"If All Goes Wrong"/The struggle of the musician
I purchased the new Smashing Pumpkins dvd today. It chronicles the multiple night residencies the band did in Asheville, NC and San Fransisco last year.
I expected a run of the mill type documentary that shows the band's life before, during, and after a concert performance, complete with interviews about how awesome it is to be back together even though half the original line up is no longer there.
After watching an included interview with Pete Townshend I ended up pleasantly surprised. The movie was more an explanation of Corgan's struggle with maintaining his version of artistic integrity by going against the norm and doing the residencies in NC and CA, and playing setlists that were...a little to be desired by a casual pumpkins fan.
Its funny because a day or so ago I was reading an article online about how in some shows the setlists are still very wierd. They can sometimes be about two thirds new material (including a good deal of unreleased or released but not album cut music) and one third (or less) old pre 2000 pumpkins stuff (and even then, lesser known less popular songs). I can understand that to be very frustrating to an old school pumpkins fan, or to a casual fan going to the show to hear the songs he grew up listening to on the radio.
I connected with the whole artistic integrity thing. Pete talks about it a lot as well, as a musician you struggle day in and day out with how you deal with your music. What I mean is, if you make it somehow in the music industry, put out a few records, and have a bunch of hits, you will be known for those hits, and very little else. Later in the future when you are perhaps past your prime, you release new music and struggle to have it be as appreciated as your old popular stuff. The SP doc kind of shows that Billy, being as pretentious as he is, is trying to put his new/lesser known music on the same high pedestal as songs such as TODAY/Cherub Rock/Zero, etc. When that happens where you get setlists with very few greatest hits, you get confused and dissapointed fans (sometimes). Personally, had I been to one of those residency shows, I would have enjoyed the fuck out of myself. But I can see how someone who is a casual fan would not have such a great time.
Even though my music has not become popular at all, I empathize with Billy's "plight" to have all his music recognized as equal. I would prefer that all people who come see Bocks Car play appreciate all the original songs we play the same way. Realistically, I know that's not going to happen. There are going to be more popular songs than others, and perhaps that is a reason those certain songs are played more at shows than others. The struggle is trying to maintain a balance and provide the audience with stuff that they know/love/like with stuff they may not have heard before.
Pete said it himself in an interview, fans will NEVER understand how it is to be the musician. As a young musician trying to make my way in the music world, I believe I can start to understand that.
I expected a run of the mill type documentary that shows the band's life before, during, and after a concert performance, complete with interviews about how awesome it is to be back together even though half the original line up is no longer there.
After watching an included interview with Pete Townshend I ended up pleasantly surprised. The movie was more an explanation of Corgan's struggle with maintaining his version of artistic integrity by going against the norm and doing the residencies in NC and CA, and playing setlists that were...a little to be desired by a casual pumpkins fan.
Its funny because a day or so ago I was reading an article online about how in some shows the setlists are still very wierd. They can sometimes be about two thirds new material (including a good deal of unreleased or released but not album cut music) and one third (or less) old pre 2000 pumpkins stuff (and even then, lesser known less popular songs). I can understand that to be very frustrating to an old school pumpkins fan, or to a casual fan going to the show to hear the songs he grew up listening to on the radio.
I connected with the whole artistic integrity thing. Pete talks about it a lot as well, as a musician you struggle day in and day out with how you deal with your music. What I mean is, if you make it somehow in the music industry, put out a few records, and have a bunch of hits, you will be known for those hits, and very little else. Later in the future when you are perhaps past your prime, you release new music and struggle to have it be as appreciated as your old popular stuff. The SP doc kind of shows that Billy, being as pretentious as he is, is trying to put his new/lesser known music on the same high pedestal as songs such as TODAY/Cherub Rock/Zero, etc. When that happens where you get setlists with very few greatest hits, you get confused and dissapointed fans (sometimes). Personally, had I been to one of those residency shows, I would have enjoyed the fuck out of myself. But I can see how someone who is a casual fan would not have such a great time.
Even though my music has not become popular at all, I empathize with Billy's "plight" to have all his music recognized as equal. I would prefer that all people who come see Bocks Car play appreciate all the original songs we play the same way. Realistically, I know that's not going to happen. There are going to be more popular songs than others, and perhaps that is a reason those certain songs are played more at shows than others. The struggle is trying to maintain a balance and provide the audience with stuff that they know/love/like with stuff they may not have heard before.
Pete said it himself in an interview, fans will NEVER understand how it is to be the musician. As a young musician trying to make my way in the music world, I believe I can start to understand that.