The Smashing Pumpkins and the 1979 Ultimatum

2024-09-20

One of the reasons I started the Poetic Wax Podcast is that I love digging deep into the often little known history of bands, albums, and songs in my record collection. Sometimes it's shocking how quickly a band pulls together an album -- sometimes in the span of a few weeks or less! But just as often, the opposite is true. The songwriter struggles to put the final touches on the song. This is the story of the latter, and how it literally came down to the last day in the studio and an ultimatum...

One of the reasons I started the Poetic Wax Podcast is that I love digging deep into the often little known history of bands, albums, and songs in my record collection.

Sometimes it's shocking how quickly a band pulls together an album -- sometimes in the span of a few weeks or less! But just as often, the opposite is true. The songwriter struggles to put the final touches on the song.

This is the story of the latter, and how it literally came down to the last day in the studio and an ultimatum from the producer. That song is "1979," and it would become one of the most cherished hits on the band's 1995 double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

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