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Smashing Pumpkins to reunite?

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I

Infinitemadness

Member
Man, I seriously havent been this giddy and excited about something in a long time.


I always pondered about this situation and thought I'd be like "meh, thats cool...lets go see em" but I hope they come back rockin! Pumpkins live = the greatest ROCK n ROLL show EVER!
 
D

Diablos

Member
From the interview:

"I'm just trying to say, hey, this is who I am. I'm pointing forward. And even the concept of bringing the band back into fruition, it's to move forward, not backwards. I now see that the band as a spiritual entity is necessary. I think the world needs my band. And needs that voice, that strong voice. And it's a great hammer, it's more powerful than me, and I will succumb again to it."
Click to expand...

Yeah, that confirms it.
 
P

Polari

Member
Diablos said:
So, you saw them in 1998? The Adore tour was amazing. Soundboard bootlegs don't lie. You saw a shitty show. SP was hit or miss with their performances, I will definitely say that.
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Yeah, 1998. The percussion arrangement was pretty impressive, and I lie when I say it was the worst show I ever went to - A Perfect Circle and their overwhelming mediocrity live takes that "honour".
 
D

Diablos

Member
I wanna see SP concentrating on playing a lot of their b-sides live. Like Obscured, The Aeroplane Flies High, Blue, Cherry, Set the Ray To Jerry, Marquis in Spades, Home, Let Me Give The World To You, Slow Dawn, Starla, In My Body, Once in a While, Not Worth Asking, Real Love...

These songs alone would make an amazing setlist.
 
F

Foreign Jackass

Member
Diablos said:
I wanna see SP concentrating on playing a lot of their b-sides live. Like Obscured, The Aeroplane Flies High, Blue, Cherry, Set the Ray To Jerry, Marquis in Spades, Home, Let Me Give The World To You, Slow Dawn, Starla, In My Body, Once in a While, Not Worth Asking, Real Love...

These songs alone would make an amazing setlist.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that will probably happen.
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
04-04-23%20Galena%202.jpg



what a great year it will be if this were to happen. the niners win the superbowl, then the pumpkins tour the nation!
 
B

BuddyC

Member
"I'm just trying to say, hey, this is who I am. I'm pointing forward. And even the concept of bringing the band back into fruition, it's to move forward, not backwards. I now see that the band as a spiritual entity is necessary. I think the world needs my band. And needs that voice, that strong voice. And it's a great hammer, it's more powerful than me, and I will succumb again to it."
Click to expand...
I think Corgan's confused "the world" with "myspace and livejournal" again.
 
D

Diablos

Member
I really like what i just heard them say about TFE on SoundOpinions. The record is genuine. Corgan isn't being pretentious or going back to his old tricks - he's branching out. The lyrics are bare. There's a lot of shoegazer influence. Yet, everyone trashes the album. Meanwhile, these guys admit they hated it after two listens, but it really grew on them. They also agree that it will take a couple years for the album to really get respect. Remember Adore? Even I didn't like it that much. Most of the core fans hated it. Now, it's their best according to probably half of SP's fanbase.

I don't know why so many people hate TheFutureEmbrace. It's not overproduced. It owes a lot to shoegazer rock and carefully mixes it with an electronic feel. It's certainly not overproduced. If it was, it would sound like every other Depeche Mode song.
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
I think Corgan's confused "the world" with "myspace.com" again.
Click to expand...

you're still in this thread? jesus christ!


p.s. even though the pumpkins aren't as popular as they were in '95, don't underestimate their loyal fanbase. it's probably bigger than you are thinking
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
Diablos said:
I really like what i just heard them say about TFE on SoundOpinions. The record is genuine. Corgan isn't being pretentious or going back to his old tricks - he's branching out. The lyrics are bare. There's a lot of shoegazer influence. Yet, everyone trashes the album. Meanwhile, these guys admit they hated it after two listens, but it really grew on them. They also agree that it will take a couple years for the album to really get respect. Remember Adore? Even I didn't like it that much. Most of the core fans hated it. Now, it's their best according to probably half of SP's fanbase.

I don't know why so many people hate TheFutureEmbrace. It's not overproduced. It owes a lot to shoegazer rock and carefully mixes it with an electronic feel. It's certainly not overproduced. If it was, it would sound like every other Depeche Mode song.
Click to expand...
Maybe you'll admit it's not very good in two months.
 
S

Star Power

Member
Diablos said:
I really like what i just heard them say about TFE on SoundOpinions. The record is genuine. Corgan isn't being pretentious or going back to his old tricks - he's branching out. The lyrics are bare. There's a lot of shoegazer influence. Yet, everyone trashes the album. Meanwhile, these guys admit they hated it after two listens, but it really grew on them. They also agree that it will take a couple years for the album to really get respect. Remember Adore? Even I didn't like it that much. Most of the core fans hated it. Now, it's their best according to probably half of SP's fanbase.

I don't know why so many people hate TheFutureEmbrace. It's not overproduced. It owes a lot to shoegazer rock and carefully mixes it with an electronic feel. It's certainly not overproduced. If it was, it would sound like every other Depeche Mode song.
Click to expand...


I don't hate it, not at all. It has quite a few really great songs. It's just that it lacks the variety and, I dunno, ambition of Corgan's other work. It's a bit flat, every song sounds the same... so really great tunes get burried because it's hard to differentiate.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
FrenchMovieTheme said:
you're still in this thread? jesus christ!


p.s. even though the pumpkins aren't as popular as they were in '95, don't underestimate their loyal fanbase. it's probably bigger than you are thinking
Click to expand...
:lol

It's not a celebration until people try to come down on it. Just some light-hearted fun, nothing meant to be taken seriously.
 
M

Macam

Banned
This is where Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee quietly come out and say "Ben Folds Five is getting back together". Then Zach De La Rocha comes out, destroys that bastardized Audioslave schtick, and tears the administration a new one. Then the world explodes.

TFE is gold. Now and Then is probably my favorite thing at the moment, and I love it when Billy digs around and does this sort of musical dabbling. It's stripped down, it's bare, but it's beautiful. It's a paced light walk with heavy footprints. I have no qualms if Billy wants to hunch over his guitar and tear into some distorted, long-winded rant of a guitar solo while the band marches forward behind him, but I can't ever complain when BC throws out a new CD. It's always different, and I always end up liking it. I liked Jimmy's solo CD immensely for the same reason. Hell, I liked just about every offshoot album from SP, including Auf Der Maur's, which reminded me of a semi-playful throwback to early '90s chic rock.

I don't care if SP reunites or not. Billy and Jimmy are already doing music; about the only thing I see coming out of it is resurrecting James' musical talent. He's throwing it away with APC, which was never much of band to begin with, and he had some real songwriting chops. He needs to do another Blew Away caliber track. More power to SP if they come back together, as I'd love to see a band that as talented and musically dynamic as SP has been. It doesn't really matter though, since I'll be tagging along to the shows regardless.
 
K

Koopa

Member
1346_129020333_kirsten5_H165854_L.jpg


"I've been chosen as the extra in the movie adaptation to the sequal to Billy Corgan's life, can you point me to the head shaver please"
 
R

Rorschach

Member
Koopa said:
1346_129020333_kirsten5_H165854_L.jpg


"I've been chosen as the extra in the movie adaptation to the sequal to Billy Corgan's life, can you point me to the head shaver please"
Click to expand...
I thought I was the only one that saw the resemblence. Also, Anna Paquin in the Xmen movie posters. :X
 
K

Koopa

Member
Holy shit, its me Trife, Ror.

I think I mentioned it once or twice in FFXI. Shave the head and its uncanny.
 
M

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Billy Corgan said:
I now see that the band as a spiritual entity is necessary. I think the world needs my band. And needs that voice, that strong voice. And it's a great hammer, it's more powerful than me, and I will succumb again to it
Click to expand...
I'm sorry. I love SP, but what how come every time Billy Corgan opens his mouth, shit like this pours out? I see this being a passive-aggressive move to try and get the band started again, and James is probably laughing his fucking head off as we speak.
 
D

Diablos

Member
isamu said:
Fuck! I'm sorry Diablos.... Looks like Corgon has changed his mind and is calling off the idea
cry0jo.gif


http://www.rollingstone.com/?rnd=1119428744954=Corgan
Click to expand...
Good one. :D

Yeah, Corgan tends to overreact when he has lots of shit to talk about, it's nothing new.
Kirsten Dunst also looks a lot like Corgan if you take her hair off. :p

Anywho, I was listening to TFE with headphones before I went to bed and so many of the songs sound like My Bloody Valentine. DIA especially. It has that beautiful guitar/synth wall of noise that really reaches out and grabs you.

I'd argue that the songs sound a lot different. It just has an electronic production, which makes it stand out more. All work like that has the same kind of feel. Listen to the new NIN album. Same deal.
 
D

distantmantra

Member
Diablos said:
SP rarely if ever played that.

I think I have an mp4, FLAC or SHN of that song though.
Click to expand...

They played By Starlight all the time during the MCIS tour. I saw them do it twice myself (once with Jimmy, once with Matt Walker).
 
S

shantyman

WHO DEY!?
dilbert627 said:
Don't know if anyone else will find this as funny as I did, but I saw this picture on iTunes and couldn't resist...


BUT YOU SAID THE PUMPKINS WOULD NEVER GET TOGETHER AGAIN!
bcorgan_smeagol.jpg


SMEAGOL LIED!!!
Click to expand...

It makes me happy that you are using the picture I made.
 
F

Foreign Jackass

Member
After the bullshit that was Machina and the semi-bullshit that was Machina 2, I can't say I'm really excited. Billy Corgan doesn't know how to write good songs anymore, I'm sorry.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Foreign Jackass said:
After the bullshit that was Machina and the semi-bullshit that was Machina 2, I can't say I'm really excited. Billy Corgan doesn't know how to write good songs anymore, I'm sorry.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, you better apologize because your opinion is going to be Corgan's ultimate downfall. Where's the :rolleyes when you need it?

Distantmantra: Compared to other songs during the tour, and after MCIS, it really hasn't been played THAT much.

More info:

Corgan offers pumpkins reunion

June 22, 2005

BY JIM DEROGATIS Pop Music Critic

We knew it was only a matter of time before Billy Corgan returned to the Smashing Pumpkins, one of the biggest bands of the alternative-rock era, and the most successful group Chicago has ever produced.

We just didn't think the reunion would come quite so soon -- or that Corgan would make the announcement the day he released his first official solo album, ironically titled "The Future Embrace." "I'm full of surprises," Corgan said Tuesday morning.

What he was woefully short on was details.

The Great Pumpkin announced the reunion on Tuesday via full-page advertisements in both the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. The estimated combined cost of both ads is about $37,000.

"For a year now I have walked around with a secret," Corgan wrote in the ad. "Now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again."

But exactly what Corgan meant by that is unclear, and he declined to elaborate.

"The door is clearly open," the star said when asked if he will perform again with the best-known lineup of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky. "What I've done is I've set the intention. It's going to happen."

Does that mean that Corgan has spoken with his former bandmates?

NEVER SAY NEVER

December 2000
The Smashing Pumpkins play their last concert at Chicago's Metro. Shortly afterward, Billy Corgan is quoted in Britain's Melody Maker, saying, "We feel pretty solid about breaking up. I don't think it's gonna be three years and get back together. So I do look at it with finality."

December 2003
It's three years later, and at least former Pumpkins guitarist James Iha is open to the idea of a reunion, telling Scripps Howard News Service he would "not be opposed to" working again with Corgan, either in a reunion of the Pumpkins or in any other capacity.

May 2004
Corgan is asked about the chances for a Pumpkins reunion while visiting with Chicago area high schoolers. The Naperville Sun quotes him: "Have you ever seen VH1's 'Behind the Music'? The band gets famous, gets rich, does drugs, breaks up and then goes into therapy and gets along. The part about the therapy and getting along is not going to happen."

October 2004
Corgan dismisses the possibility of reunion, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "My relationship with [Pumpkins drummer] Jimmy Chamberlin is great. I know we'll work together again. But my relationships with James and D'Arcy» [Wretzky, bassist] are piss-beyond-poor, so read into that whatever you want."

February 2005
Chamberlin contemplates the motivations behind a possible reunion in an interview at contactmusic.com: "When I talk to Billy, that question sometimes comes up. The Pixies are selling out arenas now they've reformed, so this would be the time to go out and make some money -- people seem to be eating this s--- up. But it's too precious to put a dollar sign on it. Money didn't form that band in the first place, so money isn't going to re-form it."

May 2005
MTV asks Corgan about a Pumpkins reunion, a question that causes him to chuckle. "When people ask me about a Smashing Pumpkins reunion, to me, they're asking two things," he responds. "One, 'Will we ever see the Smashing Pumpkins as we remember them onstage?' And two, 'Gee, it's probably going to sound like we remember, right?' And the answer to both questions is no. You won't see the four Smashing Pumpkins onstage again. That's not going to happen. Secondarily, even if you saw the Smashing Pumpkins, it would continue to pick up where we left off, which is an extremely progressive, aggressive and not-easy-to- understand unit."

June 2005
Asked by Sun-Times pop critic Jim DeRogatis whether the Pumpkins might ever reunite, Corgan recalls a recent e-mail exchange with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue: "He was like, 'Everybody has got a price.' I said, 'Not these guys!' It really wasn't about money for them, because if it was about money, I could have bought them. There was nothing I could do, say or pay them. If it ain't in you, it ain't in you."

Thomas Conner

"I don't want to talk about the specifics," he said. "I'm just going to take the CIA route of 'mum's the word.' The door is open. Here's the thing: I am ready to go back to the work of the band."

Of his former bandmates, Corgan remains closest to Chamberlin, who performed with the singer and songwriter in the post-Pumpkins band Zwan, and who appears on some tracks on "The Future Embrace." Chamberlin declined to comment on Tuesday.

Iha did not return calls, and Wretzky could not be reached for comment.

In recent interviews and in his autobiography, which he is posting in installments on www.billycorgan.com, Corgan has been critical of the other Pumpkins. Between their first gig at Metro in May 1988 and their last show at the same Wrigleyville venue in December 2000, the quartet sold more than 22 million albums.

Sources said some of Corgan's closest advisers questioned the wisdom of announcing the reunion in the midst of launching his solo career, which he said will be ongoing even as the Smashing Pumpkins return. Corgan performs two sold-out solo shows July 5-6 at the Vic Theatre, and he hosted a listening party and CD-signing session for "The Future Embrace" Tuesday night at the Adler Planetarium.

"If I [announced the reunion] before, which would obviously promote the record, it would only be about that, and it would only overshadow the record," Corgan said when asked about the timing of his announcement. "To me, this is the perfect spot: It's the summer solstice, the full moon -- the drama is there."

Adding even more drama and mystery, Corgan said he envisions an entirely new business model for the Smashing Pumpkins, Mach II -- one that may utilize the Internet to release its music, instead of relying on record companies, and which may not even issue albums as they are currently known.

Corgan said he is extremely frustrated with his label, Warner Bros. Records, for the lack of support it has given his solo debut. The artist reportedly battled the company over which song to highlight as the single and video, and he ended up hiring independent record promoters and publicists to deal with radio and the press.

Ever the contrarian, Corgan promised that the Smashing Pumpkins won't follow the model of other successful alt-rock reunions, including the Pixies.

"For anybody who gets this sort of rosy picture of a Pixies-esque reunion, it ain't gonna be like that," the bandleader said. "I am literally going to pick up the thread of what it meant to be in that band, which is to light things on fire and break things in half."

Recently, Corgan has spoken at length about a spiritual rebirth and the emotional growth he has experienced through therapy, and he said he will demand "emotional, spiritual and musical sobriety" of the reunited Pumpkins, whoever they are. Wretzky and Chamberlin both battled drug addiction during their tenures in the band.

And, the Pumpkins' former dictator added, "I never again want to be in a passive-aggressive relationship with the labels, with the media or with the fans."

Of course, using a newspaper ad rather than a personal conversation to "open the door" to collaborators who devoted 12 years to helping you realize your musical vision -- and whom you've continued to badmouth in the press until just a few days ago -- stands as a pretty good example of "passive-aggressive."

Corgan would have us believe he's the good guy for making the invitation, and his former mates will be the villains if they reject it. But who can blame them if they're scratching their heads in befuddlement, wondering how or if they should respond?

In the meantime, Metro owner and longtime Corgan confidant Joe Shanahan is keeping his club's calendar open. "They can play here for 90 nights in a row if they want to," he said. "All they have to do is say the word."
Click to expand...

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-billy22.html

$37,000 dollars for that ad in two papers? Jesus.
 
M

Macam

Banned
Ads are pricey, especially full page ones in major newspapers. Frankly, I love how everyone wants SP to reunite with some visions of Siamese Dream in their head, when in all due likelihood, if it ever happened, you're going to get more Adore/Machina "Who is this again?" material...which is fine by me.
 
D

Diablos

Member
I dunno...

Billy has probably written lots of hard songs (like Spilled Milk) but could never play them because Zwan only had one song like that, and obviously, the solo gig isn't anywhere close to that.
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
where is that quote where corgan says something to the effect of "if the band ever DID get back together, there wouldn't be lighters being waved back and forth. we would set out to demolish the world" or something like that (implying it wouldn't be a lovey-dovey musical reunion, but rather a harder sound)
 
M

Macam

Banned
Diablos said:
I dunno...

Billy has probably written lots of hard songs (like Spilled Milk) but could never play them because Zwan only had one song like that, and obviously, the solo gig isn't anywhere close to that.
Click to expand...

I'm sure he could pick up the phone and call in just about anyone he wanted to to fill in for any hard tracks, or just do it all himself and layer it in the studio. We all know he has the best drummer in the world as his disposal if needed. I think his solo album is softer for a reason: he's obviously reach a new chapter in his life, and he's reflecting it in his music. That and I think he wanted to differentiate his solo work from SP as much as possible.

FMT, I think that quote wasn't referring to a sound in particular, just that SP wouldn't be resting on their laurels playing old favorites while the crowd sang along. They'd pick up where they left off and start exploring more new sounds, as they did with, well, just about all their albums.
 
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