The Smashing Pumpkins Are Really Good + The Tragic Demise Of Music Television

The Smashing Pumpkins are really good. I always liked them when they were popular, and I got all their albums from Siamese Dream through MACHINA a long time ago. I also got Greatest Hits and Zeitgeist when they were released. Anyway, for the longest time, I only listened to the singles off those records, which are all really good songs, but there is so much more on all those records. Billy Corgan is a great songwriter, and a lot of the time you think of him as having a strong metal influence, and songs like Zero are great, but a lot of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs are love songs. Corgan can write the sweetest melodies and lyrics and create arrangements and instrumentation that highlights that sweetness, just listen to Cupid De Locke from Mellon Collie And the Infinite sadness. Anyway, there is such a vast array of material on such a small number of records, it's really amazing. It makes me want to get Gish, Pisces Iscariot, other various B-sides collections, and Corgan's other side projects (Zwan and his solo album).

So, I was listening to the Smashing Pumpkins and it got me thinking about music videos. The video for 1979 is about all these kids having a great time, then the video for the song Perfect shows the same kids a few years later, and everything's not going so well. And that got me to thinking about how music videos used to be important cultural/artistic statements; they used to be a vital part of America's cultural fabric. They used to mean something, but you don't really see them anymore. It's not that they're not artistic anymore, they still could be, but no one cares because no one has the opportunity to see them. The only way you'll see a music video of an artist is if you're a big fan and you're looking for it on youtube or itunes or something like that. TV doesn't show music videos anymore, I guess cause they don't bring in viewers. It's kind of sad though, because they used to be an important cultural medium. So, that's that. Watch music videos if you can, they're often good.

Smashing Pumpkins "1979"


Smashing Pumpkins "Perfect"


Also, buy records, like Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins

Hugz 'n' kissiz,
Sean

Cadbury's Mini Eggs Try To Make Me Fatter Every Easter

Cadbury's Mini Eggs are by far the best candy ever created. When they show up in stores every Easter, I end up buying too many to mention. The point is that I eat an unhealthy amount of Mini Eggs every year, and it's not like I am in great shape or eat very healthy anyway. So, anyway, does this mean I will stop eating them? No. they're too good. Eat tons of Mini Eggs.

Also, buy records.

Hugz 'n' kissiz,
Sean

Why Isn't There More Of The Office?

The Office is so good that it's own goodness collapses back in on itself making it bad, at which point the goodness makes it so bad that the goodness-generated badness collapses back in on itself and becomes good again. That's how good The Office is. It makes me sad, because I've seen it all so much that I have an insatiable craving for even more. The writer's strike sucked a lot. It shortened with fourth season, which is lame. I wish I didn't have to wait until April 10th is more. What kind of fuckery is that? But it's okay, cause it's good. Sorry this post is kind of pointless. It's just that The Office is really good and someone else needed to say it, because as many people as have already said it is just not enough (I'm not sure if that sentence is grammatically correct, oh well). So, watch The Office.

Also, buy records like Van Morrison's newly reissued masterpiece Into The Music, which is perhaps the best record your pathetic ears will ever hear.

Hugz 'n' kissiz,
Sean

Amy Winehouse Is Really Good

It's too bad that Amy Winehouse is such a hopeless drunk, drug addict, because her music is really amazing. If you've only heard "Rehab," that's too bad, because that it by far her worst song. The rest of the songs on her second album Back To Black are more like Motown, but often with the modern beats and horns sound that producer Mark Ronson is known for. Just listen to "He Can Only Hold Her," and if you don't like that song, you don't appreciate good music. Her first album Frank is a little bit different, it's more jazz and contemporary pop. It's not quite as good, but it's definitely still worth listening to. So hopefully she sorts herself out so she can keep making music, because she's got a lot to offer to the world of music. Oh, and people who say we shouldn't buy her music, because it's supporting her drug habit are stupid. Unless she can get away from doing drugs, she's going to do them whether she's making money or not. So buy not buying her records, you're only hurting an already crippled music industry and forcing her to resort to other, more harmful means to get drugs. What you should do is pray that she stops doing drugs. And oh yeah, it's not like the majority of other music performers don't do drugs as well, she's just no good at keeping it secret.



I've been writing songs this month for FAWM. I've got 15 so far. They tell the story of some people in the fictional Independence County. I wish I was a better songwriter. Hopefully keeping writing will make me better. Try writing songs yourself, it's fun.

Also, buy records like Amy Winehouse's Back To Black.

Hugz 'n' kissiz,
Sean