Smashing Pumpkins & Billy Corgan thread

CrystalGeezer

My secret's my enzyme.
I go back and forth on them. I consider Here Is No Why to be in the top ten favorite songs I've ever heard. Take to my grave great. And I like a lot of their other stuff from their middle period but very little of it really moves me.

I like listening to him in interviews; he's a very smart guy. But the singing is kind of annoying. And the the neo-classic/prog-rock shit is, I don't know. Meh.
 
They're a band that I associate with girls...it's like, every f***ing chick over the age of 13 loves Smashing Pumpkins with a love that is disproportionate to the merit of the group. Even now. It's like their ovaries hand out copies of Siamese Dream with their first menstrual cycle.

I don't think that that many trueblue rock and roll lovers take them all too seriously. But then again they don't The Monkees seriously either, so I'll just shut up.
 

I guess you never saw his freestyle rap TNA promo...:p



They're a band that I associate with girls...it's like, every f***ing chick over the age of 13 loves Smashing Pumpkins with a love that is disproportionate to the merit of the group. Even now. It's like their ovaries hand out copies of Siamese Dream with their first menstrual cycle.

I don't think that that many trueblue rock and roll lovers take them all too seriously. But then again they don't The Monkees seriously either, so I'll just shut up.

This really hurts my feelings, man. ;)
 
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He has three good songs. Have to admire him turning that into a career.
 
He has three good songs. Have to admire him turning that into a career.


Manilow did it with one. He wrote the song that "made the young girls cry," and then he and his producer Howie Rice crafted an entire career out of it.
 
He didn't write "I Write The Songs." Next?

Good catch, I didn't even know that. Actually, the one Barry Manilow song I really like is "Weekend in New England." I just looked this song up and it was written by Randy Edelman.



I know its lame to post this YouTube song. I know that's pretty much all I do around here, is post YouYube songs. I do think this song is beautiful, and I stand behind it.


"Weekend in New England" by Barry Manilow

 
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I go back and forth on them. I consider Here Is No Why to be in the top ten favorite songs I've ever heard. Take to my grave great. And I like a lot of their other stuff from their middle period but very little of it really moves me.

I like listening to him in interviews; he's a very smart guy. But the singing is kind of annoying. And the the neo-classic/prog-rock shit is, I don't know. Meh.



Almost everything The Smashing Pumpkins have done has personally moved me. They're my second favorite musical artist of all-time and have been extremely important to me in my life. They literally have created 120 songs that I consider "take to my grave great." On a side note, Billy Corgan stated that he wants the incredible "Today" played at his funeral. Yeah, some could see this as egotistical, oh well. That's cool you appreciate "Here Is No Why."

I can understand your opinion that his singing is kind of annoying. Billy's singing and the band's music is definitely an acquired taste. My friend Doug made me a tape of "Siamese Dream" in '93 and it didn't grab me at all. It wasn't until my friend Alana made me a tape of most of the songs from, "Mellon Collie..." that I really clicked with the Smashing Pumpkins. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans," "Galapagos," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "1979," grabbed my soul and I've been a fan for life. It's ironic, I hardly ever listen to "Siamese Dream" or "Mellon Collie..." anymore. I listen to each album once a year. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" is unlistenable to me. I really like the song but I can't force myself to listen to it. I feel the exact same way about the song, "Zero." I equate these songs to the television shows, "All in the Family" and "Cheers." I loved those shows and I appreciate them, but I literally can't force myself to watch them for more than a minute.

I can also understand your shrug your shoulders feelings to the neo-classic/ prog rock aspect of the band. For me, most of it definitely works, but I'm an ardent fan. A few songs, like the awful "United States," puts me in the "meh" zone too. I really think the more someone listens to the Smashing Pumpkins, the more they'll appreciate the gorgeous nuances in their music. I think they'll come to appreciate the incredible, absolutely incredible, musicianship in their music. I like the sound of Billy Corgan's guitar work better than any other guitarist I've ever heard. I put him barely ahead of Johnny Marr, Alain Whyte, Vini Reilly, Davey Johnstone, whoever it was who did most of the great guitar work with Siouxsie & the Banshees (Steven Severin?), Robert Smith of The Cure, Jimi Hendrix, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards, Dwight Yoakam, and a few others. I don't care about the technical aspects of guitar playing. My former neighbor Rob used to speak with me about great guitar playing and great guitar players. He played me a lot of their songs and very little of their music moved me at all. Jeff Beck bores me to tears. I don't care how technically wonderful he is, he's like paint drying on the wall to me. Didn't he play guitar on Morrissey's "Black Cloud?" Yeah, I give that song a "C" score, its nothing tremendous. Anyway, I love the sound of Billy Corgan's phenomenal guitar, and the twin guitar sound of the Pumpkins makes the music even more amazing. (James Iha, for 12 years, and Jeff Schroeder, for 7 years, have provided the Pumpkin's second guitar.)

I also have to state, that I firmly believe, that Billy Corgan is one of the two greatest songwriters of all-time. Elton John is the other. The incredible volume of the hundreds upon hundreds of amazing songs they've written is staggering. They both can do it all. They can write complex epics, excellent rock songs, beautiful quiet songs, wonderful love songs, songs that are basically two or three songs in one, they can do everything. If I had to pick one over the other, I'd have to pick Elton John. He can write damn good "blues" songs and country songs too. Yes country songs. "Roy Rogers," "Texan Love Song," "Take Me Back," and a few more.

I've scattered many Billy Corgan songs throughout the threads of Morrissey-Solo, and hopefully will add some here too. Unfortunately, there is no time now. Please excuse mistakes, I wrote this hella fast.
 
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Good catch, I didn't even know that. Actually, the one Barry Manilow song I really like is "Weekend in New England." I just looked this song up and it was written by Randy Edelman.



I know its lame to post this YouTube song. I know that's pretty much all I do around here, is post YouYube songs. I do think this song is beautiful, and I stand behind it.


"Weekend in New England" by Barry Manilow



It's not lame to post a song you like. I know you mean well so I don't make comments that would just be mean, such as that your rap music thread feels like being lectured by an 8 year old that got their rap collection out of the 99 cent discount cassette bin. But the post I responded to was weird since you mentioned his producer (I assume) which means you must have done some research and then got the central point wrong. Barry Manilow's breakthrough hit was called "Mandy" and I think he did write that one. Anyway, no hard feelings. I posted six Neil Young songs for you in the "what are you listening to now" thread.
 
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It's not lame to post a song you like. I know you mean well so I don't make comments that would just be mean, such as that your rap music thread feels like being lectured by an 8 year old that got their rap collection out of the 99 cent discount cassette bin. But the post I responded to was weird since you mentioned his producer (I assume) which means you must have done some research and then got the central point wrong. Barry Manilow's breakthrough hit was called "Mandy" and I think he did write that one. Anyway, no hard feelings. I posted six Neil Young songs for you in the "what are you listening to now" thread.


Life really is all about timing. I came back here to delete the "Weekend in New England" song, but you beat me to the punch. It's a good song, so maybe it's cool that it stayed. I can understand your not being enamored by "being lectured by an 8 year old" when viewing the "RapMusic" thread. In all honesty, that's a fair statement. I like who I am as a person, but I know I can be annoying. I have to disagree with your "got their rap collection out of the 99 cent discount cassette bin" quote. That quote may cover 15%- 20% of the songs I posted on that thread, but certainly not the majority. I'm not saying that I'm an authority on Rap Music, but the fact is, a lot of the tracks I posted are too rare to see the light of day inside any store. That could be construed as a lame argument, but it works for me.:)

The truth is I've done almost no research on Howie Rice. I know he did produce the Manilow song, "I'm Your Man," but that's all I really know about the man. I got a kick out of his name, and have used him and Manilow in a couple of ill-advised skits in other threads. "Mandy" is a pretty good song. I haven't heard it in a decade or so. That's awesome about posting the six Neil Young songs!
 
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This really hurts my feelings, man. ;)

I don't know. I mean, I don't hate them, and I like a decent number of their songs to varying degrees, but with the exception of Here Is No Why they never blew me away. Although then again there are many bands I love and none of them have a song I love as much as Here Is No Why. So I don't know.

But I guess maybe they are a band like The Doors, who everybody swears by and I have never understood the appeal of. Although having said that, I get a lot more out of The Pumpkins than The Doors.
 
Life really is all about timing. I came back here to delete the "Weekend in New England" song, but you beat me to the punch. It's a good song, so maybe it's cool that it stayed. I can understand your not being enamored by "being lectured by an 8 year old" when viewing the "RapMusic" thread. In all honesty, that's a fair statement. I like who I am as a person, but I know I can be annoying. I have to disagree with your "got their rap collection out of the 99 cent discount cassette bin" quote. That quote may cover 15%- 20% of the songs I posted on that thread, but certainly not the majority. I'm not saying that I'm an authority on Rap Music, but the fact is, a lot of the tracks I posted are too rare to see the light of day inside any store. That could be construed as a lame argument, but it works for me.:)

The truth is I've done almost no research on Howie Rice. I know he did produce the Manilow song, "I'm Your Man," but that's all I really know about the man. I got a kick out of his name, and have used him and Manilow in a couple of ill-advised skits in other threads. "Mandy" is a pretty good song. I haven't heard it in a decade or so. That's awesome about posting the six Neil Young songs!

And what I said didn't come across as a joke in the way I meant it to, about the rap thing. I'm glad you are into all kinds of music and you come across as a positive person in all ways. Anything I would say about you that was negative would definitely say more about me than it would about you. Of course that is usually true about most things, but we can forget that when it appears to be aimed at us and I'm sorry for my remark. I'm glad you are happy being who you are. I hope you continue to do so. :D It's a rare quality. I actually liked a few Barry Manilow songs. He's definitely not "cool" but cool can be overrated. As far as piano playing pop performers go he's no Elton John but it sure beats Billy Joel. I would go look at his list of hits and tell you the ones I like but I'm afraid I'd get one of them stuck in my head.
 
And what I said didn't come across as a joke in the way I meant it to, about the rap thing. I'm glad you are into all kinds of music and you come across as a positive person in all ways. Anything I would say about you that was negative would definitely say more about me than it would about you. Of course that is usually true about most things, but we can forget that when it appears to be aimed at us and I'm sorry for my remark. I'm glad you are happy being who you are. I hope you continue to do so. :D It's a rare quality. I actually liked a few Barry Manilow songs. He's definitely not "cool" but cool can be overrated. As far as piano playing pop performers go he's no Elton John but it sure beats Billy Joel. I would go look at his list of hits and tell you the ones I like but I'm afraid I'd get one of them stuck in my head.


Thank you for your nice words. Thanks a lot!


Lol, about getting one of Barry Manilow's songs stuck in your head.:)
 
"The Fellowship" by The Smashing Pumpkins




"Are you with us, or against us, tonight?"


-A masterpiece.
 
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"Dia" by Billy Corgan




"I can't guess, where we'll be tomorrow"


"can I face tomorrow, with you?"
 
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"Set the Ray to Jerry" by The Smashing Pumpkins




-A masterpiece.
 
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"Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" by Billy Corgan




-Wow!
 
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