Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins held reign over ’90s alt-rock. Grunge has fallen back into fashion, but Corgan seems to be moving on, with much help from the internet. And an Amanda Palmer puppet.
Drastic changes first came with the launch of Everything From Here to There, a website that is “a collective of thoughts about spirituality and the greater good of life in general.” These spiritual explorations include questions of “Who is God if not Us?” and “Who am I to love myself so? I am me.”
So yeah, there was that. And then, Corgan announced that the 8th Smashing Pumpkins album was underway, and will be released, for free on the internet, one at a time — for 44 songs. The idea here is to create “a new kind of album, an album you can hear as its being made.” Look for that to start any day now.
Perhaps somewhere between his spiritual scribblings and the insights provided by this concept album, there is an explanation for this:
What you’ve got here is episode one of “Gothageddon.” It’s something of a puppet cage match between The Cure’s Robert Smith (“Smith means business”) and Corgan himself. (“What sound does Robert Smith falling in the forest make? Exactly.”) Amanda Palmer, Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy and former bandmate James Iha show up as well.
It’s hard to tell where Corgan is going with this video. In real life, he’s worked with Smith in the past, and as this YouTube video will attest to, they’ve got something special.
So call this all spiritual, or call it what you will. It’s clear the internet has enabled a new era of possibility for Corgan, and his puppet friends as well.
[via TwentyFourBit]