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

how on earth did this song never make it onto a comp like Pisces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA0Mo9C9Cnk

in case anyone wanted a poppier Frail and Bedazzled

also lol at the only two post-2000 songs to place. both are ok, p good for SP2

'Tristessa', 'Daydream', 'Jellybelly', 'Fuck You (An Ode To No One)', 'In the Arms of Sleep', 'Once Upon a Time', 'The Tale of Dusty + Pistol Pete' (No votes!? WTF!), 'This Time', 'Try Try Try' and 'With Every Light' were all robbed.

As were 'Panopticon', 'Pinwheels' and 'Pale Horse' ...

Because you know you want to see this video again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro8shNTlzTY

I love that no matter what, everything official uploaded to YouTube before 2010 looks like shit and will always look like shit unless it's re-uploaded.

still my favorite document of the band. 27 min = my favorite performance of Porcelina ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U7QGPz4xmA

Interesting that after all the discussion, the rankings by album phase really held to form re: perception of the band's trajectory back in the day: SD > Gish > MCIS > Adore > Machina >>> Post-Breakup. I guess a lot of the early-days fans were being relatively mum? Or, as others pointed out, there's maybe not as much to say about the stuff we (statistically on the whole) like best?

I'm actually slightly surprised after all the discussion to see that as a whole the Gish era rated higher than the MCIS era--though it seems to be very much buoyed by 'Drown' and 'Starla' being so beloved, it seems like. MCIS is dragged down somewhat by the inclusion of a lot of tracks that had only one or two votes fairly low in the list--but all the album phases have some of those.

'Adore' is interesting because it has a lot of tracks bunched in the 40s-70s and not as many as others lower in the rankings--which maybe suggests when it's tracks were ranked on ballots, they were often voted high in their rankings?

that was the case for me. Blank Page was in my top 10, and the only Adore song I voted for. but it was my #2 album.

Adore is for me what a lot of noise albums are: a whole as an album, tough to think of as individual tracks.

me too. even though each song is pretty different. really strange

Right? Adore has this gauze over it that gels so many disparate styles and songs together and makes it even more of a whole than Gish or MCIS.

i think the strong visual aesthetic of Adore contributes at least a bit to the cohesive feel of the music. when i think of adore i instantly think of the cover and the CD booklet, the dark monochrome colors, festering billy
prowling around the 'Ava Adore' video, the everpresent gothic vibe. some of the other albums also had iconic imagery (the cover of MCIS bleeding into the world of the 'Tonight Tonight' video, the SD twins) but didn't present as complete a world as the pain in the Adore imagery (imo). i know it's kind of bullshit to claim that all that has an effect on how you hear the music itself, but for me it did.

i've been listening to a lot more earlier SP as a result of this poll! it's been a very enjoyable ride. one idea that i'm considering is that the earlier stuff (through SD) really needed guitars in order to work, but as they progressed the songwriting got a bit more conventional but also more refined - most of Adore could be performed on non-guitars and it would still work just as well, and i'm not sure that's true of SD.

1. Thru the Eyes of Ruby
2. This Time
3. Muzzle
4. Behold! The Night Mare
5. 1979
6. Mayonaise
7. Here Is No Why
8. Tear
9. The Sacred and Profane
10. To Forgive
11. Galapagos
12. For Martha
13. Wound
14. Shame
15. Glass and the Ghost Children
16. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
17. Soma
18. Let Me Give the World To You
19. Spaceboy
20. The Imploding Voice
21. Real Love
22. Perfect
23. Thirty-Three
24. To Sheila
25. Daphne Descends

KM totally otm though I'd add that I "hear" the music on SD as more "red" and warm-toned and daytimey and MCIS as more "blue" and night-timey. No matter how sonically similar they are in places - like, the riff on "Silverfuck" has this messy fiery roaring quality, the riff on "Zero" is meaner, steelier.... idk this is pretty dumb and utterly subjective but it's there in how I hear the records.

I agree. SD is very orange / beige / white, Gish is purple, but MCIS is all over the place. Adore is very grey. I realize these are more or less the colors on the albums' respective colors. alas-

I am longtime lurker on the ILX, but this is the first poll in which I voted. Been following the rollout with much excitement the last few days. Drown was my #1, but I was also the lone vote for Apathy’s Last Kiss, which I initially had much higher but ultimately put it at 25. It was a song that I remember spending so much time tracking down from my early days as a fan. Never could track down a copy of the Siamese Singles box set, so I first heard it on the Japanese-only import of the Today single. I must have played that song hundreds of times in the 90s, but hadn’t played it in at least 15 years until this poll. Still love it. Another song I would have loved to include was Blissed and Gone, but I think they kind of ruined that one in the studio. I used to play the early live version all the time.

thank you for voting!!

agreed the final studio version of blissed and gone blows

Yeah, the studio version always bothered me. I really think it could have been a perfect fit for Adore if done differently. I also read the posts about how older fans at the time were disappointed in Adore, but I didn't have any misgivings about SP until Machina. Saw them on the Adore tour in Nashville and I will never forget that version of Crestfallen. Depending on the day, Adore could just as easily be my number one as SD or PI. For this poll, I rated them SD > PI > Adore > MCIS > Gish.

i think the studio blissed and gone sounds awesome haters

1. Thru the Eyes of Ruby
2. Today
3. 1979
4. Here is No Why
5. Appels + Oranjes
6. We Only Come Out at Night
7. Soma
8. Raindrops + Sunshowers
9. By Starlight
10. Shame
11. For Martha
12. To Forgive
13. Behold! The Night Mare
14. Mayonaise
15. Once in a While
16. Farewell and Goodnight
17. The Sacred and Profane
18. Hello Kitty Kat
19. In the Arms of Sleep
20. Thirty-Three
21. Pug
22. Set the Ray to Jerry
23. Zero
24. Obscured
25. Starla

Great show, 24 years ago today.

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

Rocket
Quiet
Disarm
Snail
Cherub Rock
Soma
Hummer
Geek U.S.A.
Luna
Today
Siva
---
Starla
--
I Am One (with rant)
Mayonaise
---
(instrumental jam)
> Suffer (tease)
Silverfuck
> Never Let Me Down [Depeche Mode] (tease)
> Over the Rainbow [Harburg/Arlen] (tease)
Sweet Sweet

Rocket
Cherub Rock
Daphne Descends
Bodies
Silverfuck
Stand Inside Your Love
Shame
1979
Luna
Mayonnaise
Disarm
Real Love
Thirty three
XYU
Tonight Tonight
Drown
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Sweet Sweet
Zero
Love
Cupid de Locke
Perfect
To Sheila
Let Me Give the World to You
Rhinoceros

This was such an amazing poll, probably the best one I've participated in on ILM. It'll take me a while to unpack everything that came up during these long, long discussions. Thanks ufo!

We should have a "best moment on an SP song" poll. In my top 5: how Billy sings "Cheshire cat" on "Frail and Bedazzled": "caaahahahat!"

Thanks so much for doing this UFO.

Thanks so much for running this poll, ufo.

Drown
Mayonnaise
Soma
Geek USA
Siva
Stand Inside Your Love
1979
Whir
Cherub Rock
Starla
Bury Me
Where Boys Fear to Tread
Frail and Bedazzled
Crestfallen
Bodies
Set the Ray to Jerry
Hello Kitty Kat
Shame
Rocket
Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Glynis
Thirty-Three
I Am One
Silverfuck
Apathy’s Last Kiss

Adore is for me what a lot of noise albums are: a whole as an album, tough to think of as individual tracks.

― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 8 April 2018 23:12 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too. even though each song is pretty different. really strange

― flappy bird, Sunday, 8 April 2018 23:16 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Right? Adore has this gauze over it that gels so many disparate styles and songs together and makes it even more of a whole than Gish or MCIS.

― flappy bird, Sunday, 8 April 2018 23:16 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think the strong visual aesthetic of Adore contributes at least a bit to the cohesive feel of the music. when i think of adore i instantly think of the cover and the CD booklet, the dark monochrome colors, festering billy prowling around the 'Ava Adore' video, the everpresent gothic vibe. some of the other albums also had iconic imagery (the cover of MCIS bleeding into the world of the 'Tonight Tonight' video, the SD twins) but didn't present as complete a world as the pain in the Adore imagery (imo). i know it's kind of bullshit to claim that all that has an effect on how you hear the music itself, but for me it did.

― Karl Malone, Sunday, 8 April 2018 23:31 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This all rings very true to me although the poll has had me focussing on individual Adore tracks more (e.g. the discussion about the structure of Behold! The Night-Mare), which has definitely elevated the album in my estimation. I might rank it above Machina I at this point.

That's a great top 10, can't find much to fault with the possible exception of the high placing of Thirty Three. I didn't vote but Hummer, Drown, Mayonaise, Rhinoceros, Cherub Rock and Thru The Eyes of Ruby would all have been in my personal top 10. I guess I have a type.

Oh and 1979 but everyone says 1979.

We should have a "best moment on an SP song" poll. In my top 5: how Billy sings "Cheshire cat" on "Frail and Bedazzled": "caaahahahat!"

― Sam Weller, Monday, April 9, 2018 4:35 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

-when the guitars come in on Porcelina
-beginning and ending of Jellybelly
-second verse of I of the Mourning
-"i catch the rainfall" verse in Blank Page
-"angel / barbed wire / FUCK YOU / deeeesiiiiiiire" at the end of Marquis in Spades

Pretty sure it's the bridge/change soaring into "YEAHHHH I WANT SOMETHING NEW" in Hummer

wonder if hummer would win a poll of all tracks by any artist that begin with the telephone filter intro before BIG MOMENT OF CLARITY

on one hand, I want the full results (>66) in the spotify playlist. on the other hand, it's so perfect that this playlist opens with mellon collie.

best sp moments:

- last three minutes of "for martha" really
- the entire chorus of snail but especially "softly... SIIIIIREN! coming home! SIIIIIREN! ....snaiiiiil"
- "what is it you want to change"

the barely audible "uhn!" that Billy does in time with the snare that follows the line "for june angels." didn't hear this until 3 years ago or so. happens at 3:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVuN2qTCg0Y

- last three minutes of "for martha" really

so otm

I'm listening to Billy Corgan's Spotify playlist

https://open.spotify.com/user/11lpnx8l3jmzbwe2amx4684hm/playlist/2KX7eHWHDfe2xQ3tJWxlIs?si=tyMx48DCQyiGgyPeA4Btsg

- Soft second verse of Snail: "Flower, the pain will wash away, away"
- "One last kiss for me, yeah / One last kiss goodnight"
- "I shall be free"
- na na na na na na na
- "The sun shines, but I don't / A silver rain will wash away"

^^^ all classic

that hilarious tag at the end of Love. "beeooww!"

I'm not sure what single moment to pick from Hummer. The way that song moves and develops is so perfect.

I'm listening to Billy Corgan's Spotify playlist

https://open.spotify.com/user/11lpnx8l3jmzbwe2amx4684hm/playlist/2KX7eHWHDfe2xQ3tJWxlIs?si=tyMx48DCQyiGgyPeA4Btsg

― had (crüt), Monday, April 9, 2018 11:27 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao there are 33 songs on this playlist

- "The sun shines, but I don't / A silver rain will wash away"

― jmm, Monday, April 9, 2018 6:36 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This this this this this <3

every time Billy shouts "you!!!" and launches into a solo

xp I hadn't noticed before, but I wonder whether that was a deliberate reference back to the verse in Snail. "Flower, the pain will wash away / When the sun shines / Climbs through your window"

idk if it's a deliberate reference so much as rain tends to fall on everyone

:D