Quote:
Originally Posted by avsfan7733
i just feel bad for billy because no matter what they do, they seem to be always getting negative press and reviews. The band that they have now performs wonderfully, yet people always compare and contrast to the old band and the old ways and the old sets and the old everything. The guy is in a lose lose situation and i genuinely feel bad for him. no matter how hard he tries, 50% of his fan base, let alone the media, is here to bring him down.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Esty
I think for those of us in the anti "new" pumpkins crowd, its mostly about not who is in the band, but they way it was done. If Billy came out and said he invited James/Darcy back and actually explained how it was done, then it would have been ok. Instead, he keeps quiet about it, James is quoted as saying he never talked to billy, Bill never mentions them, doesn't bother mentioning the new bandmates during the first shows, speaks badly about James/Darcy (we were 98% of the music anyway), complains about people asking him about James/Dracy, says that they were always "his" band, and that the band was always an "idea" and not the people in it (something like that), finally says that james was only interested in money and darcy wouldn't even talk to them (later on Jimmy says they both wouldn't even talk to them period , so which is it), and so on. I mean, dude just had to be up front from the start and not act like it was him, and him alone that got him to the top. No matter what, he fucked it up from the start, and his complete lack of respect for what James/Darcy help him achieve is what turn me away from the band for good. The fact the music wasn't good and that his lyrics seem to have gone downhill also didn't help.
|
I agree with a lot in both of these posts even though one was written by Esty. Corgan has obviously made some fundamental mistakes in the way he has gone about all this, but I still feel bad for him. If nothing else, he honestly is trying to be as good as the old Pumpkins. This band plays just as well as the old Pumpkins. I really like the new band members and even though James and D'arcy would have been preferable, I always knew it was unrealistic. The problem is I think that Corgan has decided to completely resist criticism because that is how he protected the band in the early days. He has completely written off fans who are unhappy and he doesn't see the delicate, grey issue here... not everyone who criticizes the band is an aging fanboy from the 90s, nostalgic for a fix of Siamese Dream. There are lots of us here who have legitimate criticisms of the band. I really don't understand wanting a fanbase all of gushing teenagers who want to read weekly essays on the band. I love the Smashing Pumpkins and I always will. I will always listen to something Corgan does with an open mind. I will always give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm too invested in SP to
not. I really believe that he has more great records in him, but I am also fundamentally disappointed with the way the band has been handled since the reforming. Here he is sitting on songs like As Rome Burns and Song for a Son, and he has all these cool arrangements with brass and violin that could be molded into a new sound for the band, and he chooses to release a boring rehashed pop song called FOL in a Hyundai commercial.