argument about what is reasonable for fans to expect from a band and how an artist can/is expected to evolve while still satisfying fans, because that could turn into another whole long, laborious post. But to set the record straight, I'm all for Billy writing new songs. I'd love for him to give me another classic album. I'm all for his experimentation, hell... I followed him into Zwan and the solo era. But don't resurrect the ghosts of the past by invoking a beloved name if you hate being shackled to that name's history. If he'd have toured under any other name, even his own, he wouldn't have encountered even a fraction of the negative reaction he's gotten. Advertising the tour as a celebration of the band's past was only adding fuel to the fire he himself lit. But, I digress.)

Adding up his questionable at best treatment of fans over the last year and a half, then combining it with a severe lack of engaging new tunes - it's clear that Billy Corgan's best days are behind him. If he can prove me wrong, well, bully for him. But as I've read the fan sites and taken in the show reviews, listened to Billy moan and complain, waited in vain for some new songs to really grab me... one thing has been made clear...

The band that calls themselves the Smashing Pumpkins right now, just isn't for me. And I'm fine with that. I just wish Billy would drop the name, move on, and quit souring the good memories I've had of him and his music. Will I buy the next album? Sure, I'll probably give it a shot. And yeah, if the reissue vaults ever get opened, I'll dive right in. But I'll never care for this band the way I once did.