The Good Place star D’Arcy Carden discussed her love-hate relationship with The Smashing Pumpkins in a new Pitchfork article.
“I put an apostrophe in my name that wasn’t there before, like Smashing Pumpkins bassist D’Arcy Wretzky, because of how influential this band was to me. D’Arcy was just the epitome of cool to me. In 1993, I was really into alternative and grunge music, and whereas the Nirvanas and the Pearl Jams felt so masculine, there was something sweeter and lighter about Smashing Pumpkins. The fact that they had a girl in their band was huge for me and my friends. I learned the guitar part to ‘Today,’ and it made me feel like such a badass. It was like, ‘Wow, I can play guitar!’ But, of course, anybody can play the beginning of ‘Today.’
Billy Corgan has one of those voices to me where—and this is gonna sound like an insult but I truly mean it as a compliment—it’s like, why the hell did he think he could be the lead singer of a band? His voice is so weird, and I’m sure there was a choir teacher or some asshole friend who was like, ‘You don’t have a good voice.’ Yet he continued to sing. And I’m glad he did, because he made all these really good songs.
At this point, like a lot of people, I have a love-hate relationship with Smashing Pumpkins. I love the music, but the more I learn about the people behind the music, it’s harder. But that is the case with a lot of the art that we love. There are so many things from your teen and pre-teen years you were obsessed with and absorbed every bit of and then, later on, you’re like, ‘Oh no! That guy’s an asshole.'”
