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[Catacombs]

Ok guys & gals, i need some help.  I wanna know where i should start in the Smashing Pumpkins discog (seeing as they have a new album set to release and the come back and what not).  I haven't heard anything out of their greatest hits fyi.

[hihowareyou]

I'd honestly just say start from the beginning. Gish and work your way up to Machina II.

[Kai]

alot of people give the smashing pumpkins alot of trouble

I dunno, I still like them

Gish is fun and Siamese Dream is alright

[Stefan Autsa]

I'm not fond of Billy Corgans voice, but they do have some good tunes.  Zero is ok.

[imapiratearg]

I love their cover of "Landslide" off of Pisces Iscariot.  I haven't heard a whole lot of SP.  So I guess anything I post in here won't be very helpful. 

[Jackie Blue]

I generally like Gish the most of all their albums.  I just got it again the other day without having heard it in years, and it actually sounded better than I remembered.

Siamese Dream is good.  I remember that in '94 my two favorite albums were that and Pavement's Crooked Rain Crooked Rain.

Pisces Iscariot is actually really nice for a b-sides/throwaway album.  "Frail and Bedazzled" and "Hello Kitty Kat" are very good songs.

Mellon Collie is worth picking up on the cheap, since it has some really awesome songs, along with some stuff that's rather boring.

Everything after that is absolute shit to my ears, where you have Billy delivering such staggeringly inane lyrics as "If I were dead, would my records sell?"

[Johnny C]

Mellon Collie is full of great singles but a lot of garbage filler.

[jeph]

Siamese Dream is an incredible record. It's even more incredible when you realize that Billy Corgan is such a shitty singer that they literally had to piece the vocal tracks together syllable by syllable (this was back in the day, before Pro Tools and high-quality pitch correction were around).

It's a shame he turned out to be a tiresome, pretentious, moneygrubbing asshole.

[Merkava]

Are you referring to the multiple versions of Zeitgeist? That was very shitty of them. I love how they're making people go to Target to get the title track.

[Johnny C]

Are you referring to the multiple versions of Zeitgeist? That was very shitty of them. I love how they're making people go to the Internet to get the title track.

[Scytale]

Mellon Collie is full of great singles but a lot of garbage filler.

Which tracks on Mellon Collie are garbage filler? I quite like that album. I think the singles are the weakest part. I had written off Smashing Pumpkins based on the songs of there's I'd heard (Bullet with Butterfly Wings, 1979, Tonight, Tonight etc) till I heard this in its entirety at a friends house. The non singles tracks are easily the best on that album, stuff like "Bodies", "Jellybelly", "Tales of a Scorched Earth", "XYU" and the fucking amazing track that is "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans".

[loyalpeon]

Are you referring to the multiple versions of Zeitgeist? That was very shitty of them. I love how they're making people go to the Internet to get the title track.

Yeah, that's pretty much what's gonna happen.

As for the original question, many people are recommending gish - and it's a great album and all - but I don't think it's the most representative of their sound. I'd definately say siamese dreams as a starting point, mellon collie after, then whichever direction you want to take - gish being the grungier album, piscies the somewhat all over the place release, adore the more laid-back, machina the slightly heavier... all have their high and low points.

Alternatively, you can try and pick up the greatest hits cd, which is good if you're only interested in their popier sound.

[Johnny C]

I had written off Smashing Pumpkins based on the songs of there's I'd heard (Bullet with Butterfly Wings, 1979, Tonight, Tonight etc) till I heard this in its entirety at a friends house. The non singles tracks are easily the best on that album, stuff like "Bodies", "Jellybelly", "Tales of a Scorched Earth", "XYU" and the fucking amazing track that is "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans".

You are my inverse. Off the top of my head "Tales Of A Scorched Earth" is the portion of the second disc where I just stopped listening. Meanwhile I am almost certain that those three singles you've listed are among the Pumpkins' best work.

[hihowareyou]

Siamese Dream is an incredible record. It's even more incredible when you realize that Billy Corgan is such a shitty singer that they literally had to piece the vocal tracks together syllable by syllable (this was back in the day, before Pro Tools and high-quality pitch correction were around).

It's a shame he turned out to be a tiresome, pretentious, moneygrubbing asshole.

I'm kinda doubting the syllable by syllable thing, a lot of stuff that has been said about about the recording of Siamese Dream wasn't true (Billy not letting D'arcy or James record their own parts and doing them himself instead).

I know Billy Corgan is full of shit sometimes, but I still love everything he's ever done.

Not counting the poetry book (which I own ).

[pat101]

yikes

[Johnny C]

Here is the infinitely less regrettable iTunes artwork:

[Jackie Blue]

I wouldn't say that Gish is "grungy" at all.  I'm listening to it right now and there is a lot more in the way of pretty/post-shoegazer stuff than "grunge".

Actually I wouldn't say any of their stuff is "grungy".

RE: Mellon Collie, I think approximately half the album is great.  I agree that "XYU" is fantastic but I really hate the ultra-muddy production of "Bodies".  As far as the singles, "1979" is an odd bird.  It should be boring as shit, but it manages to engage me.  "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" is just a million kinds of rock, I don't care what anyone says.  Same with "Zero" - even the high-school-kid-discovering-Nietzsche lyrics can't detract from its sheer awesomeness.  I honestly don't even remember what "Tonight Tonight" sounds like.

I do know I listened to the second disc a lot less than the first one.

If Billy is such a shitty singer, why does he sound so awesome on Gish?  I'm not believing that "piecing the vocals together syllable by syllable" thing either.  I've heard the "Billy played all the bass and guitar parts" rumor before, but not the vocal thing.  Sauce?

Oh, and I forgot to add that it's worth tracking down the CD-single for "Zero" because of the really awesome 23-minute song that's just a bunch of fragments of unfinished/unreleased tracks.

[CmonMiracle]

Both those covers depress me.

[Inlander]

popier sound.

Smashing Popekins

[Felix_]

I'd start with "Gish"......

.....and end with it. 

[ScrambledGregs]

Adore is their best album IMO. I think Corgan's lyrics are at their absolute best here (by that I mean, there are way more lines that make me go "ooh" than "ungh"), and I think the atmosphere and sheer sound of the album is fucking amazing. I don't even know how to describe it; kinda like a mix of acoustic/gothy folk and skeletal electronics. Granted there are guitars, but I think of Siamese Dream and Machina as much more guitar-y albums.

[Johnny C]

I honestly don't even remember what "Tonight Tonight" sounds like.

Timpani rolls and a fantastic music video starring Mr. Show regulars and real-life couple Tom Kenny and Jill Talley re-creating the early film A Trip To The Moon.

[Misereatur]

That is a brilliant music video.

I've been trying to think about what to post here for some time now and I just realised that I'd love the Pumpkins no matter what they do. They were a pretty big part of my junior high and I'll love Mellon Collie and Siamese Dream forever just because of that. Unfortunately, I didn't listen to Gish that much, I should probably give it a spin when I'm feeling a bit more nostalgic.

Plus, the Smashing Pumpkins had D'arcy Wretzky



And Melissa Auf der Maur



How can you beat that?

[Jackie Blue]

I don't even know how to describe it; kinda like a mix of acoustic/gothy folk and skeletal electronics.

I think that The Legendary Pink Dots would like to have a word with you.

[ScrambledGregs]

If they're so legendary, why are they ripping off the Smashing Pumpkins??


I kid.

[Johnny C]

I'd help but you've rendered me blind.

[ALoveSupreme]

Adore is their best album IMO. I think Corgan's lyrics are at their absolute best here (by that I mean, there are way more lines that make me go "ooh" than "ungh"), and I think the atmosphere and sheer sound of the album is fucking amazing. I don't even know how to describe it; kinda like a mix of acoustic/gothy folk and skeletal electronics. Granted there are guitars, but I think of Siamese Dream and Machina as much more guitar-y albums.

I was scrolling through hoping I wouldn't be the only one who thought that.  Embarassing leather clad imagry aside, there are pleanty of great tracks off that album.

[Johnny C]

As soon as you saw that picture, didn't you hope the bald dude in the tight leather pants had an electric guitar and a story to tell?

Despite all his rage, he is still just a bald man in leather.

[Rizzo]

Rob Halford, is that you?

[Hat]

I wish.

[KharBevNor]

Why is what peoplke wear imporetant and can denigrate them YOU BIGOTED LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT

[Hat]

I swear to god Khar, if you blow this chance to switch Rob Halford for Billy Corgan because you're pissed as a fart, we are going to have words.

[KharBevNor]

what the fuck are you talking about

[Johnny C]

We are imagining the Smashing Pumpkins as fronted by Rob Halford.

Instead of a bald jerk with a messiah complex, we'd have a bald gay man who likes singing songs about BREAKIN THE LAW BREAKIN THE LAW

[David_Dovey]

BREAKIN THE LAW

BREAKIN THE LAW

*bow bow*

[Johnny C]

holy shit that is an animated gif awesome

[Hat]

Dovey is officially in charge of making sure that image is constantly at the top of my comments on myspace.