‘Monuments to an Elegy’
D
It’s not too hard to figure out why the Smashing Pumpkins, as well as other like-minded acts of the 1990s, became so massively popular during its decade in the limelight.
Not only did the band write “harshly-soft” music with distortion set to 11, but it wrote about loss, isolation, troubled livelihoods and heartbreak in the most brutally honest way imaginable, as evident on sublime albums such as “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie.”
But fame, like paranoia, can become a disease to the mind that can halt and destroy everything in its wake if not put under control.
That’s where Billy Corgan comes in.
I won’t bother filling in the blanks about how much of a dictator Corgan was during the lifespan of the Pumpkins, but to say it wasn’t pretty is an understatement.
Long story short, they released a few maddeningly boring albums and broke up in 2000.
Cut to seven years later when Corgan found that his side projects weren’t giving him much attention, leading to the catastrophic reunion and “comeback” album, “Zeitgeist.”
In reality, it was, and still is, just Billy Corgan trying to stay relevant.
“Monuments to an Elegy,” the Smashing Pumpkin’s 2014 album, is another personification of that fact.
Say what you will about “Zeitgeist,” at least it had some interesting ideas going for it, regardless of the stagnant aroma surrounding it.
“Monuments” has nothing going for it in any sense, even with the inclusion of guest drummer Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, which comes off as a puzzling gimmick more than anything else.
The root of the problem resides in Corgan, who, like everything he’s done since 2000, doesn’t sound like he’s even interested at all, much less trying to write anything with a spark of inspiration.
Maybe it’s because it’s hard to relate to a man who’s pushing 50 trying to connect with a younger audience, or still trying to retain the old fan base that’s more than likely moved on by now.
It would seem to be a fitting assumption, seeing as how consistently tired, boring and lukewarm “Monuments” sounds throughout.
Like previous releases, “Monuments” is more proof, if there ever needed to be any, that Smashing Pumpkins has been a band in name only, an excuse for Corgan to siphon his “side-project” music to an audience that wouldn’t, and didn’t, care otherwise.
Billy Corgan, if you’re just in it for the money, try to not be so obvious about it.
Dylan Corbeill
