The Smashing Pumpkins, My Chemical Romance, and please humor the fangirl.

The Smashing Pumpkins are officially reunited. In theory. Really, it’s just Billy and Jimmy – James and D’arcy apparently didn’t want to get involved, and have replacements. But they are releasing a new album under the Pumpkins name, and they played their first show since 2000 in Paris this week. They're doing a series of now-sold out concerts at the Fillmore in San Francisco this July. I would love to go if I could find a ticket for less than $200…seriously guys. I like their new single Tarantula quite a bit -- it still sounds Pumpkiny, but updated a little for the MCR age.

And speaking of MCR, sometimes we just KNOW certain truths about the way things would have been in a parallel universe. And I know that if I were born in 1993, I'd be in love with Gerard Way. Seeing My Chemical Romance live really connected me with the band as a band, made of people, rather than songs that come from my iPod. And it occurred to me that they are kind of like a certain band I was once madly obsessed with. Both bands were oftem grouped with large alternative trends of their day (grunge and emo, respectively), but in truth both SP and MCR drew on a rather different set of influences that gave their music the grandiosity and diversity often lacking in their more stripped-down contemporaries. They have lots in common, despite their different sounds. Incredible skill with catchy, epic pop melodies. A rather morbid sensibility. Unabashed ambition propelled by a ghoulishly cute and charismatic frontman. Overproduction, overemotion, overEVERYTHING, but in a good way. The ability to polarize audiences and win obsessive long-time fans. The tendency to reinvent themselves, and not being afraid to stray too far from their roots. The ability to transform pretension, noise and melodrama into (I think) powerful, beautiful art.

So I wasn’t surprised to come across this in an interview with Gerard:

...In fact when we made out first record, I had patterned our career off The Pumpkins because they were able to do such free and artistic music. I wanted Revenge to be our Siamese Dream though. If you listen to Gish, it’s a band that’s discovering themselves. There are some self-indulgent elements to it, they’re a little bit all over the place…If you listen to our first record, it was the same way. It was a little self-indulgent, but there’s stuff happening all over the place. You’re really not sure what the focus is. By the time Siamese came out, they had harnessed that into something that could connect with a much broader audience. It was important to them to connect with a broader audience and not for fame or for money or for anything else. I’m not sure about Billy Corgan, but I know for us...it’s important for us to get our message out. It seems very sincere for them, so I really wanted to pattern that in a way off of Siamese Dream of what they’ve done like the next record is patterned off of Mellon-Collie and the next phase of their career.

I like this quotation because it shows the flipside of “selling out” – if you’re really trying to say something with your music, wouldn’t you want it to be as accessible as you can make it? The trouble with the Pumpkins as a model (which Gerard must realize) is that SP’s career peaked at Mellon Collie. Does this mean the Black Parade will be the beginning of the end for MCR? Only time will tell. But it made me happy.

It helps that Gerard and Billy look a lot alike. Observe.

Snarling:

Why yes, I do feel pretty.

Oh my god, they're smiling, get the camera.

Now, look pained and glamorous.

This one's just too cute, and his face looks exactly like Billy.

I realize how completely meaningless this excercise is, but damn was it fun to look for those pictures. It took me less time than you might imagine.

And then I found this priceless interview clip with Billy on why he decided to reunite SP:


Haha! The truth comes out!! A few quick clicks will tell you that Billy and Gerard are only a decade apart. But it's still brilliant. Oh Billy, I love you. And I'm so glad I'm not 15 anymore and can look at pictures of your second coming without entertaining too many hopeless romantic fantasies.

One final thought on MCR: They really, really, REALLY should cover “Born to Run.” They’re from Jersey. They’re epic. They’re loud. They’re different enough from the Boss to make the cover into something cool instead of just a tribute. "I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight in an everlasting kiss?" Sounds about right.