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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins

This song takes me back to simpler times.  :)

"1979" is a song by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released in 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "1979" was written by frontman Billy Corgan, and features loops and samples that were uncharacteristic of previous Smashing Pumpkins songs. The song was popular with critics and fans; Allmusic's Amy Hanson called it a "somewhat surprising hit". The song was nominated for the Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards, and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video.





The video follows a day in the life of disaffected suburban teenagers driving around in a Dodge Charger. It is based on a concept Corgan created, featuring an idealized version of teenage life, while also trying to capture the feeling of being bored as a teenager. Originally, Corgan wanted a scene of violence, in which the convenience store was trashed by the teens at the end of the video, but Dayton and Faris convinced him to go for something more tame. Aside from Corgan appearing throughout the video in the backseat of a car, the other band members had bit parts in the video; James Iha appears as a convenience store clerk and as the guitarist for the band in the party scene, D'arcy Wretzky as an irate neighbour, and Jimmy Chamberlin as a policeman and as the drummer for the band in the party scene. Band manager "Gooch" plays Jimmy's partner.

Upon finishing the video shoot, the band flew to New York to perform. However, all tapes of the footage were accidentally left sitting on top of a car, and were lost as the driver departed. The group later flew back to reshoot the entire video again.

The "1979" video was highly acclaimed. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video in 1996. It was one of Canadian cable television music channel MuchMusic's Countdown number-one videos of 1996. Billy Corgan considers it the Pumpkins' best video, calling it "the closest we've ever come to realizing everything we wanted

41 comments:

  1. I remember when this came out, however sadly I do not like Billy in any way shape or form... but I like the blog, keep it coming and so will I!

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  2. Billy's voice is one of a kind!

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  3. I heard this on the way home from work... needless to say, I lost

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  4. Don't remember this song at all...

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  5. I don't remember ever seeing that video or even hearing that song.

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  6. excellent song, really does take me back. I love your blog, keep it up :)

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  7. Never cared for SP, so didn't lose, try again!

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  8. man id die for a car like that

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  9. I had my first kiss to this song. You're tearin me up man

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  10. I love this song. I remember watching the video on MTV when it first premiered :)

    I lost today, happily though.

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  11. This songs brings back so many memories! Thanks for sharing man.

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  12. ... and now I have to go and listen to a load of Pumpkins tracks. Brb.

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  13. I remember watching the video on MTV when it first premiered :)
    classic

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  14. Love me some Smashing Pumpkins, woot.

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  15. do you have any other older songs to share?

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  16. Great band, awesome song. I hear there new album isn't that great though.

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