Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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There were two special occasions for the Smashing Pumpkins this year.
1/LP: No Past.
They also appear onCYR.)
The reaction has been really positive.
I think letting people acclimate to the new music over time has been a good strategy.
Favorite song onCYR
If I had to pick one, Id probably pick Wrath.
The hardest thing in the world is write a simple song thats effective.
I think Wrath falls in that category.
I write a lot of music thats situational, and occasionally I write a song thats more personal.
Wrath sort of falls into that.
CYRs trademark Smashing Pumpkins moment
Probably a song called Wyttch.
Its the interesting combination of guitar and irony.
When that song came out, all that talk stopped.
Obviously, that band is still very much alive, the mean guitar band.
My only admonition was that we needed to make a contemporary record.
I didnt care how we did it.
I think thats a dead path for us.
People are so used to clicking off things that theyre not interested in.
I grew up that you put on a record and you put the needle down.
Now we just reach over to our phone and we click something.
You have to assume that time is at a premium in a contemporary song.
You dont have 45 seconds for an intro, you know?
You got to get into it.
Smashing Pumpkins song that sounds the most like Chicago
Its probably Tonight Tonight.
I wrote the song for Chicago.
Its kind of like my love-letter postcard to my hometown.
I was born on the lake, like I was literally born on the lake.
The hospitals long gone.
But I live on the lake.
The lake is the symbolic thing for me of the city.
Theres a line in the song about city by the lake.
It was literally the image in my mind when I wrote the song.
Best Smashing Pumpkins song for wrestling
Thats a terrible question.
I dont think our music works out very well for wrestling.
Wrestling tends to like jarhead-metal riffs for themes.
We really dont have much of that, unfortunately.
I think we fail in the wrestling-theme department.
They used to watch that a lot.
They kind of like scary dad in the video stuff.
Thats the simplest trick in the world.
If you start in E-minor, you go to G-major for the chorus.
Modulation is the ultimate trick in songwriting.
Like, Jellybelly is in major, believe it or not.
Its major with a flat A7.
The guitar is tuned a half-step down.
Its actually tuned to an open C-sharp chord.
All the ascending riffing and stuff is all major.
You want it to feel like it lifts.
But Jimi Hendrix probably stole it from Wes Montgomery.
Its just the idea of using octaves, but with an open string.
Cherub Rock offSiamese Dreamis a good example of how to use that chord.
We talk a lot in the studio when were writing about trying to lift.
By landing on other notes, you create tension, right?
You do the same thing with chords.
You dont necessarily resolve things.
Most surprising legacy ofMellon Collie
For me, its kind of a negative.
I see where people have tried to kind of minimalize [its] accomplishment.
You know, in essence, trying to cement a narrative about the band, which isnt true.
Somehow that album becomes the thing that they use it to do.
Hipster writers really likeSiamese Dream,right?
They want the band to end afterSiamese Dream.
Its kind of weird.
ButMellon Colliewas by far a bigger record and a far more influential record.
SomehowMellon Colliehas become the front line in that argument.
Its very strange to me.
Smashing Pumpkins album that 21-year-old Billy Corgan would be the proudest of hearing?
I was going through a lot of grief.
My mother had died.
I dont really hear praise.
I certainly hear when people compliment me.
It just doesnt penetrate, because I had to shut all that out.
So, unfortunately, if there is praise, I dont know what it is.
Because it always seems to come with an asterisk or something in my mind.
Going back to what I was saying aboutMellon Collie, you have a clear win.
I mean, its a clear win.
It was a huge album.
It was an artistic breakthrough.
The band was very successful.
Some would argue the band was never bigger than it was at that particular point.
And now we have people basically disregarding this achievement.
Look no further than that.
I sort of dont know how to categorize that.
And by the way, hipsters hatedSiamese Dreamwhen it came out.
Now the hipsters love the record.
We live in a time of invented reality.
Some of my friends call it the post-truth era.
You know, we live in a post-truth era.
Its a really good record that was completely disregarded at the time.
Its the perfect setup.
Heres an overlooked gem.
Who can be the first to claim it?
It sorts of sentimentalized something that I maybe wouldnt have gone out of my way to do.
Now that it exists, I sort of see it that way.
I think [the directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris] did a good job.
I appreciate that in hindsight, but at the time, I didnt totally understand it.
Im not saying, Thank you for believing me.
Im saying, Could you believe in me?
or Would you believe in me?
Theres still the tension of Is this going to happen?
Youre going to hate everything.
Even if its a well-executed song or its the best use of that voice in a particular way.
Why would this person even review the record?
You know what, heres a good review.
Heres a good bad review.
Its not a record review you know Bob Lefsetz?
I did a thing a few years ago where Cheap Trick was playingSgt.
Peppersat the Hollywood Bowl.
I was invited to be one of the guests.
It was really beautiful.
He had to qualify [it] by saying he normally hates me.
It was like: Normally I hate this guy.
But he did good here.
