Smashing Pumpkins to tour Australia next month

They should just call the tour 'The Gathering Of The Dudes Who Still Wear "Zero" T-Shirts'.

Juggazeros?

Oh please, we've heard it all before. The original 4 have not been a line up since 1996, people leave bands and move on. Stop banging the same old Corgan drum. Weezer aren't the original line up, Placebo aren't the original line up, Wolfmother aren't the original line up ... yet everybody moves past it for them. What is better the original line up of people who are doing it for the cash like RATM who get back together and release no new music or a new line up of people who want to be on stage and are creating new music?

He's just randy and wants to see Jess - and decided to make a bit of cash on the side.

Digitalglass: Weezer and Placebo lost just one - arguably inessential - original member each. Hardly an overhaul of those bands. Stockdale might have found himself with a whole new band, but he's hardly moved through the number of heads or manifestos Corgan has. And at least RATM are the original line-up, not to mention staying true to their convictions, however dubious or old they might be. I'm all for Corgan forging ahead, but not exactly convinced by his flip-flopping persona or new musical purpose.

Marcus - Thanks for the reply. It is more that this has been the constant angle of any Smashing Pumpkins article since 1996 when Jimmy left, then when D'Arcy left, then when James didn't want to come back ... always about the line up and how horrible Billy is. When you or I don't know the full story. Why not focus on the other side of the band, the drastically different release method Billy is taking that no other (major) artist is. With Stockdale he has gone threw 1 line up change currently, I'm sure when Wolfmother has been around for 20 years like the Pumpkins he would have had his fair share of line up changes. Yet when the Pumpkins line up changed after one rotation in 1996, it was instantly Billy's fault. I mentioned RATM because it is frustrating that music fans would rather have bands like RATM, Pavement, Pixies etc who get the original line up together and play the old hits and everybody jumps around and has a good time. Rather than why they loved the band in the first place, a band that created music. They want the jukebox band, we've become our parents who used to go see the 'reunion' tours of bands from the 70's. Here you have an artist who puts a band together as members drop off and leave for what ever reasons and continue to be a band and is constantly crucified for it. He tried starting other projects, but all everybody wanted was him to play Smashing Pumpkins songs. So now he has done it, sure not in the ideal way and everybody hates him for it.

I hear you. But I think you're missing the point that I didn't criticise Corgan, never said that he was horrible or the line-up change was his fault. The fact is that Corgan's persona and outspoken approach to trying to keep the Pumpkins legacy alive has vastly overshadowed the actual musical legacy. Which, at its core, is formidable. I was alluding to the fact that with every line-up change or incarnation - Zwan, solo Billy etc - that it's been heralded as the new path forward, the new paradigm or "best yet". So far, each one hasn't lasted or failed to live up to expectations, and so with every subsequent rebirth it becomes more and more unlikely to ever be true again.