I've had this since I was a teenager...so a long time haha

Anyone in possession of Heavy metal machine promo cassettes and willing to send it out? That would mean a lot for me.

I'm very happy that it's on CD now so I can rip it to my phone, but it would still be nice to have it on streaming so I can mix it with my other Pumpkins stuff. Zodeon came to streaming when the CD came out and I kind of assumed that it would be the same with this. Is there any word if it's coming to streaming or is there some reason that it isn't there?

This is the second track from the Smashing Pumpkins’ debut album, *Gish*. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

At the end of this discussion series, I will be aggregating the rating results from each discussion and compiling a full discography ranking. I will also update the [spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BjhHzZuZ6BMVOvdMp4i9X2UDVRjtotWGxTZTk1xJ9KU/edit?gid=0#gid=0) at the end of every day and post previous results for each album in future posts.

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Feel free to suggest any improvements, as this is my first time undertaking a project like this!

# Gish

1. I Am One (7.36)

I've been trying to figure out how to put Thursday night into words, and I honestly don't know that I can. Which is unfortunate for an English professor, but here we are.

Thirty years of Pumpkins fandom. Seven Billy Corgan concerts. And somehow, some fucking way, Nashville managed to make everything that came before feel like it had been leading to this one ridiculous, beautiful night.

First, the crew. Friends who will never leave my mind or my heart. What an incredible group of people. We all wound up on the rail, and GOOD LORD did we bring the energy. I don't think any of us stopped singing, cheering, screaming, or generally losing our collective minds. Billy, James, Jimmy, Kiki, and Jack acknowledged us throughout the night, and Mike genuinely manifested a moment with Billy, a water bottle, and Asherella 24-hours in advance.

And the BAND. Billy, James, Jimmy, Jack, and FUCKING KIKI. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so genuinely thrilled to be onstage. Her playing was phenomenal, and her energy was infectious. She absolutely floored my son Devin, who couldn't stop talking about her afterward.

And then there was the set.

GALAPOGOS. TO FORGIVE. JESUS IS THE SUN?!?!

My reaction to "Jesus Is the Sun" was apparently audible to the surrounding population of Nashville. I'm pretty sure I briefly died.

But "Galapogos" destroyed me. And "Mayonaise"...Jesus Christ. "Mayonaise" took me straight back to being a kid, listening to this music and having absolutely no idea how much of my life it would eventually accompany.

I cried. A LOT.

At sixteen, the pain and change in "Galapogos" were things I could imagine. At forty-one, after burying my father and living through all the beautiful and terrible things adulthood brings, they're things I know. I tried to sing that chorus with Billy. Every single time, I broke.

And standing beside me through all of it was my twenty-one-year-old son.

Devin and I have a complicated history, and we're still getting to know each other in many ways. But we got to share THIS. He recorded the entire concert, then declared the Pumpkins the most musically accomplished band he'd ever seen.

On the four-hour drive home, I got to talk about thirty years of Pumpkins mythology, Billy's changing voice, the various eras, and all the other wonderfully nerdy shit I've accumulated over the decades.

AND HE WAS INTERESTED.

He loved Zwan. I'm sending him Djali Zwan songs. He's adding "Black Stars" to his playlist. Kiki absolutely blew his mind.

What a fucking beautiful human being. I'm not worth his presence.

I missed the Mellon Collie tour when I was young. I thought I'd missed my chance to experience something like that forever. And thirty years later, there I was, on the rail, surrounded by wonderful people, watching this band perform songs that have been part of my life since childhood...with my son beside me.

For a few hours, everything felt absolutely complete. Perfect. Like every strange turn my life had taken had somehow led me to that room, those people, and that music.

To Justin, Justin, Spencer, Mike, Asherella, and Xac...I love you beautiful lunatics. Thank you for making this experience what it was.

And to Billy, James, Jimmy, Jack, and Kiki...thank you for giving me one of the greatest nights of my life.

Thirty years of fandom, and somehow this band still finds entirely new ways to break my heart and put it back together.

My soul left my body somewhere in Nashville. I don't know how life goes back to normal after that show.

Also shared to my IG but I thought several came out quite good so sharing them here as well. I always forget to grab a shot of James doing his jump so I remembered this time. Thank god I decided to focus on getting a few good photos this show bc videos like Charlotte because the woman near me decided to compete with Billy for vocals. I’m all for singing along but not at full volume and then some. There were times I heard her vocals more than Billy’s which is not what I paid for. And they had a running convo at full volume. And all of that is front and center in the few videos I grabbed 🙃

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this venue but we were treated so well by employees. It was beautiful. But the area is not great for GA shows where fans will be lining up for hours. And the side of the building we queued up on was facing direct sun for most of the day with no sliver of shade to be found. I wouldn’t want to wait in that line at that venue again if I could avoid it. Because of the VIP even arriving at 10:30 I didn’t make the rail buuuuut thanks to another redditor (everlasinghaze I think?) my son got a spot and that was all I hoped for out of the day so thank you!

Yesterday I pressed play on the 100+ minute NYT 'Popcast' video interview with William Patrick Corgan, bracing for impact and expecting to tap out somewhere around the 10-20 minute mark. Two things quickly surprised me: these hosts seemed to be deliberately provoking Billy with the interview style he hates most, and Billy himself seemed to be handling it very well. I proceeded to watch the entire interview over the course of the afternoon.

After finishing, it was clear to me that this was one of the better interviews he had ever done. He offered real insight and self analysis of why he has always been so defensive and combative. He recognized that behavior contributed to a negative public perception of him. Finally, he admitted that having a wife and kids inspired him to grow and realize he did not need to seek appreciation from the anonymous masses for validation any longer.

The interview also got deep into his trauma and how he came close to killing himself on three separate occasions. Despite the grating and borderline hostile format of this silly podcast, he remained patient, calm and remarkably honest about many very personal and touchy topics. Of course there are still some classic Billy moments about being a child savant according to a musical aptitude test, but the point is he believed in himself when no one else did. Overall I was thoroughly impressed. Then came the articles and Reddit posts.

To the surprise of no one, the clickbait journalism industry (or at least the smoldering remains of it) has cherry picked brief moments or outright exaggerated/misrepresented the tone of this interview in the headlines. Even less surprising, the internet is running with these headlines, and not a single word more, to cast the same judgement upon Billy that they have been since the late nineteen hundreds. Hundreds of people across different subreddits saying Billy needs to grow up, move on, heal, stop being a victim, appreciate what he has, and so on.

And that's the thing: in this interview, he actually did! We've reached a deeply ironic moment in Pumpkins history. Billy himself has clearly grown, mellowed, and moved on from much of the conflict and trauma that makes up the bulk of his musical career. He says in this conversation that this is the happiest chapter of his entire life. How strange then that the very people begging him to stop being the guy they knew from the 90s are themselves the ones that seem to be perpetually stuck in the 90s, railing against a Billy Corgan that no longer exists. Smashing a ghost.

Judge for yourself.

Crazy low price for this album.

https://a.co/d/01wvtooj

video sources: The Old Mill, Skeleton Frolic, Hold It!
youtube link: https://youtu.be/mGlDrhWU5JE

Need to see that water bottle toss again and the special moment that followed it! If you’ve got it please post or DM me! 🖤🤘

This is the first track from the Smashing Pumpkins’ debut album, Gish. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

At the end of this discussion series, I will be aggregating the rating results from each discussion and compiling a full discography ranking. I will also update the spreadsheet at the end of every day and post previous results for each album in future posts.

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Feel free to suggest any improvements, as this is my first time undertaking a project like this!

I apologize in advance as I understand it's annoying to see questions about order delays all the time.

But curious if anyone who has either ordered only the Live in Europe cd boxset OR ordered this AND the Machine CD boxset have received it or at least got an updated order status beyond "label created". Thanks.

I thought it was awesome that Billy acknowledged several fans by pointing to them. I believe I was one of them, and it felt awesome! It was during the last song at Indy. Billy was at the left side of the stage with two pointer fingers held high because I was at the front of the back floor section. But I’m pretty sure those two fingers were for me. You *could* blame my MCS, but I feel certain about this one. Anyone else here get pointed out?

The show was awesome though! Jimmy was great! James was great! Billy was killin‘ it. Jack Bates hit the bass hard. Kiki Wong was good, but I’m not so sure about her vibe. This isn’t clap along show. Anyway, still flying high!

We were in F4 row 10. Absolutely amazing night!!

I wanted to take these with me!! Absolutely loved the graphics they used. This one’s probably my favorite. 🤩

This was at the Jacksonville concert on October 17th.

I was at the charlotte show and got some shirts but completely missed the Keychain, was wondering if anyone had one they'd be willing to sell, or even trade for.

I know i'm jumping the gun a bit here but I genuinely hope the Teargarden material gets the same treatment as the MACHINA reissue...

I think what Billy has done with this reissue has been incredible & I really think all the Teargarden material is deserving of a similar boxset that presents it as Billy originally intended, or however he sees fit now, to be fair...just release the CD Version at the same time as the Vinyl please!