B-Side of the Week - Pennies

Smashing Pumpkins
Pennies (from the Zero single)
(Virgin)

Gosh, these are sad days. They don't make them like they used to, that's how it always works, isn't it. Great men are brought down from their splendour. High art is defiled by populism. And while money inflates, what you get for them just gets shittier.

Take Smashing Pumpkins for example. Man, there was a time when they dreamt up some of rock music's most symphonic epics, blistering cries and wounded numbers. Now, well... they sure don't write them like they used to.

What they value for thirty dollars today used to be worth a penny. Like, literally. If you square off how much you spend on a cd single, credit the a-side with the lion's cut, you'll find that that's what b-sides cost. Pennies. Well, you sure used to get a lot more for what you spend.

Here's a slice from one of 1996's tastier pumpkin pies.

Smashing Pumpkins - Pennies