This poll isn't asking what you want it to sound like, but what you think it will sound like.

I don't know what Billy and the band could be "angsty" about. I could be wrong as there really hasn't been any new on Billy and the gang regaurding any turmoil or whatever else. I think it'll be a little electro-poppish, kind of like Adore and TheFutureEmbrace. If Billy is tranquil and happy, I can't see something like "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" coming our way.

When he's happy (the Arising! Tour) BC's been known to enjoy screaming and riffing monstrously. Keep in mind, the band did make Mellon Collie when everyone was generally in good spirits.

With that said, I think it'll sound like a bit of everything. Or at least, that's my hope.

Remember the Pumpkins sound is always changing so it could end up being something totally new, but it would be nice if they managed to make it sound like a bit of each album.

Probably a mix of everything with a lot of electronica

I kinda agree with zer0, I think it will be nothing like any of BC's previous albums, but I'm afraid it won't sound as innovative as the pumpkins' work used to be in the nineties

i voted mix of everything, but i think that it could be something copletley different to the usual pumpkins sound(even though there is no "usual" sound for them- it changed in every album)
with jimmy in the line up i think there will be lots of heavy drums and really cool, upfront techniques.
with billy, i think he could be tempted to put his touch of electro-pop in there, as well as mixing it in with jimmy's drums.
i dont think SP2 will revisit any of their earlier sounds. thats kind of impossible. gish was produced when they were dropping acid, siamese dream was produced when there was tension in the band and jimmy and billy being the only parts on the CD. because of this i think people will expect siamese dream, but its hard to revisit a sound that was produced more than 10 years ago when they had different perspectives on life and music. mellon collie was such a variety of different genres and all four members had their part in compiling tracks. adore was without jimmy- kind of hard to say that SP2 will sound like that, it was also a hard part in billy's life which is what drove most of the songs on it, machina was kind of a rebirth of the previous line up, billy was happy to have his alli back which led to billy being happy to the drums being a huge part on that album.
woa that was long.

yeah i hope it sounds completely different. i just hope there's a heavy song on there, not because i have any kind of special interest in heavy music, but when billy does it it tends to be really good. i just get sick of hearing crappy heavier songs, so i'd like to hear one of billy's for a change. the main thing i really don't want to happen is for their new sound to end up being dry and quirky like most of bands' when they reform

i think the new sound will be like oldschool prog rock, and the only thing electro about it would be keyboards, like they had them back in the day, lots of riffing and drumming, sort of free to just rock out, prog rock!

Not to be ungrateful, I am HAPPY SP are reforming, but I really don't want anymore electro pop, I want a band that I can say to people, hey you see, I told you this band was good, and show them their new songs rockin' out. Not a band that's a good listen, but not amazing y'know.

I want some old school prog rock like yteah! Siamese Dream type stuff, that would be fucking awesome!

well if you look at the producers(the queen guy and terry date) and the fact that JC mentioned looking to Rush and Grateful Dead for help, it paints a pretty awesome picture.

This is how I see it:

Rush and grateful dead are known extended jam bands. So you expect lots of guitar interplaying and extended musical sections with few words. I don't expect a lot of synth stuff seeing as billy just did an Electronica record.

By looking at the producers it suggest a very crisp crystalline sound(very un-machina for all the machina haters 8)). Expect the vocal harmonies to sound great.

But the real mystery to me is how is Corgan going to sing. His voice sounds very different on every album so I'm going to expect it will be different than the previous ones. I don't think he will go all raw and emotional via MCIS style. Other than that it's fair game.

They talk about a space theme a lot in jimmy's love letters so I expect his voice to sound 'echo-ey' and faded into the mix, not really UPFRONT like his voice is on machina and zwan.

Rush and grateful dead are known extended jam bands. So you expect lots of guitar interplaying and extended musical sections with few words. I don't expect a lot of synth stuff seeing as billy just did an Electronica record.

By looking at the producers it suggest a very crisp crystalline sound(very un-machina for all the machina haters ). Expect the vocal harmonies to sound great.

But the real mystery to me is how is Corgan going to sing. His voice sounds very different on every album so I'm going to expect it will be different than the previous ones. I don't think he will go all raw and emotional via MCIS style. Other than that it's fair game.

They talk about a space theme a lot in jimmy's love letters so I expect his voice to sound 'echo-ey' and faded into the mix, not really UPFRONT like his voice is on machina and zwan.

well, if that's true, things are looking great, I can't wait. but what about the actual songs? I know that Billy has other influences now then he had in the nineties (during the promotion of TFE, he often said that he likes the bee gees a lot, etc.), so i guess the songs will sound more commercial, a little more like the machina songs (which to me is not a good thing). but with billy, you never know ofcourse...

i think an interesting aspect to the album will be the backing vocals.... james iha always had vocals as well as d'arcy during concerts. in zwan, paz had important backing vocals, notably in Lyric (a song which i love and zwan was not a halfway bad band) and as far as we know there are no official female members and maybe not even working with them ( who knows about madm)

i suspect there will be a choir in some songs, i bet two doll hairs

I would really love to hear another "Siamese Dream" or "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". I know a big element of every music band is to evolve and formulate something new, revolutionary, and "something that has not been done before". A lot of times, however, many fans want to hear material that they were most fanatic about (and usually it's material that the band first came out with on their first couple of CDs). In my opinion, no band really went back to doing "another Siamese Dream" or whatnot, and in so doing, they would set theirselves apart from others.

On the other hand, I could be completely wrong. Bands are in certain moods when they create certain albums. For instance, '90s metalheads enjoyed Korn's first self-titled album from 1994. Korn were young and in an angry mood which produced that sort of music. Presently, however, Korn are now one man short and a happy group of people. Their music is totally different now from what it was. Fans now still yearn to hear another "Self-titled" or "Life is Peachy". Likewise, perhaps the Smashing Pumpkins produced "Siamese Dream" when they were particularly in a difficult period in their lives. Now that they're over that period, perhaps they can never produce such sort of music again.

These are merely my opinions. With a band that is so ecletic in taste like the Smashing Pumpkins, who can tell what anyone can expect? What do you guys think of my rant?

It's a bad Idea for any band to go into the studio knowing what they want their newest album to sound like. I hope they treat each song as what it is, and make their music reflect everything that's around them. I hope they don't fall back on a classic sound that has become accepted and comfortable in order to retrieve something they lost since that time. I hope they continue to evolve as they always have, surprising the world with each album, and being one of the most honest, non-bullshit bands on earth. If that means more electronics and more concepts, so be it. I loved Machina, I loved The Future Embrace, and I have faith in my Pumpkins.

Boy link=topic=796.msg12127#msg12127 date=1164516393]
It's a bad Idea for any band to go into the studio knowing what they want their newest album to sound like. I hope they treat each song as what it is, and make their music reflect everything that's around them. I hope they don't fall back on a classic sound that has become accepted and comfortable in order to retrieve something they lost since that time. I hope they continue to evolve as they always have, surprising the world with each album, and being one of the most honest, non-bullshit bands on earth. If that means more electronics and more concepts, so be it. I loved Machina, I loved The Future Embrace, and I have faith in my Pumpkins.

Ditto. I love SP's past albums, but they can't just try and go back to their old sound. I think that the new album should be progressive, unique, and new - I know that sounds vague - and it should just be exciting and refreshing in general. But, I would like their new music to be at least loosely tied to their old stuff. They shouldn't just foray into techno music.