In a time where so many courteous and charitable musicians are hailed as, “Not your typical rock star,” The Smashing Pumpkins’ two disc DVD If All Goes Wrong is an enjoyable reminder as to where the “typical rock star” stigma comes from.Throughout the documentary on the first disc and the live footage on the second disc, Billy Corgan is the epitome of an unstable, pretentious musician who cares neither for his fans nor for the unconditional love that they show for his decades’ worth of work. If you allow yourself to recognize the humor in Corgan’s endless wallowing, the DVD is actually pretty funny.
With many close runner-ups, possibly the best scene in the documentary comes around the seven-minute mark where The Pumpkins have set up shop in Asheville, North Carolina and Corgan is standing on The Orange Peel’s fire-escape, playing guitar. Two devout Pumpkins fans come wandering up, one holding a homemade bust of Corgan. With visible irritation, Corgan invites them up, allows them to hug him “Gently, gently,” and then stares coldly as they proudly present their sculpture, which is nearly as nondescript as a store-front mannequin. One of the fans, desperate to make an emotional connection, tries hard to force tears as she tells Corgan, “When my friend died…and I found his body, all I could think was like ‘Thank God they’re getting back together.’” Corgan nods and responds, “I know what you mean.” Christopher Guest could not have scripted a more ridiculous scene.
Unfortunately, what is buried beneath Corgan’s spoiled whining and the montages of him in his pajama gown is what a good idea If All Goes Wrong is based upon. Not only is it The Pumpkins’ struggle to remain relevant while working with new band members, but Corgan often performs new songs within days of writing them. And the songs are good. Mostly performed acoustically, the new songs are much more gentle and sad, sounding more like The Pumpkins’ cover of “Landslide” than any of their originals. Work-in-progress loud tracks are there too, most notably “Blue Skies Bring Tears” which would have fit perfectly on Mellon Collie.
The other questionable decision of the documentary is how much attention is given not to the new members, but to the absence of the old ones. Original band members James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky were both invited for The Pumpkins’ reunion and both declined. They were replaced, the new members learned the songs, and the shows still sold out. No fan in any interview expressed any sense of betrayal nor did the new members receive one word of scab harassment, yet Billy Corgan still goes on crusade after crusade fielding criticisms that only he seems to have. He bitches in hotel rooms, he brings it up with a group of fans, and launches into it during his documentary interview. The new members, guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger Reyes, and keyboardist Lisa Harriton, are nothing short of ecstatic to be in the band, even though they get less face time in the documentary than Corgan’s personal assistant and there is virtually no interaction depicted between Corgan and them.
As with many live DVDs, The Pumpkins’ performance doesn’t translate well into living room entertainment. Jimmy Chamberlain’s incredible drumming stands out but otherwise it’s just a series of close-ups of Corgan trying to look intense in effort to compensate for his total lack of showmanship. The live DVD stays true to the idea of the band moving forward though, featuring no classic singles from the ’90s. The inclusion of the live DVD takes a lot of pressure off the documentary to feature long musical breaks and the combination of If All Goes Wrong’s two discs fully portrays where the band is both professionally and musically.
The documentary ends with Billy Corgan explaining to a crowd why he doesn’t love them. The crowd cheers with acceptance as Corgan professes he has neither the time nor energy to love his fans. And that might be the most important thing you can learn from If All Goes Wrong: you can love The Smashing Pumpkins for everything they have done, but don’t ever expect anything in return.
by Brian Loeper
