The Greatest Band of the '90s, Vol. II: All You Gave to Me

Artist Song
Neil Young  Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) 
The Smashing Pumpkins  Pulseczar 
Starchildren  Isolation [Joy Division cover] 
The Cars  Moving in Stereo 
The Smashing Pumpkins  Eye 
The Cure  A Forest 
The Smashing Pumpkins  Bugg Superstar 
Depeche Mode  Shake the Disease 
The Smashing Pumpkins  The Beginning is the End is the Beginning 
Jane's Addiction  Up the Beach 
The Smashing Pumpkins  Window Paine 
Joy Division  New Dawn Fades 
T. Rex  King of the Mountain Cometh 
The Smashing Pumpkins  Siva [live, acoustic] 
The Smashing Pumpkins  X.Y.U. 
Bad Brains  Sailin' On 
Slint  Breadcrumb Trail 
The Smashing Pumpkins  The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right) [edit] 

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This is a companion piece to the first volume, which explores The Smashing Pumpkins' influences.

The Greatest Band of the '90s, Vol. II: All You Gave to Me

"Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)" by Neil Young and "Pulseczar" by The Smashing Pumpkins
Similar to David Bowie, Neil Young's influence on the Pumpkins is hard to pin down with just a song or two. Young's relentless creative output mirrors that of the Pumpkins, as does his near-obstinate desire to change his sound. Most of the Pumpkins' works, like Young's, remain officially unreleased.

"Pulseczar" and "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)" feature similar guitar textures. The latter comes from the 2004 collection "Greatest Hits." The song first appeared on the 1979 album "Rust Never Sleeps." "Pulseczar" appears on "Earphoria."

"Isolation" [Joy Division cover] by Starchildren and "New Dawn Fades" by Joy Division.
I remember reading that this cover of "Isolation," while credited to Starchildren, was actually a Billy Corgan solo production, but I've been unable to corroborate that. He or they contributed it to the 1995 collection "A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division."

Starchildren was a just-for-kicks band that featured a rotating lineup. All of the original Pumpkins played in Starchildren at one time or another, along with friends and members of the Chicago band Catherine, according to longtime Pumpkins portal starla.org.

Corgan, New Order, Moby and John Frusciante played "New Dawn Fades" at Moby's Area:One festival in 2001. A recording of that performance can be found on the soundtrack to "24 Hour Party People," a great film about Factory Records, Tony Wilson, punk and post-punk.

To read the rest of the liner notes for Volume II, please follow this link to the miscellaneous forum.

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