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| Submitted by: |
chainsaw kitten |
| On: |
2002-08-01 |
| Genre: |
alternative rock
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| Official Site: | SMASHING PUMPKINS
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| Best songs: |
Disarm
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Description, by chainsaw kitten
Started in 1988 by Billy Corgan and James Iha, they played together for a while, then met D'arcy outside a gig.. when Billy told her she was 'full of shit' for liking some band he detested...then some how she ended up playing bass for him. The Pumpkins got a show in the Cabaret Metro, on one condition; they ditch their beloved drum machine and replace it with the real thing. They found Jimmy Chamberlin (possibly one of the best drummers in the world) and went on to open for bands like Janes Addiction and That Petrol Emotion.
The Pumpkins hit the big time in 1993 with the release of their second album Siamese Dream, the band slowly started falling apart as they began a rigourous tour around the world. Jimmy developed serious drug problems, Billy became increasingly egocentric and paranoid while James and D'arcy (who had been dating) had a bad falling out.
Somehow, the band managed to stay together and to produce Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, their epitaph in a way.. a double album designed with tracks for the day and tracks for the night. Jimmy later was fired, his drug problem returned with a vengeance and he shot 'red rum' with the pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin.. who later died as a result of it.
The Smashing Pumpkins went on as a 3-some to produce Adore, their darkest and most electronically driven album but with an iridescant beauty that no one saw at the time, now it is considered a masterpiece. In early 1999 Jimmy returned to the band, they did a final tour of america as a complete band before D'arcy left in September 1999. MACHINA followed her departure, and former hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur took over as the touring bass player.
The Smashing Pumpkins announced they would split after their last show at the venue they started in, the cabaret metro in chicago. That was in 2000, now Smashing Pumpkins are considered a great influence to come on music, and a truly outstanding band. |
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Featured comment (1/1) by nancyspungen on 2002-10-11
Ah the Smashing Pumpkins, lyrical perfection in my opinion. Each album is as complete as the next but is vastly different ways, showing the diversity and complexity that Billy Corgan and his band could achieve. The music is technically astounding, each song is phrased perfectly, with ambience which could suddenly erupt into pure angst and pain. If new to the Pumpkins, (?) the greatest hits album would be where to start as it spans their whole career, albeit with only the crowd-pleasing tracks. Unfortunately the pumpkins are no longer with us but Billy is working on his side project Zwan, - we look forward to the results.
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Albums:
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Siamese Dream
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Featured comment (1/1) by Kixie on 2002-09-05
Being the band's 'breakthrough' album has made it one of the most popular (second to their double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness), but it is their best musically and emotionally.
The album is filled with angsty songs about chilhood, breaking up, losing abilities, learning and forgiving with beautiful haunting lyrics, wailing and sometimes psychedelically happy guitars and very well written forward basslines.
The album is amazing in its brutal honesty, it's sensitivity, it's harsh lines of pain and suffering, but is somehow redeemed by this optimistic and happy ending.
Billy Corgan himself wrote this album during and after a breakdown and a break up with his longtime girlfriend and future wife, Chris.
He poured everything into it and it paid off as it's one of the most underrated beautiful and amazing albums of the 90s.
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