Billy Corgan believes The Smashing Pumpkins were the first grunge band “that started to grow up” musically
At the dawn of the 1990s, grunge was king. From Nirvana’s definitive 1991 record Nevermind to iconic releases from Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, the first half of the decade was grunge-central. However, a sharp musicians always needs to be ahead of the curve – and Billy Corgan believes that The Smashing Pumpkins outgrew grunge just in time.
In a new interview with Classic Rock, Corgan explains how sonic evolution allowed his band to survive beyond the “grunge explosion”. Sensing that grunge was on the downturn, the Smashing Pumpkins made sure that their 1995 double album, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, pushed beyond the adolescent pessimism of grunge. The focus was on exploring a more mature palette.
“We were the first band of our generation that started to grow up,” the frontman explains. “The band was coming off a golden moment, which was the grunge explosion. But all movements start to run out of gas.”
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He notes that a final nail in grunge’s coffin came when “gatekeepers” began to infiltrate the scene. When grunge tops the charts, it lures in people who weren’t there from the start – and, ironically, those people tend to preach about what the genre “really means… when they had nothing to do with authoring it”. It’s often the first sign to jump ship.
“We made the move to grow up before anybody else,” Corgan reiterates. “Then we were sort of singled out for criticism as far as other people were concerned, either because the party needed to continue, or growing up was some sort of sell-out of something.”
Despite certain gatekeepers disliking the Smashing Pumpkins’ evolution, the rest of the world welcomed the release of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness with awe. The record’s blend of art-rock, spellbinding prog riffs and glorious orchestral movements proved a hit, topping the US Billboard charts and proving that the band were no one-trick pony.
Aided by engineer Flood, who had worked with Nine Inch Nails and PJ Harvey, as well as The Jesus And Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine engineer Alan Moulder, the record was a dynamic step up from the band’s grunge era.
However, the record still captured that same raw emotion and catharsis that had initially lured fans in. Elsewhere in the Classic Rock interview, Corgan explains how Fuck You (An Ode To No One)’s “cataclysmic ending” solo quite literally saw him lobbing his guitar into a studio cabinet. “Whether or not my fingers bled, I don’t remember,” he says.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
