{"id":25556,"date":"2023-07-10T05:30:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25556"},"modified":"2023-07-13T10:31:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:31:08","slug":"smashing-pumpkins-everything-is-connected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/10\/smashing-pumpkins-everything-is-connected\/","title":{"rendered":"Smashing Pumpkins: Everything is Connected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins are in the midst of an ambitious release cycle. The band from Chicago\u2019s latest and 12th<\/sup> studio release is Atum<\/i>, and it\u2019s such a sprawling work that it has been split into equal parts, each featuring 11 songs. Act One<\/i> was released in November 2022; the second part was released in January of this year; Act Three<\/i> was released in May. And if all that weren\u2019t enough, the album (full title: Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts<\/i>) isn\u2019t merely a rock opera, its the third part of a conceptual trilogy. Because with Smashing Pumpkins, everything is connected.<\/p>\n

The alternative rock heroes who got their start in 1988 released their debut album, Gish<\/i>, in 1991. Right from the start, Smashing Pumpkins\u2019 music was a signature mix of personal, angst-filled and often confessional lyrics (by Corgan) and a melange of styles including art rock, shoegaze, goth and progressive rock. Determinedly hard to pin down, the group made waves with critics and fans alike. Their second album, Siamese Dream<\/i> (1993) was a breakthrough success, selling nearly 5 million copies and earning a 4X Platinum designation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Corgan, who was born in 1967, came of age during an era in which many classic concept albums were created. Those records inspired and perplexed him in equal measure. \u201cI was confused by things like Quadrophenia<\/i> [by The Who] and [Pink Floyd\u2019s] The Wall<\/i> when I was a kid,\u201d he admits. \u201cI couldn’t understand: \u2018If this is supposed to be a movie, how come it doesn’t give me what a movie gives me?\u2019\u201d Nonetheless, he felt moved to create similarly ambitious works. \u201cI thought, \u2018I need to do something like that, because it\u2019s the only way I can get at whatever it is I\u2019m after,\u2019\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

So taking a page from the careers of iconic artists like Neil Young, Todd Rundgren and Bob Dylan, the band confounded those who would have preferred more-of-the-same with each album release. By the group\u2019s third album, Smashing Pumpkins had taken a turn somewhat uncharacteristic in the alternarock world. Released in 1995, the highly regarded Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness<\/i> was a double album (two CDs; an eventual if hard-to-find vinyl edition takes up three LPs). And its songs are thematically linked, all exploring dimensions of sorrow.<\/p>\n

With the benefit of hindsight, though, Corgan admits that when his band made Mellon Collie<\/i>, its underlying character was a secret. \u201cAt the time,\u201d he reveals, \u201cI didn\u2019t even tell the band it was conceptual!\u201d He says that he was concerned that his band mates might have frowned upon what he calls the album\u2019s \u201cintellectual overlay.\u201d Corgan says that the songwriting for the record simply took on a narrative form, and that the album\u2019s 28 songs represent \u201ca private way of dealing with whatever I was going through.\u201d Yet merely a few years into his recording career with the group, Corgan was just getting started.<\/p>\n

But first there would be some setbacks. Despite being made by a band with a conventional instrumental lineup, 2000\u2019s Machina\/The Machines of God<\/i> is electronic in character; its arrangements scale back the roaring guitars that had characterized the group’s earlier work. The change mystified some fans; by the band\u2019s previous standard, sales were meager (though it did sell nearly 700,000 copies, going Gold in the process).<\/p>\n

Corgan, who sang and played nearly everything on demos and often the final recordings, was initially joined by guitarist James Iha, bassist D\u2019arcy Wretsky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. But by the time of 1998\u2019s industrial-tinged Adore<\/i>, Chamberlin was gone in the wake of a heroin overdose. He would return in time for 2000\u2019s Machine\/The Machines of God<\/i>, but shortly after its release, the band called it quits.<\/p>\n

But the album shares an important quality with the smash hit Mellon Collie<\/i>: it, too is a concept album. At some point, Corgan had a moment of self-discovery. \u201cWhat I realized in poking around on Machina<\/i> was that all<\/i> my work from the beginning had been conceptual; I just hadn’t admitted it to myself.\u201d In fact, he explains, Machina<\/i> is a continuation of the narrative begun on the group\u2019s 1995 release. \u201cAs we were making the record, I knew that the band was going to break up,\u201d he says. \u201cThe band had agreed to this idea that we were all going to play characters in public based on the [Machina<\/i>] musical. They all agreed to it, and we even had clothes made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet as soon as the tour in support of the album began, Corgan says that his band mates abandoned the idea. \u201cSo I was the only one doing the narrative,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cWhich made me seem like I was particularly crazy at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he willingly dives deep into the world of conceptual works, Corgan admits that he often tires of them soon after they\u2019re complete. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret that I\u2019m writing everything for the band, I\u2019m producing and I\u2019m playing a lot of the music,\u201d he says. \u201cBy the time I get to the end of the journey, I\u2019m exhausted with the subject; I\u2019m sick of what I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

But creating an album isn\u2019t the same thing as touring in support of it. Corgan really enjoys playing live \u201cOh, that\u2019s the fun part of it,\u201d he says with enthusiasm. \u201cBecause you get to cherry-pick what\u2019s going to work.\u201d And he explains that the live reading of any given song is colored significantly by the mood he\u2019s in that particular night. \u201cOne night it might be the \u2018angry version\u2019 of the song,\u201d he explains. The next night, that song\u2019s performance might be built upon a completely different emotional undercurrent.<\/p>\n

Save for a live album (Earphoria<\/i>) and compilation releases, nothing would be heard from Smashing Pumpkins for nearly six years. When the group resurfaced, only Corgan and Chamberlin returned from before. Between 2007\u2019s Zeitgeist<\/i> and 2020\u2019s Cyr<\/i>, members came, went, returned and left again; at one point bassist Mark Tulin (of psychedelic heroes the Electric Prunes) was a member, as was acclaimed pianist and David Bowie sideman Mike Garson. Along the way, a long-gestating and eventually abandoned project, Teargarden by Kaidyscope<\/i> was conceived as yet another conceptual work.<\/p>\n

Remarkably for a band that has been through so many changes, by 2018, Smashing Pumpkins\u2019 lineup featured three of its original members: Corgan and Chamberlin would be joined by longtime associate James Iha. Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Schroeder has been with the group since its 2006 reformation. This lineup is proving the be the group\u2019s most stable; augmented by another multi-instrumentalist, Katie Cole, the current configuration of Smashing Pumpkins has made three albums, including the sprawling Atum<\/i>, the group\u2019s most ambitious work to date.<\/p>\n

Longtime fans of the band will be pleased to know that while the new three-act set takes the band in some new musical directions, the core characteristics of angst and melody are ever-present. And while Atum<\/i> has its own conceptual theme (the protagonist making his way through a mixture of real world and fantasy), that central character is the same one \u2013 much older now \u2013 who appeared in Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness<\/i> and Machina\/The Machines of God<\/i>.<\/p>\n

And even with the wide palette of expression with which he works in making albums, Billy Corgan seems nowhere near exhausting his creative ideas. Some even involve returning to past themes. \u201cI’ve had everything from discussions with Broadway producers to do Mellon Collie<\/i> to poking around on the idea of what it would take to make Atum<\/i> a visual narrative,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

On that score, Corgan considers himself in good company. \u201cI’ve heard for years that Roger [Waters] was going to put The Wall<\/i> on Broadway, and it still hasn’t happened,\u201d he says with a chuckle. And while he\u2019s interested in reviving and expanding past works in visual form, at present Corgan is most excited in making the most of Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts<\/i>. \u201cIf it were ever done in this modern world,\u201d he says, \u201cAtum<\/i> is likely to be done as an animated project.\u201d Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

(and stay tuned for lots of bonus material from this interview…)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins are in the midst of an ambitious release cycle. The band from Chicago\u2019s latest and 12th studio release is Atum, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,62],"tags":[5184,5183],"class_list":["post-25556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rawk","tag-billy-corgan","tag-smashing-pumpkins","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25556"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25660,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25556\/revisions\/25660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}