The Smashing Pumpkins vs. Radiohead
- Thread starter VidKing
- Start date
Well, the Smashing Pumpkins have been my favorite band for quite some time now, though I agree they peaked in the mid 90s. Siamese Dream especially and Mellon Collie are my favorite albums. Their later stuff isn't as good, but I still like it and have all of their albums and have collected about 25 singles many from different countries. They're one of the few bands whose albums I can listen through all the way through over and over. I'm basically the same Pumpkins freak I was in high school. I love Billy Corgan's vocals and I always will. They just touch me.
Radiohead, on the other hand, I have tried to like. I've really tried. A little bit of their stuff is listenable, but most of it is crap to me. Radiohead just doesn't play music that I like. I've determined that after listening to 20+ of their songs and downloading their latest album. All my friends like Radiohead and constantly try to push them on me. I just can't like them. That being said, I do kind of like Thom Yorke's vocals.
So, it's the Pumpkins for me, not for lack of trying.
Radiohead, on the other hand, I have tried to like. I've really tried. A little bit of their stuff is listenable, but most of it is crap to me. Radiohead just doesn't play music that I like. I've determined that after listening to 20+ of their songs and downloading their latest album. All my friends like Radiohead and constantly try to push them on me. I just can't like them. That being said, I do kind of like Thom Yorke's vocals.
So, it's the Pumpkins for me, not for lack of trying.
squallumz
knows petras secret: she farted.
Well, the Smashing Pumpkins have been my favorite band for quite some time now, though I agree they peaked in the mid 90s. Siamese Dream especially and Mellon Collie are my favorite albums. Their later stuff isn't as good, but I still like it and have all of their albums and have collected about 25 singles many from different countries. They're one of the few bands whose albums I can listen through all the way through over and over. I'm basically the same Pumpkins freak I was in high school. I love Billy Corgan's vocals and I always will. They just touch me.
So, it's the Pumpkins for me, not for lack of trying.
well, awesome man. though i have to disagree (with all due respect btw) with the later stuff not being good. ive been a fan since siamese dream and of course the mellon collie days.
i know people lost their taste during adore, but as ive said so many times, shit happened and billy reflected the pain in his life (his mothers death) into his music and it transformed into this sad, and pure album. in my opinion, great bands and true musicians must transform and evolve. you cannot feel the same way all your life, and the pumpkins' music changes as people change, which we all change. playing the same style of music is just giving the people what they want and where is the soul and heat in that?
after adore, machina came out in 2000. omfg. amazing change, atmospheric, with a killer story and concept behind the album i didnt even see til years later. like adore, it grew on me and it grew on me hard. not to mention machina is all about the death of art in music, all the soulless garbage being slug at everyone.
machina 2 is available, free online, you just have to look for it. corgan said fuck you virgin records and released it for free. (check it out if u have no idea what im talking about)
and a few months ago, zeitgeist came out. omg. heavy, yet pure, his vocals and talent shine through like i never seen. reminiscent of the heavy songs off mellon collie (bodies, where the boys fear to tread)
he pulled a trent reznor and its jimmy on the drums and billy on everything else. as a matter of fact my wife and i are listening to that album right now as i type!
i listen to 3 bands really, the pumpkins are #1, i saw them twice in 07 for their zeitgeist tour, an incredible AMAZING album! im wearing a pumpkins shirt right now actually!
im a huge fucking fan, a purist, and ive very critical on music. i hate everything, especially anything recent. the smashing pumpkins have always been my favourite band in the world, and that will never change. i, also, am touched by the music and his voice, its almost cosmic. give zeitgeist a chance, listen to it 3-4 times in a row in the car, read the lyrics along with it. i promise u will see the light if you appreciate the older stuff.
they did not peak out, zietgiest (2007) was the best ive heard to date.
Will E Worm
Conspiracy...
Was this even a contest?
Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Smashing Pumpkins....Tonight, Tonight! :hatsoff:
Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Smashing Pumpkins....Tonight, Tonight! :hatsoff:
angelfire1972
Banned
Radiohead for me
Pumpkins......For me, they defined my senior year in high school, and brought some light to an otherwise very dreary and drab year. When those guys hit, man, it was like someone lit a bomb under the music scene. NOTHING like that had been heard before. To be fair, you could easily say the same about Radiohead, and this is really a tough decision. But for me, I have memories specifically attached to the Smashing Pumpkins. Good poll!
Eric Lindros
#88
Radiohead
:sing:
:sing:
Will E Worm
Conspiracy...
Hmm... Let's see... Where shall I start with this?... Ah, yes!
When I was a teenager and these bands were popular I liked them both, but tended to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins more often. In fact, back then I owned about 4 Smashing Pumpkins albums and zero Radiohead albums, so I guess that would mean I liked Smashing Pumpkins more.
That was then.
Fast forward about a decade.
This is now.
For almost 7 years I have been working as a stagehand. I have worked a shitload and a half thousand shows. Basically, if you can think of a band, I've most likely set up/broken down their gear. Incidentally, now that you mention Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, I've worked their shows in the past.
One of the perks/pitfalls of my job is that we see many things that happen backstage that people in the audience have no idea about. This part of my job has completely changed my perspective of artists, either for better or for worse. Many artists of whom I had negative perspective about have changed to positive, and vice versa.
With that being said, I'll tell my current opinions of the 2 bands in question. To be fair and honest, I won't bash Radiohead, since the last time I worked one of their shows was about 5 years ago and I honestly don't have too much recollection of that day. One thing that does stand out in my mind was looking at their set list and not seeing "Creep." That was a great song, and the first Radiohead song that I can remember hearing on the radio and watching the video for on MTV. I asked someone on their road crew why it was that they didn't play what was, at least in my mind, their biggest hit. He replied that they didn't play "Creep" because that was their most popular song, and they wanted the people who saw their shows to come for all their songs, not just that one. That's a little assholeish, if you ask me.
The Smashing Pumpkins are another story. We had them for almost a month at one of the places where I work last summer. It was the start of their "reunion" tour. Reunion my ass. The only members of the Smashing Pumpkins were Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin. The rest of the band were new. OK, fine, I can deal with the band not being the original members. It's not the first time that's happened, it's certainly not the last. Guns n Roses, for example, only has Axl Rose left from the original band. What I can't deal with is the fact that Billy Corgan is the most presumptuous and arrogant prick ever known to mankind.
He decided that he wanted to start his reunion tour here because he liked the vibe of the place. Ever since the 60's it has been one of the top clubs in the country, and every self-respecting band that has toured has played here at least once. He wanted to play here, but he couldn't have it just as it was. He had to change some of the integral parts of the "vibe" that he liked about the place.
The first thing is the sound. The in-house sound system that we have installed has been there since the place was remodeled 10 years ago. It is a state of the art Myers Sound system that any normal band would be delighted to play through. But, being that Billy Corgan's band isn't normal, he had to fuck with the sound. He had everything taken out and replaced with a Vertec system that might sound great in an outdoor venue, but was just overkill for a nightclub that has a capacity of 1,500. That was only the beginning. In the 3 weeks that we had him he changed the sound system a total of 4 times. It had been close to 2000 shows since the sound system had been installed, and this prickhole had it changed 4 times in 15 shows. All because he couldn't realize that the shitty sound coming through the speakers had NOTHING to do with the system <HINT, HINT!>.
Another thing that he did was bring WAAAAY too much shit. The venue is really small. It can hold no more than one truck's worth of shit. This asshole brought 4. He brought so much shit that structural engineers actually had to be called in to determine whether or not the building could take all the weight Prick Boy was trying to bring in. As we say in the business, "If you can't bring talent, bring production." After all, everybody knows that the more lights you have on stage, the better your band sounds.
On one of the nights, I think it was the second, there was a point where Mr. Whiny Voice paused to talk to the crowd. He mentioned something about being glad to be there that night. At that moment a fan yelled something about he knew that Billy was "not about the money, but about the music," to which Billy Corgan rudely replied "No, the other band was about the music, but you guys didn't care. This one is about the money." What kind of asshole tells a fan who just paid $45 dollars to see his band that he doesn't care about seeing his fans have a good time, but only cares to see the money they just paid?
For those, and several other reasons that I don't particularly care to go into, I have decided that I hate the Smashing Pumpkins. The memories from when I was a kid and loved listening to the Smashing Pumpkins are just that: memories. Now I can't stand to listen to Billy Corgan's whiny voice because I just can't stand to think of what a self-centered asshole he really is.
So, after all that was said, I'm gonna have to go with Radiohead.
When I was a teenager and these bands were popular I liked them both, but tended to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins more often. In fact, back then I owned about 4 Smashing Pumpkins albums and zero Radiohead albums, so I guess that would mean I liked Smashing Pumpkins more.
That was then.
Fast forward about a decade.
This is now.
For almost 7 years I have been working as a stagehand. I have worked a shitload and a half thousand shows. Basically, if you can think of a band, I've most likely set up/broken down their gear. Incidentally, now that you mention Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, I've worked their shows in the past.
One of the perks/pitfalls of my job is that we see many things that happen backstage that people in the audience have no idea about. This part of my job has completely changed my perspective of artists, either for better or for worse. Many artists of whom I had negative perspective about have changed to positive, and vice versa.
With that being said, I'll tell my current opinions of the 2 bands in question. To be fair and honest, I won't bash Radiohead, since the last time I worked one of their shows was about 5 years ago and I honestly don't have too much recollection of that day. One thing that does stand out in my mind was looking at their set list and not seeing "Creep." That was a great song, and the first Radiohead song that I can remember hearing on the radio and watching the video for on MTV. I asked someone on their road crew why it was that they didn't play what was, at least in my mind, their biggest hit. He replied that they didn't play "Creep" because that was their most popular song, and they wanted the people who saw their shows to come for all their songs, not just that one. That's a little assholeish, if you ask me.
The Smashing Pumpkins are another story. We had them for almost a month at one of the places where I work last summer. It was the start of their "reunion" tour. Reunion my ass. The only members of the Smashing Pumpkins were Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin. The rest of the band were new. OK, fine, I can deal with the band not being the original members. It's not the first time that's happened, it's certainly not the last. Guns n Roses, for example, only has Axl Rose left from the original band. What I can't deal with is the fact that Billy Corgan is the most presumptuous and arrogant prick ever known to mankind.
He decided that he wanted to start his reunion tour here because he liked the vibe of the place. Ever since the 60's it has been one of the top clubs in the country, and every self-respecting band that has toured has played here at least once. He wanted to play here, but he couldn't have it just as it was. He had to change some of the integral parts of the "vibe" that he liked about the place.
The first thing is the sound. The in-house sound system that we have installed has been there since the place was remodeled 10 years ago. It is a state of the art Myers Sound system that any normal band would be delighted to play through. But, being that Billy Corgan's band isn't normal, he had to fuck with the sound. He had everything taken out and replaced with a Vertec system that might sound great in an outdoor venue, but was just overkill for a nightclub that has a capacity of 1,500. That was only the beginning. In the 3 weeks that we had him he changed the sound system a total of 4 times. It had been close to 2000 shows since the sound system had been installed, and this prickhole had it changed 4 times in 15 shows. All because he couldn't realize that the shitty sound coming through the speakers had NOTHING to do with the system <HINT, HINT!>.
Another thing that he did was bring WAAAAY too much shit. The venue is really small. It can hold no more than one truck's worth of shit. This asshole brought 4. He brought so much shit that structural engineers actually had to be called in to determine whether or not the building could take all the weight Prick Boy was trying to bring in. As we say in the business, "If you can't bring talent, bring production." After all, everybody knows that the more lights you have on stage, the better your band sounds.
On one of the nights, I think it was the second, there was a point where Mr. Whiny Voice paused to talk to the crowd. He mentioned something about being glad to be there that night. At that moment a fan yelled something about he knew that Billy was "not about the money, but about the music," to which Billy Corgan rudely replied "No, the other band was about the music, but you guys didn't care. This one is about the money." What kind of asshole tells a fan who just paid $45 dollars to see his band that he doesn't care about seeing his fans have a good time, but only cares to see the money they just paid?
For those, and several other reasons that I don't particularly care to go into, I have decided that I hate the Smashing Pumpkins. The memories from when I was a kid and loved listening to the Smashing Pumpkins are just that: memories. Now I can't stand to listen to Billy Corgan's whiny voice because I just can't stand to think of what a self-centered asshole he really is.
So, after all that was said, I'm gonna have to go with Radiohead.
Both of these bands have been my favorite at one time in my life, but now that I'm older only the Pumpkins remain listenable to me. Radiohead, despite being excellent songwriters, have as their single theme a kind of solipsistic angst that most people outgrow when they leave the teenage years. Pumpkins of course have their share of angst but it's infused with a certain mature joy. Pumpkins have grown along with me, while Radiohead has fallen into self parody.
I've always been a huge fan of The Smashing Pumpkins. To be honest, I haven't heard a lot of Radiohead's stuff so it's SP for me.
It can't even compare, Radiohead is the only band that could succeed to The Beatles.
OK Computer was one of the greatest album of the 90's, still avant-gardist, while Kid A is probably the best album of the 00's yet and one of the best albums in modern rock history. There has been no flaws in their discography.
OK Computer was one of the greatest album of the 90's, still avant-gardist, while Kid A is probably the best album of the 00's yet and one of the best albums in modern rock history. There has been no flaws in their discography.
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