Should we just call the band Smashing Pumpkin now? As of Friday, March 20, it’s just Billy Corgan and ringers. Jimmy Chamberlin has thrown in the towel. (No word on a new drummer. Might we suggest Roland? He might be the lone percussionist to get along with the Bald One.) In 1996, Corgan kicked Chamberlin from the band supposedly for heroin addiction. No reason was given this time. Corgan is embracing the future and heading into the studio, alone, to continue work on new Pumpkin material.
Corgan needs a hug.
This ends a tragicomic, practically Ricky Gervais–scripted year for the local alt-rockers that saw the cobbled-together reunion act playing an Indiana casino (before hitting their hometown of Chicago), Corgan berating fans at each show, Corgan testifying to the House Judiciary Commitee in defense of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger and the awkward desperate usage of Pumpkins’ tunes in car and credit card commercials.
Ok, yes, in that span of 12 months this magazine elected Billy Corgan as a local hero. The first three records are still incredible. I’m checking with our panel of judges about a retraction. James Iha’s new band is pretty rad. More on that later.
Iha’s new band sounds like the Jonas Brothers.
And using the word “rad” is a clear indicator that you’re a middle-aged or approaching middle-aged guy who has not shed his 13 year old skin.
As for Corgan and Chamberlin….it’s sad because those two were supposedly really close. I wonder what happened. And Corgan should not continue under this name….not without Chamberlin i.e. only guy that played on the albums no. 2.
I would love to support your angle on Corgan, but your backing of the horribly stale Iha project undercuts anything notable you might have said.
I like how everyone loves to hate Billy. It’s become sort of a consentual game between everyone, like Global Warming or the Recession (those last two I was kidding about… sorta… but you get my point.) I’ve never seen anything to point anything bad toward him. He makes great music, hes interactive with his fans, he makes big decisions when he needs to, he’s not extremely sociable (as I can say that there are people out there who naturally aren’t), the biggest thing you can pin on the guy is the breakup of his band in 2000. FOL was made specifically for the car commercial just to rock as hard as possible as a background to a fast car, and I doubt Smashing Pumpkins even had distribution rights to Today anymore, seeing as they changed record companies, and their record company was extremely restrictive during the Siamese Dream-to-Machinima period anyways.