THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

374-The Smashing Pumpkins-1979.

1996-Number 16 single.

Best Bit-At 1.07. Billy Corgan once joked,’We wrote this song for Michael Jackson, but found he couldn’t do the Moonwalk to it.’

Billy Corgan was born William Patrick Corgan on March 17th, 1967, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Even before co-founding The Smashing Pumpkins in 1988 he had already chosen the name. Corgan has said ‘I like the idea of smashing being aggressive, as well as wonderful.’ He also has said,’It could have been any vegetable, it has nothing to do with Pumpkins or Halloween, it just came to me, there’s no related story.’

The original lineup of The Smashing Pumpkins was Billy Corgan, (lead vocals, and guitar) D’arcy Wretzky, (bass) James Iha, (guitar) and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums.) In total there have been eight members come and go, with Corgan being the bands only constant. They split in 2000, but Corgan and Chamberlin reconvened in 2006, and as of 2022 they remain active with James Iha rejoining in 2018, and Jeff Schroeder (guitars, and keyboards) being a member since 2007. The Smashing Pumpkins have released 11 studio Albums between 1991-2020, and 54 singles between 1990-2020. In America on Billboard four of their singles have reached the top 40, while in the UK they have charted 10 times, with the 1997 single ‘The End Is the Beginning Is the End’ being their biggest hit when reaching Number 10.

‘1979’ was released as the second single from The Smashing Pumpkins third studio Album ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ released in 1995. The song was written by Billy Corgan (see also best songs 623) who named it ‘1979’ as in that year he was 12 years old. The song is partly similar in structure to an unreleased track from around 1992 called ‘Pleasure’ by the American Alternative Rock group ‘The Frogs,’ who have made it clear that they feel Corgan pinched their song. ‘1979’ is about the transition out of youth into adulthood, knowing you are at an age where responsibilities are just around the corner, but not wanting to let go of your carefree youth yet.

‘And I don’t even care to shake these zipper blues. And we don’t know just where our bones will rest, to dust I guess, forgotten and absorbed into the earth below.’