Some Songs Considered

“Landslide” – Smashing Pumpkins 
(Words/music: Stevie Nicks, available on Pisces Iscariot, Virgin 1994)  

I have very fond memories of hearing Billy Corgan’s cover of “Landslide” on the radio in the 1990s.  It was the sole reason I borrowed my brother’s copy of Pisces Iscariot and the only reason I rescued a copy of it from a used CD bin a few years ago.  Thinking back at the kind of Smashing Pumpkins songs I liked then (the guitar heavy ones – “Cherub Rock,” “Zero,” etc) and the ones I disliked (I actively hated “Disarm” for a long time and I’m not entirely sure why – now I’m generally indifferent to it) and “Landslide” seems like an unlikely love.  It’s just as unlikely that a band with so many singles (and so many popular singles too) had such a non-characteristic rarity given semi-regular radio play.  

Ultimately, it’s Corgan’s arresting performance of the song that gives it its magic.  Paired only with an acoustic guitar, Corgan leaves himself exposed in the arrangement.  His nasaly voice, usually wrapped in some pedal-enhanced guitar, somehow works on its own.  Perhaps it’s the way he bends some of his notes, or maybe it’s just that he’s hitting the notes in his range that best suit him, but his voice leaves me captivated every time.  His guitar work is simple yet skillful; Corgan was an underrated guitarist, and “Landslide” shows him as one with more range than I often associate with him.  His overdubbed solo fits in perfectly, blending with his fingerpicking and easing out before his vocals return.  Even if it’s a polar opposite from the Pumpkins songs I generally prefer –the louder, knottier ones - it remains one of my favorites, undoubtedly due to its surprising charm.

More on Smashing Pumpkins: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Cherub Rock (Live on Saturday Night Live)” – The Smashing Pumpkins
(Words/music: Billy Corgan, originally available on Siamese Dream, Virgin 1993)

No matter how hard we try, it’s impossible to listen to every “important” band.  There aren’t enough hours in the day to go back and re-listen to favorite records of mine, let alone discover new things.  For whatever reason, some bands just don’t stick when you first hear them.  I’m the right age to be obsessive about the Smashing Pumpkins, yet I’ve never had more than a passing interest in a lot of their catalog.  It’s strange because I have friends (and family too - the Pumpkins were my younger brother’s first favorite band) whole-heartedly devoted to this band.  I never actively disliked the Smashing Pumpkins, but I never moved beyond a cursory knowledge of their most important songs.  Maybe I was proctetcing myself from another obsession – I was deep into Nirvana and R.E.M. at the same time the people around me poured into this band, and maybe their devotion subconsciously convinced me to keep this band at arm’s length. 

In any case, I’ve come up short trying to listen to any Smashing Pumpkins album other than Siamese Dream, and to be honest it’s largely because of my love for “Cherub Rock.”  Even as the early ‘90s alt-rock wave started cresting, Billy Corgan already raised the question of authenticity.  This was the first hook for me, because when you’re sixteen questioning the authenticity of others’ intentions makes you more authentic (at least in my mind it did), so I desperately wanted to empathize with Corgan’s screed against paper-winged angels.  Now, when authenticity isn’t as much of an issue (or at least not something I need to wear on my sleeve as an emblem of battle), I’m taken in by the song’s intensity (especially in this live version, however tinny the MP3 sounds).  “Cherub Rock” springs to life like a snake uncoiling to strike its prey.  Flying into action with Jimmy Chamberlain’s forceful drumming, Corgan doesn’t pull back the attack for nearly five minutes.  Power chords follow cymbal crashes, followed by a guitar solo played with abandon.  When Corgan’s calling out the imposters, he seems to indicate that some of his peers hold back.  If Corgan’s screed is tongue in cheek (and I’m inclined not to think so), he still counters with heart-on-sleeve intensity.  For better or worse (depending on your opinion of the band, I imagine), Corgan errs on the side of passion, often with bleeding-heart lyrics.  Even if Corgan’s gone of the deep end in the last couple of years, he maximized his band’s first moment in the spotlight.  If I never get deep into this band (and, unfortunately, I think that window has opened and shut for me), I’ll still respect the way they went into battle on “Cherub Rock” with full power, ready to enlist their audience right behind them.

More on The Smashing Pumpkins: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm