I figured there were two types of people who were keen to see The Smashing Pumpkins close out the festival. The folks in my generation who grew up through the alt-rock ’90s and were stoked to relive the soundtrack of their dimming youth – we’ll call them the classic rockers who don’t know they’re classic rockers – and those who were fascinated to see what kind of train wreck Billy Corgan’s hubris and dementia had wrought – we’ll call them the rubberneckers. And by them, I mean me.
I should first say that I was a huge Pumpkins fan circa Siamese Dream. Huge. But they lost me with Mellon Collie when Corgan decided he wanted to be a rock god and the past fourteen years or so have been pretty happily Pumpkins-free but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be thrilled to hear “Cherub Rock” live, even if it was played by James and D’Arcy stand-ins. But while I was watching the proceedings with no small amount of cynicism, the mainstage area was teeming with Pumpkins fans who appeared to have kept the flame alive over the past seven years and were now being rewarded for their loyalty… with songs from Zeitgeist. As I expected, they opened with new material – really long, drawn out new material – but I’ll admit that hearing Corgan’s distinctive guitar tone and solos (and nasal vocals) did stir some long-dormant nostalgia.
I’ve already come clean about being only a casual Sonic Youth fan, but most of that enthusiasm has been built on their most recent records, say from Murray Street up to and definitely including their latest The Eternal as they’ve struck what, to my ears, is the perfect balance of atonality and melody. And having only ever seen them once live before, at Lollapalooza 2006, I was pretty excited to do so again. From the buzz in the hall, it was pretty clear everyone else was excited as well but I suspect that most were much more hardcore than I and thus exponentially more stoked. Takeaway: people were looking forward to the show.
And the long-time fans were catered with the first song, “She Is Not Alone” dating back to the band’s 1982 debut. Of course I didn’t know this song – it and most others were verified via set list – but it was a slow, hypnotic sort of dirge featuring massive guitar freak-out from Thurston Moore that many probably hoped would be a set loaded with classic material. These people would probably be disappointed. With “Sacred Trickster”, the band made it clear that they would not be partaking in any career retrospectives – they were still creative and vital and had eyes dead set forward, and would prove it by playing eleven straight songs from The Eternal.
Sabrina Saxon, the wife of dearly-departed Sky Sunlight Saxon, recently contributed a few thoughts to HU about “Choose to Choose Love” and the sessions from which the new song originated. According to Sabrina, the sessions relied heavily on Sky’s gift for spontaneous lyricism:
The way the sessions worked is Billy would write the music and the chorus … come in and sing it for Sky … giving him the “theme” … in this case the theme was “Choose To Choose Love” …. they would lay down that music and the chorus and then Billy would say, “Okay Sky, go work your magic.” …. and Sky would go up in the booth - put those earphones on - close his eyes - and magic … the lyrics would pour out of him ….
Her description of these sessions seems unique to the history of the Smashing Pumpkins; I’ve certainly heard no comparable account of their recording process. She also implies there are more songs that have not been released, since “Choose to Choose Love” is but one “case” of these sessions and his back catalog is extensive:
I think over time people will realize more and more the genius of Sky Sunlight Saxon … there is sooo much music still to be released that he has done over the years since The Seeds original hits ….. and we will make sure that music gets out for everyone to enjoy …. the genius is definitely in the lyrics ….
Sabrina noted that memorials are currently being planned to commemorate the late musician; details will be announced on his official website. Dates have already been announced for Austin, Texas; Los Angeles and Redding, California dates are forthcoming. Oh, and Sabrina — if you need any help getting the music out there, we here at HU are happy to assist! :)
Probably the major subtext of HU to this point has been a critique of status-seeking through music appreciation. I don’t like it when someone claims to like or dislike a certain artist or type of music largely because of some social (read: reproductive) edge that the person expects to acquire as a result. I do think this is very common. People aren’t always aware that they are doing such a thing, true, but even then, maybe they don’t know they’re doing it out of a failure to introspect. I do not pretend to be immune from its practice myself, but I try to think about it and become aware of it.
In this post I come not to judge or even guilt-trip illegal downloaders but just to make one observation: people who decide that they are willing to download music without paying for it acquire a status advantage over those that don’t. Quite obviously, those who get music for free are able to expose themselves to more artists and styles of music, and to explore artists’ catalogs in greater depth, than those that do not. (One data point: since joining Last.fm, I have noticed that a few acquaintances of mine have 1,000 or more artists in their personal libraries; when I finish ripping my personal collection, I may only reach 300 or so.) And just as obviously, those who do not pay for music can check out any or every newly hyped album; meanwhile, those who pay will have to make hard choices, possibly waiting to read reviews or even waiting to see if an artist manifests any sort of staying power in the culture before spending money to check them out. Yes, there is YouTube, and MySpace, and other similar venues where new artists often stream a ’single’ and a couple other songs for free, but I think the relative difference is still significant.
The effects? I used to be fairly comfortable with the idea that I was never (or not anytime soon, anyway) going to be able to explore the music of many classic artists in any depth whatsoever. But I sense more and more that my peers expect me to have explored that music as a matter of simple cultural literacy. In the past, it would have been deemed rather uppity for a rich young person to flaunt his familiarity with thousands of albums — but now, to raise poverty as an excuse for one’s unfamiliarity with Dylan or the Gossip is implicitly to criticize the moral choices of one’s peers. So the person who doesn’t download illegally, if he says so, is now the uppity one…and if he doesn’t say so, he’s simply going to look uncurious or even uncultured. The more sensitive one is to these sorts of status games — and, obviously, I’m very sensitive to them indeed, haha — the more one probably feels like a sucker if he still pays for his music.
I have a small problem! I am the winner of the lunch with Corgan from CharityBuzz.com. I will not announce publicly what I won the highest bid at, but lets just say its got me sweating my balls off right now trying to get the cash together.
Even without much time for me to prepare, last week’s flurry of news was definitely worth podcasting about. Join us as we discuss Lisa’s residency, the lunch heard ’round the internet, and Choose to Choose Love.
-Jill talks in-depth about her experience at Lisa Harriton’s residency, which she reviewed for smashingpumpkins.com, and how she refuses to ask the tough questions. (8:43)
-A since-corrected piece of fine print in a charity auction caused the internet to commence snarkiness and Billy to fire back. Jason talks about how the blogosphere uses the story to sustain their usual narrative. (16:26)
-The fans also didn’t respond well to Billy’s message. We try to discern what Billy is trying to say about the fans and what the role of fan feedback on smashingpumpkins.com should be. Plus, does Billy spend too much time on the internet? (17:55)
-Somewhat lost in the drama was Kerry Brown’s posting of a musical collaboration between Billy and Sky Saxon, who passed away last week. We give a few thoughts about the song. (5:07)
Song of the Week
-Try Try Try, Ft. Lauderdale, FL May 6, 2000
During the fall of 2002, the members of Zwan took over tiny Chicago venue the Hideout to curate a series of nine Monday-night multi-artist gigs, naming the running event “Jack Sweeney’s Open Mic Night.” Audience recordings were restricted by the band and as a result have been truly difficult to find ever since, with only two compilations of selected tracks (#1, #2) becoming widely circulated during the last seven years.
Early this morning, however, recordings of the Zwan members’ performances from seven of the nine Open Mic concerts made their way onto the open waters of the Internet. Links to download these recordings are available in this post on Netphoria.org.
A song co-written and recorded by the just-deceased Seeds leader and the Smashing Pumpkins singer was posted earlier today to the Facebook account of producer Kerry Brown. Listen to “Choose to Choose Love” there.
Another message from Billy Corgan has been posted today, this time with regard to the band’s exploration of its archives in preparation for future releases. Again, Billy is focused on the negative reactions of some Internet messageboard users:
A fan saying “hey, I already got the Ignoffo tapes” is a good one. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that they didn’t pay for those tapes anyway, unless they got one back in 1988 or 89 at a show. So the message is to SP “I’m not buying something that I already got for free”? We have the master tapes so the plan is to remix the material better than it was ever mixed back in the day. Of course, why would that matter? As you can see, I’m quite cynical right now, because everything comes down to a demand that has nothing to do with the reality of who wants these songs and why? Does it ever strike anyone that there might be a 17 year old somewhere that might want these tapes, mixed anew, with art and liner notes? No, I guess they’ll just do like the rest and get stuff for free and bitch at the cost of the stuff never seeing the light of day…
I don’t know if it’s just that I was raised in his home state of Indiana — I don’t get the sense that it is — but at the moment I first became aware of popular music, period, Michael Jackson seemed unquestionably the biggest star in the world. I remember being in my grandparents’ basement and my older cousin spinning Thriller repeatedly on their stereo, which at the time scared me to death, haha.
I can’t point to anything that suggests Jackson was a serious musical influence on you-know-who, but I’ve got little doubt that they respected him for how he tried to reach everyone. There was no segment of society for whom Michael Jackson deemed himself or his music too cool, and there was no form of music or presentation thereof that Jackson was too cool to try. Some of his efforts may ultimately be judged schmaltzy (even if momentarily relevant), but his ethos was just to go for it — and the resulting highs were high indeed.
Jackson did not let his career go quietly, often giving voice in his later music to anger (among still-present other emotions) — anger at the press (who fired back) or whomever else. So…yeah. Given the subject matter of this blog, “Scream” seems the most appropriate video to post.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has declared in an email to fans (UPDATE:now posted in full on SP.com) that he will act, at least with regard to his own website, against the drip of “constant poison” from Internet chatter. Alluding to Trent Reznor’s recent Twitter-spurred remarks, Corgan opened his email:
Recently I read a post by another famed alt-rocker from my generation lamenting the negative cultures of the internet…how its inherent narcissism ruins a lot of good fun for everyone because those that shout the loudest and are the most obsessive are able to control a dialogue over things that in the normal discourse of real life wouldn’t be that big a deal.
The latest of those things is that the winner of an auction to have lunch with Corgan will have to pay not only the bid amount (which will be at least $3,000) but also the relatively tiny meal tab. Corgan says in the email that in offering his services for the benefit auction he was not aware of its fine print:
Today’s laughter was me being criticized for a post that had info about a charity that was offering (to the highest bidder) a lunch with me. Unfortunately, unknown to me, the info stated that lunch was on the person who won the auction. Having never offered myself for a charity lunch date before, I was curious to see what fans might say about it. I was surprised to see a minor detail I was unaware of that said the winner must pay the bill at lunch turn into an attack on me and my supposed fortune.
Corgan left unclear what changes he has in mind for SmashingPumpkins.com:
This website is going to change. It is going to transform into something that is consistent with the concepts of love, grace, and community. We are not looking backwards anymore, only forward. I for one am willing to stand for something good here, in this little corner of the blogosphere, and say it’s time.
For those of you following the HU Twitter, you might’ve noticed our tweet earlier tonight: CharityBuzz.com is auctioning off one lunch date with monsieur Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. With more than six and a half days left in the bidding, the highest offer is already at $550 and counting.
According to the listing, the date includes the opportunity to bring along one lucky friend to a TBD restaurant in LA or Chicago (well, except KFC). All proceeds will go to the Songrwiters Hall of Fame, which is hosting a month-long campaign to further their goal of: “establish[ing] a permanent, state-of-the-art museum in New York City to highlight the achievements of songwriting greats and acknowledge their rightful place in our culture.”
Check out the auction for Corgan here and the rest of the auctions here (if you’re dying to meet Cher backstage, know the bid’s already around $9000). But be forewarned: the winning bidder will still have to pick up the meal tab.
I found a little bit of myself in every track on that album. Now, back to my dad. Had it not been for my father buying me that album, I think I would be a different person today. So, today, I took a few moments to go back and listen to that album, it was kinda my way of thanking my father. Thanking him for doing the right thing and allowing me to fall in love with music from such an early age. Most parents of my friends didn’t allow MTV and here was my dad buying me the Smashing Pumpkins.
She’s bringing it back without Eric Erlandson — but (it seems) with Melissa auf der Maur! The NME has the surprising report:
She’s still kept a bunch of the songs she wrote [for Nobody’s Daughter, which was a forthcoming solo album] with Perry (and, indeed, longtime compadre Billy Corgan). But when she began writing with Larkin (whose talent she looks like having been right about), it became obvious that the ‘Rock Courtney’ was back in action, and that this music could only come out under one name, HOLE.
Micko [Larkin] will be lead guitarist, and Hole bassist Melissa auf der Maur, though working on projects of her own, has returned for backing vocals, and may play bass on tours next year. The album is as good as done, with the rest of the touring line-up for now remaining TBC.
If you’re unfamiliar with Billy Corgan’s contributions to what is now the forthcoming Hole album Nobody’s Daughter — possibly because we have not covered this well on HU, eek — the Wikipedia entry for the album is a good place to start.
It has been awhile, but we return with the full complement of podcasters to talk about the news that Billy Corgan has chosen a drummer of the future and whether Jill and Andrew care to defend Machina II after our last podcast.
-Machina II followup from Jill and Andrew. Do they agree with our previous statements? Plus, Jason draws a comparison between Machina II and that other band we talk about occasionally. (7:39)
-Mike Byrne has been confirmed as drummer of the future. What does this really mean? Is he the new Jimmy or just another studio collaborator? And stop me if you’ve heard this, but he’s only 19. (20:16)
-SmashingPumpkins.com featured an interview with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness art director Frank Olinsky last week. We talk a little about the MCIS packaging and add “psychedelic music played by a heavy metal band in the 1920’s” to the growing list of music genres that the Pumpkins belong to. (6:26)
Song of the Week
-Translucent, Asheville, NC June 23, 2007
So I ask you, the reader and listener, which Smashing Pumpkins album could be best described as “psychedelic music played by a heavy metal band in the 1920’s”?
* Music blog Antiquiet.com retweets high praise of $7/month online content subscription offer from Jack White; in April, blog founder wrote "I'll be damned if I’ll pay $40 for a few months of glorified tweets, from any band." - #
* TwentyFourBit reports: "Jack White has followed in Prince’s footsteps, unveiling a subscription service to exclusive videos, pre-sale tickets, podcasts, vinyl, and other secret future benefits from the Third Man Records roster." - #
* Jeff Tweedy, on reading reviews and fan reactions: "I’m never not going to care. I like getting that feedback, but I’m so naïve I get sideswiped by it every time." - #
I figured there were two types of people who were keen to see The Smashing Pumpkins close out the festival. The folks in my generation who grew up through the alt-rock ’90s and were stoked to relive the soundtrack of their dimming youth – we’ll call them the classic rockers who don’t know they’re classic rockers – and those who were fascinated to see what kind of train wreck Billy Corgan’s hubris and dementia had wrought – we’ll call them the rubberneckers. And by them, I mean me.
I’ve already come clean about being only a casual Sonic Youth fan, but most of that enthusiasm has been built on their most recent records, say from Murray Street up to and definitely including their latest The Eternal as they’ve struck what, to my ears, is the perfect balance of atonality and melody. And having only ever seen them once live before, at Lollapalooza 2006, I was pretty excited to do so again. From the buzz in the hall, it was pretty clear everyone else was excited as well but I suspect that most were much more hardcore than I and thus exponentially more stoked. Takeaway: people were looking forward to the show.
Probably the major subtext of HU to this point has been a critique of status-seeking through music appreciation. I don’t like it when someone claims to like or dislike a certain artist or type of music largely because of some social (read: reproductive) edge that the person expects to acquire as a result. I do think this is very common. People aren’t always aware that they are doing such a thing, true, but even then, maybe they don’t know they’re doing it out of a failure to introspect. I do not pretend to be immune from its practice myself, but I try to think about it and become aware of it.
Even without much time for me to prepare, last week’s flurry of news was definitely worth podcasting about. Join us as we discuss Lisa’s residency, the lunch heard ’round the internet, and Choose to Choose Love.
During the fall of 2002, the members of Zwan took over tiny Chicago venue the Hideout to curate a series of nine Monday-night multi-artist gigs, naming the running event “Jack Sweeney’s Open Mic Night.” Audience recordings were restricted by the band and as a result have been truly difficult to find ever since, with only two compilations of selected tracks (
A fan saying “hey, I already got the Ignoffo tapes” is a good one. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that they didn’t pay for those tapes anyway, unless they got one back in 1988 or 89 at a show. So the message is to SP “I’m not buying something that I already got for free”? We have the master tapes so the plan is to remix the material better than it was ever mixed back in the day. Of course, why would that matter? As you can see, I’m quite cynical right now, because everything comes down to a demand that has nothing to do with the reality of who wants these songs and why? Does it ever strike anyone that there might be a 17 year old somewhere that might want these tapes, mixed anew, with art and liner notes? No, I guess they’ll just do like the rest and get stuff for free and bitch at the cost of the stuff never seeing the light of day…
It has been awhile, but we return with the full complement of podcasters to talk about the news that Billy Corgan has chosen a drummer of the future and whether Jill and Andrew care to defend Machina II after our 