Bang Bang You're Dead... POLL In Your Head - ILM Artist Poll #87 - SMASHING PUMPKINS - Results

And you KNOW "Try Try Try" (at the least) is up ahead.

“i of the mourning” was my no. 1!

Radio/Raaaadiooooooooooooo

Surprised that Age of Innocence placed. Happy that Ava Adore placed low. Very happy to see Wound make it, it was my #25, would be higher but I haaaaaate the mix on the album. Great song though, one of the best of the era. and I of the Mourning was in my top 10, an amazing song that has grown on me more than any other in recent years. I couldn't care less about it 5 years ago, now it's easily one of my favorite Pumpkins songs, if only for the second verse:

I blow the dust off my guitar
In the attic with the star
I read your letter to feel better
My tears upon the fading ink

this is a fantastic, straightforward performance and might be what turned me on this song (also the delivery of that second verse is perfect):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKZLXemEKhQ

again, emotionally resonant on its own, and doubly so when looked at in the context of where Billy and the band were at in 2000.

Pug rules so hard

Only got to know and love Pug when I heard the Arising tour version from early 1999. I wish Billy sang it higher on the record, besides being heavy as fuck, his vocal delivery is so much better here imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDGkIk8A0Pw

i voted for “age of innocence” btw. i love it as a closing track bc it’s sorta got a “one last midtempo rocker before we hang it up” vibe, and billy’s lyrics in the bridge feel like his idea of an epitaph for the band

btw, ufo, nice work with the text on the images. It's very seamless.

the font match the records, very nice!

yes very nice work ufo

OTM

i had age of innocence very high.

just finished listening to what we have so far. the Spotify is already about an hour and twenty minutes and really, really mellow so far.

can't wait until tomorrow.

Crush is my first to place, what a great song

Also love Pug, and am happy Ava Adore beat Disarm (though I've come to like that one more and more in the passing years)

Got to admit I've always really disliked Ava Adore, a large part of that is down to the opening lines (really not helped by the goofy "Behold this tableau of grotesquery!" gesturing BC does in the video as he delivers them) but also I think the melody is kind of weak. I like Pug though, that was one that stood out on my last run through the album.

I of the Mourning and Age of Innocence are two of my favourites off Machina although I only voted for the latter in the end, I guess it is kind of an odd closer but I like the shifts between the different sections, it's like the whole album in miniature.

Crush was one of only two tracks from Gish on my ballot, I'm wondering how much of it will place - think the results have been nicely unpredictable so far!

'Wound', 'Age of Innocence' and 'I of the Mourning' all too low - three of the big highlights of MACHINA right there. 'Ava Adore' is pretty much in the right place, I think. 'Pug' too high.

I Of The Mourning is great, one of only two songs on Machina I have any desire to hear again. (The other one will probably be top 10).

I was sure that "I of the Mourning" was the one that I always heard on the radio in Canada but, oddly, I can't find any evidence that it was even a major single release. I have no memory of hearing "Everlasting Gaze" or "Try, Try, Try" on radio.

'Pug' too high.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Friday, 6 April 2018 10:30 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pug too low, obv.

One of my top choices, and probably the pinnacle for me of the electro-goth sound that started with "Eye" and ran through "Ava Adore", "Tear" etc. I love the contrast between the crunchiness of the verses and the velvety smoothness of what I suppose is meant to be the chorus. Only flaw is the bridge which I feel doesn't quite gel with the rest of the song, but then they more than make it up for it with the new tearing synth sound that comes in afterwards.

The production reminds me weirdly of Tori Amos' 'From The Choirgirl Hotel' from the same year.

"I of the Mourning" is a great song that just missed my ballot because of the muddy production - you can hear the amazing Catherine Wheel tune struggling to rise out of the murk.

Yeah, it was listening to the live MusiquePlus performances of "I of the Mourning" and "Stand Inside Your Love" that really decided their spots on my ballot.

Both songs are among the least egregious on that album in terms of poor production, in truth, but their quality as songs almost makes It more upsetting.

I mean at least "Raindrops + Sunshowers" is just a dumb song so there's no lasting harm done there.

We're probably never going to agree on this but electro-goth production is particularly unforgiving to Corgan's voice in a way that noisy guitars (or even gentle guitars) aren't. It's a bit like how Kele Okerere's strangulated yelp worked OK with post-punk revivalism but dear god not with piano house.

I feel like all of billy's vocals post-SD are borderline awful with maybe 10 exceptions, so then it just comes down to how much I like the music / tune / production.

https://i.imgur.com/Oov9FUq.jpg
49. Cupid de Locke
156 points, 9 votes
From: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995

We're probably never going to agree on this but electro-goth production is particularly unforgiving to Corgan's voice in a way that noisy guitars (or even gentle guitars) aren't.

I think a lot of us were agreeing with this on the voting thread?

idk i think corgan’s voice is particularly suited toward stuff like “eye”

then again it is impossible for me to hear his voice as bad on the first five records (it is certainly v bad now)

i think the convo on the voting thread was about the shift in his voice between sd and mellon collie which isn’t so dramatic to me (but it made a ton of sense to me that he recorded his vocals in single takes without monitors on mellon collie bc he’s often a mess on that record). his singing on adore is really solid and unobnoxious for the most part

tim otm about “pug” btw which i didn’t vote for

yeah I agree with Brad he sounds fine on Adore. another thing about SD is his voice seems a little lower in the mix than on later albums

Cupid de Locke is pretty but not really something I was expecting to place at all.

Cupid de Locke is so good and weird. I'm not sure it would fit on any other SP album.

i love “cupid de locke” it’s so silly

Didn't vote for Cupid de Locke but it's lovely - it was definitely a favourite when I first got the album.

I can hear what Tim means about From the Choirgirl Hotel re: Pug, good shout.

https://i.imgur.com/3GLrQXe.jpg
48. By Starlight
162 points, 9 votes
From: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995

part of the nature of mellon collie being so long: i bought the album when i was eight but i don't think i got around to this song until i was nine or ten

it's one of the best though

“Cupid de Locke” is delightfully ridiculous. The first thing from my ballot to place, too!

lol i love the outro of pug, sounds like the song's malfunctioning

i love the kinda last blast of full on romanticism that "by starlight" represents on the album, such a lovely, warm song. the sudden appearance of the "does she really know who i really am" bridge is my favorite part

I love the repeating guitar line in By Starlight that slowly increases in intensity throughout the song

https://i.imgur.com/txNiliK.jpg
47. Where Boys Fear to Tread
170 points, 8 votes
From: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995

I agree with most of what was said about Ava Adore, it's all style with very little substance, as if we were supposed to be impressed that SP were hip to goth and electronica so it didn't really matter if they forgot to write a decent melody or chorus.

But on other parts of Adore (the album) they totally nailed the goth rock/electronica hybrid which is why that album is so fascinating but also so frustrating.

I sort of wish the drums were a little more forceful or something?

the hi-hat in the second verse, though

^^^ re: "ava adore"

All the last three are way too high with the exception on 'By Starlight' which is roughly in the right place. In no way are these better than the MACHINA tracks that place lower. I guess I'm just fortunate that I'm able to spot a good song even if the production is a barrier to some.

'Pug' has some neat ideas in the arrangement, but the vocal melody isn't all that strong.

Starting to think that every single thing on Mellon Collie is going to place but otoh there's no chance of enough people voting for We Only Come Out At Night.

By Starlight is one of his best ballads though.

It is, but the version they played at Glastonbury was fucking awful, if I recall.

https://i.imgur.com/LArDV2t.jpg
46. Eye
172 points, 9 votes
From: Lost Highway Soundtrack, 1997