Smashing Pumpkins : Tales of a Scorched Earth

Rating:
Summary: Dry and pretentious
Review: Given the lack of Smashing Pumpkins biographies that exist in print, I approached this book with enthusiasm. However, this feeling evaporated within the first couple of chapters. Although I agree that it's important to understand the context in which the Pumpkins' music was created, I quickly found myself skipping over the author's self-indulgent and frankly boring examinations of topics that should have remained marginal at best. More disappointing was the fact that these tangents were at the expense of any in-depth study of the personal influences behind the music - surely a band biography cannot completely detach the musicians from their music? Not wishing to pry into an individual's private business is admirable, but the emotive aspects of the Smashing Pumpkins' story are part of their appeal. However, this has largely been ignored in this book, and instead it is comprised of dry chronological information that displays little passion or enthusiasm for the band. I don't feel that I know any more about how the music was written or what the inspiration for it was. The author doesn't offer an opinion or even a description of most of the songs. There is surely an interesting biography of Smashing Pumpkins waiting to be written; sadly, this is not it.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!!!
Review: I bought this book after reading the great reviews in "Classic Rock" and "Record Collector," and Iwas't disappointed. This is one of those books that is impossible to put down, with every page turning up new information and ideas, and not only about the Pumpkins. There's some great material on the 90s rock scene in general, especially the rise and fall of the grunge scene. But the book's strong on every aspect of the Pumpkins' history, while the writing is so descriptive that you can't resist digging out the CDs to play along with the chapters.

Rating:
Summary: Wordy, subjective, poorly edited mess
Review: I bought this book with the highest expectations, as there are no real biographies of The Smashing Pumpkins out there. What I found was a book that tries to compensate for subject matter by going into overblown, wordy digressions that are completely subjective. More research on the Pumpkins would have revealed some key elements far more interesting than Hanson's interpretations of events. For example, why not mention Corgan's battle with Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim Derogatis during the Siamese Dream days and into the Mellon Collie era? How can you miss that the band played three sold out nights at the Metro to start off the Siamese Dream tour? How can one not mention that the songs for Adore were written between periods of writer's block (the book suggests that the songs flowed out freely)? Our author even misses a song title, printing "The Impending Voice" instead of "The Imploding Voice" (from Machina), and stuff like that bugs the crap out of me. It appears to me that the book is poorly researched and even more poorly edited (irritating comma splices everywhere). The author is clearly not a music buff, possibly not a real fan, and not much of a journalist. The only saving grace to this book is the coverage of the Adore and Machina periods.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST ROCK BOOK OF THE CENTURY (SO FAR)
Review: I cannot believe the invective (sorry, long word) being expressed by the other reviewers - are we talking here about the Smashing Pumpkins, one of the most literate, profound and intellectual bands of the past decade? Or a Los Angeles hair metal bar band whose only contribution to the English language lies in confirming how to spell "woooaarrgghh"? "Tales Of A Scorched Earth" is one of the most entertainingly written, positively angled and honestly opinionated rock biographies around and, if author Hanson's language is occasionally beyond the capabilities of certain readers, then maybe they should find other bands to wave pretzels at, while shouting "Way to go, dude." Personally I find it insulting to all lovers of language and music (as the Pumpkins themselves are), that the most vocal swathes of their audience should cherish their own ignorance and stupidity over the intellectual standards that the band (and, by extension, Hanson) obviously feel they merit, and I recommend this book to anyone... that is ANYONE... who believes the Smashing Pumpkins are worth more than a few grunts at the lowest end of the evolutionary scale.

In other words, a GREAT BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: I LOVED THIS BOOK
Review: I'd not heard this book was coming out until I found it on Amazon, so I ordered it immediately. I was not disappointed. It tells the story of the Smashing Pumpkins in fast and flashy style, and you really feel like you know the band members better at the end. I especially enjoyed all the information about the earliest years, and the Scratchy Records story, but the book is strong all the way to the end. There's also an excellent discography so we can catch up with any Pumpkins/Billy music we might have missed.

Rating:
Summary: Even for SP fans this was painful to read
Review: My girlfriend bought me this book for my birthday and I couldn't wait to get started on it because I'm a huge Pumpkins and Corgan fan. After about the fifth page I was already disappointed. I could hardly stand reading the author's long, drawn out, overly dramatic way of informing the reader. Every sentence felt like work to read because the author goes out of her way to try and impress with her large vocabulary and endless, dragging, dry descriptions on every single event.

I couldn't agree more with all the bad reviews written before me. If you strip all the dry filler from this book you wouldn't have much left, and of that most SP fans probably know 75% of it already. Don't be fooled by the good reviews that attack the intelligence of the people criticizing this book. I understand the words the author uses, but it makes for difficult reading that doesn't flow well at all. Like I said, reading this was like work. I'm very disappointed. I've never liked/disliked a book so much that I would actually write up a review, but I don't want others out there to go through what I did and waste their (or their girlfriend's) money. You can get better information about the band by studying their lyrics and finding interviews with them online.


Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: The first, and only biography I have ever read of smashing pumpkins, and the worst biography I've ever read by anyone. Hanson over-utilises long words and skirts around even the slightest hint of any member of the band's private life in a bid to appear intellectual and inoffensive. In actual fact this only serves to irritate the reader. The photo section is the only real piece of green in this boring concrete patchwork, but even that is thin and devoted to the gish days. Although hanson clearly has a respect and perhaps a love of the pumpkins, her over-egging of songs like I am One and Siva is annoying. The real fault of the book though is its effort to appeal to indie kids who think they're clever, but even they would probably hate this clinical trash. I don't normally write amazon reviews, in fact this is only my second, but any prospective fan thinking of buying this book should look towards the mellon collie or adore CDs. Don't buy this, if you see a good review of this book, the person who wrote it was bribed. This is long, boring, irritating and over-intellectual with no real let up.

Rating:
Summary: Scorched writings!
Review: This book is disappointing, very disappointing indeed. Firstly, there are not many pictures of the band, the pic on the front cover could have been better too. Worse still though, the writer seems to get sidetracked too often, her sentences are quite long at times and she has a habit of using fancy words that some fans (no offence anyone) would not understand. Recommended only for true Pumpkins, otherwise I personally wouldn't buy it.


Rating:
Summary: Meaningless words to describe the meaningful
Review: This is quite possibly the most horrendously God-awful biography I have ever read. Granted, I appreciate the author's brave efforts to encapsulate the Smashing Pumpkins career, but I believe she is not a fan - and maybe even despises them. Regardless, I gave this book the great benefit of the doubt, hoping all through it that it would improve. I thought redundant, senseless ramblings couldn't fill up an ENTIRE book - WRONG! Once I reached page 164 I decided it was time to start jumping through paragraph through dry paragraphs seeking even the smallest tad-bit of information that would stimulate my interest.

Amy Hanson takes you through the Smashing Pumpkins career, but she also takes you down and through rocky, dirt-road detours where her words become the hot dust in the air making you cough. If it was her goal to make the Smashing Pumpkins the dullest topic one could read about, she is the most successful author ever. Hopefully a true fan with the superior thinking and writing skills required to write a biography on the best band of the 90's will create a real bio - one the fans can celebrate and one that the band deserves.

I would recommend this beast only to the die-hardest of pumpkin smashers. Anyone else would be turned off from the band and should check out the SP's online community/FAQ's/Bios before spending money on this brick of pretentious, arrogant prose.

Highlight: the killer black and white pictures in the center of the book & the discography at the end