In the Earbuds: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins

I just posted a soft acoustic cover version of the classic Pumpkins tune “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”:

When I first heard that song and then the ambitious double-album in which it dwelt, I formed a special connection right away with the fantastical, aggressive-at-times, tender-at-times, vintage-esque, and cathartic music of Smashing Pumpkins. “Bullet” fulfilled the loud, pounding guitars, drums, and yelling I craved from the deep depths of my grunge years. But then songs like “Tonight, Tonight”, “1979”, “Thirty-Three”, “We Only Come Out at Night”, and the title instrumental brought me back from the edge of the “it has to be loud or it’s boring” stage I was in. It was okay to have the distortion pedal switched off sometimes. It wasn’t just quiet vs. loud, either – the Pumpkins experimented with all sorts of different genres, instruments, and textures. One of the best rock albums of the 90s in my opinion.

This is why I was pretty happy to find out there is a Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour this year paying special attention to their older material. It’s the closest thing to a time machine I suppose.