Smashing Pumpkins

Certain Songs #2277: The Smashing Pumpkins – “1979”

January 26, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Year: 1995

. . .

The thing, of course, about sprawling double-albums — especially in the CD era where they were off the equivalent of a 3-disc vinyl record — is that you get a chance to stretch out, do tracks that aren’t necessarily what the fans expect.

And so with that freedom Billy Corgan wrote an absolutely tremendous pop single, which literally sounded like nothing his band had yet done, a song that was comparable to The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” especially in how it restricted a world-class inventive drummer to playing the simplest 4/4.

Certain Songs #2276: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Muzzle”

January 25, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness
Year: 1995

. . .

Probably because they’d written and recorded nearly 60 songs for Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, it was a much more organic recording process than when they made Siamese Dream, as James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky got to contribute their own guitar and bass parts, though Billy Corgan would still obsessively overdub a zillion guitars on every song.

Certain Songs #2275: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Tonight, Tonight”

January 24, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Year: 1995

. . .

And so Siamese Dream was a smashing success, making it to #10 on the U.S. charts and #4 in the U.K. charts, and Billy Corgan became the latest of that early-90s trend of reluctant rock stars, who railed against the success they were having. All I can say is thank the gods for Oasis, who blew that shit right out of the water, but in the years before that, it was a real trend: artists selling millions of records getting really pissed off at the people who bought their records, even as they were taking full advantage of the artistic freedom all of those sales brought them.

Certain Songs #2274: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Spaceboy”

January 23, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

It must mean something, but I don’t exactly know what, that Billy Corgan got two of Siamese Dream’s most affecting ballads out of his fucked-up childhood, and each one is completely different from the other.

“Disarm,” the one about his abusive parents. is an absolutely anthemic piece of music, building inexorably towards its climax. But the other, “Spaceboy,” stays etherial and quiet throughout.

Certain Songs #2273: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Mayonaise”

January 22, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

As legend — not to mention a bunch of stories at the time — has it, the sessions for Siamese Dream were fraught, to say the least. In a lot of respects, it a miracle that they finished the record at all. Not only was Billy Corgan suffering from writer’s block and suicidal ideation, guitarist James Iha & bassist D’arcy Wretzky had recently broken up. Oh, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain had become a heroin addict, often disappearing for days at time, which was a problem, since he was the only other member that the dictatorial perfectionist Corgan would let play on the record.

Certain Songs #2272: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Disarm”

January 21, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

The third single from Siamese Dream, after “Cherub Rock” and “Today,” “Disarm” showed that Billy Corgan had more on his mind than finding new and interesting guitar tones.

And after five songs where The Smashing Pumpkins brought the crunch, the acoustic guitar plus strings “Disarm” was exactly the kind of curveball Siamese Dream needed en route to becoming a classic record, as it somehow was both lighter than air and bigger than mountains.

Certain Songs #2269: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Drown”

January 18, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Singles – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Year: 1992

. . .

With the exception of 1979’s That Summer!, no motion picture soundtrack ever affected me as much as the soundtrack for 1992’s Singles. And unlike That Summer!, Singles was a film that people actually saw, especially as it came during that period where filmmaker Cameron Crowe could do no wrong, though I certainly didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Say Anything or Almost Famous.

Medialoper Bebop Episode 25: Don’t Give it Away

December 9, 2011 by Jim Connelly

This week, Kirk tells Tim & Jim his story about losing his power due to last week’s hurricane-force winds in SoCal, and how he hopped in his jeep and toured the devastation in Pasadena while searching for coffee and the internet. (6:00 – 13:28)

Then, Albert Puljos is going to Disneyland! We take a look at whether or not this is a good deal for the Angels, and have a heated discussion about whether it makes any difference that he didn’t stay with the Cardinals. (14:05 – 23:04)

Can you believe that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are going to be inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Jim can’t. (23:06 – 30:20)

Finally, Tim shares what’s in his mix: The Roots, Kate Bush and The Smashing Pumpkins, which leads to a discussion about the eternal awesomeness of Siamese Dream as well as well as stories about seeing the Pumpkins at Lollapalooza & the Reading Festival. (30:21 – 40:55)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:00 — 67.3MB)

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22 Musical Moments To Die For

November 14, 2008 by Jim Connelly

You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the fourth in a series. The first one had 25, the second one has 24, the third one had 23.

And good news! The latest version of Flash solves the problem that was going on with Windows, Flash and Firefox. You might wanna download it.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.