A Phoenix New Times article reviewing Smashing Pumpkins’ show in Glendale, Arizona praises Billy Corgan for having the ‘audacity’ to do cover Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”. The reviewer writes that Chris Cornell ‘wouldnt have been caught dead’ singing it, and that Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder wouldn’t either.
But the Zep cover highlights what makes the Pumpkins so great: Who else but Billy Corgan would have the audacity to do an un-ironic cover of “Stairway to Heaven”? Chris Cornell practically worshiped Robert Plant and he wouldn’t have been caught dead singing about bustles in your hedgerow. No one else in the alt-rock era would have been able to get past their humility (like Pearl Jam) or their reflexive hate of arena rock tropes (hi, Nirvana!) to do THAT song.
Time and time again over the course of three hours, the Pumpkins showed off their best side. It isn’t their “God is empty/just like me” rocker posturing; it’s their romanticism. How songs like “Muzzle” and “Hummer” seem to soar toward heaven, eager to transcend the bounds of everything else. It’s why metal groups like Deafheaven draw inspiration from records like Siamese Dream for their prettier moments: The Pumpkins knew how to merge overwhelming power and beauty better than anyone else in American alt-rock. They found a way to splice Jimmy Page and Robin Guthrie into one perfect six-string rock god.
