I've gotta get this out of my system: Billy is obviously using a conceptual framework for the role of audience, celebrity, and God that he's been using to inform his lyrics since at least Machina. It's like, I *think* he's added a deeper layer of meaning to his work, but I can't quite get it.

I mean, check out this quote...

"You see the brilliance of a Freddy Mercury, or a John Lennon at almost a higher level -a higher octave- of the way they brought people together. In the past you'd think 'Oh he's a good singer...writes good songs, we come together' ...no, no, no; they're like saints or shamans" - Billy in 2012 (source) (https://youtu.be/4R9yQPhK8yw?t=1m52s)


Now check out this Marilyn Manson quote from over a decade prior...

"Christ was the blue-print for celebrity. He was the first celebrity, or rock star. I started to, in my weird drugged version of Hollywood, dream up a world where these dead stars are really saints." -
Marilyn Manson in 1999 (source) (http://www.nachtkabarett.com/KennedyKingKill33)

Billy was helping Manson with the Mechanical Animals concept in early '98 and wrote the first Machina demos in late '98. They've obviously discussed the subject in depth together, so it's possible that Billy has been thinking of people like John Lennon as a form of Saint -a voice of God- since at least as long ago as Marilyn's quote.

ENTER THE RABBIT HOLE

I mean, maybe everything in GATMOG is true. Maybe Billy had an epiphany in his attic while listening to starz on the radio that changed his life. Maybe the sacred world is being channeled into the profane world through the radio, and...

...only a warm heart and a knowing smile granting entrance to this mystery...for every age held it's oracles and truth tellers, it's false bell ringers of alarm, and of course the hollow spectres of complacency

WHAT GIVES.

^

M E T A
M A C H I N A
M Y S T E R Y

(fucking censored title)

What I'm getting from this is that **** is censored?

Well damn would you look at that.

^ that's because you touch yourself at night.

me<me>ta, me<ta>ta, me<fucking>ta!

Anaise! Anaise!

... ****!

****...stase.

TIN FOIL HATS ON

Billy's summary of the Glass and the Ghost Machines story (available here (http://www.nachtkabarett.com/SmashingPumpkins/GlassAndTheMachinesOfGod/MachinesOfGod)) lays out an explanation for the last 20 years of his career.

He literally says he was a big, empty celebrity named Zero who looked out into the crowd and saw 'a billion shattered souls'. He was listening to the radio wondering how the greats resonate with the world (maybe he heard himself among them), and realized it's the voice of God speaking through them. He also literally says that he was humbled to have been chosen by God to be a messenger.

Now check out this quote about what a Saint actually is:

we see Christ through His saints, as we see a light through a stained glass window, but we also understand the saints only through Christ.

Now go back and read GATMOG...

thumbtacked to ceilings all over the world lay his schemes and praton wishes, cold flung to white light, like scrapnel of a teenage atom bomb...the kids waited their turn for their piece, and the eyes watched you everywhere...amongst these ruins our hero dies zero and finds a dead station moving static code...thru the channels and medium still he spoke only to find out he wasn't speaking at all, just humming someone elses favourite song...the voice says you are one of many more to come...

...this is our moment, our world, this is our church, our children, our dominion as yet undisclosed, as yet unclaimed...the universe is ours reduced to tiny portraiture...

look to the I of the radio for all you seek the eye of the radio is everywhere, the maker of all that is real + all that is unseen. Be not afraid, for the I of the radio loves you and will always play your favourite songs.

What he's essentially saying is that every generation has it's messengers of God to serve the purpose of a Saint, and in his generation, it just happened to be in the symbol of a rock star. Not everyone who is chosen listens, apparently, but God finds a way to break through every time.

Pop star / what's our mission / Do we know / but never listen

Born of love and cast in light / don't you know we cannot die / we are stars

WELCOME TO THE **** MYSTERY

Am I president of Sad Machines yet?

i thought it was 'poptart'

Fuck!

i like it better as pop star.

good mystery. A+

go on

Yes, more please, it is happy to read your mysterys

TARANTULA AND THE **** MYSTERY

rain falls on everyone / the same old rain / and i'm just trying to walk with you / between the raindrops

in radio static he waited for an order that may never come he never wanted to be outside in the direct sun (from GATMOG)

...funny how this revolution was televised and everybody got bored and changed the channel to what? chattering mannequins on angel dust (from GATMOG)

cant stand the morning rain?
get out i'll take your place then
can't stand the blazing sun?
then close your eyes you'll see
the angel dust

Rain is code for the suffering that falls on everyone. It's also used in Speed Kills; "You were one of God's children / left to cry out in the rain / waiting to be saved again". This song mentions light too; "When I ride with you tonight / We can move at the speed of light" (i.e. with God).

Blank Page also mentions rain ("The rain falls / my friends call / leaking rain on the phone") -but I doubt he intended to make it a recurring theme at the time. The Beatles' song Rain uses rain as a metaphor for suffering (and they mention the sun too!).

BTW, the line before the bridge in Tarantula is: "freeze-frame the pouring rain". Which brings us to...

i'll claim my prize / i don't exist / i am divine / a ghost with eyes (from Lucky 13)

I used to be a little boy so old in my shoes...for every face slap that imprinted itself as tattoo under my skin,...every indignity that scarred itself upon my broken heart, walks with me as ghost and conscience...a boy, a zero, a hero, a goat, a ghost frozen glass (from GATMOG)

All were sung to the ghost children, the synthetic flesh flash of ideal and glitter gash in their dreams they saw him surreal, but he was as real as they needed him to be. (from GATMOG)

we are the real, as real as any ghost
so easy now
we are the real in every living soul
oh don't they know?

And again in the chorus...

we are the real, if real ever was
and just because
we are the ruin of every living soul
we are surreal
'cause someone gave us up

Ghost is code for a lost spirit, a "shattered soul", one of God's Children. Hence Glass and the Ghost Children. The "skulls of every cog" mentioned in the Everlasting Gaze means "Child of God". Billy also mentions this in GATMOG: "GLASS has aligned himself with god...a messenger he shall be, but is he just a c.o.g. within another c.o.g. within another machine?".

A star is a ghost chosen by God, made surreal in the Everlasting Gaze of the audience. I'd need to dig further, but Billy seems to be alluding to the real magic happening when the star aligns with god and the audience at the same time.

Run 2 me / where the sun never leaves!

Flat Earth confirmed

Lover, you're strange 2 me.

rain and suffering as a commonality that everyone experiences has been literary theme for CENTURIES.

people that make it/succeed the level they were in the 90's obviously feel a certain 'god speaking through me' moments of doubt. It's an obvious progression. once you know you've got millions of people listening to you, it'll 100% affect what you want to choose to communicate to them. wanna call that influence 'god'? eh. Personally i'm chaotic negative, but I could see how that position could change someone. And personal change is something that's hard to fully grasp when its' thrust upon you the way it is with fame. Sure, call it 'real magic'.

the only thing that's met*a about this is how billy didn't really have anything to say once he got there, so he just talked about being there. like famous rappers rapping about all their gold and wealth once they've gotten it. Sorry dude, us plebs down here don't got those riches and don't get what you're on about.

rain and suffering as a commonality that everyone experiences..

What about beavers? Otters? Muskrats!?

Here's something to add to the mystery. Siamese Dream album cover star is also the ZERO star. SD and MCIS are his biggest albums.

Platypuses?

rain and suffering as a commonality that everyone experiences has been literary theme for CENTURIES.

people that make it/succeed the level they were in the 90's obviously feel a certain 'god speaking through me' moments of doubt. It's an obvious progression. once you know you've got millions of people listening to you, it'll 100% affect what you want to choose to communicate to them. wanna call that influence 'god'? eh. Personally i'm chaotic negative, but I could see how that position could change someone. And personal change is something that's hard to fully grasp when its' thrust upon you the way it is with fame. Sure, call it 'real magic'.

the only thing that's met*a about this is how billy didn't really have anything to say once he got there, so he just talked about being there. like famous rappers rapping about all their gold and wealth once they've gotten it. Sorry dude, us plebs down here don't got those riches and don't get what you're on about.

That's true about rain. Billy is consciously aware of symbolism in rock and is maintaining a consistent symbolic language across his work as part of a bigger picture. And you're right about Billy realizing he had nothing to say when he reached the top. That was his crisis in the attic. He didn't sing about being rich and famous either, he sung about the trappings of fame shattering Glass.

As for God...


"They asked 'What's the future of Rock?' and I said 'God'"
"I think God is the great unexplored territory in rock and roll music"
"Bono and Co. created the template for modern Christian Rock, and I'd like to think Jesus would want us all to evolve"


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybOkLFrXtZc?rel=0&amp;start=75" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Acid burnout.

My man got bullet points

I got bullet points all day!

The Machina mystery is just so very deep and intellectual. A very stable genius must have come up with it.

I believe crazier things are possible in SPLand.

1999:

Billy: "I've been thinking. We should come together as a group. Like, live in a house together for a month and reconnect with each other as people. Also, you will now refer to me as Glass at all times. Jimmy, your name is now "Thunder Jack", D'Arcy, you are "Namel" and James, you shall henceforth be referred to as "Snaky Tooth".

"Uh, Bill, I think you-"

"Shut the fuck up, Snaky Tooth."

"Well, fuck this. *Leaves*

I'm listening to Heavy Metal Machine from the 2007 AOL Sessions...

Not so fast
You didn't think I'd look back
But sometimes you just need some Glass
So sit back and relax

...and the heavy metal chant?

Heavy metal / resurrection machine

It's about meth, dude.

There are so many layers...

https://i.imgur.com/6pfrMsZ.jpg https://media.giphy.com/media/fQoKfSKW3bt4jZ4KVd/giphy.gif

(Credit: amoergosum, Forgotten Child)

B0llz identified this as 'Zero" on his IG.

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damn where's toc when you need him

I can’t wait to get some clear footage of all the stage montages. The pre-Zero poem and Solara text seem to tie into this.

I think it’s all very obtuse, because it’s all, like, I don’t know. So, like, I started thinking that everything BIlly operates on is based on what he believes God was telling him to do. God could be his intuition or whatever, but he always assumes, that the voice he hears is the voice of God. Then I started thinking, what if BIlly's insane? So he's operating on the premise that he's hearing the voice of God or what he perceives to be God speaking to him or through him, but maybe he's completely insane… and I started thinking maybe THIS is the cause of all the negativity against BIlly…

https://i.imgur.com/6X6WP9H.jpg

The Zero monologue:

"We are the illuminated, the illustrious, the ill-timed knock. Ah yes, we are the fracture, the schisms, the rift in the rabble, the sleepy clown, the atomized dowds, the dreams who stopped dreaming oh so long ago.

Yes all colors mixed in mire make up the black. As do all numbers fixed up to zero, zed, and No. So let's go back to your beginnings, as I shall go back to mine. It won't last, and it'll be quick, but then again that's why we're here. No past. No future. No sun.

So let's blow on fading embers to boast about things near, forgotten, and buried. 'Tis the end. 'Tis the end. 'Tis the end."

God he's so stupid

It reads just like one of his Instagram posts.

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Whether one believes in this sort of thing or not, there's Illuminati symbolism showing up.

Throw in the lyrics to Solara as well. 'I am the seer, I am the seeker. Become the owl at midnght.' with solara, the sun, being a symbol of the light and knowledge that lucifer brings.

Also there's the Stairway cover which would be the ultimate illuminati music industry devil worship song, again, if one believes in that sort of thing.

"We are the illuminated, the illustrious, the ill-timed knock. Ah yes, we are the fracture, the schisms, the rift in the rabble, the sleepy clown, the atomized dowds, the dreams who stopped dreaming oh so long ago."

>>"Freak out, give in, doesn't matter what you believe in. Stay cool and be somebody's fool this year. Cause they know who is righteous who is bold..or so I'm told..."

thank you fartface

Whether one believes in this sort of thing or not, there's Illuminati symbolism showing up.

Throw in the lyrics to Solara as well. 'I am the seer, I am the seeker. Become the owl at midnght.' with solara, the sun, being a symbol of the light and knowledge that lucifer brings.

Hmm...I want to see the text Billy's displaying during Solara at the concerts to get a clearer idea about what the fuck he's talking about, but the sun seems to be more of a symbol for "God's pure truth" than esoteric knowledge (unless he thinks they're the same thing?). He may even be using it as a direct substitute for the word "son" (as in Jesus is the Son of God).

"Run 2 me / where the sun never leaves"
"Can't stand the blazing sun? / Then close your eyes you'll see the angel dust"
"Jesus is the Sun"

What's clear to me though, is that this is definitely a continuation of what he came up with during Machina.

The name of the tour itself is even reminiscent of the Zwan lyric;

"Every new lie dusted shiny and bright / will suspend the storms and the clouds in sight / of an endless summer".

Calling it the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" tour seems like a straight up reference to it being a facade.

Calling it the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" tour seems like a straight up reference to it being a facade.
obviously. it's a play on "today is the greatest" , a song about suicide for casual fans bob their head and smile to the upbeat tempo

genius

Hmm...I want to see the text Billy's displaying during Solara at the concerts to get a clearer idea about what the fuck he's talking about, but the sun seems to be more of a symbol for "God's pure truth" than esoteric knowledge (unless he thinks they're the same thing?). He may even be using it as a direct substitute for the word "son" (as in Jesus is the Son of God).

"Run 2 me / where the sun never leaves"
"Can't stand the blazing sun? / Then close your eyes you'll see the angel dust"
"Jesus is the Sun"

What's clear to me though, is that this is definitely a continuation of what he came up with during Machina.

The name of the tour itself is even reminiscent of the Zwan lyric;

"Every new lie dusted shiny and bright / will suspend the storms and the clouds in sight / of an endless summer".

Calling it the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" tour seems like a straight up reference to it being a facade.

I agree it's most likely a continuation of an already existing message. The sun IS a symbol of God's pure truth, but also don't forget that Luciferians consider Lucifer to be the true God and the Christian God to be the anti-christ.

A bing search:

'Lucifer is the "Light Bearer" or "Light Bringer" because Lucifer was the Roman name for the planet Venus when it was visible prior to sun rise. Since it was a bright heavenly object that presaged the rising of the sun, they called it the "Light Bringer". Basically, Lucifer was a Roman god that was seen sort of as the "herald" of the sun.'

It could very well be that the artwork for the Shiny and O so bright! tour is Lucifer himself.

"For Luciferians, enlightenment is the ultimate goal. The basic Luciferian principles highlight truth and freedom of will, worshipping the inner self and one's ultimate potential. Traditional dogma is shunned as a basis for morality on the grounds that humans should not need deities or fear of eternal punishment to distinguish right from wrong and to do good. All ideas should be tested before being accepted, and even then one should remain skeptical because knowledge and understanding are fluid. Regardless of whether Lucifer is conceived of as a deity or as a mere archetype, he is a representation of ultimate knowledge and exploration, as well as humanity's savior and a champion for continuing personal growth."

^Sounds like Corgan to me

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show

"In Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible, Lucifer is one of the four crown princes of hell, particularly that of the East, the "lord of the air", and is described as the bringer of light, the morning star, intellectualism, and enlightenment.[39] The title "lord of the air" is based upon Ephesians 2:2, which uses the phrase "prince of the power of the air'" to refer to the Ancient Greek god Zeus, but that phrase later became conflated with Satan.

Author Michael W. Ford has written on Lucifer as a "mask" of the adversary, a motivator and illuminating force of the mind and subconscious."

I wonder how many times Corgan went to church with Manson and Johnny Depp

Whether one believes in this sort of thing or not, there's Illuminati symbolism showing up.

Throw in the lyrics to Solara as well. 'I am the seer, I am the seeker. Become the owl at midnght.' with solara, the sun, being a symbol of the light and knowledge that lucifer brings.

Also there's the Stairway cover which would be the ultimate illuminati music industry devil worship song, again, if one believes in that sort of thing.

"We are the illuminated, the illustrious, the ill-timed knock. Ah yes, we are the fracture, the schisms, the rift in the rabble, the sleepy clown, the atomized dowds, the dreams who stopped dreaming oh so long ago."

>>"Freak out, give in, doesn't matter what you believe in. Stay cool and be somebody's fool this year. Cause they know who is righteous who is bold..or so I'm told..."

If you check Ogilala artwork will notice lots of Square and Compasses and Shrine symbols as well.

Hmm...I want to see the text Billy's displaying during Solara at the concerts to get a clearer idea about what the fuck he's talking about.

It's something like

" Love is not all you need
I am all you need
What you need is me
Tomorrow is so far away
Yesterday is forgotten
I am so afraid of today
Can't you see I'm special
I stand out in a crowd
I no long see flowers"

I probably missed one line or two cause the screen is (get ready for it) shiny and oh so bright!

My brain hurts

I refuse to go anywhere near this rabbit hole

If you check Ogilala artwork will notice lots of Square and Compasses and Shrine symbols as well.

Are you referring to the cover only or to other instances of art within the album? I don't own a copy of it but I'd be interested to see what's inside

It's something like

" Love is not all you need
I am all you need
What you need is me
Tomorrow is so far away
Yesterday is forgotten
I am so afraid of today
Can't you see I'm special
I stand out in a crowd
I no long see flowers"

I probably missed one line or two cause the screen is (get ready for it) shiny and oh so bright!

Thanks. I think Zero is supposed to be the arch-nemesis to Glass -and represents all the material trappings of celebrity and a self-obsessed culture. Maybe the whole Zero statue thing is supposed to be like worshiping a false idol? He's encouraging people to take photos with the thing in the venue lobby after the show lol.

The way he's prowling around and hamming it up during Ava Adore in these shows is almost like a wrestling character playing the heel.

Are you referring to the cover only or to other instances of art within the album? I don't own a copy of it but I'd be interested to see what's inside

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BbkrPukgioz/" data-instgrm-version="9" style=" ************#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" ************#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" ************url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAA pWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY 9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wO HiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GP T6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90G Sy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAA AElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BbkrPukgioz/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Hail the wounded stars, hiding ageless arks. #OGILALA #TheLongGoodbye #outnow</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ogilala/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> OGILALA</a> (@ogilala) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-11-16T22:34:26+00:00">Nov 16, 2017 at 2:34pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59bca4f68a02c786b4d7fbb0/59e7f7bbbff200901d0c8902/59e7f7bb4c0dbffe4e36f3e8/1508374461223/unnamed.jpg

im double tapping but nothing's happening

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The bottom of his coat is a stage curtain with this image in it:

https://i.imgur.com/xrqA5L9.jpg

It looks like Boz as a sage giving his heart to a child (himself? AugJupp?)

I can't believe I missed the lyrics to Spaced (http://www.spfc.org/songs-releases/song.html?song_id=160&song_type=1), which appear to be about how Billy's childhood trauma has impacted his adult mental state and role as an artist.

The whole thing seems to deal with his sense of being a fractured personality, whose persistent feelings of worthlessness and pain are reflected in an audience of lost souls he reaches through the radio. Billy is the vortex of lost souls.

Billy: "kinda hard to explain so i won't, but if you listen really close you can hear the 7 secrets of the 7 veils of Apollo"

Maybe this conceptual framework IS the 7 secrets of the 7 veils of Apollo...


RADIO:
cold heart radio
feedback
the pain
reoccuring messages of badness

GHOST CHILDREN:
reoccuring living bad dreams at the vortex of lost souls
wailing lost souls of shame
we are in one whole
like a cup of mercury phosphate

lifting wailing lost souls who stand a chance
hot, my eyes darkly gaze and wonder- do not enter
SHATTERING GLASS:

why why why?
i was born whole
fractured divided shattered into a billion fragments
a million piece puzzle
a million piece jigsaw puzzle with no this, and no that.....

One day I will be vindicated, and you will remember one name: Funbags.

who?

I remember trying to decipher this Machina mystery back in the day. Billy had some contest where people could send in their interpretations and the best one would win concert tickets. I think they were to the final show in Chicago at the Metro. I was enough of a blind fanboy in those days that I did it. I didn't win though. I'm not sure if anyone actually did; all I remember is Billy saying that no one correctly figured it out.

Anyway, I think he got so lost in this bizarre narrative that the album suffered for it. He wrote good songs, but so many of them ended up on the cutting room floor or on Machina II, which many of the more casual SP fans still have never heard. I was playing a bunch of tracks for a friend of mine the other day and he hadn't heard any of them.

I didn't win though. I'm not sure if anyone actually did; all I remember is Billy saying that no one correctly figured it out.

I'd be willing to put a bullet in my foot, draft-dodging style, to avoid reading any of this, but here are the winners (https://web.archive.org/web/20010215034947/http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/winners.html)

I'd be willing to put a bullet in my foot, draft-dodging style, to avoid reading any of this, but here are the losers (https://web.archive.org/web/20010215034947/http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/winners.html)

Edited for accuracy! :jimmy:

May I bring to your attention, the lyrics of Minerva :cool:

Saints
(We are)
Saints
(We are)
Saints, saints
Saints
We are fools
But sometimes, fools, they rule

But sometimes, fools, they rule

https://64.media.tumblr.com/76454af5c78531ffb203191b6cba334c/tumblr_nbovoxWKl71rqg00io2_500.gif

:rofl: