"The Official" (The) Smashing Pumpkins Thread

[Soot and Stars]

So back to this absolutely smashing thread!

The Smashing Pumpkins Live '88

Their is some great live footage of the Pumpkins as far back as '88! The following is an archived collection of footage inexplicably called:

The Psycho Tapes

My Eternity
(I love Billy in this! I think he puts on his best Jim Morrison in this! I don't see this song as having made it into the studio)


Jennifer Ever
(the guitar in this is simple but I really like it)


Nothing and Everything
(some cool guitar shredding as opposed to the prior gloomy sound)


There It Goes
(Just like in the studio version it ends in an awesome guitar solo)


She

^^^^
Something I read that really clicks is that the guitar resembles Tonight, Tonight! See if you can hear it better in this crisper audio below!

She
(Tonight, Tonight The Prequel?)

[METALPRIEST]

I always love it when Billy Corgan plays with Cheap Trick....I get a big bang out of it.

Here he dresses as Rick and plays one of Rick's guitars.

From the Music For Hangovers DVD

[Soot and Stars]

Early '88 Smashing Pumpkins Interview

This was a very basic interview for radio station WNUR! Some things that stand out is how fresh Jimmy was at the time as he was introduced as "Jimmy isn't here right now! We have a drummer now!" Also, they talked of recording a demo for Elektra which apparently fell through! The Pumpkins were a very humble band just soaking in the life of a growing band at the time!

The Smashing Pumpkins-WNUR Interview 1988


The are the bands that the Pumpkins were opening for at the time were The Swinging Dicks, The Crows and opening for these guys:

Janes Addiction

[Soot and Stars]

Originally Posted by METALPRIEST

I always love it when Billy Corgan plays with Cheap Trick....I get a big bang out of it.

Here he dresses as Rick and plays one of Rick's guitars.

From the Music For Hangovers DVD

Thank you MP! I knew Corgan was a fan as he was a fanboy of so many great acts in general but I'd never seen that video before! It was epic especially starting at the 4:15 mark! A funny note is that James Iha is in the band Tinted Windows with Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos!

[METALPRIEST]

Originally Posted by Soot and Stars

Thank you MP! I knew Corgan was a fan as he was a fanboy of so many great acts in general but I'd never seen that video before! It was epic especially starting at the 4:15 mark! A funny note is that James Iha is in the band Tinted Windows with Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos!

Oh yeah...they're all tight.

[METALPRIEST]

I remember seeing Billy at a Hawk's Game. He's very cool!!

[Tiny Tim]

Originally Posted by Soot and Stars

Janes Addiction

Actually was at that show in '88 or '89 at Cabert Metro in Chicago. It was only the Pumpkins 3rd or 4th show and I had no idea who they were, I was there to see Jane's Addiction. I got there halfway through the Pumpkins set and was more interested in socializing with people I knew from going to shows then I was in watching the opening act, so I don't remember much about them. I just remember the first time somebody played Gish for me, I looked at the CD and said "Oh sh*t. I saw these guys!!!"

[Tiny Tim]

Originally Posted by METALPRIEST

I remember seeing Billy at a Hawk's Game. He's very cool!!

I met him at a Pantera show at the Aragon once. I was in the VIP balcony because I had a friend who worked in Chicago radio. Although Billy was the only person I saw up there that qualified as a VIP. We shot the sh*t for quite awhile, comparing notes on shows we'd seen and he asked me to go on a beer run for him so he wouldn't get mobbed in the line. Seemed like a typical down to earth Chicago guy. Taller than I thought though.

[METALPRIEST]

An around the town kinda guy! Hell they were local once

[METALPRIEST]

[Soot and Stars]

To all you guys who met Billy! Lucky bastards!

'89 to '91 The Road to a Debut



It was 1989, when the Pumpkins started to record songs that would start an era of the Smashing Pumpkins by appearing on their first major c.d.! It would also end an era as these songs would be the last that captured the Pumpkins in their psychedelic groove. These sessions would produce what is known as the Gish Basement Tape. This session was shopped to labels and many of the songs eventually appeared on the Lull EP and Gish album in one version or another. The songs that were first recorded in these tapes were:

Blue (later on Pisces Iscariot collection)
Bury Me (later on Gish)
Bye June (later on Lull)
Daydream (later on Gish)
I Am One (later on Gish)
Rhinocerous (later on Gish, 2 versions made)

Other songs were released on rare promotional and compilation disc. This was a monumental time as The Pumpkins were recording music that would get them out of the underground and would push them into the consciousness of music history as a band that was meant to create a legacy.



Here are the songs that came out on those tapes that never made it to the big one two punch of the Lull/Gish releases!

Daughter
(really slow droll groove to this song)


Honeyspider
(another slow burner)


Honeyspider II
(an alternate version, vocals have less of a drag and more clarity in this one which I like)


Not Worth Asking
(more upbeat for these sessions)


C'mon
(could only find live version but what a f-ing jam, love the drums at the 3 min. mark and everything after)


Egg
(awesome acoustic track that stands out from the rest of the session)


Love
(not the Melloncollie song, way groovier, great outro at 3:15)


Psychodelic
(really cool vocals with some faint harmonizing)


Snap (If I Could)
(like the darker tone to this)


Stars Fall In
(Love the different tone in Billy's vocals and the cheery whooing chorus)


With You
(another acoustic)


Cinnamon Girl
(Awesome Neil Young cover)

[Soot and Stars]

The '89 Acoustic Sessions



The Smashing Pumpkins went into the studio to record favorites from their live shows but the results turned into an acoustic session due to Chamberlain's failure to attend! I think it was for the better as the results turned out really cool but on the downer there are tracks that I wasn't able to track down for the first time in this thread!

Anyway, this session was fun as hell with so verbal banter and joking!

Fat Mans Blues
(I love Billy in this , fun and real)


I Am One Part II
(awesome acoustic takeoff of one of their most well known early songs, I love the speedup at the end)


Vanilla
(just a chill song, lyrically makes me think of Blank)


Bleed
(Dark and moody acoustic, my favorite from the session)


Sun (Abandoned)
(sounds like a Coheed and Cambria intro, Hmmmm)


My Dahlia (Abandoned)
(just them f***ing off for the most part, funny shit )


Songs I'm missing from the session:

A Trip Unto Bountiful [Mother/Waiting]
Waiting For You Know
Stray Cat Blues

[METALPRIEST]

These are all cool! I like My Dahlia and Bleed...listening some more tonight

As far as Tiny Tim and myself running into him don't be jealous man. He is from Chicago and TT and I are also out this way. Those things are bound to happen when these guys aren't touring and the type of places people out our way like to go to.

But you know what? He really is a cool guy and that's no BS!

[METALPRIEST]

Just got done listening to a couple more tracks. I Am One Part II is really cool. I dig acoustic stuff.

[Sweaty]

In reply to Tray73, when he asked for requests I shouted "Drown" and he said, "sounds good to me". The song is from the "Singles" film soundtrack. I love the acoustic stuff from the unplugged sessions, I also adore (lol) the James Iah album.