
And then there was one. Via press release: “The SMASHING PUMPKINS’ guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member Billy Corgan has announced that drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has left the group. Chamberlin joined the band Corgan founded in Chicago in 1988 and played on all their albums except Adore (1998). Corgan will continue to write and record as SMASHING PUMPKINS with plans to head into the studio this spring.” In 1996, Corgan kicked the drummer out of the band after he and touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin overdosed on heroin (and Melvoin died). No reason was given this time, but that won’t stop you from speculating, I’m sure.
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oh…. fuck
they couldn’t agree on a group hair style…
Sad News. I really wanted to see them both live again. Stomach hurts :(
Irreconcilable differences re: the Ticketmaster merger.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s because Corgan is a dick.
Corgan is a wanker. Period. Always has been. He was an emo back when emo, well still IS fucking gay. Luckily made some ok tunes tho. But fucked it all up cause he believes he’s the only talent in the band. this was destined to happen, im suprised JC lasted that long…. probably for the $$$
Does your mother know your using her internets? She may be expecting a call. Run along and listen to some more Kill Switch or whatever it is that you sprouts are into these days.
wow, i didn’t think it was possible, but this makes the new SP an EVEN BIGGER farce than it was before!
at least it was 1/2 the band (even though that was pretty ridiculous), but now it’s just a Billy Corgan show with a bunch of extras. yowsa!
though at the same time, if there was to be any form of SP out there, i’d rather it have Chamberlin drumming…
I agree Mulhausen
I don’t care. But I would care if Billy hired that guy in the yellow shirt on the far left of this photo. Yep that would definitely give me cause to care.
If there’s only one person, it’s no longer the Smashing Pumpkins, Mr. Corgan. Doesn’t matter what you’d like to think.
Remember your solo record? or Zwan? Wait, maybe he does remember that and it’s the reason he’s releasing his next solo album under the SP name… hmmm.
just when i thought the parade of smashing pumpkins news couldn’t get funnier…
Just when he thought the parade of Smashing Pumpkins news couldn’t get any funnier…
That is actually a really funny comment.
Thanks for the grammar correction, Jazzbone.
I’m sure anyone who read my comment would’ve been thoroughly confused otherwise.
Too bad. Jimmy is a total skull crusher on drums and definitely has his own style. Smashing Pumpkins can be SP as long as Billy and Jimmy are involved. They can’t be SP without the two of them together. This is a shame.
billy: please please break up the group and save whatever’s left of sp’s legacy – i fucking beg you
They both look miserable…
Plaster some shades on Corgan in that picture and he could make a career out of playing “Surfing With the Alien” (and suing Coldplay).
Hey, Billy’s head is pointy like a gnome. How had I not seen that before?
Jimmy: Hey Billy, what’s up with the whole ‘appearing before congress’ thingy? I think you’re making yourself less and less credible everyday. I mean, first- the whole Visa ad, and now this…
Billy: I have an M.D. from Harvard, I am board certified in cardio-thoracic medicine and trauma surgery, I have been awarded citations from seven different medical boards in New England, and I am never, ever sick at sea. So I ask you; when someone goes into that chapel and they fall on their knees and they pray to God that their wife doesn’t miscarry or that their daughter doesn’t bleed to death or that their mother doesn’t suffer acute neural trauma from postoperative shock, who do you think they’re praying to? Now, go ahead and read your Bible, Jimmy, and you go to your church, and, with any luck, you might win the annual raffle, but if you’re looking for God, he was talking to Congress on March 10th, and he doesn’t like to be second guessed. You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God.
Jimmy: …uhhhh, later man…
epic fail.
please just hang it up now billy, please.
Animal Collective > Smashing Pumpkins
nearly everyone > smashing pumpkins
um….siamese dream/gish > animal collective. My dogs barking > animal collective. I don’t care what you think about every shitty sp album since.
Not being an ass > Bringing up Animal Collective every five seconds.
You can’t force everyone to like that band. Sorry, they just don’t write the kind of albums I enjoy.
Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness, and cleanliness is godliness, and God doesn’t care about the Smashing Pumpkins, just like me.
He never really fit in any way. Maybe him, D’arcy, and James Iha, can form a sweet band.
Except James is already in his own AWESOME SUPERGROUP GUYS, CMON!
I wish Corgan would have just disappeared after Siamese Dream. I mean, that’s a pretty sweet legacy if he just quits right there. The 90′s were full of artists who quit/died just as they were getting interesting. He should have been one of them (who quit).
No, no I think you had it right before you inserted the too kind ( ) clarification… Corgan should have died.
Does it really even matter?
World’s Greatest Drummer decides to jump sinking ship.
Don’t bring Janet Wiess into this.
don’t leave rick allen out of this
I’d quit too.
Who the fuck cares? The Smashing Pumpkins haven’t been interesting or relevant in a fuckin’ lifetime.
Not to mention Corgan is such a twat that it literally overshadows his music.
Further proof of why no one should touch anything labeled “Smashing Pumpkins” post Machina II. Let’s all petition for Billy to realize he’s a solo artist who can play Pumpkins songs, because after all, he wrote them.
Fuckin’ Billy Corgan.
Well, if James Iha can find second life with Tinted Windows, it’s only a matter of time before Chamberlin comes back with another super group featuring other once prominent artists.
He should join forces with the singer from Deep Blue Something, the bassist from the Gin Blossoms and the guitarist from Collective Soul.
Good for him! He prolly got tired of Corgan’s twisted meanness & isolation. Good luck, JC!
Smashing Pumpkin
If I wasn’t so drunk I’d be more sad / introspective / have a better comment to make other than: Fuck Billy Corgan. Fuck the Smashing Pumpkins (2000 – now), and MOTHERFUCK Courtney Love for good measure.
Man. I used to love Siamese Dream when I was younger.
Billy Corgan is the next Brett Favre.
I do not understand your sports reference.
That’s Ryan Adams. Billy is more of a Ty Cobb in that he was once awesome but becomes a prick the more you get to know him.
sorry i meant to thumbs up your comment, but my mouse freaked out and hit the thumbs down. long story short: funny comment :)
Billy Corgan is a vampire…sent to drain
Nice little death joke there from Stereogum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4Ok35HEJQ
I miss this :(
First of all, I do agree with everyone. Corgan’s a dick, he’s embarrassed himself and anyone who loves the Pumpkins.
And at this point, I dont think he can go any lower, he may as well try to make a pumpkins record, even though i think he shouldnt. but honestly, he cant go any lower.
BUT… let’s not forget, Billy did write Mellon Collie and Siamese Dream.. anyone who does that deserves some credit.
Over the last two years I have seen Billy Corgan for the jerk he really is. What has topped it all off, are, his totally discusting comments at shows!! I feel like throwing up everytime i think about the things he has said to fans. Yes, some long time nineties fans may have been insulting too, in recient times, but I think its a sign that Billy Corgan needs to sort out his life, his head and his personal life. I’m only saying this because once apon a time I used to care.
I’m gonna “thumbs down” this soley because it doesnt make any sense. I’m against being a stickler for grammar on the net, but you needed to give that one a second pass.
That said, I agree with what I THINK you are trying to say.
meh. I only ever liked Gish, and ‘Drown from the Singles soundtrack. everything after that bored me. this ‘development’ i could care less about. Corgan is one of those people who is very prolific but has bad taste in his own music, which has gotten worse the larger his ego has gotten. he had good instincts in the first place, but bought too much into his own hype.
Chamberlain’s album has been the only tolerable solo effort from anybody in that band.
Oh yeah, this post reminds me of something… It reminds me that the Smashing Pumpkins never needed this sorry excuse for a “drummer” in the first place. Yeah, I said it.
Sorry excuse for a drummer? Are you f’in kidding me?
dude can pound the skins with the best of them. a ferocious, creative, technically-impressive monster of percussion. dig up some old live videos of them blazing through “geek u.s.a.” and watch him rip. the only question is how a heroin addict (at their peak) could keep the beats so tight…
Agreed. Chamberlin is one of the best drummers in rock music, or at least one of the best to emerge from the late-’80s/early-’90s alt-rock scene. He’s right up there with Dave Grohl and Josh Freese.
it’s always been a dream of mine to have steve albini record jimmy playing drums – something that, despite them all being from chicago, probably never happened because billy is a douche.
but can you imagine jimmy bashing away with albini on production? it would sound unreal.
I pity the foo. All you foos are talkin’ like ya know Mr.Corgan personally,but ya don’t. So quit yo shit talkin’ and sit back and watch what happens mothafucka!
-Mr.T
P.S. I pity everyone of ya haters.
This just in…Billy Corgan has quit The Smashing Pumpkins, too. The band will carry on with the members of REO Speedwagon taking their place. Corgan plans on devoting more time to his political career in the Republican Party.
In other news, the Republican Party has called it quits……
Makes you wonder if Jim was faking it in the recent interviews/press those two have done together, where it honestly looks like he’s in pain when he’s trying to support Billy’s insane antics. I really look forward to hearing both sides of this story
You people seriously suck. How do you call billy a dick and a jerk, etc. You people make me sick. You arent true pumpkins fans at all. Hes prolly been under alot of pressure latey i dont know. But it does suck jimmy left, but we’ll see what happens because if billy thinks he can still make music, there must be something behind that.
I am one as you are three, dumbass
cherub rock = air guitar awesomeness.
say what you want about everything after, but this is fucking rock and roll. i dare you not to completely lose your shit.
of course it could have nothing to do with the fact that jimmy has had health problems in the recent past? last year they had to cancel 2 of their biggest concerts in atlanta and other places and postpone them til later due to jimmy having heart problems.
and for all the kiddies who just discovered SP and want to talk all back-in-the-day-like, billy corgan is the heart and soul of SP, granted not having all the original members is a drag but in all honesty, just because jimmy and billy are working together doesn’t mean much.. *cough*ZWAN*cough*..
is that mystery in the background?
One original member and he’s still going to use the name Smashing Pumpkins? Billy and “The Smashing Pumpkins” should tour with Guns & Roses.
How are you going to fucking dis my comment. You guy really dont have any heart do you?
If you looked at this article you gave to fucking care a little. So quit writing your negative comments being the assholes you are because you’re making things worse.
^
Bitch is ca-razy!
1.) Billy Corgan smokes turds.
2.)the rest of Smashing Pumpkins should regroup, as SP, with David Lee Roth singing.
3.)who gives a shit?
still recording as smashing pumpkins……? why. give it up dude its about that time. how you will find a drummer to fit the sp sound i do not know.
Who is this Matt Smith that is being thrown around as Chamberlin’s temp replacement?
Who’s this Matt Smith that’s being mentioned as a temp replacement?
Oh no. oh no oh no oh no oh no…. dammit what happened now
Oh no. oh no oh no oh no oh no…. dammit what happened now
From the drummer’s mouth:
http://jimmychamberlincomplex.com/blog/?p=36
i hate whenever people say “If you hate XYZ band, then why are you even reading/commenting on this story?”
You mean you’ve never read up on a headline even if it was for a band you don’t like? CURIOSITY is what it’s called.
Now get off your high horse.
also, yes, Billy Corgan is the heart of SP, but he also happened to make MUCH BETTER music when he was with the original band members…..
Billy Corgan is the next Bobby Knight
I wish the guy from Wheatus would give his opinion on this matter.
I hope Animal Collective covers Gish in its entirety
It sucks, and Billy is an arrogant asshole; but he’s incredibly talented and intelligent so I think that pretty much gives him a license to do whatever the fuck he wants. If I had half his talent I’d be an arrogant prick, too! Why not?
He said something ages ago about how The Smashing Pumpkins weren’t a group of friends that got together to make music. He basically recruited people he thought could help play his music. It sucks that Jimmy is leaving, but it will always be Billy’s band, and Billy’s music, no matter what label Billy chooses to put on it. Band’s evolve. Some bands can keep the same line up for years and still end up sucking and changing. So I disagree that the band was better with D’arcy and Iha, and of course Jimmy. They were different, but I don’t think they were necessarily better. I actually liked the Adore and Machina years. And I like the Zeitgeist sound, too. It’s not the same as Mellon Collie, but if they were to stick to the same sound you whiny bitches would be complaining that they never put out anything original, either. I wish Jimmy the best of the best in the future and I can’t wait to see what The Smashing Pumpkins and Billy put out next!
i hope animal collective dies.
and secondly
i hope billy corgan decides to put out a new album NOT under the SP name because it was already a stretch before with just jimmy, but now by himself it is not SP at all. so that will piss a lot of people off if he puts out a SP cd that is not SP. i support jimmy leaving if he wasn’t happy. that takes guts when u know you will make a lot of people sad for one reason.