A buh-bye note from Smashing Pumpkins drummer:

March 24, 2009 at 07:54 - Posted by jcc
By now you have heard the news of my departure from the Smashing Pumpkins. I will say, without going into any unnecessary details that this represents a positive move forward for me. I can no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don't fully possess. I won't pretend I'm into something I'm not. I won't do it to myself, you the fan, or my former partner. I can't just, "Cash the check" so to speak. Music is my life. It is sacred. It deserves the highest commitment at every level and the Pumpkins are certainly no different. I'm sorry but it really IS that simple. There is no drama, bad blood, or anything else but a full commitment to music. My best goes out to Billy and I'm glad he has chosen to continue under the name. It is his right. I will continue to make music with the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex as well as pursuing other musical interests. I feel that I have a long way to go and a lot to give. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support through all of this. I am constantly humbled by all of you! It is an honor and a privilege to play music for a living and I don't take it for granted not even for a second. Stay tuned....... JC

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Member of the 1 username club.

the pumpkins checked out for me right before "mellon collie and the infinite sadness" anyway. chamberlain is a hell of a drummer, though.

Right "before" MC? Damn, I thought MC was their best, please explain.

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Nozomi Kurahashi is an alias chosen by Yoshizawa Ayumi following her teen debut as a nude gravure idol in Japan.

mellon collie, and granted this is just my opinion, had a couple good songs surrounded by 25 lousy ones. "1979" was a very nice song, and i liked the rage of "bullet", but the rest of both disks were totally lost on me. actually, when i look back on their body of work, my opinion of their work went downhill with each new release. gish just flat rocked, and it is easily my favorite cd. siamese dream was ok, had some good stuff, but it just didnt fulfill high expectations i had after gish. it was good though, i wont slam siamese dream. mc was the most disapponting double cd i ever have purchased. they could easily have pared that down and made a somewhat solid single cd. adore i hated, and i didnt go any further than that.

they had a couple ep's i liked a lot - lull, peel sessions, even pisces iscariot (which also suffered from a couple good songs surrounded by a bunch of shit, which can be expected from a disk full of b-sides) all appealed to me.

it seemed to me they were a band that tried to re-invent themselves too much, each cd was so different from the previous, you never knew what you were gong to get, and they just strayed too far away from what i liked best about them: the raw, adreneline-charged guitar-rock i heard on gish. just a personal thing.

yeah, I saw that last wednesday. pretty odd in my opinion. makes me wonder what the hell was this all for: 20th anniversary concerts, hyundai commercial, visa commercial.

i agree about mellon collie. that disc lost me a bit. however, i loved adore. machina I and II are both pretty good and I think zeitgeist rocks! you should pick up zeitgeist, mofo. and if you get a chance find a version of gossamer and superchrist online. otherwise, pm me an address and I'll make you a disc.
there was a thread some ways back about rearranging the MCIS songs into one kick ass 12 song disc. some good lists came of that. I think Zack had a really decent one.

the pisces songs were all available previously with the exception of whir, frail and bedazzled, and spaced. everything else you could find as b-sides of singles, e.p.'s or from soundtracks and compilations.

gish is fantastic. i really like siamese dream a lot as well.
i think they are best listened in tandem. i have this 90 minute cassette. gish on one side and all the b-sides on the other. i made it in 1993. still works...

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@audioidkid

really...i have heard of zeitgeist, but i have never listened to any of the songs. its a real rocker, eh? you have me interested now, i may have to look into that one further! i agree that MC could have made a good single CD, but i was constantly jumping around for disk to disk, and listening to it was a pain in the ass because i couldn't sit through lots of it.

Siva, Bury Me, and I Am One off of Gish are all just excellent rockin' smashing pumpkins songs. Gish is a top 10 CD in my collection, it consistently finds its way into my rotation.

After checking with my sources I have confirmed that Billy Corgan is indeed still a douchebag. He's starting to reach Axl Rose levels. Can you even call this band Smashing Pumpkins anymore?

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