Check out the new blog from Billy:

http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/blog

American Gothic eh? I think it sounds kinda cool...

I think it's cool, too. From now on I will refer to thier music as American Gothic.

If he's so worried about a"label" being placed on their music, then why create another one? Not that I mind, I just don't think it's necessary.

PistolPete wrote:
If he's so worried about a"label" being placed on their music, then why create another one? Not that I mind, I just don't think it's necessary.

neither do i, but beyond that, i was hoping that the blog was going to be something on the 20th anniversary shows.

As much as Billy tries to pin the label 'gothic' on himself, I've always had a difficult time seeing him as purely 'goth', mainly due to the fact that I first came to know them as an 'alternative' band.

Only some of their songs sound traditionally 'gothic' - others span the range from folky-acoustic to apocalyptic stoner rock to electronica. Also, their style is not traditionally 'goth' - a label I associate more with people who look like this



than like this

I think it fits

Sounds like he was joking. It's hard to tell with Billy.

i'd say the marked are pretty damn goth

Look at the one third from the right!

Yeuch, I dislike that fashion...

What a strange declaration.

those are quite the outfits redmond.

i thought it was a strange declaration. i wonder if he's serious too.

I think it's a movement to individualize their music. Yes, it seems silly to relabel something, especially when the issue is that it's labeled in the first place. But, given the inevitable nature of habitual labeling (research "Zen" ), I think it's a good move on Billy's part.

You know, I don't think he's joking, but I don't think it's nonsensical either. It's sort of like, since everyone is going to label it anyway, why not individualize it?

American Gothic. Has a nice ring to it, no? And I don't think "Gothic" has to remain true to its newer implications of fashion, nor to it's association with certain writings styles. I think it's more a feeling behind the music, and I've always thought of the Pumpkins in that way.

Well, these are just my thoughts.

Haha, I just realised how short-sighted my statement sounded.

I do realise he doesn't mean that kind of "goth" xP

Others might not. I don't think anyone except people who check out SP websites would actually know about this though.

Geek N.Z. wrote:
I don't think anyone except people who check out SP websites would actually know about this though.

i agree ^^ unless he talks about it in some bigger interview thing, although i think others (non- fans, critics, etc...) would just think he was being weird or pretentious or something.

OK, somhow the genre "American Gothic" fits perfectly to the music of the Pumpkins.
If you look at the albums, wether they are American, Gothic or both.

Gish - An American early 90s indie-rocker.

Siamese Dream - A (nearby) perfect American rock album with some sad moments (Gothic?!) in it

MCIS - Both off the two worlds; American rockers but also silent and gothy moments of sadness and lonliness.

Adore - Guess, what

MACHINA I & II - OK, you can call this an experimental set of songs, but in it's depth, I think, there's much more desperation and helplesness than on every other Pumpkins release (Stand inside your love, In my body, Age of innocence...). So for me, the whole MACHINA-thing has the gothic-intuition in a subliminal way.


Well, that's just how I could understand Billy's statement.

...and yes, I know, classic gothic is something very different (Some friends of mine go in that gotic-direction) and the Pumpkins ARE no gothic band (especially not today), but there are parallels and I think in mid 90s Billy felt the same kind of lonliness, loss and maybe longing for an end, too, as gothic people claim to do.

i think american gothic fits, when i hear it i don't think of the "goth" scene, i think of something beautiful, but a little dark, a little romatic, a little dangerous. all of that rolled into one.

Well; classic British Goth rock was never as stereotypically defined as the ideas of goth that come to mind today. In fact you could probably label a lot of other bands with gothic tendencies such as Joy Division. But I think its probably more to do with the themes of the pumpkins: Heavy focus on romanticism (when was the last time Billy wrote a song not to do with that?)and often nihilism or general despair even, and when infused with the cassic conceptions of American rock; that sort of hard rock idea it kinda makes sense. Although I would say that ironically they're less that today since theyve been making happier music.