Billy's speech, 2005-06-08

[whywontyoulistn]

Whatever happened to this guy?

Pumpkins No More mp3

[brillo998]

"trust me. i do know what im doing." -billy

lollerblades

[redbull]

congrats billy, you're lying.

[MonteLDS]

a bunch of sheep

[Nate the Grate]

Originally Posted by MonteLDS

a bunch of sheep

What does this post mean? Who's the sheep?

[redbull]

www.monteit.com

[MonteLDS]

Originally Posted by Nate the Grate

What does this post mean? Who's the sheep?

all those people clapping at everything billy says. its hard to tell how many people are acttually listening.

[Gollum]

Billy sounds like one of the creators of Lost.

[MonteLDS]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Billy sounds like one of the creators of Lost.

HOW DARE U INSULT LOST!!

[IWishIWasBlank]

3:35 "As much... as much as I hate the stupid fucking record business, it's the same proportion as how much I love you."

Which major record label is he on now? Reprise. Billy doesn't love you. He loves the record labels. Consequently, he hates us.

[pumpkinxyu]

Originally Posted by IWishIWasBlank

3:35 "As much... as much as I hate the stupid fucking record business, it's the same proportion as how much I love you."

Which major record label is he on now? Reprise. Billy doesn't love you. He loves the record labels. Consequently, he hates us.

Billy Corgan/The Smashing Pumpkins are currently free agents.

[leena]

Originally Posted by whywontyoulistn

Whatever happened to this guy?

Pumpkins No More mp3

You mean what happened to the guy who yelled for Pumpkins during the TFE show in Ghent? Duh. He's dead .

Originally Posted by MonteLDS

all those people clapping at everything billy says. its hard to tell how many people are acttually listening.

People did listen and they stopped clapping whenever Billy was talking. If they were sheep they would have been munching grass.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

i don't know. i also thought the audience was a bit too enthusiastic about billy's speech. they would have clapped for anything he said. asskissers.
(and i was there. rolling my eyes at all the lame parts in the speech, and at the crowd's reaction.)

[Kahlo]

Bram is too cool for school

[xezton]

I actually liked it when he said:

Originally Posted by Billy

My life would be a lot easier if I just stood up here and played my old songs. You'd be happy. I'd sell more fuckin' t-shirts. There would be more people standing in here. K? I'm not stupid.

Hey, it's true.

[Spaldz]

During the Siamese Dream tour, I Am One was added to the setlist for a
period of time, then was altered. Billy: "We're sick of playing I Am One,
right? So I came up with this idea: in the original version there is a bass
break and then the band kicks back in, so instead of that, we just keep the
groove going, the guitars drop out, and I wanted to do this spoken word
thing. I had no idea what I was going to do. Over the course of a few weeks,
I came up with kind of a running/singing dialogue that was a little bit of
commentary, a little bit of whatever, keeping in line with what the song is
about. For a month or two, that rap meant something, but after two months,
the rap ceases to mean anything. It becomes as predictable as some solo that
you'd play. It's no longer an inspired rap about how you feel, and becomes
just another change in the song. Especially when people are seeing you for
the second time, it's like, wow, he's saying the same shit--the first time I
saw him, it seemed like it was coming from the heart, but now I know it's
rehearsed! [laughs]."

[xezton]

It's kinda like performing magic tricks, eh?

[wilch]

Originally Posted by leena

You mean what happened to the guy who yelled for Pumpkins during the TFE show in Ghent? Duh. He's dead .


People did listen and they stopped clapping whenever Billy was talking. If they were sheep they would have been munching grass.

Have you watched the movie Black Sheep? It will give you a whole new perspective on what sheep do. And all the fucking sheep are white in that movie what's up with that?

[emotionalfriend]

Originally Posted by brillo998

"trust me. i do know what im doing." -billy

this should be his epitaph

[Spira|_]

Billy was inspired that night.
I think he is really intelligent and he expresses himself pretty good definitly.
And he was right tbh.

[rolmos]

Originally Posted by redbull

www.monteit.com

Most of this secuirty warnings install spyware, which can slow your computer down greatly!
And even cause you to get a virus and more spam!

[IWishIWasBlank]

Originally Posted by pumpkinxyu

Billy Corgan/The Smashing Pumpkins are currently between labels.

Fixed that for ya.

[skipgo]

Originally Posted by Spaldz

During the Siamese Dream tour, I Am One was added to the setlist for a
period of time, then was altered. Billy: "We're sick of playing I Am One,
right? So I came up with this idea: in the original version there is a bass
break and then the band kicks back in, so instead of that, we just keep the
groove going, the guitars drop out, and I wanted to do this spoken word
thing. I had no idea what I was going to do. Over the course of a few weeks,
I came up with kind of a running/singing dialogue that was a little bit of
commentary, a little bit of whatever, keeping in line with what the song is
about. For a month or two, that rap meant something, but after two months,
the rap ceases to mean anything. It becomes as predictable as some solo that
you'd play. It's no longer an inspired rap about how you feel, and becomes
just another change in the song. Especially when people are seeing you for
the second time, it's like, wow, he's saying the same shit--the first time I
saw him, it seemed like it was coming from the heart, but now I know it's
rehearsed! [laughs]."

where did that quote come from?

[Zeitguest.]

I think Billy should've started shouting.

STFU!! STFU!! LISTEN GUISE, I NOSE WHAT IM DOING FFS! LISTEN! LISTEN!

[skipgo]

[Zeitguest.]

No Skipgo.

Dont look at me like that. I know what Im doing!

[Spaldz]

Originally Posted by skipgo

where did that quote come from?

It's from the song project post. I have a number of them. This was the full thing from the one I posted:

From: "hummer23"
Subject: Song Project Post 5/17 ////////////` "I Am One"
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2001 9:08 PM

The 5th of 17 posts chronicalling a selection of Pumpkins songs and the
bands collected comments on those tracks.........
This will be the last singular post before I purge the rest of them onto the
group in one post....Thanks for reading.....



I AM ONE: Billy Corgan: "[This] is an example of a song that has a pretty
decent guitar riff, but a killer bass riff to support it."

I Am One first came out on a 1989 with a limited release. It is a pivotal
point on the Pumpkins' first album Gish and apparently in the history of the
band. Billy explains: "The only thing I didn't like about Gish has to do
with I Am One. In hindsight, that was really the first true Pumpkins song.
We'd done other stuff before that, but that song seemed to click us into
some other gear. We recorded it at least a year before we did Gish, and put
it out on a seven-inch. What disappointed me was that I didn't take
advantage of the chance to re-record the song for the album. The two
versions are virtually identical; in fact, I've had guys come up to me in
bars and say that the solo on the seven-inch is better that the one on the
record. I'm sure they have a point, because the seven-inch solo was a one
take deal. "

During the Siamese Dream tour, I Am One was added to the setlist for a
period of time, then was altered. Billy: "We're sick of playing I Am One,
right? So I came up with this idea: in the original version there is a bass
break and then the band kicks back in, so instead of that, we just keep the
groove going, the guitars drop out, and I wanted to do this spoken word
thing. I had no idea what I was going to do. Over the course of a few weeks,
I came up with kind of a running/singing dialogue that was a little bit of
commentary, a little bit of whatever, keeping in line with what the song is
about. For a month or two, that rap meant something, but after two months,
the rap ceases to mean anything. It becomes as predictable as some solo that
you'd play. It's no longer an inspired rap about how you feel, and becomes
just another change in the song. Especially when people are seeing you for
the second time, it's like, wow, he's saying the same shit--the first time I
saw him, it seemed like it was coming from the heart, but now I know it's
rehearsed! [laughs]."
--
You have been reading a message from the Gods...
sophoacik http://www.1avenue.com/hummer23
---

[skipgo]

thanks spaldz, that was a really interesting read! I haven't seen this before; I'd love to see more sometime... If ya wanna post it. Or point me in the direction

[Spaldz]

For skipgo:

From: "hummer23"
Subject: Song Project Post 1/17 ////////////` "Today"
Date: Monday, August 27, 2001 5:49 AM

Introducing a collection of articles I compiled a couple of years back for a
web project that, well, never got off the ground I guess, and were basically
long forgotten until picking up an old disk tonite.

These articles chronicle comments about individual songs by the band from
the years 1988-1995 and they are quoted from various songs. It is an
interesting read and I hope you like the next 17 days of posts as I purge
them from my archives into the amsp world. Any questions/complaints email
me!

"Today"

According to Billy, the most notable single from Siamese Dream, Today would
have never made it onto Gish. "Never would have allowed such a cheesy pop
song." He explains his natural progression in perspective from Gish to
Siamese in this context. "I finally got over all the hangups about what I
should or shouldn't be doing. Now I just do whatever comes to me."

"The obvious things are always easy to see. The day after I wrote Today, my
manager heard it and said, 'It's a hit', and I guess in a way, it was."

This song was one of two of the tracks on Siamese that were "the first
melodies I ever sang against the chords" Corgan explains, "And when you find
melodies like that, everything seems to just fall into place effortlessly.
It's as though the song is already writen, and you're just trying to find
the thread. It's a weird feeling when you hit upon that."

"I had all of the chords and the melody, but no opening hook. At that point,
we just started the song with the verse chord progression, which in and of
itself is pretty catchy because of the melody. I knew I had to come up with
some sort of opening riff. Then, out of the blue, I heard the opening lick
note for note in my head. That's the state of mind I've trained myself to be
in: I'm always looking for the guitar hook. When I added the opening riff,
it completely changed the character of the song. Suddenly, I had a song that
was starting out quiet and then got very loud. I could start to hear the
shifts in the song as it progressed. I knew that I was going to bring that
riff back in for emphasis, and I knew where I could do that."

One of the surprises fans learnt after Siamese Dream was finished was the
fact that Jimmy Chamberlin's drumming on the album was almost all live and
recorded in one take. "For one thing, we always fight over how many tracks
we have anyways... So there's never enough drum tracks to do drum overdubs."

Jimmy explains one of the few overdubs on the CD with his snare swap on
Today: "It's really heavy, and then it dries out when it comes into the
verse, with just the drums and bass. So what I did was play the heavy part
with a Pearl 61/2" chrome Free-Floating snare, which is really a kickin'
snare. Then I stopped the tape and matched up a click track to where I was
playing before. We then edited in the verse, which is where I used the Radio
King (1940 Gene Kruppa model snare). The drum is so totally dry and crisp
that you can barely hear the snares on it. In production, they kind of
matched the sounds up a little, but it sounds like night and day on the dry
tracks. "

The video for Today was directed by Stephane Sednaoui. The clip originated
from an idea by Billy to illustrate a song that finds ironic comfort amid
despair. "When I told the band about the ice-cream truck, everybody was
like, you've got to be kidding" Corgan says. But the truck was actually his
perfect metaphor. "I remember being about 14 and there was an ice cream
truck driver in the neighborhood," he explains. "One night about 10 O'clock
he comes along and we run up waving. And he says, 'God, I hate this job.'
Typical 17-year-old guy. And he just hands us all the ice cream left in the
truck. He takes off---fuck the job, fuck the ice cream truck. For that one
moment that guy was the coolest guy in the world."

Today has probably been played live more then any other Pumpkins song and
the band will take the song on and off the setlist. "We get sick of hearing
it."

Compiled by Hummer23 [1997]



--
You have been reading a message from the Gods...
sophoacik http://www.1avenue.com/hummer23
---

[Spaldz]

From: "hummer23"
Subject: Song Project Post 2/17 ////////////` "Spaceboy"
Date: Monday, August 27, 2001 8:51 PM

The 2nd of 17 posts chronicling the bands explanations of individual
Smashing Pumpkins tracks.

SPACEBOY: Some excellent versions of this song (Siamese Dream) have been
recorded on acoustic radio shows. "[The song is] about my little brother. He
's an interesting character. It's kind of about how he's different. He has
physical handicap, it's hard to explain. He has a rare chromosomal disorder,
it gives him a some what different genetic make up. He has different
physical and mental problems and yet somehow by all accounts, I'm physically
and mentally OK. But I feel our lives are the similar." Similar in what way?
" Freaks of nature, freaks of society, I always keep going back to something
by Henry Miller. No matter how much he smiled, told jokes, shook hands,
patted people on the back. People still looked at him funny, they still
sensed something wasn't right. I've always felt that way, that no matter how
normal I appear, I was treated differently.

Billy in a Guitar World tuition: "Why am I writing a song like this? At that
point, I was supposed to be writing rock songs for the album; the last thing
I needed was another quiet acoustic song. As I continued to mess with the
riff, it occurred to me that I was writing about something that had to do
with a certain kind of alienation, an 'out-of-touchness.' I began to think
about my brother, and the fact that he and I share a certain identity by
virtue of the similar experiences we had growing up. I felt there have been
handicaps in my life that reflect the handicaps he has experienced in his.
Suddenly, I had stumbled upon feelings and thoughts that moved me, and the
song kind of wrote itself."

"In and of itself, 'Spaceboy' doesn't seem to be anyone's favorite song. Our
producer, Butch Vig, didn't think it was an album track, and the band didn't
think so either. Nevertheless, the spirit of the song--what it meant to me,
and what it ended up being about--made it worth putting on the album. This
is a good example of where inspiration turned just another song into
something that I'm proud of. Of course, if I assess 'Spaceboy' on the
criterion of, was it a hit song? the answer is no. Did it have a video? No.
Do people cite it as their favorite song? No. Do they scream for it at
concerts? No. But does it mean something to me? Yes. Would I do it again?
Yes. "

"The obvious things are always easy to see. The day after I wrote 'Today,'
my manager heard it and said, 'It's a hit,' and I guess in a way, it was.
The success of 'Disarm' was no mystery to anyone, either. 'Spaceboy' doesn't
have the same qualities as those songs; it's different, and that's what I
like about it. It grew from a unique kind of inspiration."


--
You have been reading a message from the Gods...
sophoacik:::::: http://www.1avenue.com/hummer23
---