FOL - Smashing Pumpkins - Review

During the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago, Hyundai had a commercial that was edited by Billy Corgan, front man of the Smashing Pumpkins. During the commercial, a new Smashing Pumpkins single, FOL, debuted and Hyundai has made it available to download for free off of their website. Now, I've heard a few people saying that "the Smashing Pumpkins are selling out," but when you listen to Corgan in interviews, he's very interested in pursuing alternative methods of music distribution, including commercials, video games, and the internet (he's said something along the lines of media being used to cross-promote each other and that he feels the day of standalone media - i.e. the album - is fading away). I don't fall into the "sell out" mindset and so being the rabid Smashing Pumpkins fan that I am (I probably have more Smashing Pumpkins music than any other single artist - lots of demos, rarities, and b-sides), of course I downloaded it.

The verdict: I like it. I really like it. In has a vibe much more in line with the Pumpkins from '94-'98, I think. In fact, if you had told me that it was a long lost single from their golden years, I'd have easily believed it, as it definitely has more of that vibe and less of the Zeitgeist feel (after their previous album and the singles released since). The only noticeable difference to me is that perhaps Corgan lacks a little bit of the angstiness that he had during that time. That isn't a knock to the song. It's pretty catchy and I'll probably have it rotation more regularly than the Pumpkins previous two singles: G.L.O.W and Superchrist. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that digs Smashing Pumpkins, even as a casual fan. Head on over to SmashingPumpkins.com and give it a try.