As usual I am coming to you all with a music blog :P I am sitting here 8:00PM depressed and somewhat bored so I thought I'd write one.

I am a pretty proud fan of 90's alternative music. I grew up on it, I followed it and to this day I listen to a big number of alternative bands from that time. Other then Alice In Chains there was one 90's band that dominated my life.

And that band is The Smashing Pumpkins.

I was fairly young when I first heard the smashing pumpkins..I had 2 sister sheavily into them and that of course rubbed off on me. I was fiarly young when I heard today and was stunned by the sound. The Smashing Pumpkins had a unique way of mixing various music worlds...they could be dreamy, heavy, inspiring and depressing all on the same dang album. "Siamese Dream" from start to finish is perfect I wouldn't change a single thing about it..."Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness" has a few songs I'd cut out but it is one of the best double albums of all time. "Gish" was a great debut album..it was mainly heavy but it had really dreamy tracks on it.I also loved the great amount of B-sides that were put out..to this day "The Boy" is not only my favorite Pumpkins song with Iha on vocals but one of my favorite songs in general.

Not too ment alternative acts wre using Eb tuning (Alice In Chains are the only other one I can think of) and Billy Corgan knew how to use the tuning in wonderful ways. I discovered how beautiful of a tuning E can be, A simple C chord sounds so dreamy tuned a half step down. The acoustic songs always had that special quality to them for ebing in that tuning but it also allowed Corgan to write heavy songs like "Zero". I never thought of Corgan as that great of a guitar player he is kind of an eh soloist but he can write awesome riffs and songs...his true talent lies in composing rather then technicality IMO.

So much I loved about the band...the shoegaze and new wave influences, the progressive tendencies, the beautiful guitar tone, how Corgan and Iha were a great fit together as guitarists, Chamberlin's drumming....just so much about them that was perfect to me. Most would say that "Adore" and on was when they went bad but I disgaree..."Adore' is not only my favorite SP album but my favorite 90's album of all time...sure it isn't all that heavy but is is quite sad and it got me through a lot of hard times. When my ex girlfriend cheated on me I listened to that album in heavy repeat..it always made me feel better. So many songs on that album that are special to me...if somebody could ever fall in love with an album I'd fall in love with "Adore" :P.

Even both Machina albums I liked..I agree that this is where they started falling off but I still enjoyed both albums. Corgan pulled an EVH and was more obsessed with keyboard than guitars :P Still, both of them had quality material that I really liked. Then they split and I was upset of course. I thought that they had a great run and though it was sad to see them go I figured it was for the better seeing as how there were so many Corgan horror stories...then they reunited and I saw that only two of the original members were there. I refused to listen to the material...it wouldn't be the same without D'arcy and James and it wouldn't feel right...and boy how I called it. "Zeigeist" really wasn't that good to me..it had one or two alright songs but overall I wasn't impressed...and some songs since the reunited band formed are just....eww. Corgan was the core songwriter this I know but obviously other members had input otherwise he'd be putting out more outstanding material.

As most who follow SP's know, a lot of free, new material has been surfacing on the webpage...and even though I know the SP's will never be the same I listened to it...some of the songs aren't that bad but there is one that is just dreadful and I guess it plans to be about 40 songs long over the course of time so we'll see if it turns out to be good. I am hoping Corgan gets his act together and makes good music like he did once...but with now every other original memebr gone (Chamberlin left a little while ago) I guess it will be hard but we'll see.

I dedicate this blog to the memory of the amazing smashing pumpkins and the time when they deominated my life with their beautiful and incredible music. I miss the time when they were putting out great albums and miss the times when the original lineup were still together. Even if they never become good again I'll always remember the body of work they had and just how incredible it was.

To this day gives me chills to hear Mayonaiseso I end the blog with that.

UP THE IRONS!