According to this, the Smashing Pumpkins are reuniting this summer to play some festival dates in Germany and work on a new album, a probable US tour to follow. Other than Billy Corgan, of course, its still up in the air who exactly is participating in this reunion. I am assuming that James Iha, D'arcy & Jimmy Chamberlin can somehow work time out of their busy schedules of telling people how they used to be in Smashing Pumpkins to get involved, though from what I hear Mr. Corgan isn't exactly the easiest person to collaborate with, and saying no is completely understandable.
I remember when I was in love with the band, in 1993 I was seventeen and their combination of personally intimate lyrics with the bombast of arena rock really, lame cliche alert, spoke to me. But something about this reunion just strikes me as...I don't know, sad. Personally I don't think they really ever measured up to their second album, Siamese Dream, and after their self anointed "White Album" Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, I kind of lost all interest. This reunion seems like Billy Corgan's last desperate gasp for relevance. After Mellon Collie made them superstars, Billy shaved his head, decided he was goth and their next two albums, 1998's Adored and 2000's MACHINA/The Machines of God, each featuring one less member of the first three album's four core members (Chamberlin was kicked off after drug abuse derailed a tour and D'Arcy decided she was an actress, and left to do a film with Mickey Rourke which ended up never happening once he protested the producers unwillingness to cater to his prized chihuahua...this is all true) were critical and commercial disappointments. In 2001, Corgan broke up the band, saying indifference from the MTV kids more into the popular (at the time) rock n' rap genre, your Korns, Limp Bizkits, et al., was too much to contend with. A couple of years later, Corgan formed a new group Zwan which was kind of a Chicago 90's alt-rock supergroup, featuring Chamberlin, ex-Chavez member Matt Sweeney and ex-Slint member David Pajo. Again, indifference greeted the project, and they had a messy breakup, read the details here, basically boiling down to a little too much sex & drugs sprinkled with their rock n' roll. Billy Corgan decided the only person with the humility, talent and wherewithal to work with him was, him, so they two of him recorded a solo album, 2005's The Future Embrace, which like most of his post-Mellon Collie work found very little embrace at its present release.
If "alternative rock" or "new rock" radio as it was calling itself a few years ago is as stale and repetitive as it was the last time I actually listened, Smashing Pumpkins and their bevy of hits: "Cherub Rock", "Today", "1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight" to name a few, still rack up some heavy airplay, and that's why I can only assume Corgan's motivation is to start a wave of 90's nostalgia and hopes the reunion gig catapults the band back to its mid-90's relevance.
Now you may say, hey Kevin, you are a hypocrite, you were all over The Pixies reunion a few years ago, going to three shows, and loving every second of it. Well, yes, that is true, but here's what I consider the difference, the Pixies never achieved an iota of the fame and sales that the Pumpkins (and Rage Against the Machine for that matter, who are reuniting for a Coachella show this summer) had, despite the fact that they pretty much invented the style of rock that bands like the Pumpkins and Nirvana drove to multimillion unit sales (Kurt Cobain was very adamant in interviews that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song) so their reunion wasn't necessarily about reclaiming their "heyday" or summit of popularity, because other than a devoted cult, they never were all that popular (in their time). But that's not the only difference, the Pixies also waited over 10 years since they broke-up, enough distance to not seem desperate. The last, but most important factor, Frank Black and Kim Deal, the two main creative forces of the Pixies (with all due respect to Joey Santiago and David Lovering) had very active careers post break-up. While they never achieve mass sales, both Frank Black solo material and Kim Deal's other band, The Breeders, sold well in comparison to the Pixies, and The Breeder's sophomore album, Last Splash was commercially more popular in its time than any Pixies album ever was. Black also toured extensively after the Pixies first break-up and created a new niche for himself as a solo artist.
While I have little respect for his solo career (and for him as a person sometimes) Morrissey's decision to not reunite The Smiths is commendable. Both him and guitarist Johnny Marr have maintained respectable careers (Marr has just joined Modest Mouse) and sizable audience. Still, should Morrissey and Marr ever decide to bury the hatchet and reunite the Smiths, I would have no problem with it, they have kept working, waited over 10 years and their audience has grown since their split, especially in America. I do have one cavaet Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce would have to be involved. Which brings up another point, I am anti-reunion if the reuniting lineup doesn't include everyone considered amongst the core members of the group (I am looking your way The New Cars or The Doors to the 21st Century).
So in conclusion, my little reunion requirements (and yes, they are entirely selfish and subjective) are as such:
* Must be at least a 10 year gap between breaking up and reuniting
* The band members (or at least the band leaders) must have played in other bands or continued to make music
* Reunion much consist of all core members of the band
Therefore, here's a list of bands and whether they should reunite, never reunite or wait to reunite:
Yay
Beat Happening
Galaxie 500
Husker Du
The Jam
Talking Heads
Public Image Limited
Orange Juice
Jesus and Mary Chain (reuniting at Coachella)
The Smiths
Replacements
My Bloody Valentine (OK, technically never broke up)
The Feelies
The Raincoats
The Police
Spaceman 3
Nay
The Beatles (dead members: John & George)
Nirvana (dead member: Kurt Cobain)
Sex Pistols (dead member: Sid Vicious, already broke this rule and reunited)
Velvet Underground (dead member: Sterling Morrison)
The Clash (dead member: Joe Strummer)
Joy Division (dead member: Ian Curtis)
NWA (dead member: Eazy-E and don't think of having Eminem or 50 Cent fill his place...)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (dead member, uh, Jimi Hendrix...scoff...but they tried The Doors without Jim Morrison)
The Sugarcubes (Bjork has a very successful solo career, but how about anybody else?)
May Reunite, But Must Wait
Cibo Matto (until 2009)
Pavement (until 2009)
Neutral Milk Hotel (until 2008, although technically there is only one core member and also I don't think they ever actually broke up)
Sleater-Kinney (until 2016)
Pulp (until 2013)
Smashing Pumpkins (until 2011, you're tempting fate folks)
Rage Against the Machine (until 2010, again tempting fate)
Please feel free to include your own yay, nay or wait in the comment field
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