SMASHING PUMPKINS TRIBUTE – The Killer In You

If you enter into the world of “tribute” CDs with hesitation and fear, you may want to turn and run before becoming ensnared by The Killer In You. Offered as tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins, The Killer in You is another nail in the coffin of why such discs should be outlawed. There is no tribute here … no admiration. This is a sham to capitalize on the name of someone already famous; a black eye on the face of the muse that inspired these songs.

Maybe these bands do actually admire the Pumpkins and were trying their best to perform their favorite Pumpkin tracks; ultimately, who cares? The Pumpkins weren’t popular that long ago that fans need to revisit them already … they aren’t part of a lost generation. These covers would be fun if you were at a band’s concert and they pulled one of these songs out and jammed it; that would be a tribute. A collection of songs like this, presented almost identically to their original recordings, is pointless. You can go out and buy the originals, which sound better than these versions, and be way better off.

And who are these bands? Mostly complete unknowns, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but why would you want just anybody covering a Smashing Pumpkins song? If these were A-List contenders, perhaps from other genres, then this type of disc could have some merit. Give the fans Iron Maiden doing “Cherub Rock” and Metallica doing “Mayonnaise.”

Roses Are Red kicks off the disc with “Cherub Rock,” and you probably won’t even know you aren’t listening to the Pumpkins until the voice kicks in. Then you will wonder if this is an even whinier Billy Corgan? 32 Leaves does a nice rendition of “Zero,” but not because they offer anything original to this rendition, it is just a killer song. When Eighteen Visions tears into “Quiet,” and you can’t say anything bad about it, but again what is the point?

Every track on this disc is performed really well, and the production … well it sounds like it could be the Pumpkins. You are going to ask yourself “Why am I not just listening to the Pumpkins?” — unless, of course, one of these bands is your favorite and you would just assume hear them play a Pumpkins song. The Smashing Pumpkins were a great Alternative Rock band, and at the time of this writing they are scheduled to reunite. They deserve all of the laude that has been given them, and maybe they indeed even deserve a “Tribute” disc. That disc, however, deserves to be a collection of artists who have something to say about the music and who can reflect on the way a certain song impacted them personally and musically. The Killer in You is not that collection. Instead, it’s a low blow to the listening public.