Billy Corgan Wants You To Buy Zeitgeist ... Repeatedly
Two years ago yesterday, Billy Corgan took out full-page ads in Chicago rags announcing the reunion of the Pumpkins. And since then, he's treated us to odd blog posts, shower curtain outfits, and apocalyptic Paris Hiltons. But the great Pumpkin has one more confounder up his sleeve: Down the press release pipeline comes news of special bonus tracks for LPs purchased at Best Buy and Target. Guess he thinks cool kids never have the time to go other record stores.
So buy Zeitgeist at the aforementioned outlets and get a special bonus track (different one for each retail chain)! Chose another store and be stuck with the standard, bonus-free 12-track fare. Oh, iTunes gets a bonus jam too. That makes it four tracklistings in total (five if you count the 15-track torrent that'll pop on Torrent Spy). Silly Billy, this is gonna make pirating the album like, two minutes harder.
Jump for the listings.
Standard
01. "Doomsday Clock"
02. "7 Shades Of Black"
03. "Bleeding The Orchid"
04. "That's The Way (My Love Is)"
05. "Tarantula"
06. "Starz"
07. "United States"
08. "Neverlost"
09. "Bring The Light"
10. "(Come On) Let's Go!"
11. "For God And Country"
12. "Pomp And Circumstances"
Best Buy
01. "Doomsday Clock"
02. "7 Shades Of Black"
03. "Bleeding The Orchid"
04. "That's The Way (My Love Is)"
05. "Tarantula"
06. "Starz"
07. "United States"
08. "Neverlost"
09. "Death From Above" (Bonus Track
10. "Bring The Light"
11. "(Come On) Let's Go!"
12. "For God And Country"
13. "Pomp And Circumstances"
Target
01. "Doomsday Clock"
02. "7 Shades Of Black"
03. "Bleeding The Orchid"
04. "That's The Way (My Love Is)"
05. "Tarantula"
06. "Starz"
07. "United States"
08. "Neverlost"
09. "Bring The Light"
10. "(Come On) Let's Go!"
11. "For God And Country"
12. "Pomp And Circumstances"
13. "Zeitgeist" (Bonus Track)
iTunes
01. "Doomsday Clock"
02. "7 Shades Of Black"
03. "Bleeding the Orchid"
04. "That's The Way (My Love Is)"
05. "Tarantula"
06. "Starz"
07. "United States"
08. "Neverlost"
09. "Bring The Light"
10. "(Come On) Let's Go!"
11. "For God And Country"
12. "Pomp And Circumstances"
13. "Stellar"
Posted at 12:21 PM
Tags: The Smashing Pumpkins
the guy he has playing guitar with him looks like Hoobastank's lead singer.
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Is that Corgan playing a Schecter guitar? So metal!
It used to be that the independent stores had the exclusive tracks or other bonus items. Have the corporates caught on and co-opted this move?
BTW, WTF with the QoTSA exclusive for Best Buy being a secure WMA download?
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corgan is yuppie scum
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I think it's perhaps slightly hypocritical that people seem all up in arms over this when Billy Corgan does it, but when the beloved Bloc Party releases no less than 8 bonus tracks (10 if you count the Japanese release) across 6 different versions, everyone rejoices in the extra offerings. I like both bands, but who REALLY buys multiple formats for just one extra track? I know it's easy these days to hate on Billy, but I think there's probably more legitimate reasons to do so.
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Nope. This is as legitimate of a reason to hate as you can get. Billy, you just jumped the fuckin shark. But fuck you, we'll just steal all your damn bonus tracks anyway.
Irrelevant
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First off, Bloc Party had 12 tracks. Secondly, did Billy not release an entire album for free against the request of his record label.
My guess is that Billy knows these tracks are going to be pirated and downloaded. Because of this he gets more of his music out there. He is smart enough to know that people are not going to go to every outlet and buy an album to get an additional track.
I don't understand the severe backlash against everything that Billy and the Pumpkins do.
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I got that QoTSA bonus track too...all copy protected...silly Best Buy...don't you know there are ways around this? if i want to hear Josh and the boys cover Billy Idol on my ipod, i'm going to hear god damnit!
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Wow. Not that I care, but what happened to Hoobastank? There was one year in college where you couldn't escape that song The Reason. That video would start in silence with the car crash or guy walking down the street or some shit and you just knew that you had to turn the channel.
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I imagine all you super-smart indie hipsters surely know how Billy released the last Pumpkins CD over the internet, for free, and how he donated
proceeds from entire tours to charity, and all that stuff. So it's funny to hear people suggest he's in it for the money, or anything like that. Besides, apparently most of you aren't going to buy any versions of this CD, so it doesn't really matter, does it?
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Oh, and I guess the $20 show ticket prices and the Pumpkins allowing video recorders to the shows are all about the money also.
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I don't think the issue here is buying the album more than once (who would really do that?) as much as that when bands offer huge retailers exclusive tracks, they're essentially directing people to buy the album there. Seriously, from a fan point of view, you'd be a fool to buy the "standard" version of the album at your local record store. Not that that's a big deal though -- Best buy needs the money way more than mom and pop...
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Agreed, anyone accusing the Smashing Pumpkins of being in it for the money and to screw their fans has no idea what they're talking about. It bears repeating that they've given entire albums away for free, and donated proceeds from entire tours to charity, and even now are charging improbably low ticket prices for these upcoming residency shows. Their opinions are not based in fact, and should be ignored.
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But do you really think that the Pumpkins had anything to do with this bonus track. My guess would be that this was the record labels call and they did it to combat that darn internet.
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Oh, i don't think it's Smashing Pumpkins that are in it for the money (at leats not more than anyone else). I think it's best buy and target, and the pumpkins just didn't consider the implications of their actions... what say you to that pumpkins people?
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Shower Curtians and 5 belts don't buy themselves boy. Billy's gots to get paid MFs!
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I say that I feel the record company did not consider the implications of their actions. This is going to piss people off and they are going to download the album for free. Bad move, just like every other move the record companies have made since napster.
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what a joke
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ok. now i am disgusted with both stereogum AND pitchfork. everyone knows a huge megaband like the smashing pumpkins is not independent anymore, thus, the marketing and distribution of their music is NOT INDEPENDENT. HELLO! the smashing pumpkins are one of Warner Bros' (the largest record company IN THE WORLD) BIGGEST CASH COWS. to blame billy corgan or the band for this money-making scheme is downright ignorant. thank you stereogum for adding fuel to a defamation fire started by the elitist DICKS over at pitchfork. as if any of you ASSHOLES even buys music anymore anyway.
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Wow, as an employee at an independent record store, thanks for nothing, you dick.
Maybe I'm completely off here, but didn't the Pumpkins get their start with independent media (college radio, etc)? Way to say thanks. Cause I'm sure Best Buy was behind Gish 100% when it came out on Caroline.
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I really like your point. I mean I like to support my favorite bands as much as the next person and occassionally purchase an actual CD but I hate it when they get all gimmicky.
I like your style and the plethora of topics you've chosen. I nominated you for Best Pop Culture Blog at the Blogger's Choice Awards. If you want to facilitate your visitors voting for you you can add a "brag badge" code; pretty easy took me like five seconds. Should vote for yourself too: http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/19566
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2 sheds is right.
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I didn't realize that every single town in America had an independent record store for people to purchase music.
Wow, I need to get out more.
I always find it funny when people bitch about not being able to find something other than top 40 at a large chain store, and then once they do sell it, bitch non-stop about them selling it there.
I'm going to create a new cologne for music fucks and call it Condescension.
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Best Buy wasn't around when Gish came out, Jessica. To echo the comments of most that have come before: you people don't know what you're talking about and want to post an angry message on this board because it seems cool to do it. Well, now you're internet stars! Enjoy spinning that limited edition 7" at your indie record store, Jessica, implicitly (or maybe not so) imploring people to ask, "Who is this?"
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I'd like all stores to have an equal shake -- and, for place that don't have smaller stores, that totally means carrying indie releases (i guess i don't get to wear your cologne after all). What I always find funny is when people bitch about music-fan pretension to overgeneralise and ultimately dismiss intelligent arguments about the state of the music business. Just because SOME people can't be pleased doesn't mean there aren't valid issues here... Enjoy spinning that limited edition 7"? Now that's an intelligent indictment of the points that were being made...
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whoa! john cusack on guitar?!
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jozeph, you're a fucking douchebag.
best buy has been listed on the nyse since 1987 - gish came out in 1991.
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He should have never left Zwan to start this shitty band.
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Billy, you're looking good baby boy
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Silly indie hipsters. Like it or not, most people would have been buying this from Target or Best Buy regardless of tracklisting. MOST people don't have an independent record store in their backyard anymore. Most people would choose to spend 12$ (on Itunes) on it rather than 18$ (at any independent record store) anyway.
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The purpose of "Zeitgeist" is not a magnanimous one. It's not out to raise money for charity or unite the world in one grand, prolonged OM moment. The purpose is to make money.
We've already discussed this. It's why Corgan has pulled the band name out of the mothballs. Chamberlain was part of Zwan and, I think, was the drummer on Corgan's eczema solo album, thus this is not a reunion so much as a rebranding of an ongoing entity. So why go through the trouble of establishing another band name when we have a winner in drydock?
Money.
So while I sympathize with the indie record stores, and trust me, I do most of my shopping there so I know, I nor anyone else should be shocked by this. Every notable name on a regular major label has cut extra tracks for Target, Best Buy and WalMart. Foo Fighters did it. Def Leppard did it. Celine and Lavigne did it. (Let's do it. Let's fall in love.) Why did Interpol jump from Matador to Capitol? To get closer to Chris Martin? Why did Shadows Fall jump from Century Media to Atlantic?
Money.
I want to be as idealistic as the next person where it comes to the ubiquity of the DIY spirit in modern music, but take a step back and realize that this is just the way it really is out there.
DwD
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Why is everything the Smashing Pumpkins do blamed on Billy Corgan? It is a band!! Sheesh.
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c-c-combo breaker.
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Do they come with, like, alternate covers that are holofoil or embossed or or done by Todd McFarlane?
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I still have my Gish cassette, and really that is all I need. Youngsters take note! Older is better in this case.
P.S. My fave band of the moment is Abbatite for Destruction. They are money.
http://www.blackcatdc.com/rfc.html
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I think the blame for this situation lies on the Record Label more than the band. They know that there are a ton of obsessive fans that will buy all formats of any release.
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"Why is everything the Smashing Pumpkins do blamed on Billy Corgan? It is a band!! Sheesh."
That sounds an awful lot like something BILLY CORGAN WOULD SAY! GET HIM!
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Same stunt that RHCP wanted to pull with their last album. It seems that their marketing people were slightly clever than the SP's marketing team though because they actually pulled out of the idea.
It's such a con, and what they should at least do is include some kind of link from the CD to access all of the bonus tracks.
I blame iTunes for all this exclusive bonus track crap that's becoming more confusing. Whatever happened to the time when it was only re-releases that had bonus tracks?!
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Thank you Dw Dunphy!!!
At least someone understands that when you sell your art, there are financial implications to everything you do, whether you want to acknowledge them or not.
People, just be happy that you have a record industry to bitch about now, because at the rate it's going, it won't exist soon enough. In fact, unless there is some major advent in technology that reshapes the industry or downloaders suddenly grow a conscience, it will die painfully within the next 15 years - and that's a fact!
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You guys are going way too hard on the guy. I despise the Pumpkins (except for Tonight, Tonight), but Corgan is only doing what most mainstream bands do when they release their music. It seems all to convenient that P4K would use this to be the BIG DEAL that changes everyone's perception of the band. Not saying it's not bullshit, but what also is messed up is the lack of consistency when you call out this one band for doing something everyone in the industry does.
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It seems to me that the Pumpkins and Billy are being taken to task mostly because they were so close to the hearts of many a alt-rock loving junior/senior high kid (now curmudgeonly beyond their years 25 to 35 year olds) all the way back in the early/mid-nineties, otherwise known as the last great great era of ethical integrity in Western culture. You know, before the Dotcom crash and the Bush fiasco ruined all of our independent dreams.
Bands like the Pumpkins came up from indies to own the radio because we, as fans, thought that they deserved it, because they were, in some measure, righteous compared to the commercial pop and hair bands of that period. The college radio people from the eighties, however, were pissed that their bands had toiled and travelled world wide, only to be wiped out by the grunge hype (R.E.M notwithstanding). So, a little perspective could be used here as well.
I'm annoyed, as I'm sure many others are, not at the fact that Billy is a member of the Music Industry, but that he (or his label, Warner Brothers, aka AOL-Time-Warner, beside the point, ultimately) came along and asserted overt capitalist intentions at this point in the game. My memories of the Pumpkins are from an earlier, more innocent time, before so called Alternative Rock was quickly co-opted and the masses were force fed a disgusting diet of Smashmouths, Third Eye Blinds and Seven Mary Threes.
But anyone who is surprised and not just disappointed should re-evalute the nature of the Music Business, because that is what it is. It's about the bottom line, even if the methods are unsound or even misguided and stupid.
And, yes, this guarantees that I will be hitting up SLSK or whatever for Zeitgeist (an unintentionally ironic title for this record, enh?) and not paying for it. Way to duck the downloading, Warners.
If it is actually good, maybe I'll hold out for a double gatefold LP pressing with all of the bonus tracks amended on the D side.
Remember the good old days of the your era now, my peeps, because soon, like any other point in pop culture history, nostalgia will be all you/we/I have left. Hold tight to your Sufjans and Obersts, because they too will "betray" you in their misguided middle age.
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As someone who has worked in the industry, I can tell you that this was a label call, not an artist call. The labels need their releases merchandised at big box retailers like Best Buy and Target; those stores represent a large amount of sales. But, those stores charge high placement fees to feature these albums in the sunday flyers, on displays/endcaps in stores, etc. If a label can get a bonus track from an artist and offer it as an exclusive to one chain, the chain will waive those ridiculous placement fees.
I agree that this hurts the indies. Sometimes they do make exclusives for indies, but only those stores that are part of a coalition. At this point, the indies need to focus on the things that the big box stores won't carry. The indie stores that survive will be the ones that cater to niche audiences. Let the big boxes be the clearing houses for the mainstream stuff.
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The labels don't do this because they expect fans to buy each version, they do it as incentive for the chains to carry that album, and to advertise for it. And for a label to go through with it, the band or artist has to approve of it, so both sides are at fault.
It is ridiculous and does hurt indies, but it is unfair to single out only the pumpkins when this has been going on for years. Just LOOK at a music section in the Best Buy or Target ad. People complain about it, but continue to shop at these stores. You are on the internet, there are tons of (independent) options available to order on-line.
If you are a Pumpkins fan and want to support them the best solution is to buy it from a local indie retailer (if one is available) and download the bonus tracks that you know will be on-line the day after it comes out.
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anyone else reminded of those bubble wrap outfits in 'dude, where's my car?'?
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I REALLY don't like Billy anymore. What a fucktard.
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all hail zoltan? or somethin'.
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Oh man, Zoltan for life.
I really don't think it matters. Everyone knows the bonus tracks will be online for us to download for free any ways, so what's the big deal? If you like them, buy the cd from where ever. If you don't, then fuck off and die. Just kidding, just stop complaining.
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Apparently George Bush is duetting on one of the bonus tracks on the Canadian Release...?
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Nature kids. They don't have no function.
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Smashing Pumpkins could use a little bit of Manimal Vinyl love...first from the Chapin Sisters, then from The Winter Flowers; then to top it off a slow dance with Natasha of Bat for Lashes...dreamy!!! Madonna can watch....
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Hmmm... Maybe I sound like a weird fan.. but I´m a collector and damn it... I know that I´ll end up buying every single version... well, but that´s just me! Yeah, they release it in many different versions and so what...?? I´m fanatic, I´ll buy them all... or else you´lll probably able to get all the versions on iTunes pretty soon and by then you´re not missing a thing...You get the full package
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If my local record store is going to survive, it's not going to be because it carries the same Smashing Pumpkins discs as the big box stores. It'll be because they carry that Jackie-O Motherfucker album I bought today. No matter how many copies of Zeitgeist my favorite shop sells, it'll sell way more copies of everything else combined in probably under an hour. I'm willing to drive thirty minutes to my favorite record shops because they carry stuff that Target and Best Buy don't for equal (and in one store's case: lower) prices. But not everyone has that option.
Because of niche markets and hobbyists, I don't think that the record industry's ever going to bottom out completely. Why do you think people still buy vinyl? If downloads make physical formats totally obsolete, the big box stores aren't going to carry physical formats any more and the indie stores will be left to compete with each other as hobby shops. People will still buy records and CD's. I still see tons of people buying vinyl and I don't live in any sort of art or cultural urban center. I live in Charlotte, a city built on the banking industry. There are Best Buys and Targets everywhere and I still have three (that I know of) very good record stores to choose from because there is indeed a market for it.
But I'll probably be proven wrong by the time I graduate from college.
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That Uncle Fester look is SO fifteen years ago.
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most of the independent record stores in Houston have closed down. there's only one or two and they're all the way across town. i'm definetly not driving all the way over there to buy something I can get at target or best buy just so I can feel better about myself. sorry but the mp3 killed the independent record store, at least here anyways...
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I've got the bonus tracks up on my blog
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It's amazing all of this hype and i do use the word "hype" very liberally here about the "Smash...." wait. What i think is more amazing is that Billy is the first person i've ever seen to be in a cover band of his own band...quite remarkable really. and as far as the album blah blah blah high pitched screach....i think ZWAN has finally infultrated the Smashing Pumpkins. oh and all this politcal crap he's spouting....who died and left him Billy Joe Armstrong, i mean seriously in this lifetime i can only take one completely un political band crossing over to the boredom that is bush bashing. no offense to amercian idiot, great album. seems like a band wagon to me...no pun intended. I like the 57 strat better.
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