Artist	Song
Billy Corgan	Breakup announcement
The Smashing Pumpkins	Untitled
Zwan	Honestly
Melissa Auf der Mar	I Need I Want I Will
Ivy	Clear My Head
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex	Loki Cat (Reprise)
Billy Corgan	Tolovesomebody [Bee Gees cover]
James Iha	Never Ever
Breaking Benjamin	Forget It
A Perfect Circle	When the Levee Breaks [Led Zeppelin cover]
The Smashing Pumpkins	Rock On [David Essex cover]
Billy Corgan	Now (And Then)
The Smashing Pumpkins	Real Love

Comment:

The Smashing Pumpkins didn't exactly disappear after they broke up (though D'Arcy Wretzky has done her best to). This volume, the last in this box set, chronicles the twists and turns they took after parting ways at the end of 2000, up until just before the "Zeitgeist" era.


Breakup announcement

On May 23, 2000, Billy Corgan announced on KROQ that the Pumpkins were breaking up.

He said that before they started work on "Machina/The Machines of God" they felt they had "come to the end of our road" but that "we didn't want to tell people when the album came out that this was the band's last album because we didn't want it to become all about that."


"Untitled" by The Smashing Pumpkins

The emergence of "Untitled" coincided with the Pumpkins' impending dissolution. Just before their second-to-last show, at Chicago's United Center, Corgan announced the new single in an interview with a DJ on Q101.

"Untitled" wound up on the greatest-hits collection "Rotten Apples," probably as an incentive Virgin Records was lobbying for. Today you can buy the single at the iTunes store. A large chunk of the Pumpkins' studio recordings were added to iTunes in April 2005.


"Honestly" by Zwan

Corgan formed Zwan less than a year after the Pumpkins disbanded, with Jimmy Chamberlin, David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise) and Matt Sweeney (Chavez). Paz Lenchantin left A Perfect Circle to join in April 2002.

At first, Corgan seemed re-energized, even smiling in the promo photos. Writers and reviewers mentioned "happy" a lot. "I love being in a band," Corgan gushed to Kerrang! magazine. "It's a lot more fun ... I can do the solo thing any time I want. I prefer working with people I'm close to. The best music is made by bands."

"Honestly" was the first single, released in November 2002. The band split just 10 months later, following Lenchantin's exit in August 2003. Corgan initially said that Zwan lacked the deep connection he had felt in the Pumpkins but that he had enjoyed his time in Zwan. He slammed his former bandmates, with the exception of Chamberlin, in later interviews.


"I Need I Want I Will" by Melissa Auf der Mar

Melissa Auf der Mar, of course, filled the bassist slot following the recording of "Machina/The Machines of God" (and "Machina II"), after D'Arcy Wretzky had left the band. In a 2001 interview with Kerrang!, Corgan reflected on her decision: "It was a whole series of things that pushed her to the point that she was at. It's really weird, because I told her if quitting this band is going to save your life, quit this band." Auf der Mar came to the Pumpkins by way of Hole, though she and Corgan had been acquainted in years past. By coincidence, Auf Der Mar and Corgan have the same birthday: March 17, which also happens to be St. Patrick's Day. He's five years older: 1967 versus 1972.

"I Need I Want I Will," from her as-of-yet only solo effort, "Auf der Mar," strays a little from the album's straight-ahead modern rock. She uses a tool to alter her voice, twisting it as The Mars Volta and FC Kahuna have done.

In a November 2005 report in Rolling Stone, Auf der Mar said Corgan would be helping her write songs for her forthcoming album, and that she wants to get Ryan Adams on board, too. "It's really symbolic for me to have this opportunity with Billy, who is one of my main musical mentors," she said. "It's an amazing full circle for me, because his music is directly related to why I picked up a bass. 'Gish' inspired me to play rock music, and then I was able to be in his band 10 years later. But in all of this time, I've never actually written a song with him."

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

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