Cool Kids Never Have The Time: The Story of The Smashing Pumpkins' '1979'

A great pop song can evoke a universal feeling that just about
every listener out there feels. You can make a case for just
about any song and any feeling, but has a song ever encapsulated
the feeling of being a teenager as accurately as the Smashing
Pumpkins’ “1979”?


When he wrote it, at the age of 28 mind you, frontman Billy
Corgan was looking to express what he felt in his adolescence -
all of the angst, pain, fear, excitement, happiness and endless
possibilities you face when you’re a teenager. And he nailed it.
What’s funny is that when it was released in 1995, it sounded
unlike anything else the band had recorded.


This alternative rock band often associated with the grunge scene
and loud guitars, put out a soft, melancholy tune featuring
synthesizers and drum loops. Even funnier is the fact that “1979”
became the biggest song of their career, finding new audiences as
the generations turn. Yes, it’s as popular with Gen-Z and even
Gen Alpha as it is the Gen X that made it a hit in the first
place.


This is the story of The Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 with newly
unearthed footage from the band themselves!


Written by Cam Lindsay for iHeartRadio.