I woke up to one of these songs this morning blaring from my alarm clock. I really like The Smashing Pumpkins. The song I heard this morning was entirely mediocre.

Maybe the rest of it's better though?

I dunno.

I'm trying to get my roommate to buy it so I can just burn it to my pc. I have had way too many instances of bands I used to like putting out new cd's that are just mediocre.

I'll probably buy the album in anticipation of seeing them live at Voodoo Fest. They're going to be there with Rage Against the Machine. Should be fun.

"May God bless you"? I thought he was some kind of atheist, based on the lyrics to "Zero". Is all of this related to him being born again or something?

On a better note, I found my copy of Siamese Dream a few weeks back. It had somehow escaped ripping to the iPod back in the day. It's been fun listening it again. Same thing happened with my Belly CD's a year ago. I like finding stuff I haven't heard in a while. It's like putting on some old clothes or something like that.

Agreed. Gish, Pisces Iscariot and Siamese Dream were great albums. Even Melon Collie had its moments. It all came off the rails when Corgan started to think he was depeche mode.

I was a huge Pumpkins fan as a teenager (both my nickname and luna's come from song titles of theirs), and I still think Billy Corgan is a talented composer and producer, but I just don't care anymore. More and more I come to realize that he is emotionally stunted and stuck with a teenager's mentality, and that is a large part of why I loved his music so much back then. Now, though, I simply can't relate to the majority of his lyrics anymore. Because of that, I'm not sure I'd really get into this new album even if it was great, but from what I've heard it sounds pretty average.

Personally, I just pretend that the band stopped making music after Adore (yeah, Adore wasn't fabulous, but it had some very interesting music on it nonetheless).

Right about the time he shaved his head I lost interest. When he wore the Matrix-type outfit and became some sort of "goth, tortured artiste" I lost all respect.

I just checked out that open letter to Chicago. Yikes. It reads like it was penned by Barry Manilow. That definitely does not rock.

I didn't think their new album was that great. A friend of mine downloaded it to my PC and figuring that it might be worth it I gave it one run through. Mnn. eh. I deleted it afterwards. Just like some other bands that I like, some things were good back then- and unchanged. But, that's me!

I saw Smashing Pumpkins back when they were headlining Lollapalooza in KC. Apparently the last time they were in town, someone threw a superball on stage and hit Billy in the forehead. He stormed off stage, and that was that. Problem was, when they came back for Lollapalooza, Billy made a big deal about it and threatened not to play if anyone threw anything on stage.

Absolutely untrue to his word, he stayed on stage and whined the entire time as hundreds of superballs rained down on him. We left halfway through his set. It was a long day, and Ididn't feel like listening to his whining that only egged on the jerks. Besides, the Beastie Boys had played right before them and absolutely rocked. After a long day, I would have been fine had it all ended right after them.

Talk about a band that aged well, though. I saw my faorite band, The Flaming Lips, at that Lollapalooza. They were great on the second stage. But they have done a masrerful job of extending their career without producing mediocre crap just to cash in on their name. They are always pushing the limits and finding new and intersting ways to make music. While some may not care for what they do, you can't help butto respect they way they have handled their career, as opposed to crybaby Billy.

Rage against the Machine? Did they have a reunion now that Cornell is off on his solo album tour? Or is it just Zach with a bunch of people backing him?

Not to derail the thread, but I believe Audioslave is dead and Rage Against the Machine is back together.

This is true. I think it happened sometime in February. It's a shame really. Zach de la Rocha sucks more than every vacuum cleaner on the planet combined. Love Tom Morello and the rest of them but my hate for de la Rocha burns with the fire of a thousand suns.

Have Gish...have played it through maybe twice in the 14 years I've had it. Reminds me of Sonic Youth without a soul.

Really is bizarre. Putting in "Star" brings back all of the ridiculousness of being 15, wearing flannel, and carving out bibles in which to stash illicit substances. Ok, I still do that last one.

Went to this Lollapalooza in Columbus, OH. Yeah, the Pumpkins set could have been lip-synching it was so dull, so leaving was wise. BBs were awesome, PARLIAMENT made me a permanent fan that day (and finally clued me in as to who the soiree DJ was in "House Party").