| Subject: Zwan and all the negativity |
Author:
Geminus
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Date Posted: 14:49:00 02/22/02 Fri
i know this has been beaten into the ground on this board, but i just want to express my opinions on this thing. i find the negativity on this board towards zwan, and especially towards dave, extremely disgusting. first and foremost, if you read articles about the band, they very much give the impression that everyone in the band is extremely happy. they're happy to be with such great musicians; they're happy to be making great music they all believe in. secondly, what is the reasoning behind this backlash towards dave? mainly cause billy corgan is in the band....whY? what is the big deal. So his band sold a lot of records. Big deal. So he comes of as arrogant to a lot of people big deal. You know what these arguments conceal? I just wish some of you would just admit it...you don't like him because he's not underground, and because he had ambition, and because..in the indie rock community it's uncool to have ambition. Once you admit that you want your band to be big, somehow THAT fact in and of itself makes your music worse and not good. In my opinion, yOu're not a sell-out until you change what you do in order to sell records, and so I ask, when did Billy do this? After Siamese Dream sold, the band wasn't established yet...they needed a follow up to establish themselves..something they could be sure would sell. So what does he do? Puts out a double album. But instead of acknowledging how big of a risk and how much of an artistic statement this was (especially at that time), instead people called him arrogant for doing it. Probably because he (shudder!) was on a major label, and I mean Stephen Malkmus says the pumpkins aren't cool...so we all HAVE to hate them now. So Mellon Collie sells blah blah blah..but Billy lets his band take ANOTHER risk, for the sake of the MUSIC, and they made Adore. I mean, Jesus..what else does he have to do to prove his legitimacy? And I find it refreshing that Billy has always been honest about his band. He's always said..we make great music..we want he world to hear it. I find this a lot more admirable than someone who is in a band, living under the facade that they don't want people to hear their music...doing all the motions that they have to do to maintain their "indie cred". You know why they stay under that facade? To appease you people who would turn your backs on them the second they tried to do anything remotely ambitious or let anyone else hear their music. I call that selling out. That's changing the way you make your music to appeal to your fans. And with fans whose loyalty depends on something so completely trivial and having NOTHING to do with he music, I don't understand why the artist would care what you/they think anyway. I applaud Dave for standing up and doing what he wants to do. If he left Zwan because of all your bickering, it would be sad.
And BESIDES all of that, a lot of you say he did it for the money? How? First of all, he's still doing it despite the fact that a huge portion of his fanbase is abandoning him. PLUS the Pumpkins were not a huge band in the US when they broke up. HOw do you know Zwan will sell that many records? Hardcore Pumpkins fans will buy it, and others who hear the music and like it, but give me a break. This is not about the money and anyone who assumes that is just looking for another excuse to cover up the real reason for the negativity...lack of indie coolness. I bet a lot of you (those who have actually LISTENED..not JUST talked shit abot them) like what you heard of Zwan, but you deleted your mp3's before someone from the clique sees them. Heaven forbid.
If you want to sit in your rooms and evaluate your favorite bands based upon how little they're known and how "indie" and "cool" they are, fine. To each their own. I personally think it's a shallow, pathetic, and unfair way to judge music. If Mellon Collie would have been released on Matador and sold 100,000 copies you (you who are giving dave all your shit) would all say it's the greatest album ever made. If only 20 people knew about the Smashing Pumpkins, by now you'd be head over heels for Zwan. They'd be your new underground heroes. Get over it people. And let Mr. Pajo make music he likes.
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