So we all know the history

we know the name "smashing pumpkins" was the punchline of a joke billy was teling, and it stuck


what do you think the joke was?

from netphoria.org



On a KROQ Radio Interview:

Caller: "Ok, my name is Tyla. Hi BIlly, I'm a really big fan. Ok, my friend told me that she heard the Smashing Pumpkins, the name of your band was based on a joke."

Billy: "Um."

Caller: "I want to know... what is the joke?"

*a few people laugh*

Billy: "Well, I mean thats a slight misrepresentation. The joke was like...I came up with the name, kind of like a... telling some jokes with some friends & I thought oh that would be a stupid band name to have. There was no band, I hadn't even met anybody in the band and people would say, I would say, 'Oh I'm going to start a band.' And they would say, 'Oh what's the name oh it?' I'd say, 'Oh, The Smashing Pumpkins, ha ha.' There was no band. Then when I met the band, they were like, 'What are we going to call it, I was like, 'Why don't we just call it this funny name for a while and we'll just figure out a real name eventually.' Then people would come up, 6 months later. 'Hey how is your band, The Smashing Pumpkins?' It just... people wouldn't forget it. So that was the #1 thing to happen, which is recognition."

KROQ: "Do you plan on changing it to a real one? Or does it suit you just find."

Billy: "On a interesting side note, there was a women in Chicago who used to be like a booker, and she used to book some of our very first shows, and she pulled me to the side and said, 'You know I really like you guys, I think you really need to change the name, because your never going to get anywhere with it.' " [???]

well okay then

yeah, its kinda lame, its not really a joke

I don't get why the "Smashing Pumpkins" is a stupid band name to have. I like it! Does that mean I'm lame by Billy's standards?

when i first heard it i didnt really think twice about it- i just thought it was a band name. but when i told my mum about them she was like "woa! what a strage name!!!" then when i told dad he was like "......" haha he didnt know what to say. a few of my friends were really shocked about the name aswell.

i thought it was because billy used to say that he had a band called smashing pumpkins. then when james and billy got together they were stumped for a name so billy said "ok we will just call it smashing pumpkins for the moment" and then they never changed it. im glad they didnt change it!

i thought it was the obvious name for the band that made the tonight, tonight video, thats when i first heared about them

no i think its great i mean how many losers in highscool (or after) do you know that went around saying "yeah im in this band" or "im going to start a band" without ever obtaining a reputation like billy's and the pumpkins? i can think of at least a dozen (myself included hahaha)

i like the story behind led zepplins naming..they said the band would go down like a led balloon, took the name and oh the irony!

haha amen to that

we're still hoping to put together a band someday...maybe when our third member gets here from ohio

i want to be in a band eventually, so i have to learn how to play guitar, so for the last few days i've been trying to play "Tonite Reprise' on my guitar because its kinda easy in the first part if i'm just picking.

actually that's a really good thing to start playing guitar on

simple picking and chords, and it's slow

I believe, although I might be wrong, that in Graceful Swans of Never Billy says that on Halloween one day his friend said was going out to smash pumpkins, and billly was like, dude, one day I'm gonna have a band and I'm gonna call it Smashing Pumpkins