Remembering the Pumpkins
All right.
By now some of you must have heard at least a bit of the new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist.
What do we think?
I'm underwhelmed, but I was by the last album all the original Pumpkins participated in as well. Billy Corgan's solo stuff didn't particularly do it for me either.
I was willing to give it a chance -- particularly after seeing the hype video from Warner Brothers, which plays on the Pumpkins' past and suggests this is the next chapter in a story we grew up with and love.
Unfortunately, the album seems smaller and less impressive when measured against the Pumpkins' past.
My favorite jab at the album may be from Seattle's The Stranger, which published a satirical "Open Letter From Billy Corgan."
The new video is sort of crap, too. Which is a shame because I used to love Pumpkins videos, which were almost universally terrific.
I think I prefer to remember them this way:
Or this way:
Or even this way, despite how ridiculous Billy Corgan looks with hair:
Maybe it was because I was the perfect age when I first heard the Pumpkins but I just thought they were so effortlessly beautiful and strange. But this new album, this new single and video...it feels like they're working twice as hard to get half as far creatively.
What do you guys think? Heard the new album? Who were your favorite Pumpkins?
Comments (1)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
I agree with Warren Ellis about the new video - it looks like they tried waaaayyyy to hard, piling every crazy goddamned thing they could think of on top of it. The song could be worse - but it could be so much better.
I didn't really appreciate the Pumpkins until their ship had already sailed, but I do remember the "Tonight" era as being around the time I was beginning to stop hearing just what my parents were listening to, and start listening to stuff of my own. Good stuff worth going back to.
Posted on July 24, 2007 12:35 PM