Tommy Lee Records With Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins will release Monuments To An Elegy next month. Playing drums on the entire album is Tommy Lee. This is an interesting collaboration to me. On one hand, the Smashing Pumpkins are nearly as far away from Motley Crue as you can get these days. On the other, that's probably the point and why Tommy was interested in the first place. "One And All" is one of the album's first singles and it is below.

Comments

[Him]

Let's state it as both a figurative and literal conceit: that is a pretty small room for two rather large egos.

That said, if Corgan can elicit something approximating "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" we might be in the pocket, so to speak, that Lee can manage and to which his signature sound could contribute. Case in point: this single sounds like a roughed up outtake from that era.

Which is a good thing. SP's had a very narrow window in which they exerted any real pressure on mainstream music and likely would have succumbed to a quiet death if they had continued along the lines of _SD_ or the early _Gish_. Fact is, albums after _MCatIS_ felt pulled in too many directions, few of which seemed to rely much on people with talent beyond Corgan. The Curse of LSD strikes again.

Sad fact though (actually, just a prediction): this will likely garner very little attention before fading into obscurity. And most, if not all, of said attention will be because of TL . . . not exactly a refreshing restart for fans of SP, not enough to pull back in old fans who left after SP really just became Corgan, and unlikely to pull in new fans either.

Thought experiment: what would the reaction be like to the Cruecify at a SP concert?

[GNR]

Wow...that is a very well thought out insightful analysis HIM. Kudos !

I was in college the time the Pumpkins broke thru, very talented band, but yet you are right in having egos. Never could peg which genre/sound they were going for. But they do have a few good tunes.

[fletch]

I am not a SP fan, but not too long ago, I listened to billy corgan on howard stern. corgan told of a story that while in school, he was given a career aptitude test, which included an aptitude for music. corgan said that (really unbeknownst to anyone at the time), he scored the highest ever recorded grade in the state (Illinois) for musical acuity. He scored so well that the school administration reportedly went to his parents and said that if they do not get him involved in music, it would be a form of neglect. I've considered him having a large ego, but I don't know if I would go so far as labeling him with LSD. Let's leave that distinction to the professionals such as roth, tyler and roth. (yes, roth gets a nod twice for high honors).

[Bob]

De gustibus non est disputandum of course, but I never got the appeal of Smashing Pumpkins, and I don't subscribe to the opinion that Corgan is talented. I'm sure most of this comes from my age, as I was 26 when "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" came out. I know that SP hated the grunge label, but to me, their music just sounded like all the other manufactured musical angst that was being regurgitated in the mid 90s.

As for TL, the man does not do anything by accident. to me, this is a calculated move to begin distancing himself from the Motley boys. Honestly, I don't have a problem with this because Motley's best days are long behind them, and they are basically phoning it in night after night. Will the masses care that TL drummed on SP's new album?...Probably not.

[Dj]

Well it is cool to see Tommy Lee relatively involved with some kind of rock n roll band. Smashing Pumpkins was never my cup of tea, his ego is through the roof. I would rather take a band like Stone Temple Pilots over these clowns.

[Metalboy!]

I happen to like Smashing Pumpkins despite Corgan's annoying whine. Jimmy Chamberlain's Chuck Taylors are big shoes to fill even for Lee but I think he sounds great on this, giving the Smashing Pumpkins a little more of a raw Rock'n'Roll sound given his signature style.

I've already heard critical acclaim for this, so maybe it'll catch fire, who knows. That said, I have come to the realization that I can be a fan of Smashing Pumpkins without ever listening to them again, including this album. Still, it's nice to know Lee is on it and kudos to Corgan for recruiting him.

Fun Fact: Corgan and Lee have one cool thing in common beyond this collaboration... They are both HUGE fans of Cheap Trick, a band I NEVER get tired of listening to!!!

[crued]

metalboy! i know its hard but your fave song from cheap trick? mines gonna raise hell live or dream police.
mommys all right,,daddys all right

[crued]

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Dream+Police/4dz9Rt?src=5
there ya go metalnoy

[Ace....]

Is it 1995 again? Didn't Tommy Lee already record w/ the Punkin's around the time of the Corabi/Crue record?

[Gary]

Hey. At least it's not freaking dub step/electronica bullshit that at-Bone is normally trying to force feed rock audiences.It's a start....

[Him]

I will second Gary on that comment. Same goes for your CT pick crued. And I always marvel at how many people didn't notice it was CT on _That 70's Show_ theme song, "In the Street," after Season One(sounded quite different to me from the Griffin version the first season and better than the Big Star original). The whole Bun E. Carlos stuff as of late, however, is a stain on their reputation if you ask me (which you didn't).

The main topic? I will leave it to the ether . . . sadly, critical acclaim and a dollar fifty get you a soda these days. But thanks for the nod GNR.

Oh, one last thing: Fletch, you are right. LSD should only apply to singers of the sort you note. So let's call it LSE (lead singers ego) for those that aspired to the heights of Roth though barely saw the horizon line.

[Metalboy!]

Crued! Thanks for asking me such a great question...

My two favorite Cheap Trick songs are "Hello There" and "Stiff Competition".

And I certainly appreciate your fave Cheap Trick songs. You certainly must be a big fan of the "Dream Police" album.

The third time I ever saw them was at Towson State University in Maryland (Baltimore area) right before that album was released. They performed "Dream Police" AND "Gonna Raise Hell".

p.s. Agreed HIM about the Bun E. Carlos saga... Hate to see these guys at war since they are one of THE greatest bands ever and we could still be seeing the original line-up if they could just settle their differences. Pretty soon, it could be too late!

[Him]

Agreed, Metalboy! I wish more of the backstory was known. What's been reported makes the majority of the band seem cruel and makes Carlos seem a bit effete.

But, either way, it would be nice if they could settle their differences. Saw them years back in a smaller venue and they put on such a great show.