He points directly to Spin, which toasted the Pumpkins multiple times throughout the '90s, but in a countdown of the 125 best albums of the past 25 years, ignored Gish. "Siamese was at 60, and we were on the cover of Spin in the '90s — what, four or five times? It's amazing how history gets rewritten by the same people who helped write it.
"If you'd asked me 20 years ago [for] my opinion, it was a lot higher than it is now," Corgan adds. "I certainly think it's really good, and what really strikes me now in hindsight is the incredible amount of passion in it, which in a weird way you're not used to hearing in music anymore. There's a beauty in that raw passion."
Now recognized as a record that (eventually, over time) went platinum, Gish re-surfaces from EMI on November 29, in tandem with Siamese Dream. Both are armed with remastered sounds, bonus content, and special features, and in a variety of media (deluxe editions, CD, vinyl, and digital).
As much as he hates the nostalgia trip that other bands latch onto for a cash grab, Corgan wanted to do something to recognize the album. “There are points worth celebrating, and we’ve talked about different things where we could celebrate Gish properly. I just don’t want any part of that sentimental, mawkish, maudlin ‘Wasn’t the past so great?’ I’m hopeful that Gish will get a second look, because it is valuable in that way. I’m not saying it’s the same, but when I listen to early Who, there’s a certain vibrancy there that obviously gets lost later in exchange for sophistication. I think that’s sort of how it is for us; there’s a vibrancy that can only be from that time, and I think that’s what’s beautiful about it.”
SMASHING PUMPKINS | Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Place, Boston | October 21 @ 7 pm | 18+ | $38 to $58 | 617.697.0810 or ticketmaster.com
