Then:
Now:
The artist formerly know as my favorite band is hitting new lows. Can anyone remember a time when the Smashing Pumpkins meant creativity and breaking new ground, not just a vehicle for their leader to crank out his knowledge of scales and modes?
I for one was against this reunion from the start. Basically because I didn't believe it was genuine. This isn't the kind of music Corgan wants to be making. I think his heart is in playing the new wave influenced synth-pop of his solo album(which blew) and later Pumpkin's releases. The problem, no one's buying it. No one's giving him the props he feel's he deserves, and with the renewed intrest in guitar driven rock thanks to Guitar hero and bands like Dragonforce and Trivium, he must have felt like the second grader who's too fat too ride the see-saw. It seems like everything that I've seen or heard is nothing more that Billy Corgan wining and waving his arms saying "what about me? I can do this too, just give me a chance. I'm not satisfied being regarded as one the most influential musicians of my generation. I need instant gratification and praise. Look what I can do.!" The bottom line is, it feels forced. And for him to sacrifice good, genuine songwriting for mindless wanking, just turns me off. They've also had the psudo-goth thing going on as far back as the Mellon Collie era, but it seems he's playing that up too. And another thing is the in your face political overtones of the newest album. Don't get me wrong, artist can be political and express it in any medium they feel neccessary, but they never made any attempts in the past that I'm aware of, and suddenly hearing my former favorite artist singing about global warming just isn't an easy sell. Congrats, mr. corgan. Your attempt to capatalize on your band's legacy has left it cold, gasping for air, and soaked in urine. Long live James Iha.
