Why? Because I recognize in him my own best and worst selves. I’ve analyzed him endlessly in columns, books, and podcasts. A true Midwestern rock demigod, he has fascinated me to no end for most of my life. (I’m not about to run down all the hired guns who have passed through Casa de Smashing.) Corgan is the focal point, in the best and worst possible senses. No disrespect to James Iha, D’arcy, or especially Jimmy Chamberlin, the second most important Pumpkin. Let’s be clear right away about what I mean by “band” - I’m really talking about Billy Corgan. There was no question in my mind that this survey of the Pumpkins had to begin here, as “Pastichio Medley” explains who this band is more accurately than any of their many hits. Because I’ve thought about the idea of this song for many hours of my life. If you think of it as a performance art bit - which I think it absolutely is - it’s a resounding success. I’m not sure it’s actually meant to be heard, as opposed to witnessed. Today is truly the greatest day to count down the 50 greatest Smashing Pumpkins songs.Ĭonfession: I don’t think I’ve ever listened to all 23 minutes of this B-side from beginning to end. The fact that he’s also one of the greatest and most prolific rock songwriters of his generation is also part of the deal at his best, few of his peers in the ’90s were as good at combining melody with gut-level riffage. But for those of us who love him, Billy’s dickishness is part of the equation, a delectable heel turn by a born troll. I don’t know.”ĭecades later, when he made the questionable decision to go on Alex Jones, there was less ambiguity around the “maybe I’m a dick” question. “I wish from Day 1, people would have looked at me and said, ‘You’re all right, come on, join the team,’ but it’s never been that way with me,” he said after the release of Siamese Dream. Even when he was selling millions of albums, he felt excluded from the rock star cool club. The head Pumpkin, Billy Corgan, has had his ups and downs over the years. The Smashing Pumpkins made good music outside of those albums, but those two releases in particular made it possible for this band to plot an arena tour nearly 30 years after their artistic and commercial peaks.
This fall, the Smashing Pumpkins will tour arenas with Jane’s Addiction, and I will be there along with tens of thousands of other 44-year-olds.įor people of my vintage, there are few alt-rock records that loom larger over our adolescent memories than 1993’s Siamese Dream and 1995’s Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
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