Sweet! A general music forum!

This is quite nice to have, since I pretty much can't stand metal. Some of it is ok, but most of it is just unmusical noise to me, especially blast beat metal drumming, and growling/screaming metal vocals. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some loud rock and roll, but metal just isn't my thing.

I've been listening to quite a bit of Smashing Pumpkins lately. When I was a kid, they were my favorite band, and their music had a tremendous influence on me as a musician. What's weird is that I had always though Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness was their best album, but now I'm not sure if it's that album, or Siamese Dream. There's just something about Siamese Dream that's kind of unmatched on Mellon Collie. I think Corgan's vocals sound better on Siamese Dream, particularly his mix and head voice. It just has a certain characteristic that Mellon Collie doesn't have.

Speaking of Billy Corgan's head voice, I've been thinking a bit lately about the large difference in the Pumpkin's sound from their early records to their later, post-Machina II albums after the break-up and quasi reunion. A lot of the change is in the sound of Corgan's voice, and I think a lot of it has to do with him not using head voice, or even a mix between head and chest voice any more. It's been a long time since I listened to Zeitgeist, and I haven't heard all of Oceania, but it seems to me like he sings solely in chest voice now a-days, and I think the head voice and mix was really an integral part of the "Pumpkin sound" in the early days.

If anyone reading this doesn't know what I'm referring to when I talk about chest voice, head voice, and mix, here's a reference.

A couple examples of Corgan's classic vocals:

Today - Corgan uses a lot of mix, and head voice.

Soma - a really awesome live example, from what surely has to be one of their greatest shows ever.

In the modern era, it seems like Corgan belts up his chest voice a lot when going for higher notes. Here's an example:

Another thing I just realized, is he doesn't scream anymore like he used to when he was younger. Example:

His singing was just a lot more dynamic in the past, and I think that has a lot to do with the difference in sound between old Pumpkins and new. What I'm not sure about though is approximately when he quit using head voice, and quit screaming. It's been a while since I listed to Adore, and both Machinas, as well as Zeitgeist, so I'll have to go back and try to pinpoint the approximate time.

Anyway, here's to the new music forum. Thanks tek

<3

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I'm relieved to know there's a general music forum as well. I like metal, but I also like other genres of music as well, and the fact that until just recently the only music-related forum here was solely for metal was unsettling to me.