Internet fans: James Iha less important to TSP than Slash is to GnR 3:48 am // Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Posted by 34 in ac/dc, analysis, beatles, bullshit, d'arcy wretzky, ginger reyes pooley, guns 'n' roses, james iha, jimmy chamberlin, led zeppelin, satire.42 comments
According to some highly non-scientific research (i.e. paging through google search results of “not $BandName without” queries), James Iha ranks above John Bonham and Bon Scott (not to mention any other former TSP member), but lower than Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne or Slash, when it comes to “it just isn’t Band X without Member Y” fan opinion. Check below to see who “matters” more to a band’s sound/identity (or perhaps merely which bands’ fans are the most vocal about lineup changes).
(more…)
Pumpkins on iPhone? Sorry, Stereogum, there’s no app for that 4:04 am // Saturday, December 19, 2009
Posted by jjb in bullshit, gaming, stereogum.7 comments
BuzzMedia’s Stereogum.com has offered up a “Ridiculous Gift Guide for Music Fans 2009″ that includes this riff (links are mine):
The sad parade of gratuitous band iPhone apps marched on this year: Death Cab, Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., Daniel Johnston (!) … Even the ubiquitous “I Am T-Pain” lost its novelty appeal after the first day of recording yourself singing “I fucked a mermaid!”
There is, of course, no Smashing Pumpkins iPhone application. (To see this, you can click on each band name above — the band apps dominate Google search results for each except the Pumpkins, whose search only finds use of music in the Rock Band and Tap Tap Revenge games. Alternately, knock yourself out searchn’ for one via iTunes.) But the Stereogum writer threw them in anyway because, you know, didn’t they make one? Probably. I mean, it’s the fucking Smashing Pumpkins they’re talking about.
What’s the highest ticket price the Pumpkins have charged? 5:15 pm // Saturday, July 25, 2009
Posted by jjb in bullshit, tickets.21 comments
Lucas Wesley of 411mania.com blasts the Smashing Pumpkins over ticket prices:
Sometimes I just don’t get the prices to these things. Are the Smashing Pumpkins really worth the 2-300 dollar range? Or are they just greedy? And if it’s the latter, what does that say about the Wu-Tang Clan, who I saw just last year for $35?
Over the last year or so, I have idly collected whatever images of ticket stubs I see online. Going through the stubs just now, I found thirteen with prices. The highest price on any of them was for the March 27, 2008 concert in Sydney, with a face value of AU$99.90 — roughly $82 in U.S. terms. In my personal experience, I can’t remember ever paying a face value even that high for a Smashing Pumpkins ticket. Aside from the Sydney ticket, there was only one other stub of the thirteen with a face value above $50.
Readers, do you know of any evidence that would support Lucas Wesley’s claim?
UPDATE: In the comments, Pizza Club reminds us of last year’s Hammond concert. The ticket price for that concert was considered noteworthy when it was announced — we specifically discussed the price on an HU podcast — and that price was $83. I don’t think that figure has been surpassed since, so…this is the answer, isn’t it?
UPDATE: C. A. Bell of 411mania.com thinks we’re hipsters (see his comment).
UPDATE (8/1): Lucas Wesley explains (but fails to justify) himself: “I have no idea what any of these people charge for their tickets, it was just a random outrageous number.”
Pitchfork drops predicate from comic Corgan one-liner 11:02 am // Sunday, April 12, 2009
Posted by jjb in billy corgan, bullshit, pitchfork.add a comment
Pitchfork’s Ryan Dombal on Friday put a Billy Corgan sentence fragment into Dombal’s “Echo Chamber” (a ‘Fork feature that took part in HU’s April Fool’s Day celebration!). Is Dombal’s reading correct, or will an errant echo ring forever on?
First, the original source. Corgan wrote:
I would point very gently to the diversity and complexity of my artistic work to give you some sense of who Billy Corgan really is (that is a joking 3rd person by the way). Part-alien, part-human, part-robot, part-star-crossed lover and part-mercury filled apparently if one was to read the songs in that way.
Here’s what Dombal made of that:
Kate Harper Still Works for ChartAttack 2:54 pm // Thursday, March 12, 2009
Posted by Jill in amusing, bullshit, kate harper, politics.4 comments
You remember how I said that we won’t “be spared from lazy, vacuous blog posts” from ChartAttack? Yeah, I was totally prophetic.
(Or are they just that predictable?)
In HU’s continuing coverage of the Canadian music website, Kate Harper (no stranger to HU is she) posts today about Billy Corgan’s recent trip to Washington. Except she claims it was to testify about “his warm feelings about the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger.”
Actually, my dear, Let Me Google That For You. If you actually click on one of those 5,000 links, you should see that it’s for the Performance Rights Act and not the merger. Maybe I should give you a pass since you’re Canadian, but I’m pretty sure Canada also has ‘teh intarwebs,’ eh?
Much More Positive, Just as Inaccurate 5:24 pm // Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Posted by chris in bullshit, magazines, sp.com.6 comments
Many times here on HU, my co-bloggers have pointed out factual errors in negative press clippings about the Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan. Lest you think that journalists with an axe to grind are the only ones who exaggerate for effect when it comes to all things Pumpkin, smashingpumpkins.com alerts us to a short article appearing in Premier Guitar on the now-infamous Special Acoustic Performance in Columbus, OH.
Premier Guitar claims to be “considered to be the definitive gear-centric magazine written for serious, accomplished players by serious, accomplished players” despite reader testimonials such as “The reporting on upcoming shows is very poor”, “There are lots of ads”, and the timeless classic “Overall, it’s pretty good”. In the January issue of Premier Guitar’s print magazine, a full page photo of Geisha-Billy is accompanied by the following blurb:
A costumed version of the Smashing Pumpkins opened for themselves during the first night of the band’s 20th Anniversary tour. After slugging through a rough set of covers on his 12-string Taylor 855, including “Monster Mash”, “Hang on Sloopy”, “Louie Louie”, “Wipeout” and even “The Gambler,” Corgan stormed off stage, leaving fans wondering if he had pulled an Axl. Though some people left, the band would return almost an hour later for what many have described as one of the best Pumpkins shows in years.
While they seem to have gotten the gear part right (Billy is holding a 12-string Taylor in the accompanying picture), they are a bit off on the rest. A reference is made to Billy’s fake tantrum without pointing out that it, as well as the initial set of covers, was intended to be a joke. They also exaggerate significantly on the length of time between sets, unless you consider the 15 minutes reported in our liveblog “almost an hour later”.
Finally there is the claim that “many” have described this as one of the best Pumpkins shows in years. I will admit that my own negative take may not be representative of everyone in attendance, who exactly has made that statement? “One of the best Pumpkins shows in years” is taking it a little far, isn’t it? Better than the residencies? Better than the acoustic show in the German castle? Better even than the other shows on the 20th anniversary tour? It may not be accurate, but it brings us ever-so-slightly closer to a balance in critical hyperbole.
Corgan says nothing about iTunes; Apple reaps publicity 12:58 am // Saturday, December 13, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, business, criticism.add a comment
A brief TechRadar.com article with the headline “No more Smashing Pumpkins albums – singer blames iTunes” reached the front page of Digg.com this afternoon on the strength of over 500 Diggs. The article begins:
Overblown rock outfit Smashing Pumpkins have announced that they will no longer be releasing albums, and it’s all because of Apple and its pesky iTunes store.
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, lead singer Billy Corgan has sounded the death-knell on albums, saying: “We’re done with that. There is no point. People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles and skip over the rest.”
The TechRadar.com piece is a snarkup of an earlier posting by Macworld UK’s Nick Spence, who wrote in part:
The way many people now listen to music as single songs rather than collections, inspired by the success of iTunes, has made albums less important laments Corgan.
Picking up the TechRadar.com ball this evening is music news site Prefix Magazine, adding its two cents with the headline “Billy Corgan starts beef with iTunes, possibly Timbaland”.
Readers of all these sites may be surprised to learn that Corgan did not mention iTunes in his interview with the Tribune‘s Greg Kot.
Chicago culture weekly refers to Aragon concert as “apology” 5:43 pm // Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, criticism, tour.add a comment
Tom Lynch of Chicago-based free weekly paper Newcity runs on about the Smashing Pumpkins’ still-not-sold-out Sunday night concert at the Aragon Ballroom:
Billy Corgan and company reportedly booked this “intimate” show in order to play some older, classic, fan-favorite material, mostly likely in response to the overly negative reaction the band received from their conceptual “Black Sunshine/White Crosses” shows at the Auditorium Theatre, which were filled with musical obscurities/self-indulgences and Billy himself berating the crowd for its lack of overwhelming support, which, apparently, Corgan felt the band deserved.
Lynch goes on to claim that Corgan told the earlier Chicago audience to go fuck themselves. Lynch then calls the Aragon gig a “redemption show” and even an “apology”.
Where is Lynch getting this stuff? He doesn’t cite any sources at all. I was and am under the impression that the Aragon show was added almost solely because the band has to come back through town for its rescheduled Auditorium Theatre “White Crosses” show. (Yes, one of the shows that Lynch describes as having received an “overly negative reaction” didn’t even take place.) The Frogs’ appearance aside, has anyone seen anything from the band describing other Aragon intentions or plans?
For 15 minutes, CBC Radio One slams Smashing Pumpkins tour: claims band “not playing the hits”, half of concert just “noise” 11:33 am // Saturday, November 29, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, canada, criticism, radio, radiohead.add a comment
Yesterday, the Canadian public radio program “Q” dedicated fifteen minutes to a discussion of the question of whether concert attendees “deserve to hear the hits,” framing the discussion inside an at-times withering attack on the current tour by the Smashing Pumpkins (which, oddly, is a tour on which the Pumpkins are playing all of their biggest hits).
The entire “Q” program may be downloaded here (the segment begins just before the 18-minute mark). Below is a partial transcript focused on the material most relevant to the Pumpkins:
Jian Ghomeshi (“Q” host): “1979″ is probably the Pumpkins’ biggest hit, but if you’re hoping to hear it played during one of the reformed band’s live shows, you’re taking a chance. The Pumpkins aren’t often including their back catalog of hits on their setlists these days, a fact that has critics, bloggers, and fans alike charging them with being out of touch with their audience. The furor has gotten so bad that it’s been disrupting Smashing Pumpkins performances. Here’s a recent clip of Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan onstage in the band’s hometown of Chicago.
Billy Corgan (clip): You know, for 20 years we’ve tried to make people happy and failed again and again. It’s so confusing! Is it that we don’t play music? Do we not play music, is that what it is?
Jimmy Chamberlin (clip): Must be.
BC (clip): Oh, I get it, I get it. It’s that we don’t do what you want us to do, that’s what it is. That’s what it is. Sometimes crowds remind me of ex-girlfriends. And you, you remind me of this one that took a lot of my money and didn’t like me. And she told me she loved me, but she wasn’t really there for me. That’s what this reminds me of. It’s that kind of relationship, isn’t it?
JG: Ohh, Billy Corgan. Not making friends with his fans at that concert. Apparently not taking the criticism of the band not playing the hits too well. But this does bring us to a larger question: what responsibility do musicians have when it comes to giving the audience their money’s worth? Especially when those audiences are often paying top dollar for tickets with no money-back guarantee. Do the fans deserve to hear the hits? Is the band obligated to play that tune they may have grown…grown to dislike, but know the punters want to hear? Kelly Bergeron is a freelance journalist who saw the Smashing Pumpkins play earlier this month, and she joins me here in Studio Q, hello.
Kelly Bergeron: Hi.
JG: [...] And Chris Murphy [of Sloan] is here, hello Chris, and both of you, say hello to Buffy Sainte-Marie. [...] This Smashing Pumpkins tour has been billed as their 20th anniversary tour. Given the billing, do you think it’s fair that fans should expect a hit-packed performance, Chris Murphy?
Chris Murphy: [...] Of course they should play their hits. I think you should.
JG: Kelly Bergeron, before you tell me what your position on this — what was your expectation? You’re a Smashing Pumpkins fan, not just a journalist. You went to see this show. You paid to see this show. What was your expectation going in?
KB: I expected that they were…they had two set nights, they had night one and night two, different themes for both nights, and they had planned to play all their hits. And so I knew going in I would hear “1979″, or “Tonight, Tonight.” It was sort of a mix over both nights. I did my research beforehand because I was reviewing the show as well, so I didn’t expect any meltdowns. [laughs] But it wasn’t…yeah.
JG: So you go to the show. You did end up reviewing it for the National Post. [ed. setlist for the concert, from spfc.org; free recording of the concert, from archive.org] What happened? What did you see at the show? And what did you think?
KB: Um, it was the first double night apparently that they were doing on the tour, so I expected it not to be polished off. Midway through the show, I went with my friend, and I kept looking over at him thinking, “Is it me, or is this really starting to go downhill?” Billy Corgan was up on stage with a tambourine prancing around the stage very bizarrely. The music was not…it, it…they played “1979″ and it was great, but by midway through it just turned into, um…an embarrassment. And, I saw people leaving — and he wasn’t even heckling the audience at that point.
JG: So, but, was it an embarrassment because they weren’t playing well, or was it because they literally weren’t giving the fans the hits?
KB: Well, no, it…I wouldn’t care so much if they weren’t giving us the hits, it was the fact that they were just playing noise. They were up there just experimenting.
JG: His position, though, would be, look, if you’re a fan of alternative rock and what we’ve been doing all these years, then you should come to our show and expect that we might be experimental.
KB: I think…I think this is like a rare case, because Billy Corgan has not been putting out good records since 2000. Um, unlike other bands who continue to go on really well — like Sloan, they have current, good music — but then you look at the Pumpkins, and he’s had breakdowns within the band, and he keeps trying to put something together that resembles what was in the ’90s, with not much success.
JG: Right, and, uh, yeah, it’s understandable that certain fans would go wanting to hear what they loved, in the ’90s.
[later...]
JG: Do you think bands like the Smashing Pumpkins or Sloan have an obligation to play the hits for paying audiences?
KB: … If you’re really loyal to your fans, and you want to keep your fans, and you’re advertising a 20-year reunion tour without the original members, then you better be pulling out all the stops. I just want to give an example. I saw Radiohead twice this summer, and they have an awesome new record, and they played every single song off their new record, but they also played all of their major hits. One of the places I saw them was at Lollapalooza [ed. setlist, from ateaseweb.com]. Not only did they play “Fake Plastic Trees” off The Bends and “Everything in Its Right Place,” but they set it to fireworks. So, that to me is, like, that’s giving the fans what they want and more — and that’s from Thom Yorke, too.
[later...]
JG: Is creative expression..shouldn’t it be allowed for artists, or is there a line they shouldn’t be crossing when people are playing big bucks?
KB: I think it’s fine within a certain amount of timeframe. The thing that put me off was that, it was… Okay, basically, if you go up there and play two newer songs on a reunion tour, and the rest is all old stuff, I would consider that okay. But when you’re going up there and playing half your show with new stuff that nobody knows, and going off on a tangent on a different style of music altogether…
JG: And yelling at your fans.
KB: Yeah, and yelling at your fans, then yeah. That’s a different creative expression.
[later...]
JG: Very very quickly, Kelly, has your negative Smashing Pumpkins experience changed your affection for the band?
KB: Definitely. I can’t listen to them right now.
JG: Right now. There’s a period of…you need some space.
KB: Yeah, I do. I need a few drinks.
Rocky Mtn. News critic writes of Pumpkins’ “self-indulgent crap” 3:06 pm // Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, criticism, tour, venues.add a comment
Mark Brown, popular music critic for the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, looks ahead to the Smashing Pumpkins’ just-scheduled concert in that city:
When fans talk about artists and their decline the usual names come to the top: Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Sly Stone, etc. I’d nominate Billy Corgan and the diluted version of Smashing Pumpkins he’s dragging around the country…
That’s more of the decline of a band that not long ago was playing Red Rocks and putting out modern rock classics. Corgan’s ego, never a small thing, has become a monster, especially when he’s got a captive audience hoping for hits and getting self-indulgent crap.
Fans have loudly complained from the audience, which makes Corgan more self-important. He refuses to play the songs they’ve come to hear, then mocks them for wanting to hear them.
As Brown is a local music critic in Denver, one can feel almost sure that he has not seen any show from the tour he says he is already “over”. So what evidence does he marshal to support the abandonment of what he says “was once the best band in America, fronted by one of the best songwriters”? Links to recent, freely available concert recordings that demonstrate the artist’s musical decline? What about a link to concert setlists that demonstrate Corgan’s supposed refusal to play hits? Maybe a discussion of Corgan’s possible intent with regard to his confrontational antics, in the context of a broader discussion about music? Or maybe two clips of onstage banter, from YouTube.
Moreover, Brown doesn’t remark upon the fact that the Ogden Theatre show was booked only 10 days before it will be played, necessitating the choice of a small venue. Instead, he deceptively contrasts the Ogden’s smallness with the size of Red Rocks Amphitheatre in order to bolster his claims regarding “decline”. Never mind that the only time the Smashing Pumpkins have ever played Red Rocks was in 2007. Last year! As the “diluted version”!
Amusingly, just last week Brown hailed local band The Fray’s decision to schedule a show for the even-smaller-than-the-Ogden Gothic Theatre in nearby Englewood. Brown wrote:
They can sell out Red Rocks three times over, but The Fray is going small for fans in January.
ChartAttack.com: Pumpkins’ tour “is completely absent of hits” 11:04 pm // Friday, November 21, 2008
Posted by jjb in analysis, bullshit, criticism, kate harper, tour.add a comment
Kate Harper of Chart Communications (“publisher of the leading Canadian music website CHARTattack.com and the country’s longest running and most respected music magazine, CHART Magazine”) today takes it upon herself to answer a question she attributes to Billy Corgan:
I’m willing to bet it has something to do with the fact that your anniversary tour is completely absent of hits and that you’ve been antagonistic towards your audiences throughout the tour, Billy. Let’s not forget that earlier in the tour when a fan gave Corgan the finger, the frontman invited him up on stage to ask why he had cursed at him with his digit. The fan said it was because he sucked. Corgan called the fan “James Iha.” All these things might have something to do with it.
The Smashing Pumpkins’ combined two-night setlist includes “1979″, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, “Today”, “Tonight, Tonight”, “Disarm”, “Cherub Rock”, “Zero”, “Ava Adore”, “Landslide”, “Eye”, and “Tarantula” — all told, that is eleven of the band’s seventeen top-10 modern rock hits. And need I point out how that list of eleven includes all of the band’s truly famous songs? The six omitted top-10 hits are “Thirty-three”, “The End Is the Beginning Is the End”, “Perfect”, “Stand Inside Your Love”, “Muzzle”, and “The Everlasting Gaze” — not a cultural touchstone in the bunch.
Furthermore, Ms. Harper’s story from “earlier in the tour” is in fact a story from her imagination. In neither of the incidents involving an angry fan did the fan tell Corgan that “he sucked”; what the fan in New York said “sucked” was not Corgan but was the previous night’s show, and…let’s allow Calvin in Washington to straighten this out himself:
To clarify:
I didn’t say the show sucked, i didn’t say he sucked.
We never reported that you did, sir, and neither did anyone else.
Obviously, then, as neither fan told Corgan that he sucked, Corgan could not have referred to any such fan as “James Iha”…and ironically, upon reaching the stage in Washington, the first words out of the mouth of the fan whom Corgan did call “James Iha” (at 3:20 in this mp3 from archive.org) were: “I love you.” Oops.
So, Ms. Harper, it appears that your article is absent…of accuracy…wait, that’s not even proper English! Did you mean to say the tour is completely bereft of hits? For the love of God, get another job.
Chicago-based group lazily rants at its diminishing audience 10:10 pm // Thursday, November 20, 2008
Posted by jjb in amusing, bullshit, criticism, pitchfork, shitshow.17 comments
Poor setlist choices, awful-sounding music, and confounding sartorial decisions mixed with heavy doses of audience mockery: These are the reports we’ve been getting about the Smashing Pumpkins‘ “20th Anniversary Tour”, and guesses at Billy Corgan’s motivations can only confuse and infuriate.
That would be Pitchfork’s Dave Maher, hyperlinking his way into an hilariously intense fury at Billy Corgan instead of walking down the street to cover the Chicago Theatre shows. After (maybe) watching a YouTube clip and (probably) reading the Rolling Stone and Fluxblog concert reviews, Maher denounced the tour as a “shitshow” (what?), claimed that Corgan had “lashed out at his band’s fans” with an “outburst”, called Zeitgeist “mediocre”, said the band was “meandering into formless noise jams”, accused Corgan of “ruining people’s nostalgic fondness” for the Pumpkins, said Corgan was “cashing in”, and called Corgan “crazy”.
Can you explain this, Dave? Why all the anger?
Personally, I don’t buy that this intentional audience befuddling is some kind of pure pursuit of an artistic muse. It seems like the flailing around of an artist who has declined and is unwilling to face that truth even when his own fans proclaim it so by their reactions to his art.
You may be on to something there… (more…)
Length of “jam session” doubles in syndicated radio report 8:36 pm // Monday, November 10, 2008
Posted by jjb in analysis, bullshit, criticism, radio.21 comments
Blabbermouth.net, citing United Stations Radio Networks’ “The Pulse of Radio” entertainment news service, has uncritically repeated this claim:
[A] SMASHING PUMPKINS concert in New York City on Thursday night (November 6), the band’s first in the metropolitan area in nine years, was met with a less than enthusiastic reception by the crowd after Billy Corgan led the band through a show that left many hits off the set list and contained a droning, 40-minute jam session in the middle.
To what could this refer? A scan of the track times on the freely available concert recording reveals only three plausible candidates, none of which approach the reported duration:
- “Superchrist” and “United States”, lasting a combined 22 1/2 minutes
- “Heavy Metal Machine” and “Glass’ Theme”, a combined 14 minutes
- “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, 21 minutes
ALSO: David Lowe-Bianco of Ultimate-Guitar.com (celebrating 10 years online!) is claiming this morning that the Friday night New York gig “eventually ended in a half-hour long jam session”. According to that pesky actual recording of the concert, final cut “I Am One pt. 2″ did not last even 15 minutes.
Beware the temptation to write around the press release 1:31 am // Friday, September 19, 2008
Posted by jjb in analysis, bullshit, criticism, if all goes wrong, rant, zeitgeist.add a comment
On one hand, those who work for media outlets don’t think that their job is merely to pass along press releases; they believe it is important to subject PR to critical examination. On the other hand, journalists just want to get by, to do their work and go home early like anyone else. So an editor faces a classic quandary when a newsworthy release is faxed in: rewrite it, or just reformat it?
With regard to the Smashing Pumpkins’ announcement yesterday of the forthcoming DVD If All Goes Wrong, most music news sites I’ve checked (like this one) have saved labor by either pasting in or barely touching up the band’s release. For at least two sites, however, that was not good enough: Crave Online (“your source for everything that males crave on the net”) and Aversion Media (“rock * punk * indie”) went…well, I can’t say they went the extra mile, but they did both add to the press release some stuff they just made up.
Crave Online’s “Johnny Firecloud” wrote:
The second disc of the project is “The Fillmore Residency,” a collection of individual performances that will collaboratively comprise what a typical Pumpkins setlist looks like these days, post-Iha.
Out of the 48 or so full concerts the band has performed in these post-Iha days of 2008, I can’t find one that included more than three of the songs appearing on If All Goes Wrong. I guess males don’t crave research…
But Aversion’s unsigned writeup surpasses even what my dark, cynical heart dreamed was possible (the link is theirs, the emphasis is mine):
What’s more, you don’t have to worry about watching The Smashing Pumpkins play any of those pesky “classic” songs that made you like them in the first place. There’s no “1979,” no “Today,” no “Disarm,” “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” or even “Cherub Rock.” It’ [sic] all Zeitgeist (review) (2007, Reprise) songs you probably don’t even remember.
Apparently the inclusion of Zeitgeist bonus tracks “Death from Above” and “Zeitgeist” among the 19 tracks on The Fillmore Residency doesn’t make the DVD “heavy on material from 2007′s Zeitgeist” so much as it utterly transforms the DVD into Zeitgeist Live by retroactively placing studio versions of the remaining 17 non-Zeitgeist tracks onto Zeitgeist. (That is, unless the joke is on us — did Aversion gank a copy of the exclusive-to-HU 30-track brown edition?!)
This feels a bit overboard too 3:11 pm // Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, criticism, live, rant, zeitgeist.add a comment
In the new edition of Portico Publications’ weekly C-ville, Brendan Fitzgerald riffs on the two media-established themes surrounding the Smashing Pumpkins latest tour: (1) It’s really good and (2) it features songs from Zeitgeist. [Editor's note: Uh, only two of the 21 songs on the tour setlist come from Zeitgeist.]
The last line is sure correct, though — the band played at least one song off every one of their albums, which certainly is “at least half”.
Am I being too hard on these reviewers? Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I just can’t remember ever reading a review or preview of a Wilco show or a Neil Young show or (dare I say) a Radiohead show where the critic felt empowered to reinvent the band’s setlist to his or her own satisfaction, and yet with the Smashing Pumpkins it seems to happen frequently (see: here, here, here, here…). The Pumpkins’ setlist in Charlottesville had as many songs off Siamese Dream as off Zeitgeist and more songs from Mellon Collie than from either of those records. What journalist would go to a Radiohead show and claim the setlist was “heavy on material from In Rainbows” if it wasn’t? This would never happen, right?
Courtney Love to star in “Chicken Little: The Sky is Falling.” 7:55 pm // Friday, May 23, 2008
Posted by Jill in billy corgan, blogging, bullshit, courtney love, criticism, news, rant, rumor.1 comment so far
Usually my co-blogger dishes his beef with the music press, but I’ll stand in tonight.
On May 14, this sketchy report from Soundgenerator.com headlined: “Courtney Love scraps solo album. She’s now working with a British guitarist, according to reports.” When I first saw this shortly after it hit my RSS feed, I became interested; Love collaborated on the album in question, ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan.
However, none of these “reports” were ever cited, so I decided to ditch posting the news to HU and wait to see official confirmation from Love herself since she regularly updates her online blog. Plus, how much sense does it make to scrap an already-finished album?!
Over the next few days, several major music press picked up the thread and began reporting as fact. [Idolator. NME. Gigwise. VH1.] However, Love has finally denied the rumors, posting the following to her MySpace:
so no”:scrapping” is going on, simply a few retakes- especially since all those recordings were leaked to the net and i knew if we played some of those songs live that woudl happen
Great. So there will be material released in mid-July. But, is this what the “news industry” is really boiling down to? Gawker.com calls it “journalismism.” Oh, and by the way, we have it from a reliable source that Courtney Love Will Lead Reunited Nirvana. Stay tuned for the headlines at 10.
One reviewer fails to deliver the accuracy readers expect 1:14 pm // Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Posted by jjb in analysis, australia, bullshit, criticism, tour.add a comment
Alicia Bridges writes in the (Perth) Sunday Times:
[V Festival] Headlining act the Smashing Pumpkins failed to live up to the high expectations of some punters, playing mostly songs from their recent catalogue and failing to deliver the powerful performance their fans had expected.
The setlist (from spfc.org) shows that the band played eight pre-revival songs, four post-revival songs, the “Cash Car Star” medley and a Pink Floyd cover.
I suppose that — especially to someone who’s standing there not knowing the material — “United States” is going to take up the time-equivalent of four songs, though “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” would count for two by that standard. If those were counted as such, and “Cash Car Star” as one old song and one mashup cover, that’s about as generous as possible — but there would still be a total of 10 old-song equivalents, seven new-song equivalents and two cover-song equivalents.
In America, the gentleman pictured at right (former Indianapolis Colt Rohn Stark) is a “punter”…but “mostly” means “over half” in Australia, too, doesn’t it?
Rolling Stone edits Corgan interview; Stereogum bash ensues 1:07 am // Friday, March 28, 2008
Posted by jjb in billy corgan, blogging, bullshit, criticism, news, photo, radiohead, rant, stereogum.add a comment
The well-read music blog Stereogum has a post today entitled “Billy Corgan On Radiohead: ‘Publicity Is Better Than Music’”. This five-word quotation comes from Billy’s recent interview with Rolling Stone. Stereogum plays up the quotation as if it were a slap at Radiohead, but — as demonstrated below — it ain’t so.
Here’s the portion of the Rolling Stone interview that was reproduced by Stereogum:
Rolling Stone: Artists are finding their own ways to get paid outside of the major-label system, like the Eagles with their Wal-Mart deal, Madonna signing up with Live Nation.
Billy Corgan: I think it’s really difficult for the young artist, who doesn’t have at least some sense of a pathway. For example, if you were a kid today and you’re looking at the bands who are successful right now, you think, if you don’t sort of sell out and let somebody make you a star, go on American Idol, then you can’t be successful. Alternative culture is really critical towards introducing new ideas. We need those young bands to push old band like us, to push new boundaries. We need our butts kicked regularly. That’s where all the energy comes from, from the bottom. And when the message on Amy Winehouse is drama is better than music, and for Radiohead publicity is better than music — no disrespect to them. But I think it’s a bad message to young bands of how to make it happen. It’s almost like the evil stepchild of the rap bling-bling thing, like, the only way to make it work is I’ve got to come up with a gimmick.
Unfortunately, that quotation standing by itself lacks perfect clarity. More unfortunately, Rolling Stone has removed from its site an earlier portion of the interview — such portion, as luck would have it, upon which Corgan was building in the Stereogum-quoted segment. Mercifully, however, that earlier portion was saved for posterity in a post on HU. Here (again) is that earlier portion of the interview:
RS’s Evan Serpick: It seems like the last decade or so, we haven’t seen many superstars emerge. Do you think it’s because of the focus on singles or the fickle market?
Billy Corgan: Number one, I think there’s just too much. I mean, how can you ask an eighteen-year-old to sort through everything that they’re presented with? Realistically, just being hot and talented and having a good single isn’t enough anymore. You really need like the extra story, like Amy Winehouse had, or a Britney freak-out. Like, Radiohead putting out a great album is not enough of a story. Radiohead putting out a free album, and blah, blah, that’s the story. So it becomes more media-driven, event-driven, than music-driven.
Corgan’s intent here is rather clear: he is describing what he sees as a problem with the contemporary culture or music industry, such problem being that what gets attention for an artist is not “a great album” (note his implication that In Rainbows is a great album) but an “extra story” like a “freak-out” or a “free album”. With this fuller context, it’s (more) obvious that the Stereogum-quoted section is an expression of empathy for young artists and an affirmation of the primacy of music over drama and PR escapades. (You know, everything for which an “indie” blog is supposed to stand?)
To be clear myself: I’m assuming Rolling Stone just wanted to tighten up the interview and thus they quite innocently removed a part that appeared redundant. However, I see Stereogum as going out of their way to jump to a shocking conclusion, when any attempt at sympathetic research would quickly reveal that Billy Corgan very much likes Radiohead. But, you know, fo*k that. Why bother when some manufactured drama between the Devil and the angels (right) can really pump up the page views? You see, Billy?! For generating ad revenue on the Internet, publicity is definitely better than…truth.
“They don’t call him a megalomaniac for nothing.” 11:11 pm // Saturday, March 22, 2008
Posted by jjb in bullshit, criticism, new zealand, photo.12 comments
This exchange on Stuff.co.nz so well encapsulates the three-way relationship that often prevails among the Smashing Pumpkins, the press, and the band’s fans. Stuff.co.nz music reviewer Chris Schulz, on the Pumpkins’ gig in Auckland:
If anyone was wondering if Billy Corgan is still one of rock’s most arrogant artists, it didn’t take long for the Smashing Pumpkins front man to set the record straight.
“Is everyone okay out there?” asked the alternative music icon at the beginning of the band’s show at Auckland’s Vector Arena. “I don’t care, I’m just asking.”
Nice. Not only did Corgan laugh at the audience, he regularly pleaded for applause and told them to each buy a T-shirt so drummer Jimmy Chamberlain [sic] could “buy a new Ferrari”.
They don’t call him a megalomaniac for nothing.
Pumpkins fan Jon responds in the comments below the review:
If you have ever heard of the term “sarcasm” you would know that when Billy makes a comment like “Buy a shirt so Jimmy can get a new Ferrari” you would know this is a joke. It just shows that every reviewer like yourself just runs with the same old Billy Corgan ego story that people have been writing since 1991. It’s really tired after all these years.
In my opinion, Schulz is guilty of misrepresentation of the facts, i.e., very bad journalism. If someone were to tell a joke to me in private, I would never knowingly blog or otherwise publish an account of the conversation presenting their remarks as being made in full seriousness; to do so would just be…wrong. So how is it different when the someone is a rock star and the joke is told in public to thousands of people?
You want to offer a correction? Cool. 1:40 pm // Monday, October 29, 2007
Posted by jjb in analysis, bullshit, criticism, zeitgeist.add a comment
Sarah Rodman has a snarkitorial in today’s Boston Globe that offers snappy suggestions to the reformed Van Halen on the eve of its show in that sportstastic town. Rodman weighs in on “a rash of reunions big and not so big” in 2007, being generally complimentary of our heroes but tossing in an attempt at fact-based reportage toward the end:
You have a new record, Crowded House? You want to play a handful of its best songs? Cool. You want to play almost all of it, Smashing Pumpkins? Not cool.
Facts being checkable these days, I looked up the setlist from the Crowded House show in Boston on August 5; from their 14-track 2007 album Time on Earth, the Oceanic popsters played eight songs that night. Meanwhile, during their recent three-night stand in Boston, the Pumpkins never played more than six songs off the 12-track Zeitgeist in one show.
