Year in Rock 2012 Nominee: Smashing Pumpkins

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS

The Celestials

From: Oceania

Released: June 19

What rock star gets bullied more than Billy Corgan? Despite being the principal (and, on much of the classic material, only) songwriter for The Smashing Pumpkins, he's been berated time and time again for having the audacity to carry on using the band's name without the members that happened to be in the band while the Pumpkins exploded in popularity twenty odd years ago. Much of Corgan's output over the last ten years or so admittedly hasn't done him any favours with critics and fans but, when an album that's good enough to hang with Gish and Siamese Dream is released, don't devalue its impact by shrugging and saying “it's not Smashing Pumpkins”. The combination of Corgan's vision for his music and capable, contributing bandmates makes Oceania arguably more of a Smashing Pumpkins record than anything Corgan's released previously.

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