Smashing Pumpkins by Paul Elledge
I first saw the Smashing Pumpkins at Miami’s Bayfront Park in 2015, during a tour called “The End Times” with Marilyn Manson. My friend and I somehow pushed our way to the front by slipping on some VIP wristbands. As the sun set on the amphitheater and the headliners appeared, frontman Billy Corgan, the regular guy from Chicago, became a looming presence on a stage backlit in sky-blue hues. I took a somewhat blurry photo and I also remember that even through below-par sound that night the Pumpkins put on an impressive ’90s showcase.
On a more intimate tour the next year, “In Plainsong,” that visited the Broward Center, the band was even more in its element. Corgan truly enjoyed himself the entire time, smiling as he pared down some of his biggest hits to acoustic arrangements — and to rousing audience applause.
After years of discord over lineup changes, substance abuse and Corgan’s never-ending snark, the Smashing Pumpkins now seem to be in a place of relative peace. Original bassist D’Arcy Wretzky isn’t aboard, but original guitarist James Iha is, having returned in 2018 after a long absence. Jimmy Chamberlain is still kicking on drums. Guitarist Jeff Schroeder joined in 2006, making him a mainstay.
When the Smashing Pumpkins began their rise, grunge was alive and well, and alt-rock was ascendant. The Pumpkins brought their own ideas into that space, melding an early emo sense with hard rock, shoegaze and psychedelia for a sound that was undeniably unique.
A head-turning debut, “Gish,” arrived in 1991 four months before Nirvana’s epochal “Nevermind.” But it was “Siamese Dream” in 1993, with its thrumming first track, “Cherub Rock,” that saw the Smashing Pumpkins leading the next alt-rock sortie into the mainstream. A grand concept album followed, 1995’s “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” which, in its depictions of emotional turmoil and trauma, filled a void left by the death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. Suddenly it was Corgan wearing the mantle of Generation X rock poet.
The newest Pumpkins output, “ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts,” serves as a weighty coda to a conceptual trilogy that began with “Melon Collie” and 2000’s “Machina/The Machines of God.” Released in three installments over six months of 2022-2023, ATUM is a whopping 33 tracks — plus ten additional tracks drawn from prior projects released as a kind of coda under the name “Zodeon at Crystal Hall.” With fans swimming in new material, Corgan created a weekly podcast, “Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan,” to dissect the tracks and discuss the band’s creative process.
“ATUM” revives a character from the “Mellon Collie” song “Zero” and the “Machina” song “Glass.” Going by the name of Shiny, he was exiled to space for thought crimes. After returning to Earth, his acolytes try to remind everyone of his importance to the world, while elites keep trying to bring him down. It’s a hero’s saga told prog rock-style, with groovy metal sounds and synth-pop added.
Watching the video for “Beguiled,” the first “ATUM” single, it’s clear the Pumpkins have not lost their artistic, tongue-in-cheek charm. In front of a swirling colored background, Corgan dons a white dress not unlike a clown suit that also makes him look like an angel of death. He is followed by ballerinas and an Abraham Lincoln look-alike dancing in front of a confused-looking Chamberlin.
The outspoken Corgan has not been music’s favorite person over the years and is, in his own words, “no stranger to controversy.” But the release of “ATUM” suggests he might be ready to come down from his soapbox, at least for a little while. “This is the band regaining its high ground morally and intuitively,” Corgan said in the second podcast episode. “In essence, when we’re a music band first, and politicians and shills and salesmen second, the band has tended to do better on the world stage.”
The Pumpkins in 2023 are active on social media, popping out band memes (and, of late, a few “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” movie memes). One shows Corgan with and without hair; another is a clip of him smiling politely through a boring conversation. At this stage, he’s not taking himself too seriously and embracing his rock statesman status.
The Smashing Pumpkins, with special guests Interpol and Rival Sons, perform 6:30pm Saturday, August 19 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. smashingpumpkins.com
~ Olivia Feldman
