On Thursday, Smashing Pumpkins announced their first concerts -- to feature three of the band's original members, vocalist/songwriter Billy Corgan, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist James Iha — since 2000. Dubbed the Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour, the extensive trek is being promoted as the band playing music from their first five albums: the psychedelic hard rock fever dream "Gish"; alt-rock behemoths "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"; the electronic excursion "Adore"; and the New Order mash note "Machina/The Machines of God."
The announcement didn't come without drama, of course. In the weeks leading up to the tour, debate raged as to whether original bassist D'Arcy Wretzky would be involved, making it a true reunion of the classic Smashing Pumpkins lineup. The news cycle was whiplash-inducing, as it changed by the day and involved the sharing of private text messages and plenty of he said-she-said denials. Things got so heated and intense that the band issued a statement about comments Wretzky had made in an interview with a site called BlastEcho — which in turn led to her doing her first extensive interview in 20 years, in which she laid out her side of the story.
Unsurprisingly, when the Smashing Pumpkins tour dates arrived, Wretzky wasn't involved. For many fans, that's a deal-breaker. Although she's been out of the group since 1999, she remains beloved, as integral a part of the golden-era lineup as any other member. It's easy to see why: Wretzky was an unflappable and nimble player, with an impossibly cool stage presence and the kind of performance confidence that was empowering. In a charmingly awkward vintage MTV interview, Corgan mentions all of the letters Wretzky received from girls especially thanking her for being "somewhat inspirational in a band."
However, the tour press release came packaged with a stark and serious black-and-white photo featuring long-time guitarist Jeff Schroeder next to the three original members. Seeing a Smashing Pumpkins lineup with four men was almost a jarring sight, since for much of the band's history, they've had a kickass woman playing bass. (One notable exception was a late 2014 lineup when the Killers' Mark Stoermer filled in, as part of a lineup that also featured Rage Against the machine drummer Brad Wilk.)
After Wretzky left in 1999, former Hole member Melissa Auf der Maur took over as touring bass player. In fact, she played on the tour for "Machina/The Machines of God," the final record that's part of the Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour. When Smashing Pumpkins reconvened in 2007 after a few years away, Ginger Reyes, Nicole Fiorentino and then Katie Cole assumed bass duties. (For the record, Corgan was asked about Smashing Pumpkins' tendency to have female bassists in a 2012 Consequence of Sound interview, and his answer illuminated much about the band's distinct sound.)
Over the years, other women — including violinist Gingger Shankar, keyboardist Lisa Harriton and multi-instrumentalist Sierra Swan — have also joined the band on tour. The gender diversity within their live lineup has always been one of Smashing Pumpkins' biggest assets, as it was effortless and didn't feel like tokenism. Like another influential rock band, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins had a woman (or women) in the band. It was just what they did.
Studio-wise, things are somewhat more complicated. Corgan's domination in this realm has been well-documented and, admittedly, the group has covered a slew of male-fronted rock bands. However, one of the act's biggest '90s radio hits is a delicate cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," a Stevie Nicks songwriting masterpiece, while Blondie and Missing Persons covers appear on the boxed set "The Aeroplane Flies High." Corgan has also written vividly about women: the fantastical figures portrayed in "To Sheila" and "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans," for example, or "For Martha," which is an elegy for his late mother.
During live shows, Smashing Pumpkins also put a howling (and rather reverent) spin on Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" about a decade ago — and it was one of the few Spears rock covers that didn't feel ironic or shticky. Even the band's album art prioritized female iconography. For example, NPR reported on how "Mellon Colie and the Infinite Sadness" used a body from Raphael's "Saint Catherine of Alexandria" painting and a face lifted from Jean-Baptiste Greuze's "The Souvenir" to create the angelic figure.
Of course, to be fair, with details of the 2018 concerts just starting to emerge, who's to say that the touring band won't have more gender parity? Plus, pointing out that the current Smashing Pumpkins core lineup is all men isn't meant to shade any of the musicians. To the contrary, Schroeder is a fantastic guitarist, songwriter and creative foil for Billy Corgan, as well as a talented artist in his own right. (Listen to his excellent and sadly defunct band the Lassie Foundation and thank me later.) Chamberlin's drumming style has been massively influential to generations of musicians, while Iha is a versatile musician and guitarist who improves any band with whom he plays.
And, of course, there's no denying that Corgan's vision helped Smashing Pumpkins become an alt-rock pillar in the '90s. The band drew on familiar eras — classic rock, synth-pop, shoegaze and psychedelic rock — and combined them all into something ferocious, fresh and exciting. However, Smashing Pumpkins didn't get to the multi-platinum point without help. In fact, it feels disingenuous to celebrate the band's halcyon days without Wretzky, as it feels like an erasure of the contributions she made to the group and this music.
In a nostalgic twist, Smashing Pumpkins announced this 2018 tour with a video featuring the original "Siamese Dream" album cover stars, Ali Laenger and LySandra Roberts, who are now adults. Besides making any '90s kid feel positively ancient (after all, the women were just tiny kids back then) it was also a stark reminder that time doesn't stand still. The classic rock phenomenon — bands touring with a negligible amount of original members — long ago started trickling down into other, younger genres. That Smashing Pumpkins would be on a victory lap without all original members isn't out of the ordinary. It's just a tough bit of historical revisionism to swallow.
Shares