Lyrical breakdown: How Smashing Pumpkins ‘1979’ represents our collective nostalgia

Trash Theory made this wonderful lyrical breakdown video on the Smashing Punmpkins ‘1979’ and how it represents the collective youthful exuberance we seek to regain only when we’ve grown away from it. It’s got some NSFW language, but it’s a well-woven piece that shows how the song’s message permeates in other movies and music while being one of the Pumpkin’s best tracks. The video also notes how Pumpkin’s leader Billy Corgan was bringing the band in a different direction on ‘Mellon-collie and the Infinities Sadness’  and artistically stopping one formula that they grew tired of one their earlier records.

One thing this video gets wrong in my opinion, is where it claims the band has not been able to strike the same glory since this period which is just aggressively esoteric. If you are going to praise the band for encapsulated the ideal feeling of youth, why you would then not allow the same artist to grow?

No matter what you think of this video, maybe you will love this: Our epic Lounge session withe Smashing Pumpkins where Billy and company share stories of growing up in Chicago and more.