Alice in Chains vs. Smashing Pumpkins

[Mr_Randy_Watson]

I've been having an ongoing debate with my friends about which is the better band: Smashing Pumpkins or Alice in Chains.
Anyone out there have any thoughts?

[IPrayForSound]

Shouldn't it be which WAS the better band? Or which is the better has-been?

Either way, gotta go with AIC

[DogStarMan]

I think they are both equally great.

[butter_of_69]

I'm voting for Sexual Chocolate.

[postfeminist]

i gotta go with Smashing Pumpkins. i was never a fan of Lane or Jerry from AIC and i always had a deep love for James Iha and Darcy...billy's persona gets on my nerves from time to time, but i like their music better; as long as we're talking about Gish & Siamese Dream...i liked a lot of Pisces Iscariot, but Mellon Collie didn't do much for me.

word to your mother.

[Bronzetree]

AIC, baby.

[bluewilco]

AIC here...

Corgan has always been overrated, and it's only contributed to his ego growing and rising to his egg-shaped head...it scares me.

[marshallnesta]

what? no bush fans? for me, gotta be pumpkins. emptiness is lonelyness...but happiness is a chinese buffet.

[shivui]

as far as i know, pumpkins have more material. that alone makes me lean in their favor.
them by a prosthetic nose.

[sleepingbeauty]

smashing pumpkins without a doubt

as a young teenager, when a started to really pay attention to music, they were one of the first bands i really got into

i can never tire of Siamese Dream

[samanafay]

smashing pumpkins are way better. and i don't even like them all that much.

[LiceKrispy]

Smashing Pumpkins may have more crap than AIC, but they also have more gold, and more in general. And in some cases more pure gold. And in more varied forms. But they're both good. This should have been a poll. (For us lazy folks.)

[tobedawg]

I'm going with Smashing Pumpkins

[Roger]

Apples and oranges. They sound nothing alike.
It all depends on what kind of mood I'm in which I'd prefer.

[SteelTown Boy]

"down in a hole"-enough said.

[docstar]

AIC by a landslide; as talented as they come; they were as sophisticated musically as anyone who came out of seattle; too bad they never fulfilled true potential; i've seen and heard a ton; pumpkins ok but vastly overrated in my musical book

[Milkman Dan]

Going with Pumpkins on this one... I'm going with Sleepingbeauty on this one. They were there in my teenage angst days.

Where was AiC? Nowhere... from where I was perched any way.

[Iwasmerkaba]

As a guitarist I grew up enjoy jerry's tones and licks, not to mention his great voice and song writing..Just listen to the end of the nothing song. I got in to SP's a little later on. Don't know how I would choose inbetween the two; totally different nads as far as Im concerned.

[kcneon]

ALICE by a nose!

I luv both. But Layne's voice - all that emotion just gets to me more. Pumpkins have their place by being more arty and versatile.

[Buzzstein]

Definitely Smashing Pumpkins!

[Slar]

Wow Buzzy! Digging through the archives are we? I'll go with Pumpkins too.

[uselesstomato]

pshaw, whatever. totally AIC. though, cept for a few songs, smashing pumpkins as a whole never really did much for me.

[Unrequited]

Are we talking music or heroin use?

[silentpaul]

Are we talking music or heroin use?
Who's the last singer standing? :rolleyes:

[jvk]

Alice In Chains. They put out less songs on less albums and still rated as many preferred tunes for me as Smashing Pumpins did with more albums with more songs on them. Pumpkins have plenty of tunes I like, but after 15 year, they have just as many throwaways, in my opinion.

AIC gets extra points for begatting the better side project, Mad Season. Corgin's side projects could have be named Zwan and on and on... :D

[Breeze]

Alice In Chains. :cool:

[LiceKrispy]

Smashing Pumpkins may have more crap than AIC, but they also have more gold, and more in general. And in some cases more pure gold. And in more varied forms. But they're both good. This should have been a poll. (For us lazy folks.)

What the hell are you talking about?? AIC, definitely. ;)

[wileE]

Definitely Smashing Pumpkins!
That's because you suck.

Alice In Chains all the way.

[DaHood]

pshaw, whatever. totally AIC.
You are so cool to me right now but I'm sure this means p_o hates you. :p

Shh, don't tell about my secret love for AIC.

Doooohhh, I just did it myself!

That's because you suck.

Alice In Chains all the way.That's it. p_o can have your wife. I love you.

[drougan]

hmmm....tough choice.

Alice In Chains: more popular in the mainstream grungy fashion. Rocked both hi and low.

Smashing Pumpkins: more diverse musically and harder to genrify. Also rocked, but also slowed it down and got mellow and those songs generally got on my nerves.

I'll edge it over to AiC, cause their down tempo was still really freakin good, they put out an excellent Unplugged CD, knew what they were and stuck to it. Less arty pretentions it seems to me.

[DaHood]

AIC had not one but TWO great lead vocals. Pumpkins had Corrigan. Nuff said.

[cuneyt81]

As much as Corgan annoys me, I gotta give it to Pumpkins. Siamese Dream still sounds amazing to this day, but I haven't listened to Dirt in years.

[clonE]

i gotta go with Smashing Pumpkins. i was never a fan of Lane or Jerry from AIC and i always had a deep love for James Iha and Darcy...billy's persona gets on my nerves from time to time, but i like their music better; as long as we're talking about Gish & Siamese Dream...i liked a lot of Pisces Iscariot, but Mellon Collie didn't do much for me.

word to your mother.


Not much of an argument there. "SP is better, if you only look at their first two albums and aprts of the rest of some of their releases." AIC has a catalog full of great albums that show a surprising amount of growth for what started as essentially a 'grunge' band.

My vote is clearly for AIC; Lane's gravelly voice is so much more tolerable than Corgan's whine.

[ajax]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/tkeajax/13-16-12.gif

[euro60]

I'll edge it over to AiC, cause their down tempo was still really freakin good, they put out an excellent Unplugged CD, knew what they were and stuck to it. Less arty pretentions it seems to me.
Yes, yes indeed, one of the best in the "MTV Unplugged" series.
http://www.galeon.com/allmusic/caratulas/a/Alice_In_Chains_-_MTV_Unplugged_-_front.jpg

[the_birds]

Not a big fan of these kind of comparisons. I like both bands. Alice in Chains by the smallest of margins. Both had fantastic moments of sheer brilliance.

[DaHood]

Not a big fan of these kind of comparisons. I like both bands. Alice in Chains by the smallest of margins. Both had fantastic moments of sheer brilliance.When it comes down to it, I can't argue with this post. I also like both bands but I think I spent a lot more time listening to AIC.

[germicide]

I'm voting for Sexual Chocolate.
feed the children

[Breeze]

AIC had not one but TWO great lead vocals.

Excellent point. Cantrell's vocals get overlooked, but they were a big part of that band's sound. :)

[DaHood]

Excellent point. Cantrell's vocals get overlooked, but they were a big part of that band's sound. :)It's the combination of those two voices that made me love their vocals.

[wileE]

I'm going to have to go home and listen to Dirt now.

[JulieJulieK]

pumpkins...that's all I have to say about that

[Breeze]

I'm going to have to go home and listen to Dirt now.

And Jar of Flies.

[SheepNutz]

Why is this not a poll? Pumpkins baby!

[DaHood]

And Jar of Flies.Other than unplugged I think I'd say this is my favorite AIC album although I think some singles from other albums are favorites. But I have a hard time nailing down absolute favorites of any band or nailing down an absolute favorite artists. Dave Brubeck?[/mistersubliminal]

[Anyong]

anyone who knows me knows what my answer to this is.

but that doesn't mean I'm not an Alice in Chains fan. Dirt is one of my all-time favorite albums.

[Breeze]

Other than unplugged I think I'd say this is my favorite AIC album although I think some singles from other albums are favorites. But I have a hard time nailing down absolute favorites of any band or nailing down an absolute favorite artists. Dave Brubeck?[/mistersubliminal]

I know what you mean about favorite artists. Elvis Costello

Trying to pick just one would be quite difficult. Chet Baker

[uselesstomato]

It's the combination of those two voices that made me love their vocals.

amen to that

[twentyshots]

tough comparison. two different moods to me.

musically i will always like SP for their juxtaposition of hard and soft. it could be heavy one moment and light the next. lot of texture there.

vocally it goes to AIC.......you could hear Staley's suffering.

i am glad to see the love for AIC.........i always felt that they were wrongly categorized or something.....

[alternachild]

The abundance of AIC answers makes me want to eat the world and purge it.

I'm dumbfounded. The Smashing Pumpkins are infinitely superior.

[Fourthisto]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/tkeajax/13-16-12.gifI couldn't agree more. Anyone who says otherwise is an old fuddy-duddy.

[alternachild]

On the contrary--anyone who agrees IS an old fuddy-duddy.

[The Sheck]

I'm not sure I agree with the premise that AIC was bigger than the Pumpkins. Pumpkins sold way more records, and were generally more accessible than them.

Who's to say if AIC is getting a *Buckley Boost, too? Though I agree Dirt is the band's masterpiece, I always thought the little EPs they put out between proper albums contained some of their best work.

The Pumpkins had better singles, but AIC had the better albums (Did they make a BAD record, really?). It's really a toss-up as to which one is 'better.' Sometimes the dark, down-in-a-hole type stuff (heh) doesn't necessarily cause that to happen.






*Buckley Boost - Named after troubadour Jeff Buckley, this effect happens when a artist or main person in a band dies suddenly, resulting in a collective revisionist look at that artist/band's catalog. (Example: Jeff Buckley's Grace going from a good debut record before his death to classic album status in the years afterwards.)

[mike]

I'm no great fan of either but IMO, the Pumpkins at least started from a punk/alternative template while AiC always sounded like warmed over classic rock to me.

[dannyboy]

I'm no great fan of either but IMO, the Pumpkins at least started from a punk/alternative template while AiC always sounded like warmed over classic rock to me.
I first started listening to SP when 'Gish' was released and AIC when 'Facelift' came out. Both of these albums had a similar sound in my opinion.

[weezer6]

for me, i gotta go with the pumpkins. they kicked ass everytime i saw them in concert, and even though anything after melon collie wasn't too good, the pumpkins first 3 mainstream releases (but the equivalent of 4, since mc was a double album) dominated alice in chains, who from the looks of their discography at allmusic, only put out 4 studio releases.

i'd put gish and siamese dream head and shoulders over any aic album, and after that, the rest are all fairly close.

[Merv Kemp]

Alice in Chains.

[The Big Crunch]

I'm not sure I agree with the premise that AIC was bigger than the Pumpkins. Pumpkins sold way more records, and were generally more accessible than them.

Who's to say if AIC is getting a *Buckley Boost, too? Though I agree Dirt is the band's masterpiece, I always thought the little EPs they put out between proper albums contained some of their best work.

The Pumpkins had better singles, but AIC had the better albums (Did they make a BAD record, really?). It's really a toss-up as to which one is 'better.' Sometimes the dark, down-in-a-hole type stuff (heh) doesn't necessarily cause that to happen.
I agree and disagree with you Sheck.

Sheck's right, AIC was not bigger than the Pumpkins.

Man, I totally agree about those EPs...Jar of Flies is one of their best albums.

Dirt is a GREAT album. I briefly dated a girl in college who loved to f*ck with Dirt playing really loud...damn, those were the good ol' days.

The self-titled AIC album was kind've bland IMO, and honestly, the second half of Facelift was somewhat forgettable...although that may have more to do with how f*cking amazing the first half of that album is...I need to go back and give it a listen, it's been about a year since I played it.

[jvk]

Shouldn't this thread be in the WOXY Vintage discussion???

[Fourthisto]

Shouldn't this thread be in the WOXY Vintage discussion???Nah.......

[Anyong]

Nah.......

apparently you (and me) are wrong

[Fourthisto]

apparently you (and me) are wrongDont give up, we can petition to have it moved back. All we need is a catchy slogan, a few posters in high-traffic areas and a jingle. Never give up!

[deetums]

AIC all the way. They were consistenly better than SP even tho their catalog isn't as vast. Record sales don't make a great band in my opinion.

Gish and Siamese Dream were great, but I was furious when I spent the 23.99 on Mellon Collie. At the time, I thought it was just a major cop-out to become more marketable, whatever... I stopped caring about SP after that. Plus I never cared for Billy Corgan.

I guess I felt like I always knew what I was getting with an AIC album, consistent rocking, a few slower/darker songs and overall great song writing from Cantrell. Staley was the quintessential "grunge" vocalist in my opinion.

On top of that, I'm pretty sure AIC has never been covered by Panic! At the Disco or the Deftones...::barf:: (http://www.stereogum.com/archives/the-smashing-pumpkins-get-a-mallpunk-makeover.html)...and that is definitely a good thing.

[Criss]

It's the combination of those two voices that made me love their vocals.

I've read most of the posts on this thread, and this is the one that I agree sets AIC above Smashing Pumpkins. Cantrell and Staley worked damn well together. I loved growing up as a teen in the grunge area and AIC was my favorite band of the time, followed closely by Soundgarden.

It never surprised me that Layne would one day die of drug use, but of all of the Seattle bands, I can't believe Scott Weiland's still alive. Is he the Keith Richards of our time?

[Slar]

Shouldn't this thread be in the WOXY Vintage discussion???This thread predates the Vintage channel.

[jvk]

I briefly dated a girl in college who loved to f*ck with Dirt playing really loud...damn, those were the good ol' days..
Good Lord, Big Crunch! I think I'd dig Sha-Na-Na or The Wiggles under the same circumstances.

[jvk]

This thread predates the Vintage channel.
Oh wow, Slar. I did not even notice the original date of this thread? It kind of made me wonder why AIC and Pumpkins were suddenly being discussed in 2007. Was there a Best Of.. in the stores in 2003 that might have made them topical then??

[Buzzstein]

What??? This thread is from 2003?? I didn't notice. :)

[DaHood]

I can't believe Scott Weiland's still alive. Is he the Keith Richards of our time?In a way, perhaps. But where Richards is legendary, Weiland is just annoying, from a standpoint of his addictions at least.

[jvk]

What??? This thread is from 2003?? I didn't notice. :)
With a post count of 4, I doubt Mr_Randy_Watson is really tuned into our responses...

[harris_kw]

i can never tire of Siamese Dream

x2...still one of my all time faves. I guess that means I vote for SP

[euro60]

In a way, perhaps. But where Richards is legendary, Weiland is just annoying, from a standpoint of his addictions at least.
I'll second that, jeez... enough about Weiland already

[DaHood]

I'll second that, jeez... enough about Weiland alreadyBut I do love his voice. I always have. I just think he's a little bitch.

[science_jester]

Cantrell and Staley were the Lennon and McCartney of hard rock. AIC all the way!

[The Sheck]

Cantrell and Staley were the Lennon and McCartney of hard rock. AIC all the way!

Wow...just...wow.

[Anyong]

Wow...just...wow.

well...he does claim to be a jester....

[TripleShockPowa]

10yrs ago when they were both "fresh" bands I prefered AiC but now I think I enjoy them both equally.