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

It's not my all time favorite Pumpkins song, but it's definitely the Pumpkins song that sounds most to me like it desperately NEEDS to be a single? I'm good with it, it's on my ballot somewhere.

One of the first performances of Bullet, from spring 1994: https://youtu.be/4l6frzcRBps

https://i.imgur.com/MZLzJ4P.jpg
36. Quiet
232 points, 9 votes
From: Siamese Dream, 1993

We're up to eight MCIS tracks in the rollout so far.

the opening of "quiet" is the actual coolest thing i've ever heard

(I was going to self-deprecatingly post '"Love is suicide" obv a much more credible statement than "despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage" or "the world is a vampire"' but I think I actually believe that.)

Anyway, "Quiet" is obv classic and placed solidly on my ballot.

omg, Billy says "Please clap"

(in the spring 1994 BWBW)

The best was when Bullet came on at our grade 7 school dance. A couple hundred kids jumping up and down to the chorus.

now this is a great tune

i should have knocked half my ballot down a peg so i could put this on it

Nerdy, sure, but to continue the count

6 Adore tracks so far
4 SD tracks so far

Where are all the Pisces tracks?

in the top 35

BWBW was when I knew deep in my heart it was all going to fall apart. I knew the video was premiering, waited around for it age 15, superfan... And while I couldn't admit it to myself or friends, my heart sank. MCIS has a few moments that get pieces of the puzzle, but it never comes together as a whole (in any individual song nor as an album). Still frustrating after all these years that they lost it.

That is to say, surprised and not surprised BWBW placed so high--apparently from a few folks putting it in their top few?

(The contrast with 'Quiet' placing only just above it is fascinating. "Quiet" has genuine angst and anger and "rawk" and all that. BWBW is a weird pantomime of those things, but more boring than even that suggests.)

my bold prediction, all of SD will place.

i can imagine "sweet sweet" might've fallen outside of the 66

https://i.imgur.com/u8DmLmL.jpg
35. I Am One
234 points, 9 votes
From: Gish, 1991

https://i.imgur.com/USrKYMP.jpg
35. Beautiful
234 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote
From: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995

your probably right, should have looked at all the tracks before saying something. it will blow past Adore with no issue though.

xpost

Anytime we got to hear D'Arcy sing was a blessing.

"beautiful" just missed out on my ballot but it's perfect

OK here's a challop: the heavy songs on MCIS sound forced, and if SP weren't buzzbinned and earmarked as the next Nirvana (and of course complied with that) then the album would have been Beautiful, Thirty-Three, Tonight Tonight, Galapogos, Porcelina, Lily, 1979 et al.
SD sounds like Billy had some jams to kick out, and with Vig achieved the zenith of the guitar rock assault record, but on MCIS the rawk is a facsimile, and the beautiful melodic songs are where their hearts were. Adore was a relief for that reason.

(tho I guess Porcelina is plenty heavy when it needs to be!)

MatthewK, you may be onto something there

Maybe I'll have to try an "All Softies" MCIS, though I suspect it'll still ring false (and poorly/overproduced). But that was part of the disappointment--with MCIS, SP fragmented the whole of what they could do into discrete, siloed categories. With SD and "Starla" and "Drown" and parts of Gish, while a song might *lean* "rock" or lean "beauty," there was always a push-pull synthesis of these (and other) feelings and sounds within almost every track.

I definitely prefer the soft songs on Mellon Collie to the heavy ones. Beautiful lives up to its name as one of their most beautiful tracks and I had it quite high.

Na na na na na na na na

https://i.imgur.com/DFZRRTv.jpg
33. Appels + Oranjes
250 points, 9 votes
From: Adore, 1998

who voted Beautiful as their #1? thank you.

Porcelina is the only song on MCIS that captures (almost) every side of the band.

xp oh fuck yeah.

:)

i have only had three tracks that i voted for place so far, either i'm way off or most of mine are going to show up later. i think i'm going to be more of a hivemind fan.

I love how "Appels..." chugs to life.

this is my favorite from Adore.

i'm listening to Music Choice Classic Alternative channel right now. they just put on "Mayonaise."

they are probably watching this rollout. :-)

Getting the sinking feeling that "The Imploding Voice" has no chance of showing up here

https://i.imgur.com/JPVse9o.jpg
32. To Forgive
266 points, 9 votes
From: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995

"appels" was right at the end of my ballot

higher than i expected. and yeah ray, seems like it... bummed, that song is great, one of the only songs that benefitted from the maximalist Machina production. the barebones Arising version is p boring in comparison

to forgive i meant

the bridge in To Forgive is really great

GS: Did you use any other guitar amps on the record?

CORGAN: On "To Forgive," I used a Fender Bassman that I bought during the recording of Siamese Dream. It's an old, fucked-up amp, one of those "silver face" models from the late Sixties or early Seventies. I paid to get it fixed, but it still doesn't work right. The amp makes this weird sound, like a storm coming. While we rehearsed the song, the sound got worse, and then started to go away,at which point we started to record. Right about the time we did the rake that's on the album,the sound started to come back. If you listen closely, you can hear a little bit of the storm sound coming again.

GS: Is it like a rumble?

CORGAN: No, it's more like KKKkkkccchhhHHH, like something's definitely wrong with the amp. I've had problems with tubes going harmonic, but this is something else altogether. I've tried kicking that head as hard as I can, and sometimes that makes the sound go away. But other times it makes it get worse, so you have to know just when and how to kick it!

GS: How do you play the first verse of "To Forgive"?

CORGAN: It's mostly based on arpeggiated 1st-position chords. At the chorus, I break into full chords combined with single-note arpegiations.

GS: The bridge of "To Forgive" has a very cool cyclical feel to it.

CORGAN: That's because it's based on a chord progression that actually cycles around.

rest of the interview is pumpkinhead heaven, lots of detailed stuff about the production of MCIS: http://www.starla.org/articles/crsh4_96.htm

https://i.imgur.com/mR3YbzD.jpg
31. Shame
274 points, 10 votes
From: Adore, 1998

last one for now

is this happening over the weekend or are you going to wait to post the next batch on Monday?

I will probably keep going over the weekend

:thumbsup:

SHAME TOO LOW

this was my gateway song into loving Adore and a lot of other music, too (eg slowcore)

My #25

god "shame" is so wonderful

starting from when I was about 16 I always took "you're gonna walk on home, you're gonna walk alone" as an invitation. it's scored a lot of walks.

my gateway song into loving Adore and a lot of other music, too (eg slowcore)

Smashing Pumpkins 'Shame' but sung by Mark Kozelek