|
As much as I hate Billy Corgan (in terms of face/head punchability, he's below only Drake and Dolanld Trump, and only because he's nowhere near as visible, important, or culturally omni-present), I do hav fond memories of listening to this album with my friends in junior high. For about 18-24 months, the Smashing Pumpkins were just about as big as post-Nirvana rock got, and there was almost a sense of "mania" to their output at this time. Like, every fucking single was a hit (no number 1 singles or anything, but this was the era of alternative and radio airplay charts -- they did have a few #1's in that context -- and MTV), from "Bullet W/ Butterfly Wings" to "Thirty-three," it just felt big.
I'm also impressed by the diversity of the songs, even the hits. Bullet is a post-"teen spirit" angst-rocker, but "1979" sounded totally different, with hints of (half-baked) electronica and an iconic video. "Zero" was basically a Nine Inch Nails song, but "Tonight Tonight" felt very poignant to 14-year-olds at the time. Even low-stakes final single "Thirty-three" was touching.
So yah. I do not like the band. I do not like the members. They aped a bunch of better bands, and acted like choads, and somehow managed to milk late '80s shoegaze, grunge, glam, glam-metal, and and pop culture world's need for a generationally representative traditional pop band comprised of three or four distinct personalities. They ripped off MBV, Ride, Jane's, Nirvana, fucking Boston, NIN, the Cure, and countless others, but for a while it was good to have them around.
I feel like in '95-'96 the only bands that may have eclipsed SP were Oasis (in terms of pop) and maybe Beck in terms of alternative omnipresence. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly. I was young and dumb.
|