Biggest waste of Pumpkins-related money.

[D.]

In 1999, with dial up and mp3s being completely foreign and mostly inaccessible to me, I bought three cassettes of rarities from someone online; I can't remember the price but it was probably like $15 or 20 which isn't a huge amount looking back but, at the time, it wasn't cheap!

Again in 1999, still with dial up and no means of seeing SP live, I bought three bootleg vhs tapes of different live shows from the back of some music magazine - can't remember which one, though. $90. They saw me coming a mile away. At this time I had a summer job and conspired with a few of my fast food denizens to rip off the till, allowing me to afford them.

In 2000 I bid on 5 CDs of "ultra rarities" on eBay. Winning bid? $150. I cringe thinking about how my parents got better internet speed and I was able to download Slsk only a year and a half later, where all these "ultra rarities" were available for the taking.

But, i mean, waste is kind of relative because although I obv got ripped off, I played the magnetic strip off those cassettes and wore out my vhs tapes, and cut my teeth on those CDs, memorizing every note. The absolute, unfettered joy I felt getting these in the mail and listening to them has rarely been matched since.

[Slurpee]

Back when the shady record store in my hometown actually sold bootleg CDs, I spent a lot of money on SP - they typically ran at least $30 per disc. But it allowed my friends and I to experience the Pumpkins live, a love that would continue once SPAA and NSPAA allowed us to download entire concerts and burn them for free. So, money well spent!

I'm less fond of the $40 I spent on the Japanese Today single to hear Apathy's Last Kiss. Great song, but, I could have waited for the mp3, and now the single just sits there.

[D.]

Oh man i bid on the japanese today single too. can't remember what i spent though. Good timez.

[Mals Marola]

it's not much but, the Live at the Budokan DVD bootleg, while it looks nice on the outside, is pretty low-tier quality even in terms of downloadable shows. kind of baffling they'd choose that show or at least not get a better quality video/audio source if they were going to that level of distribution

cd was alright tho, from what i remember

[reprise85]

bunch of bootleg cds @ $20 each, but then i sold them on ebay for more once i discovered the trading community in like 1997. $60 or $80 on the aeroplane flies lower bootleg box that's just the SD singles. bought a bunch of gish/SD shirts for like $40 each back in 1997-1999

[The exploding boy]

the total trip to chicago for the "last shows" in 2000 (i didn't see the metro one but i saw the UC one) including bus tickets, the show ticket, the cost of the hotel, food, etc cost me around 1000$ total. Which was all the money i had then. I came back home to nothing. i have to say 200 of that or so was having to buy another bus ticket cause i'd lost it while there and if you didn't buy your bus ticket in advance it was like a lot of cash. I only realised i'd lost it ten mins before i was due to board.

In a way it wasn't a waste because the social experience i had there is worth a lot, i mean i would call it a defining moment in my life, but the show itself (which i remember pretty much next to nothing of) and considering i don't really gaf about the pumpkins anymore....

but i don't know, it brought a lot of positive changes in my life which might make it worth the money in the end

[Slurpee]

I'm sure I've spent $1000 seeing Billy in concert (including tix for significant others, etc) and the overall experience of those shows has been worth it. I would go back and skip a couple now but at the time it's hard to say which show will be good, which will be bad.

[D.]

Yeah, spending money to see them live is a gray area, I'd say. I had in mind more merch-wise.

I mean I've dropped some srs cash on cd singles, import posters, etc. with nothing to show for it now. So embarrassing.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

i don't even want to think about this. lol

[Kahlo]

I regret nothing

(apart from the deluxe version of Zeitgeist)

[reprise85]

on the adore tour i bought 3 shirts. my dad was carrying them and some asshole sprinted by and grabbed one from his hands while we were walking to the parking lot. i sorta tried to go after him by instinct but this was a 16ish old guy and i was a 13 year old girl and i fell on my face. what an asshole

[T&T]

I bought Zeitgeist.

glad I didn't make that mistake with Oach or Monu.

[cork_soaker]

Originally Posted by Slurpee

Back when the shady record store in my hometown actually sold bootleg CDs, I spent a lot of money on SP - they typically ran at least $30 per disc. But it allowed my friends and I to experience the Pumpkins live, a love that would continue once SPAA and NSPAA allowed us to download entire concerts and burn them for free. So, money well spent!

I'm less fond of the $40 I spent on the Japanese Today single to hear Apathy's Last Kiss. Great song, but, I could have waited for the mp3, and now the single just sits there.

yep, def the $30 bootlegs.

bought all that appeared in the rack; sound quality was irrelevant

[myosis]

those bootleg CDs just looked way cool in the 90s... you checked the back and they had cool pictures of the band you hadn't seen before (or just billy holding a lit cross or something, looking badass), and the tracklisting in the MCIS font with the occasional obscure song title...

[myosis]

then your 15-year-old mind was ready to waste mucho dinero

[Slurpee]

Originally Posted by T&T

I bought Zeitgeist.

glad I didn't make that mistake with Oach or Monu.

Same. I suppose that the special edition Z (with that ridiculously short-and-wide booklet) was my biggest waste of money on SP, although I didn't think that was the spirit of this tread.

[Kahlo]

Yep, that's the last SP album I bought other than re-issues.

The rest have zero replay value, so I avoided that bullet (in seven different colours)

[T&T]

Originally Posted by Slurpee

Same. I suppose that the special edition Z (with that ridiculously short-and-wide booklet) was my biggest waste of money on SP, although I didn't think that was the spirit of this tread.

that's the Z version i got too.
it's still wrapped and in the bag from the record store.

I spent a bit of money on tape dubs of boots, best i could get my hands on.
don't regret it.
I loved that No Toys for O.J. boot.
I also spent 50$ for a VHS dub of the 96 Montreal show (that I was at) and the naked man show - which was fucking awesome.
no regrets, worth every penny.
initially I was supposed to split the costs with a friend & make her dubs, but she just got her dad to go buy them for her, so she'd have 'originals'... bitch they were VHS dubs
If you're reading this, fuck you patty.

[D.]

YEAH PATTY F U

REST IN PISS DAWG

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Originally Posted by Kahlo

I regret nothing

but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't a waste of money.

[redbreegull]

another stone cast for the widescreen version of Zeitgeist with the weirdo art of Sasha Grey and Paris Hilton inside

[fuzzyroes]

I bought that stupid wooden teargarden box for 45$ in hopes that it would be collectible some day... Since no one ever bought em you can find those things for next to nothing now

[run2pee]

I got obsessive about collecting rare sp tracks exactly when I hit a good internet connection with I think it was kazaa. Otherwise I know I woulda spent plenty $$$ tho

Recently I feel dumb paying $100 for mcis reissue on vinyl. I get that the box art is supposed to be nice. But fucking gosh that's steep.

[CrabbMan]

I was one of the assholes selling CD-Rs full of mp3's I had downloaded over several months. I only made a couple of sales before Josh Provost called me on my shit on eBay and I felt pretty guilty. My buddy, on the other hand, made a killing selling Weezer's B-Sides.

[The Melty Man]

My first copies of SD, MCIS, Machina and Zeitgeist all wore out after several years of spinning round and round and I bought a second copy of each one. Plus add to that the reissued and Zeitgeist deluxe editions and there's a lot of... not necessarily waste, but duplication...

[Kahlo]

I remember spending £25 on the United Show bootleg because it was FM quality... and spending similar amounts on 'rarities' collections. Then I got an internet connection.

Oh anyone want to buy a Song For a Son (limited 7 inch) I regret buying that. Jesus.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

is it the RSD 7" on red vinyl? might be worth it trying to sell it on ebay or so.

[Kahlo]

nah, the white one I think. 250 pressed.

Either way, would make an excellent coaster for large mugs.

[D.]

I'd actually buy a ASFAS 7". It's about the only song post-Z I ever connected with.

[Kahlo]

i'll send it to you. just fb me.