1000 Great Guitar Sites - Your guide to the best in guitar music: Guitars, Chords, Tablature, Bands, MP3...

2000 | Bands | Guest | Guitars | Links | Makers | MP3 | Music | NEW | Search | Stores | TAB | Tuition
Discussion Forum   |   HOME   |   Contents   |   NO FRAMES

1000 Great Guitar Sites on the Web
The Great Pumpkins - Newsweek June 8th 1998



Smashing Pumpkins BIO | LINKS | TAB | Lyrics | CD NOW


Gish 1991 Siamese Dream 1993 Mellon Collie 1995 Adore 1998 - 30% OFF!



Unlike their peers, Billy Corgan & Co. survived success.
They're back with the moody 'Adore.' By N'Gai Croal


Is Billy Corgan the Michael Jordan of pop music? Like his fellow Chicagoans, there seems to be nothing that the front man of The Smashing Pumpkins can't do. Grunge, industrial, acoustic ballads, arena anthems, moody art-rock, Day-Glo pop--each is just another style that Corgan deploys as effortlessly as MJ's patented pump fakes and slam dunks.

The Smashing Pumpkins may be a band (James Iha on guitar and D'Arcy on bass), but it's unquestionably The Corgan Show. The fact that he wrote and sang all of the songs on their 1993 breakthrough record "Siamese Dream" wasn't unusual, but he also replaced his band mates' guitar parts with his own when he decided that theirs weren't up to snuff. Corgan's next release, the sprawling "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," was a bid to dominate the game of rock: at 4.5 million copies sold, it's the most successful double album of the '90s.

In person, the black-clad Corgan--looking very much like Ethan Hawke as drawn by Charles Addams--seems more humble than his rep. "I don't think I'm good enough to be Jordan," he tells guitarist Iha as they sit in the green room of the Metro. It's the Chicago nightclub where The Smashing Pumpkins played their first gig 10 years ago; this night, they're doing the first live performance of their new album, "Adore." He continues: "I'd have to go with Pippen. I've got the all-around game." Corgan's right: his notoriously whiny voice doesn't have the blues-man wail of Kurt Cobain or the sonorous roar of Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell, but he knows how to wield it to great advantage. And when it's combined with his gloomy lyrics, bombastic production and the furious guitar assault of Iha and D'Arcy, he perfectly captures the mood of today's low-self-esteem, latchkey-kid generation.

It's that all-around game, along with a James Brown work ethic, that has pushed the Pumpkins to the top. They were a bit late to the alternative-rock party: Nirvana arrived first, followed by Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But with Kurt Cobain's suicide, Soundgarden's breakup and Pearl Jam's angsting itself into near obscurity, The Smashing Pumpkins is the last band standing, because it doesn't take its audience for granted. While Vedder took on Ticketmaster, Corgan's group toured relentlessly (it's currently on a whirlwind European tour, to be followed by jaunts to Australia and Japan, plus a series of concerts for charity in the United States). Pearl Jam refused to make videos, but the Pumpkins produced numerous award-winning clips like the surreal homage to silent film in "Tonight, Tonight." They work hard for the money.

They also fight as hard as they work: each Pumpkins record has been accompanied by controversy and discord. D'Arcy and Iha's relationship ended during the grueling tour for the band's 1991 debut, "Gish." During the "Mellon Collie" tour, the keyboardist they hired for their stage show, Jonathan Melvoin, died of an overdose while shooting heroin with the Pumpkins' founding drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin. "Adore" has also had a difficult birth: the band replaced producer Brad Wood (best known for his work with Liz Phair) and tried to get out of its contract with Virgin (the Pumpkins say the case has been settled). What's more, the album comes out after a string of high-profile rock records, by the likes of R.E.M., U2 and Pearl Jam, have underperformed. In a Puff Daddy-Spice Girls world, can the Pumpkins save rock?

That's a mission they choose not to accept. "We felt [indie] rock was kind of played out," says Corgan. Ex-girlfriend Courtney Love and pal Marilyn Manson asked him to produce their new records, but he declined in order to focus on "Adore." These days, Corgan says he's more likely to bob his head to Missy Elliott than to Beck. "You know how once a year you see something and you say, 'What the f--was that?' " he enthuses. "That's what happened when I saw her video." Early reviews are calling "Adore" a departure from previous Pumpkin records, but anyone who's heard the B-sides in their boxed set "The Aeroplane Flies High" won't be surprised. The moody melange of industrial and trip-hop that flavors the record can't hide its telltale heart--these children of Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin and the Pixies wanna rock. And a few hours later, when the Pumpkins finally take to the Metro stage in front of a packed house, they crank the volume and let it rip.


Smashing Pumpkins BIO | LINKS | TAB | Lyrics | CD NOW


30% OFF Smashing Pumkins new CD
30 OFF%
Adore - Smashing Pumkins new CD



now checkout the other bands...




All    Now    UK    USA    Oz    Database add your site online

ALL | Current Bands | UK Legends | USA Legends | Ozzie Bands | Bands Database

checkout what the grrrls are up to!

Women: Bonnie Raitt | Joan Jett | Melissa Etheridge | Courtney Love | Kat | Ani DiFranco | Siouxsie
Australian Women: Marie Wilson | Judy Small | Spiderbait | Kylie Minogue | Ruby Hunter

Classical Guitar: Artists 1 | Artists 2 | Anatomy | History | Museum


For the latest updates, check the entries in the 2000 Guitars Database
2000 Guitars Database add your site online Keyword Search:
or exact phrase
HELP


Enjoyed this site? Tell others! Put a banner on your site & link to:
1000 Great Guitar Sites on the Web
http://www.GuitarSite.com/



enjoyed this page?   checkout the rest!

100 sites
2000 Guitars
Add URL
Acoustic Guitars
Amps
Awards
Bands
Banners
CDs
Chat
Chords
Chords2
Chord Theory
Christian
Chromatic
Classical
Classical2
Contents
Country Music
Database
Disclaimer
Discussion
Distribution
Effects
Effects Software
FAQ
Flamenco
Glossary
Guitar Gear
Guitars
Guitars 2
Guitar Models
Health
History
HowToPlay
HowToPlay2
Interviews
Jokes
Makers
Makers2
MP3
Museum
Music
Nail Care
Newsgroups
Newsletters
OzBands
OzBands2
Resources
Search
Software
Specials
Stores
Stores2
Tablature
TAB 1
TAB 2
TAB 3
TAB 4
TAB Help
TAB Archive
Tuition
Tuition2
Tuning
WebRings
Women




UK Legends
US Legends
Bo Diddley
Chet Atkins
Clapton
Doors
M.Haggard
J.Hendrix
P.Keaggy
Led Zep
Malmsteen
Mermen
Nirvana
PinkFloyd
REM
R.Stones
S.Pumpkins
A.Segovia
F.Sor
H.Williams


Find what you're looking for:


HOME


Copyright © GuitarSite.com Pty Ltd 1999 - 2011, All Rights Reserved. This site is published by HITSQUAD
Click here for our Privacy Policy | Click here for Advertising Details