After the immediate success of the double disc Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Smashing Pumpkins deserve credit for chutzpah. Never before has any alternative band made such a risky move into the ’70s territory of the rock opera. The Pumpkins bounce back with an newly released single 1979, a wiry, skeletal guitar groove about the good old days of being a suburban teen discovering new w

By Gus Bode

Guitarist James Iha is still earning his Jimmy Page merit badge, and when he stretches out into one of his psychedelic guitar epics in a song he wrote and sings Believe, the soft-spoken interludes help set the stage for the moments when Billy Corgan swoops into his trademark squawk. Whether you love Billy or hate him, he has become a rock icon nerdy by nature, the boy with the least cake and a grown man who dresses like Little Orphan Annie. The new single gives Billy room to express himself, and it’s the catchiest argument for misery he has ever made.

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