Hilary Langford, writing for Landmark Communications’ Style Weekly of Richmond, Va., lauds the Smashing Pumpkins for delivering “an impeccable set of blistering rock” on Saturday night in nearby Charlottesville:

Seemingly intoxicated on his own music, Corgan wavered back and forth as he weaved a psychedelic “Star Spangled Banner” into “United States.” With roundhouse, Townsend-styled guitar strums, the frontman kept the searing energy going with “Heavy Metal Machine” and asked the audience “Are you ready to die for rock and roll?” What he should have asked was, “Are you ready to see the strangest show closer in Smashing Pumpkins history?”

Meanwhile, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Idolator, et al, were unable to comment as today they hit a rough patch in their relationships with the Hold Steady, whose frontman guitarist just now told them — after like two years together! — that he doesn’t like Radiohead. My favorite part is Stereogum’s lament:

Ugh. Look it’s Rock Interviews 101: a band slags another, and like a moth to the Flame, the internet will post it. Because it is inflammatory, and the Internet and Inflammatory are BFFs. So congrats Tad Kubler, you clearly wanted to be blogged, and now you are. The Hold Steady guitarist told BBC6 (via NME): …

I know that everyone is excited about the tour, but discussion about whether G.L.O.W. will be on the next edition of Jock Rock will have to wait until next week’s podcast, as we took the week off due to travel arrangements. But before we left, Jason took the mic to host a very special episode focusing on analysis of Radiohead and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Listen to the whole show (1:36:43)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, Jill, and Andrew

-The differing pressures faced by the two bands. Are the Pumpkins pressured to try new things, or just to rock out? Does Radiohead get a free pass from critics because they play fewer shows? (30:19)

-The frontmen: How do Billy Corgan and Thom Yorke fit the archetype of the “Artist”? Plus, Jill delves into art history. (15:11)

-The fan bases: comparing the outer and inner fan bases of both bands. Plus, why do (some) people hate Billy Corgan? (17:34)

-The music: Jason plans on talking about music but delves into economics and politics. What are Billy’s political views? Andrew does his best impression of an ice cream truck. (26:50)

Song of the Week
-Glynis, October 31st, 1993

We will be back next week with a 100% Smashing Pumpkins-filled episode.

Following seven years after their last such gig, Radiohead returned to Chicago’s Hutchinson Field last night, this time as part of Lollapalooza. This comes on the heels of Pearl Jam’s headlining slot at last year’s Lollapalooza, which of course also was held outside in the Loop.

Meanwhile, the Smashing Pumpkins have never played a large outdoor show in the center of their hometown (and no, Zwan never did either).

You have to think the Pumpkins will be the Lolla headliners next year, don’t you?

This newly shared video gives good insight into the band’s current mindset of eight months ago regarding the album format. It was recorded after the final show of the 2007 U.S. tour, November 18 in Dallas. Here’s some of what Billy said:

We’re playing songs off an album that’s been out now for six or seven months, but most people don’t know the songs. People don’t listen to records anymore. Yeah, when Siamese Dream was popular, more of the audience would listen to that, but when we played Machina stuff, 50% of the audience knew the album. Now you play, it’s like 10% of the audience knows it, because people don’t listen to albums anymore. It’s all iPod playlists and stuff. [Fan: So what’s the future?] One song at a time. I mean, if you were able to poll the audience, I would say that 90% of those people probably have not heard more than two songs off that record, and wouldn’t be interested in more than two songs, and won’t listen to them even if you gave them to ‘em for free. I think that’s what Radiohead’s going to find out really quickly, with, even giving away music… [Fan: Didn’t most people pay nothing for it, the Radiohead, though?] Well, I think 60%, from what I’ve heard, but that doesn’t matter. I would have no problem giving away music for free if people would listen to the music. I don’t think anybody ever envisioned that “free” would also equal “not listen” and also “not go to concerts”. That’s the thing that I think is kind of mystifying. Yeah, when we were kids, we traded tapes, nobody gave a shit because I didn’t pay for the record — it made you a fan of the band and made you listen to records. Now for whatever reason, generationally or just technology-wise, it doesn’t seem to translate into album-listening. So you spend a tremendous amount of time making sure the ninth song on your record is just as good as the first song, and in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “But nobody’s going to fucking listen to this.” So we’re over that.

Here is today’s article from our very own Media Militiawoman.

After a bit of a hiatus the podcast returns with a full slate of panelists three-quarters of a panel. Barring any unforeseen business travel, we should be able to stick to our weekly schedule at least until the end of the summer. This week we talked about the residency DVD, which seems on track to defy the odds and actually get released, and a topic near and dear to my heart: marketing.

Listen to the whole show (1:01:36)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, and Andrew

News
-Billy is playing with Cheap Trick on June 28th, anyone want to iReport it for us? (2:04)

-A new single is announced for September, will it be a pop hit or a sweeping epic? Plus, we make our first reference to the Machina Mystery on this podcast. (7:11)

-IMDB reveals more information about the residency DVD, which is scheduled for the end of this year, and provides a unique interpretation of alphabetical order. (7:12)

In-Depth Discussion
-With the news slowing to a trickle, fan sites start going dark as fans enjoy the summer weather and forget about the Pumpkins until the next blitz begins. Now that the band is label-less and in charge of their own marketing, does this promotional pattern make sense? I figuratively hire Jason and Andrew to play Madison Avenue Executive, and we all have our own advice for how to keep fans engaged. (31:25)

This Week in Pumpkins History
-TheFutureEmbrace is released. Jason ponders the accolades it would have received had it been released by Radiohead. Plus, I reveal my darkest secret: that I listen to James Iha’s solo album more than Billy’s. (8:36)

Song of the Week
-Lover December 12, 1998

Next week we may be doing a show review for a Gish-era show to go along with the announcement of the rerelease/box set/Gish tour. If so, I’ll post the date of the show we’ll be discussing in the comments for this post later in the week.

The well-read music blog Stereogum has a post today entitled “Billy Corgan On Radiohead: ‘Publicity Is Better Than Music’”. This five-word quotation comes from Billy’s recent interview with Rolling Stone. Stereogum plays up the quotation as if it were a slap at Radiohead, but — as demonstrated below — it ain’t so.

Here’s the portion of the Rolling Stone interview that was reproduced by Stereogum:

Rolling Stone: Artists are finding their own ways to get paid outside of the major-label system, like the Eagles with their Wal-Mart deal, Madonna signing up with Live Nation.

Billy Corgan: I think it’s really difficult for the young artist, who doesn’t have at least some sense of a pathway. For example, if you were a kid today and you’re looking at the bands who are successful right now, you think, if you don’t sort of sell out and let somebody make you a star, go on American Idol, then you can’t be successful. Alternative culture is really critical towards introducing new ideas. We need those young bands to push old band like us, to push new boundaries. We need our butts kicked regularly. That’s where all the energy comes from, from the bottom. And when the message on Amy Winehouse is drama is better than music, and for Radiohead publicity is better than music — no disrespect to them. But I think it’s a bad message to young bands of how to make it happen. It’s almost like the evil stepchild of the rap bling-bling thing, like, the only way to make it work is I’ve got to come up with a gimmick.

Unfortunately, that quotation standing by itself lacks perfect clarity. More unfortunately, Rolling Stone has removed from its site an earlier portion of the interview — such portion, as luck would have it, upon which Corgan was building in the Stereogum-quoted segment. Mercifully, however, that earlier portion was saved for posterity in a post on HU. Here (again) is that earlier portion of the interview:

RS’s Evan Serpick: It seems like the last decade or so, we haven’t seen many superstars emerge. Do you think it’s because of the focus on singles or the fickle market?

Billy Corgan: Number one, I think there’s just too much. I mean, how can you ask an eighteen-year-old to sort through everything that they’re presented with? Realistically, just being hot and talented and having a good single isn’t enough anymore. You really need like the extra story, like Amy Winehouse had, or a Britney freak-out. Like, Radiohead putting out a great album is not enough of a story. Radiohead putting out a free album, and blah, blah, that’s the story. So it becomes more media-driven, event-driven, than music-driven.

Corgan’s intent here is rather clear: he is describing what he sees as a problem with the contemporary culture or music industry, such problem being that what gets attention for an artist is not “a great album” (note his implication that In Rainbows is a great album) but an “extra story” like a “freak-out” or a “free album”. With this fuller context, it’s (more) obvious that the Stereogum-quoted section is an expression of empathy for young artists and an affirmation of the primacy of music over drama and PR escapades. (You know, everything for which an “indie” blog is supposed to stand?)

To be clear myself: I’m assuming Rolling Stone just wanted to tighten up the interview and thus they quite innocently removed a part that appeared redundant. However, I see Stereogum as going out of their way to jump to a shocking conclusion, when any attempt at sympathetic research would quickly reveal that Billy Corgan very much likes Radiohead. But, you know, fo*k that. Why bother when some manufactured drama between the Devil and the angels (right) can really pump up the page views? You see, Billy?! For generating ad revenue on the Internet, publicity is definitely better than…truth.

When Billy said “the world is a vampire”, he covered Radiohead’s entire emotional palette with one line. Discuss.

(What? Was I supposed to say something about how I wouldn’t pay five pence for In Rainbows? Come on, as a “cause of the month” it is probably worth a pound or two.)