VIDEO'S OF THE WEEK: SMASHING PUMPKINS

[Niels (Mod)]

VOTW - SMASHING PUMPKINS

Smashing Pumkins will always be important to me, since they made one of favorite albums released in the 90's. I love(d) a good double-cd, and Mellon Collie and the infinite Dream is probably one of the best ever relased (imo). 140 minutes (more or less) of all kind of different songs, but they could be divided in to: 1. Great pop-songs 2. Good rock-songs 3. Noise. At the time, they were one of the bands, that was producing the best video's, so there's a big chance you've seen most of these video's on MTV quite a few times. After MCATID, they released the dissapointing "Adore", which was okay at the time, and less "noisy" than the noise-songs from MCATID. I saw them live a month or so before they released "Adore", but sadly the very, very good drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was not onboard at that time, and he was pretty important to the sound. The following album they made "Machina" was crap, and after a couple of Billy Corgan-albums, which also were utter crap, I stopped buying albums by him/them. But as I said, they are still important to my personal "music-history":

GISH (1991)

Gish is the debut album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in May 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan described Gish as a "very spiritual album".Despite initially peaking at only number 195 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, Gish was eventually certified platinum (one million copies shipped) by the RIAA

ROCKET

"Rocket" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the fourth and final single from their second album, Siamese Dream, and was written by Billy Corgan. The CD single is a valuable rarity to fans of the band as it only saw a release in Australia. A 7" vinyl record was also released in the United Kingdom as part of the Siamese Singles box set. "Rocket" was one of the few singles that did not appear on the Smashing Pumpkins' greatest hits album Rotten Apples.

TONIGHT TONIGHT

My favorite Smashing Pumpkins-song and video. Actually one of my alltime favorite video's at all. "Tonight, Tonight" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, written by the band's frontman, Billy Corgan. It was the third single and second track on the first disc from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was released in April 1996 in Europe and later in June 1996 in the United States. "Tonight, Tonight" was critically acclaimed and commercially well-received upon its release. The music video accompanying the song was also successful and won several awards.A shorter acoustic version of the song, titled "Tonite Reprise", was included as a B-side to the single and on the triple LP version of Mellon Collie. This single also later appeared in an extended form on the box set The Aeroplane Flies High. Additionally, the song appears on the band's greatest hits release, Rotten Apples.

TO SHEILA

This is probably not an official video, but it's my favorite song from the qalbum "Adore".Adore is the fourth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in June 1998 by Virgin Records. After the multi-platinum success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and a subsequent yearlong world tour, follow-up Adore was considered "one of the most anticipated albums of 1998" by MTV. Recording the album proved to be a challenge as the band members struggled with lingering interpersonal problems and musical uncertainty in the wake of three increasingly successful rock albums and the departure of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Frontman Billy Corgan would later characterize Adore as "a band falling apart".The result was a much more subdued and electronica-tinged sound that Greg Kot of Rolling Stone magazine called "a complete break with the past". The album divided the fan base and sold only a fraction of the previous two albums. However, the album was well received by critics, and became the third straight Pumpkins album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. and has gained a cult following. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released on CD and vinyl in September 2014 as a part of the band's project to reissue their back catalogue from 1991–2000.

THE EVERLASTING GAZE

"The Everlasting Gaze" is a song written by Billy Corgan and recorded by The Smashing Pumpkins. It is the opening track from the band's 2000 album Machina/The Machines of God. The song was released as the lead North American single on December 9, 1999. It was also originally going to be released internationally on January 2000 but despite the heavy rotation of the Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video, it was rejected in favor of "Stand Inside Your Love"

TARANTULA

Billy Corgan mentioned during a June 5 concert in Berlin that "Tarantula" was titled in honor of the German rock band Scorpions, with whom Corgan had recently collaborated on the Scorpions song "The Cross". Corgan and Chamberlin believe the song is a culmination of music they've been listening to all their lives, specifically the Scorpions and UFO.

[Scott]

Cant say Ive ever been a fan of this band.

GISH ... Nice riff, hate the video. To much flashing around and the muted colors are not easy on the eye. But if I look away and listen, I like it... Shocked? Me too...

ROCKET ... At least its watchable. And listenable again, another nicely put together tune. THey definitely belong n the 90's, but this doesn't feel as grungy as I thought it would. No real guitar solos or special fell to it, but its solid!

TONIGHT TONIGHT ... This is the familiar tune and video. Never really caught on to it. Is it me or does his vocal sound whiny? Its better than I recall, but I'm getting hung up on the sound of voice in the chorus, weird to me for some reason. They are unique I will give them that, and thats a good thing mostly. I find myself liking the first two songs better though.

TO SHEILA ... Gotta say, this make this a 4/4 experience so far. I really liked this as well. Still not a huge fan of his vocal style, but he makes it work.

THE EVERLASTING GAZE ... 4/5 as of this one. Didn't care for the video either, again with the bouncing moving cameras and changing from scene to scene too fast. And his voice has went backwards compared to what I just heard. Somebody tell these guys that The Who already trashed their instruments and the stage, no need to try to be that cool. Besides, you can't be cooler than the Who...

TARANTULA ... 4/6 will be the final tally. Got happy to see this song came from a Scorpions/UFO writing session . But this sounds like he's gone to the well too many times. The rhythms seem to have been done in the 4 songs I liked earlier. So does that mean I've heard all I need to of this band? I leave that for Niels to answer...

Fine post my friend!

[Niels (Mod)]

Yeah, I'm shocked all right!

It sounds like, you (like me) should "concentrate" on SP from the 90's only. And as I've said before: Mellon Collie is not only one of the 3 best albums released in the 90's, it's also one of the best double-albums (CD's) of all time. In that you get all the versions of SP: Pop, rock and noise (almost 150 minutes of it :-O). And Corgan was at his height as a songwriter in the late 90's, so for RJhog......

[RJhog (Admin)]

I'll be sure not to get Mellon Collie, that album is way too long....

[Niels (Mod)]

So what you're saying is, that if there's "too much" good music, it's not for you? 

It's just like Use Your Illusions I and II but for the price of one album/CD. Or it was, in 1995 or whenever that album's from. Still is, probably.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I don't think I've ever heard a single song by Smashing Pumpkins.  I've certainly heard of 'em, but that's it.  That first track rocks! Nice retro sound, just a rockin' song.  Can't say I got as much enjoyment out of Rocket, but it's not terrible. Tonight, Tonight is a decent song, but I'm not crazy about the vocalist for the band.  Definitely takes some getting used to. 

To Sheila is really, really good.  I'm a sucker for a terrific slow song, no matter the genre.  I mean it, this is a great song. The Everlasting Gaze is a great title, and it picks the fuzziness back up and rocks again.  Nice.  Tarantula's cool too, though I'm still not sold on the vocals.

Pleasantly surprised by this.  May pick up some SP's in the near future.

[Niels (Mod)]

...I will also mention the followup to MCATID, "Adore". It's a lot more quiot than any other SM-album, and Corgan was still writing good songs, not as great as on MCATID though, but still. From then it was too much noise, and the songs were definitely weaker, much Weaker.

Good to see you here again.