Smashing Salute

Welcome back to Random Ramblings.  We here at the blog wish to first apologize for our long absence.  We know that much time has passed between posts this fall. We hope to remedy the situation, and as proof of our sincerity, we offer to buy all 3 of our viewers dinner next time we see you.  How does a taquito and smoothie from QT sound?

This post is dedicated to our teenage obsession, The Smashing Pumpkins.  We became fans when Siamese Dream came out, although we were fond of “Drown” when the Singles soundtrack was released.  But it was “Cherub Rock” which awakened our ears, with its wall of sound guitars, piercing solo, and pulverizing drum fills. We were hooked.

Thus started our fixation on everything Billy Corgan and co.  We took to calling the band “The Pumpkins”, which we were ridiculed for.  We went to Lollapalooza 1994, where we proceeded to rock out like we had never rocked out before, drawing the stares of those around us, and making things awkward for our fellow concert goer.  In short, we devoured it all whole heartedly. 

Even better, Billy Corgan is always releasing songs. It is a well known fact that every 15 seconds, Billy Corgan writes 5 songs.  They were a good favorite band to have, as opposed to, say Guns N Roses circa the last 14 years.  Also, Jimmy Chamberlin is the best drummer in the history of bands who released their major label debut in 1993.  A lofty group to join, I know. My ultimate drummer duel would be Jimmy Chamberlin vs. Dave Grohl. Then the winner would battle the ghost of John Bonham on the mouth of a volcano, live on pay per view. I’d pay at least $39.95 to see that. 

Now we know the complaints. That Billy’s voice sounds like a shrieking banshee.  That Billy is a control freak that played most of the guitar and bass parts. That they should not have come back as The Smashing Pumpkins, if James Iha and D’arcy are no longer in the band. To those people, we respectfully say stop talking, move to a different country, and/or be involved in a tragic tractor-driven-by-a-monkey accident.  Because if you create a band that is beloved by millions, then we believe you have the right to bring back, retire, or destroy that band in whatever way you see fit.  If we want Random Ramblings to go on hiatus for 4 years, then bring it back stronger than before, then we will.  We aren’t going to, but we can if we want to. So there. (by the way, we would still love to see James and D’arcy play with the band again some day.  Both of them also have an open invitation to contribute to Random Ramblings any time they see fit). 

We salute The Smashing Pumpkins, and hope that they make music for many years to come.  No one in this day and age is really a big band for long. Just ask Korn.  But the people that matter will still pay attention. So rock on, Pumpkins.  We will call you by one word-we’ll risk the tongue lashing.