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I've never liked Billy Corgan (even before his reactionary libertarian side came out) and I always tried my best to dislike Smashing Pumpkins, so it annoyed me how great of a songwriter and musician he actually is. It took some time for me to realize and admit it, but Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie really are masterpieces. And 1979, along with Mayonnaise and Today, are my three favorite Pumpkins songs. The video is so perfect for this song too. A pure nostalgia bomb for anyone who grew up in the 90s like me.
Siamese Dream will always be a GOATed alt rock album, so it remains probably the most difficult test of how good I am at separating art from the artist.
I loved loved the Pumpkins in the 90s. Certain eras of my youth were defined by their albums. I actually learned guitar mostly to play Nirvana songs, but soon after that when learning what Corgan wrote, that's what got me to where I would consider myself a fairly decent guitarist and of course it heavily influenced my own style and the kind of stuff I liked to write. And actually Billy Corgan is still a fucking amazing guitarist, even if I think musically he had said all he was really gonna say by the time Machina came out and the song writing which had once been like you said, real masterpieces, fell off dramatically into the mediocre or worse range.
I didn't even think about Smashing Pumpkins for years, and was of course disappointed but not entirely shocked to learn how chud-adjacent he turned out to be, though I knew he had always been a dick at best. But just a few years back, I watched some videos of him just talking about gear and a few techniques to get certain sounds, fiddling around doing some demonstrations. The dude really is a virtuoso I think. Like in ways that I didn't realize back when I was a big fan in my teens and early 20s. I also used to listen to a lot of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, etc., and while Corgan may not be at quite that level, he's closer to it than any other 90s popular rock or alternative guitarists I can think of. There are plenty of Pumpkins songs where that isn't even evident, but of course certain other songs and their solos it does get revealed.
Heard Billy was always scummy; mom was a friend of the original bassist D'arcy and caught a lot of that (unsurprising). Still, grew up listening to the Pumpkins thru family and the nostalgia associated with 1979 & Tonight Tonight specifically is powerful
Yeah, but pre-internet/social media rumors like that were hard to verify. His megalomaniacal tendencies were commonly known back then, but it was chalked up to being an eccentric genius. D'arcy (and Iha) were solid musicians in their own right and do not get enough credit. I remember the media trying to push really hard to make a sex figure out of D'arcy but she was too shy and reserved to play along.
I kinda feel like a lot of the original more melodic Smashing Pumpkins sound was due to D'Arcy/Iha and not Corgan, given that Corgan's later stuff just wasn't nearly as good, but I could be wrong.