"Machina- we’ve come to take our crown back one more time and p*** on it"

Words spoken by a man who some have described as a poet, artist, general philosopher trapped inside a rockstar.
Of course, this is also a man that people have described as a pretentious, tyrannical, domineering...egghead. As we can see, there are many sides to the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan.

The Pumpkins, come the end of the 20th century, had overcome everything. The LSD era was over. The unpleasant album reviews for this album.s predecessor, Adore, had died down. Better yet, former bassist, D'Arcy had been kicked out for mysterious reasons. (i.e., she was using drugs, and Billy had taken a sudden stand against them. Or possibly, he was still miffed at the long-dead relationship that the bassist and guitarist James Iha once had. Who are we to know?) And was replaced by former Hole bassist, Melissa Auf Der Maur.

There are some bands that, when they start out, are destined to go on to great things. These bands are the ones that will suffer the most. One of these is Californian funk-rockers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They, just like the Pumpkins, had lost a fundamental member, and strived on, nonetheless, and had subsequently made an appalling album in that period. The Chili Pepper's was entitled One Hot Minute. The Pumpkins, Adore. However, the replacement of the aforementioned fundamental member would spur them onto the great things that they were meant to achieve. The Chili Peppers re-recruited one of the most talented guitarists in this world, Mr John Frusciante. This was a massive shock to the music industry, as it was thought John was, as the other 6 guitarists the Chili Peppers employed, never to return.
The Pumpkins paralleled this, by re-employing former drummer Jimmy Chamberlain. It was now time to achieve those great things once again.

With Adore, many had waved "Farewell and goodnight, Pumpkins." Well Billy Corgan was not going down without a fight.
Just as popular indie-rock band The Strokes would do a few years later, the songwriter would deliberately write a provocative opening line to an important album.
With the Strokes, “I wanna be forgotten, and I don’t wanna be reminded.” Were the lyrics of a man in an overrated band.
With Billy, his was a direct assault at the media that considered them done.
“You know I’m not dead!” Explodes onto your CD player. Many called this a return to form, and this is why. Where the rest of the album is quite poppy, the opener, The Everlasting gaze, was given the task of rocking. Hard. And it does so to a degree that they achieved in Gish. What is a noticeable element to this album, is the basslines have improved immensely, and although D’Arcy was still part of the band when the album was recorded, she left soon afterwards, so Melissa took the reins and did to with an astounding effect.

Most of the album Billy has given up the Michael Jackson style over wrought, essentially far too long songs. With the exception of the middle track, Glass And The Ghost Children. The song revisits the haunting, distortion-ridden era of Adore. However, it is approximately 4 ½ minutes into the song that really generates interest. It appears to be a fuzzy, low-quality recording of Billy talking. The subject? Oh, yeah, he talks to God. As one does. This is quite harrowing to hear, as he sounds quite shaky and unstable taking about himself, revealing another side to the authoritarian that everyone knows. One line in particular stands out for me.

“Me thinking that my life has importance.”

What you hear seems to be a tape rewinded, so you hear this line twice, illumating you to the insecure side, and altogether more human to him.

Not everything on the album is great. There are a few songs, that by other band’s standards, would be high-quality, but not the Pumpkins. They had set themselves a lofty level of excellence with Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, and to follow that up was to be quite a feat, so it’s hardly surprising a few songs fall short of that.
Such songs would be the quite downbeat, Blue Skies Bring Tears. This is quite a contradiction, as what makes this not as good, is the fact that it’s depressing. With such songs as An Ode To No-One and Disarm, a dark Pumpkins song was all that was known.
Another one would be the gentler side of this album, with the summery, upbeat, Raindrops And Sunshowers. This is quite an atmospheric song, with the fast-paced clicking of the drums in the background only adding to it.
The Pumpkins have always had a tendency to have rather obscure song titles. (Mayonnaise, anyone?) And this didn’t cease with MACHINA. I Of The Mourning, noting, of course, the U.) Is, strangely, an ode to the radio. Placed right in the middle of this is a rather Guns ‘n’ Roses style guitar solo.
With The Sacred And Profane, the music remains upbeat, and somehow becomes more urgent. Billy seems to be crying out, to his new-found friend, God.

By this time, Billy had already co-written Hole’s successful album, Celebrity Skin. Having been a long-term friend of Courtney Love, it was quite obvious that her influence would rub off on him. And it does so in the form of The Imploding voice.

This album contains traces of the Pumpkins former life. Songs such as The Crying Tree OF Mercury, recall the oriental style they once used for Siamese Dream’s Hummer.
Try, Try, Try is a piano-driven, despondently optimistic song, that the Pumpkins decided to use as their last ever song, which only puts and even more depressing spin to it.

The album closes with Age Of Innocence. Building up slowly, this has the catchiest chorus that you’re going to hear in the entire 73 minutes.

“Desolation, yes. Hesitation, no.”

Surprisingly, it is extremely catchy.

This is where the album achieves its’ full potential. Heavy Metal Machine is the last truly heavy song you’re going to hear on this album. A thick, sludgy, distorted song, this would have made an excellent single, if only for the line,

“If I were dead, would my records sell?”

Pretentious? No. Taking the p***? Yes.

The rest of the album is very upbeat, and (dare I say it) quite poppy.

With Every Light touches upon the folky sound they once experimented with in Gish’s Daydream. Led into by a gentle drumbeat, the song is summery and easy to listen to.

“Taking over, we’re taking over, throw away your four-leafed clover.”

This Time follows the same pattern, only not quite as folky. Just as upbeat and, for lack of a better term, happy, this creates the feeling of a troubled time over.
Wound is an absolute treat. Every bit as light and poppy as the rest of this album, and lyrically just as excellent as anything Billy has ever written.

“If you wait, I will wait, taste I will taste, if you love, I will love,
Run, I will run, to my last breath.”

The ultimate highlight is quite early into the album. The most beautifully created, written, played and sung love song I have ever come across, Stand Inside Your Love is breathtaking. The emotion in Billy’s voice is just as much as Disarm. The lyrics captivating and meaningful. This is my favourite Smashing Pumpkins song, and that is saying a mammoth amount
.
Sadly, this was to be the end. The Pumpkins would play a final gig in The Metro in Chicago, and they would disband.
After the gig, a fan would meet Billy backstage. "I'm not in the Smashing Pumpkins anymore, I'm just Billy." He would say to them. Words of a wise man.