tHE aEROPLANE fLIES hIGH

i never knew that a lot of these songs existed

i excluded the singles from my vote, otherwise 'thirty three' or '1979' wins easily

well, maybe not easily but it still felt unfair

this poll would be better without the singles on each cd

of the non-singles, my favorite is either "Jerry" or "Transformer" -- and voted for the latter 'cause it's gonna need more love, i can tell

This band used to be so good. It's hard to believe Billy wrote thirty great songs in two years, and then no good songs for the next ten.

I very much concur with Mr. Snrub on this point. All these b-sides from that era are fantastic. The huge slew of amazing riffs paraded for mere seconds each in Pastichio Medley alone always amazes and frustrates me.

protest vote for "the boy".

the covers are terrible! i'm glad they led me onto "clones (we're all)" & "destination unknown", but ... yikes.

Yet another vote for "Set the Ray to Jerry," which is my favorite SP track ever (I think it's the perfect union of the best elements of Gish and Siamese Dream).

I like "Medellia of the Gray Skies," too.

I think this set goes for a lot of money on eBay these days.

"Yet another vote for "Set the Ray to Jerry," which is my favorite SP track ever (I think it's the perfect union of the best elements of Gish and Siamese Dream."

I could never pin down exactly what it is that I like so much about this song, but that's a good description.

"Set the Ray to Jerry" really is pretty spectacular -- I'd credit it to that bass line and the way the chorus gently floats upward.

I kinda thought we would do this one by disc?

Nobody else took the initiative to start it, and I was getting antsy waiting around for it.

Of course it's easy to consider the a-sides as classics of the genre, but isn't it just more fun to vote for the b-sides? Don't be a shit: Vote for "Mouths Of Babes!!"

"Set the Ray to Jerry" has that "whores of my tears" line, which is a pretty high-ranking DO NOT WANT Corganism, yechh.

I have fond teenage memories of "Mouths Of Babes" (& most of the Zero single) - grrr angst, etc.

Okay, I just voted for "Mouths Of Babes."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I expected more people to care. oh well

Sweet MTV News clip promoting the release of TAFH. never seen this before, some great footage of the band rehearsing in Pumpkinland in the summer of '96 and Billy & James talking about the boxset.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw6yYZrAqrk

poll results invalidated by inclusion of a-sides

i wouldve voted for PASTICHIO MEDLEY, so much excellent riffage

that's a great video flappy thank u for sharing

as much as i love almost all of these songs there's no question in my mind that the best thing here is "jerry"

I didn't understand the widespread fan adulation of Set the Ray to Jerry until a few years ago. It's still not one of my favorites, not even in my top 50 songs by BC, but it is a beautiful song.

I'm with you brimstead, I'd vote for the Pastichio Medley. Gonzo tape collage cut-up riff rollercoaster. Further proof within a boxset full of fantastic B-sides that the Pumpkins had incredible C-sides as well. We should do a poll for each section (and a proper poll of TAFH w/o the A-sides).

Of the proper songs, I'd pick The Aeroplane Flies High. er, ah shit, I can't not vote for Rotten Apples... or Meladori Magpie...

It's hard to believe Billy wrote thirty great songs in two years, and then no good songs for the next ten.

I know this opinion is nine years old but I'm getting mad about it right now

forget it simon, it's snrub

Billy's songwriting didn't significantly dip until Zeitgeist imo (and especially TBK). TheFutureEmbrace has great songs but he fucked them up in the studio.

"jerry" was so hyped before i ever heard it that i also struggled to understand it for years but it just like... nails this unbelievably beautiful vibe that doesn't resemble any other pumpkins song (or many other songs i can think of). i wish there was a band that just sounded like that

i think his songwriting dipped to a degree, to the point where his quality control issues became more apparent circa machina and zwan, whereas it sorta doesn't matter between siamese dream/pisces iscariot and mellon collie/aeroplane which songs are on which, because they're all at least good

there are many wonderful zwan songs and they are not on the zwan record (which i like)

Mary Star of the Sea is a flawed & compromised record but if you take the best of it (title track, Settle Down, Of a Broken Heart, Lyric, Come with Me, Endless Summer, I guess Honestly) and the far superior live-only songs (Chrysanthemum, Rivers We Can't Cross, Cast a Stone, My Life + Times, A New Poetry), there's an album or two of songs that rival his '90s golden streak.

god i wish he had made that record. though i'm not a big fan of "of a broken heart" or "endless summer" tbh

"lyric" is such a fucking jam though

well he's sitting on ~65 unreleased Zwan songs, been teasing those since the Pumpkins reissue campaign began in 2011. but he said recently that he'd only get around to it once the label/legal issues holding up the Machina reissue are resolved.

amazing guitar tones on that record too, even though it sounds kinda horrible generally

but yeah, like Machina, MSOTS was hobbled by Billy second-guessing himself and thinking too much about radio, the audience, singles... I mean there's that ridiculous quote from early 2003 where he's talking about how MSOTS is "the pop record, the one for them, next one will be the arty record." yeah great, that really worked out Bill

xp yeah the guitars on the title track are incredible, but it suffers from that awful aughts brick walling / super compression

i also would like to rep for "declarations of faith" which i think is p underrated even though it probably falls in with the more obvious pop songs on the album. it sort of like what if "i of the mourning" was a happy pop song imo

hm maybe i'll bump the zwan thread

Ages since I've listened to the Zwan record by my favourite song was always 'Ride a Black Swan' - gorgeous bridge, amazing drumming throughout.

I will revisit that song based solely on your I of the Mourning comparison. that's in my top 10. Something about it has really grown on me the past ~3 years. the second verse is one of my favorites he's ever written ("I blow the dust off my guitar...")

"i of the mourning" is prob my fav pumpkins song just for the ending alone. it also always sounded incredible live

Someone on netphoria did a cool tempo analysis of a bunch of Pumpkins songs a while ago. "I of the Mourning" stuck out as a song that gradually increases in tempo throughout and never dips, the whole song is climbing to that climax

During the original run of the Pumpkins, they maybe put out a small handful of tracks that were less than great, but most of the stuff they put out was gold.

The Zwan record could have been better, but there's a lot I like on it - 'Lyric' is a great song, 'Ride a Black Swan' too.

I'm not much into either of Corgan's solo LP's or Zeitgeist ... there's some neat songs in the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope stuff and love Oceania.

I generally think he's past his peak as a songwriter but Corgan's antics get on my wick these days.

'Declarations of Faith' is a good obe too!

'I of the Mourning' has always been a favourite, I love the new wave-y guitar sound on it. I remember a lot of people being down on MACHINA at the time, and it was frustrating because it isn't that bad a record. Same with Adore.

*one

i love Billy's description of the guitar sound on Machina: "Judas Priest plus Simple Minds." that really comes across in IOTM, especially the bass & sheet distortion + very 80s chorus...

lol, i love the transition between the cure and the pumpkins' versions of "a night like this" in that clip above. when it switches over it sounds like someone's subtly pushing their finger against a spinning record.

lol. also the transition between og "destination unknown" and their cover sounds like it's shifting into a shitty demo

I really love their cover of Depeche Mode's 'Never Let Me Down Again' ... I think the band themselves were full of praise for it too.

^^ It's a good one. I had that 4x7" singles box for quite some time, till I swapped it for cash. It was the b-side of Rocket 7", no?

Heart you Flappy, but Set the Ray to Jerry is top 10 SP material man.

Clip is great. Painfully great. How did he get so lost etc

it's a great song, and I agree with Brad that it stands alone in SP's massive body of work, it really expresses a very specific yet ineffable emotion... still not one that moved me like 50+ other BC songs... but it is a gem

How did he get so lost etc

Forced breakup of original lineup very shortly after that rehearsal was filmed + the lukewarm reception of Adore broke him. I love Ogilala because it's the first time since Adore where he's been completely open and let himself be vulnerable. Every other record, and I love a lot of them, is clouded either by conceit or second-guessing. Adore is a remarkably honest record, and once he got whipped for it, he went from shell to shell for each project for the next 20 years.

never underestimate the ability of a wildly insecure paranoiac/egomaniac to get lost as hell imo

also feel like Galapagos nails a pretty similar vibe but is a way better song and renders it redundant on the first disc

Ok that might have come across weird and gross, I don't suffer desire, but it's def relatable. And I love the flute, whistley sound, that sounds like last breath, ghouls gathering around a death bed.

"Carve out your heart for keeps in an old oak tree"

Slays, both lyrically and in delivery.

"suffer my desire for you" is yeah p much exactly the line and delivery I can't deal with in 2017

i'd like to believe that "rotten apples" rules but billy sings it like dogshit. it's really apparently when sequenced next to "medelia" which is one of my favorite vocals he's ever done

"galapogos" is a perfect song imo

yes, top 10 so songs probably. medelia was the last thing I cut from my sequence tho I could probably swab out tonite reprise

lol *sp *swap

i'd like to believe that "rotten apples" rules but billy sings it like dogshit. it's really apparently when sequenced next to "medelia" which is one of my favorite vocals he's ever done

re: “Suffer my desire” - so much of MCIS is sung from different perspectives and attitudes. The super whiny needy vocal performance fits the super whiny pathetic lyrics. Same can be said for the naive nihilism of Tales of a Scorched Earth (“you’re all whores and I’m a fag” / “I lie just to be real, id die just to feel, why do the same old things keep on happening???????”)

the ludicrous sonics of TOASE wallpaper all other considerations for me, also lol at the Doom sample

the Doom sample is in Where Boys Fear to Tread (recurs several times but first happens right before Billy sings the first line)

These abbreviations are doing my head in, though it's a very, very SP thing. TOASE? :/

oic

oh fuck you're right on the sample

it's funny how the drumming on the destination unknown cover is boring given the two bands' drummers

feeling these the most these days

"Pastichio Medley" (always)
"Mouths of Babes" (massive riff, tune)
"Rotten Apples" (this one just feel right)
"The Last Song" (don't know if i would find it as moving if corgan sr. wasn't playing on it)
"Meladori Magpie" (wonderful tune)
"God" (rawk)
"Marquis in Spades" (rawwwwwwk, great lead guitar)

"mouths of babes" is perfect

I guess this is as good a place as any to announce on ILX that I haven't listened to SP or Billy since July and don't intend to listen to either willfully until, at the very earliest, January 1, 2030.

my opinion about "rotten apples" upthread is wrong

wait flappy i must know why

I became obsessed with The Smashing Pumpkins in January 2010 after 17 years of being a very casual fan. In Billy, and the Pumpkins, I saw everything I wanted to do as a musician and a performer. Literally every detail: the awe-inspiring work ethic, the aesthetics, the mix of humor & power, the frankness and honesty compared to other more coy Gen X artists, the clothes, his playing style, his gestures, his tics. And, obviously, the music and lyrics. It was beyond just being a huge fan, it was a dead end. For years I felt it was impeding me creatively and I think my sudden superfandom in 2010 really derailed my own work. So after nearly a decade of superfandom, where I evangelized and acted as a surrogate defender of maligned artist at his lowest point (does it get any worse than the Teargarden era?).

I'm still regularly inspired by artists I've loved for years, and songs I've heard a million times, but Billy is different. The Pumpkins weren't giving me anything anymore, and they took up space in my brain, so I expelled them for a decade. I feel great.

Fitting for The Aeroplane Flies High thread, because that was the last song I listened to back in July.

Discussion of said band may continue at a moderate pace, Instagram may be accessed, Q&A's may be read.

I felt like I was burning a dead circuit, for years.

is there like a 12-step for that or did you just white-knuckle it

did you guys know that despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cage?

we know buddy don't beat yourself up

flappy i wanna hear your band

i should probably poll this again without the a-sides.

Flappy just think of all of Billy's appearances on Joe Rogan you can binge in 2030.