Hello! Right now we are into October so thought I would get started with a couple of posts and this one is actually to an extent an plaigirisation of someone else's idea as I thought I would do a list of what I think are the best songs of the rock band, The Smashing Pumpkins (and this has been done already on the web somewhere of course!).
But I liked the idea of doing it with the Foos so I've done that so thought might as well give it a go with the Pumpkins as I've been enjoying listening to their music again. Being only 30 tracks will cover only so much of the Pumpkins material as there are 28 songs on the Mellon Collie album alone! (and not all of those will feature here!) So without further ado let's begin the countdown....
30. Panoptican
OK to start off the list (actually this will be heavily revised!) this is a song off the Pumpkins most recent album (well prior to the
release of Monuments of an elegy later this year) Oceania, which in
itself is a good album and it sees the Pumpkins get back to the roots of
their rock sound. Although one thing I would say about the song it
does sound similar to the Queens of the stone age as the guitars have
almost an identical sound to them, but overall its a really good track.
It also features a really good chorus with "There's a sun that shines
in, there's a world that stares out at me and all I refuse to please"
and again it shows that Corgan's voice is improving with age as he no
longer has the almost teenage-esque growl that he brought to his songs
back in 90s. So from the new Pumpkins era, this is one worth checking
out and I thought its worth putting on here right at No.30.
29. Pissant
Great little song off Pisces
Iscariot which remains one of the band's most catchy earliest tracks and
it features a pretty cool riff and some good lyrics from Billy, even
though its just two and a half minutes long. The lyrics from Billy
start with him singing "Got me a raygun, got me an altitude, can't help
thinking there's something wrong with every one of you!". And then
"talk revolution, as if it matters now, I don't care anyway just give me
what I want!". It might not be an instant classic and its a fairly simple song structurally for the Pumpkins but for me but it is still a really likeable track and an underrated gem to be found on PI.
28. Neverlost
This track is off Zeitgeist and its a nice mellow and rather melancholy track but its one of my favourite songs off it and its welcome change of pace from the heavy crunchy numbers to be found on there (but I quite like that as I think Zeitgeist is somewhat underrated). The song starts off very well with the use of clean guitar sound and the xylophone backing up the track nicely, which is what helps make the track so work well. Billy's vocals are pretty good (although he seems to spend most of Zeitgeist singing in a falsetto!) and he starts off "All hands on deck, setting sail to get wrecked off course, you make what you want of me, I will keep you anyway" and then "Let's fill these hours and kill desire" and then the chorus "I've seen the film, I know the place, I'm never lost". Then it has a really good bridge section with Billy singing "If you think just right, if you'll love you'll find certain truths behind" before it continues on with the chorus and verse to finish. So Neverlost is well worth checking out and its one of the most underrated newer songs.
27. Doomsday clock
Next up is a song off their Zeitgeist album which saw the band's reformation without either James Iha or D'arcy Wretzky on guitar and bass, but Corgan and the drummer Jimmy Chamberlain being the surviving two members. Right away Doomsday clock brings in the listener with its heavy drum intro from Chamberlain followed by the crunching metal guitars (which is in Drop Db tuning). Corgan's lyrics start off well as he sings "Is everyone afraid? Is everyone ashamed? They're running towards their holes to find out, apocalyptic means are lost among our dead. A message to our friends to get out". Then there is the song's catchy chorus where Billy sings "Please don't stop its lonely at the top, these lonely days when will they ever stop? This doomsday clock ticking in my heart, not broken". The song then has a pretty good bridge section where Billy sings "We gotta dig in, gas masks on, wait in the sunshine, all bug-eyed. If this is living? Sakes alive! Well then they can't win, no one survives!" which is followed by the chorus and before you know it that's the song over. So Doomsday clock is a solid opener to Zeitgeist and that in itself makes it worth putting on here.
26. Today
OK so next is Today, should it be on here??? Well why not?? And I have to say I really like it
and yes it is their most well known and commercial song but for many its
probably the song introduced them to the band and that's good enough
reason for it to be on the list. The song itself is upbeat in tone but
it is if anything but that as the lyrics are pretty dark and Billy later
said the song was written when he was in a state of deep depression.
The lyrics are pretty memorable of course and Billy starts singing
"Today is the greatest day I've ever known. Can't live for tomorrow,
tomorrow's much too long. I'll burn my eyes out before I get out!".
And then he continues "I wanted more than life could ever grant me,
bored by the chore of saving face". And in the next verse Billy
continues "Today is the greatest day I've ever known, can't wait for
tomorrow, I might not have that long. I'll tear my hear out, before I
get out!". And the bridge section changes things slightly as Billy
sings "I want to turn you on" before it goes to the chorus to finish
"Today is the greatest day I have ever really known!". It is a popular
track of course and its not their very best but its still more than good
enough as an anthem track for the band even though there is better yet
to come.
25. Tales of a scorched Earth
Next we have Tales of a scorched Earth from Mellon Collie, which must rank as one of their heaviest tracks and easily if there was any example of the Pumpkins veering towards becoming a metal band, this was it. The song of course features Billy's voice being distorted and his lyrics are pretty brutal and stark sounding as he screeches at the start "Farewell! Goodnight! Last one out, turn out the lights!" and later he sings "Cause you're all whores and I'm a fag! And I've got no mother, and I've got no dad! So fuck it all because I don't care!". And the song throughout builds up in its intensity as the guitars screech towards the songs conclusion, it feels like an assault on the listener's senses and it sure is that, but its definitely worth listening to it for its crunching chorus alone. Puzzlingly it remains a song that the Pumpkins never really played on tour much, if at all, which is a shame but then it does require quite alot of intense screeching from Billy to carry it off, so perhaps he wanted to save his vocal chords! So I really like Tales and I thought it should be on here.
24. Here is no why
Dun-dun-dun - dun-dun-dun - dun-dun-dun! OK that's the intro riff if you might not have guessed which remains one of the Pumpkins best opening riffs, its catchy as hell, with that A major 7th followed by E chord combination, Here is no why remains one of the Pumpkins more upbeat tracks (even if it is at odds with their teenage angst-esque lyrics). The lyrics all the same are pretty good again with Billy's voice in fine form as he sings to begin "the useless drag of another day the endless drags of a death rock boy". It also features one of the Pumpkins best choruses of any song with Billy singing "And in your sad machines, you'll forever stay! Desparate and displeased with whoever you are!". The song also has a good bridge where it quiets a little before it goes right into its excellent guitar solo and it eventually ends on a slower note with the guitar line ending things nicely with one of the Pumpkins most ambiguously upbeat numbers.
23. Silverfuck
Next is Silverfuck which I've always really liked since I first heard it and I also really like the live version of it on Vieuphoria and as a song is just out and out rocks with its great drop D tuning, its a fine epic track on Siamese dream and in a way its a shame it isn't the closing tack on it (and finishing tracks on the Pumpkins albums was never their strong suit). Silvefuck also makes great use of the quiet-loud dynamic and allows for Billy's rather haunting lyrics to echo more as he sings at the begininng "I hear your winter and I hear your rain. I've failed your summer ways and I feel no pain" before it bursts into the energetic chorus "I HEAR WHAT YOU WANT AND I FEEL THAT WAY!". And then the song works its way into a frenetic mid-section climax leading into the song's mellow bridge where Billy sings "When you lie in your bed and you lie to yourself" and the mellow section ends with a chilly silence as Billy continues "bang bang you're dread, hole in your head" a few times before it rips back into its heavy chorus and from there the song builds into a frenzied finish. Silverfuck had to be in here somewhere as it really is something of a crescendo on SD and its a pity as I said that it isn't the finale to the album so here it is.
22. Where boys fear to tread
Another track off Mellon Collie, I really like this one and its the first track on the 2nd disc, Twilight to Starlight, which starts off with its improv'd sounding intro before it get's to its great main riff which runs throughout the whole song. There are some unusual sound effects dropped into the song as well one of them of course being the rocket launcher sound from the PC game, Doom, which is used to good effect. The song also has a great chorus with Billy singing "So get on, get on, get on the bomb! Get back, get back you belong!". And its the song's guitar riff that really gives WBFTT its edge but on the whole you get its actually a song where the Pumpkins are having a bit of fun and taking a break from the anguish of the songs such as Bullet with butterfly wings or the pained loneliness of Soma. Whichever you look at it, its a fine track worth putting on here.
21. Quiet
Next is Quiet and its actually hard
in a way to rank this low down (or high up???) as it easily
recognisible as a very fine track off one of the Pumpkins best albums,
Siamese Dream. Quiet again echoes Corgan's rather troubled pysche and
the making of the SD album was very tense and problmeatic with
apparently Billy controlling everything during the process and recording
all the guitar and bass parts himself. The lyrics are pretty good but
again there are some dark undertones with Billy calling out "Jesus - are
you listening - up there - to anyone at all?" and then "We are the
fossils, relics of our time, mutilate the meanings so they are easy to
deny!". But the central guitar riff is really good and it remains one
of better sounding tracks off the rather mediocre production of Siamese
dream, which for me whilst its a great album, its poorly produced with
all tracks at a largely played at a plodding pace, which is why its no
wonder that the Pumpkins played all those songs much faster live to up
the tempo and give them much needed energy (sorry SD fans but for me its
a poor album by Butch Vig's standards). But I love the way the song
ends nonetheless and the tortured lyric "Come save me from the awful
sound of NOTHING!!" rounds it off in a potent way, which Billy often
screeches live to punctuate its meaning. So Quiet while its low down
here, deserves a place in the list.
20. The end is the beginning is the end
Its a pity as good a song this is that they ended up using it for such a profoundly crap film, Batman & Robin back in 1997, because The end (I will call it for short) really is an excellent Pumpkins song which has a killer riff, which hooks you in straight from the off. The song also features a really good chorus with Billy singing some pretty dark lyrics (not like him!) "Is it bright where you are? Have the people changed? Does it make you happy that you are so strange? And in your darkest hour, I hold secret's flame! You can watch the world devoured in its pain!". I don't know what Billy made of the song appearing in the same film with Arnie as Mr Freeze and George Clooney (who struggles to keep his head still! (Sorry George!) as Batman. The film itself is a travesty but this is such a good song so you might think Batman & Robin???? Forget it, the Pumpkins would never bother writing something good for that. Well they did just that here and it definitely warrants its place here at 17.
19. Bullet with butterfly wings
OK you might
say "why is this song so low down????" well the Pumpkins wrote so many
good songs and its hard to place them all on this list but I think while
Bullet is a very fine track indeed I wouldn't quite put it as high as
in their very best. Nonetheless Bullet starts off great with silence
and Billy's lryics "The world is a vampire, sent to drain. Secret destroyers hold you up to the flames. And what do I get for my pain? Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game". And Billy puts in one of his best vocals performances on thios track, especially when he sings "Even though I know - I suppose I'll show all my cool and cold - like old job!". And the song's dark and foreboding guitar line runs through the song and there is no doubt
the song has one of the band's most memorable lyrics at the chorus "Despite all my
rage I'm still just a rat in the cage! Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved!". I think its more than safe to
say that in the Pumpkins earlier material had alot of angst and torment
to them and this song is certainly no different especially as Bullet
offers little in the way of salvation or resolution in its meaning as
Billy sings the final line "And I still believe that I cannot be saved!"
over and over. However despite that Bullet is still one of their most well known songs which is still very worthy of putting on any list and I could it put it higher but there are so many other songs to get to so here it is at No.19.
18. I am one
It was the first single they
released on their debut album and there probably isn't a finer way that
the Pumpkins could have announced themselves with I am one. Its a
pretty straight up rock track but its got a good riff and catchy lyrics
"I am one as you are three! To try and find the messiah in your
trinity! Your city to burn! Your city to burn!". The song also
features some good guitar solo work from Corgan himself as well as a
rare solo from D'arcy on the bass and played live in the early days
Corgan used it to improvise some of his own lyrics as shown in their
live video, Vieuphoria where he sings "all I wanted was everything and
all I got was shit!" so the structure of the song allows for a bit of
improv. It might not be an all time great of theirs but I am one
definitely deserves a place here and its still a memorable track simply
because it introduced the world to the Pumpkins so it had to be on here somewhere.
17. Fuck you (an ode to no one)
Another
one off Mellon Collie, An ode to no one is another rocker, which
features some of the most bitter and angry lyrics to be found in a
Smashies song, its where Billy really starts express his rage. The song
starts off great as well with the distorted single note playing and
Billy's ranting lyrics "I'm never coming back, I'm never giving in.
I'll never be the shine in your spit. I disconnect the act. I
disconnect the dots. The disconnect the me in me" (OK that last lyric
is a bit pretentious!). And the song kicks in with its pretty intense
metal-esque riff and it also features a good chorus where Billy again
yells "No way! I don't need it! I don't need to disconnect your
love!". Admittedly I do think some of the lyrics in An one to no one
could be better although I do like the way the song slows down as Billy
spits out "I took a virgin axe to his sweet Mary Jane! Lost my
innocence to a no good girl! Scratch my face with anvil hands! And
coil my tongue around a bumblee mouth!" before he sings more gently "And
I give it all back to you" before it launches into its intense ending
with the chorus again. So at 17, An one to no one is a mighty fine
track.
16. Heavy metal machine
At No.16 we have a song off Machina, the rather heavy track called Heavy metal machine, which is rather apt as it is a track that has a fair amount of crunch to it. The song at first might appear to just sound like another rock-out noise fest, but it is actually a reall good song and the feel of it actually reminds me of the newer Helmet material and I'd imagine its a song that had a bit of an influence on the industrial metal scene. The song has a real killer riff to it all the same and Billy's voice is effectively distorted as he sings "If I were alive, I were real, would you survive?". Then the song goes into a great section where Billy sings "Let me die for rock n roll, let me die to save my soul, let me die, let me die, rock n roll!". And then the chorus kicks in which is great and very familiar sounding as I said to some of Helmet's new era and Billy sings "Heavy metal! Heavy metal machine! A heavy metal machine. We're the metal, in their metal machines! Heavy metal! Heavy metal machine!". As the song continues it becomes more intense as it leads into its outro which features some impressive drumming from Jimmy and some more crunchy guitars. The song finishes somewhat abruptly but Heavy metal machine is still one of the Pumpkins standout tracks and it might take a few listens to appreciate it, but give it a go as its worth for its chorus alone. So here it is at 16.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrright so that's part 1 over with next is Part 2 which will continue the countdown to No.1.
So see you in a bit!
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