The feud that ensued between the Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement was a major definer of alt-rock in the 90s. The beef between the bands has propelled itself into mythical status – Billy Corgan is still reeling over the bad blood, tweeting in 2010 that Pavement “represent the death of the alternative dream.”
Now, in a recent interview with SPIN, it seems the 90s enemies are still out for blood, with Pavement’s frontman Stephen Malkmus sounding off on the Smashing Pumpkins hotly debated reunion, calling it “fake” for not including longtime bass player D’Arcy Wretszky.
Malkmus and interviewer Tim Heidecker discussed Lindsay Buckingham’s recent departure from Fleetwood Mac, pondering whether it was worth it for fans to watch the band live considering it’s no longer the classic lineup performing.
Malkmus compared Fleetwood Mac’s current situation to the Smashing Pumpkins upcoming tour, saying ticket sales are underperforming because fans are sick of seeing “fake reunions, almost-reunions”, in reference to D’Arcy Wretszky’s absence from the tour.
“The members of Smashing Pumpkins—Lindsey Buckingham is not in the Smashing Pumpkins, but there’s a female bass player named D’arcy, and she’s not going to be on the tour.”
“And people are doing a similar complaint, because the band has already done like three fake reunions, almost-reunions, and this is supposed to be—I think they’re just playing like their old hits, they’re not going to bore us with the new album or whatever.”
Malkmus added that he believes Fleetwood Mac are now a “brand” and people will watch them regardless of their lineup.
“I think people will go though. It’s a brand, and Fleetwood Mac is a brand by now. And it’s not like they have three different Fleetwood Macs going around.”
Billy Corgan said earlier this year that reuniting with D’Arcy Wretszky would eventuate into a “shitty reality show” after months of back and forth feuding between the two, in which Wretszky took to social media to call Corgan “manipulative” adding that he “can’t sing for shit”.
