Zeitgeist
by The Smashing Pumpkins
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 306 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 234 out of 306
  2. Mixed: 38 out of 306
  3. Negative: 34 out of 306

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  1. CalR
    Feb 19, 2012
    3
    It's just never comes together. The music sounds great, thunderous and roaring which is everything The Smashing Pumpkins comeback album should have been, but overproduction, juvenile lyrics and poor vocals cannot tie this together in the way it should. The second half of the album is easily the worst music the band has ever put out, with only 'Bleeding The Orchid' and '7 Shades of Black'It's just never comes together. The music sounds great, thunderous and roaring which is everything The Smashing Pumpkins comeback album should have been, but overproduction, juvenile lyrics and poor vocals cannot tie this together in the way it should. The second half of the album is easily the worst music the band has ever put out, with only 'Bleeding The Orchid' and '7 Shades of Black' retaining any of the latter Pumpkins talent. The rest sounds like another band trying to cover 'Gish' outtakes.… Expand
  2. nico-
    Jul 10, 2007
    0
    barf. good music ? 10,000 days!
  3. JonathanOfthetimes
    Sep 16, 2007
    0
    (Sigh) I just wish people would learn how to mix albums. I know I may not like some albums direction (in sound) but I can appreciate it, and believe me, it makes a difference if you have an outside producer and mixer do the entire record. And not someone from the band, believe me I've noticed it. And this album suffers from it massively. It sounds unbalanced and all over the place. (Sigh) I just wish people would learn how to mix albums. I know I may not like some albums direction (in sound) but I can appreciate it, and believe me, it makes a difference if you have an outside producer and mixer do the entire record. And not someone from the band, believe me I've noticed it. And this album suffers from it massively. It sounds unbalanced and all over the place. Billy Corgans vocals are up way to high in the mix, buzzing away in your head. It gets tiring, and after the first listen its obvious that this is not the album people wanted to here. The thing that annoys me is how bad some bands are getting, I can appreciate bands getting worse out better now, I'm used to it. The only band I have some faith in now is "Our Lady Peace" at least their records aren't bland.… Expand
  4. Dipleasedjerk
    Oct 17, 2007
    1
    Where is James and Darcy? Corgin needs these limiters to keep his direction focused. Overall, this album sounds like a pitiful attempt from Corgin to prove himself, when he has already done this. Instead, he listens to a "hard rock" producer and tries and fails and politic rock. If you have fallen in love with earlier SP and their inward music than don't go and drown yourself in this Where is James and Darcy? Corgin needs these limiters to keep his direction focused. Overall, this album sounds like a pitiful attempt from Corgin to prove himself, when he has already done this. Instead, he listens to a "hard rock" producer and tries and fails and politic rock. If you have fallen in love with earlier SP and their inward music than don't go and drown yourself in this disappointing buzz.… Expand
  5. SheldonR.
    Jul 12, 2007
    1
    Horrible effort. Can't describe the pain I felt in my heart from having to finish listening to this mess. Truly garbage.
  6. KG
    Jul 10, 2007
    3
    Billy Corgan, do us all a favor and retire.
  7. FotisTsats
    Jul 3, 2007
    3
    The Album after the half part is disappointed... I wonder if this album is their worst one
  8. PablitoClavoUnClavito
    Jul 4, 2007
    2
    So Buring, Without Soul and you just want to bury that noisy sounds, and play again Siamese Dream or Adore
  9. moonwaffle6
    Jul 8, 2007
    3
    who mixed this album? it sounds like corgan doing karaoke. oh yeah and it's boring. the sound of a desperate man-child lost adrift in a sea of his own delusions of grandeur.
  10. Noelg.
    Oct 3, 2007
    0
    This is not the album that was promised, where's James and Darcy? Billy Corgan is an honest kind of guy, but are the other two that bad?? Or is Billy just a moody little man? I don't know, sure its loud and rocks, but it sounds like total rubbish, and is mixed something awful, where the heak is the record that we were all promised. Where are the songs? We don't need a long This is not the album that was promised, where's James and Darcy? Billy Corgan is an honest kind of guy, but are the other two that bad?? Or is Billy just a moody little man? I don't know, sure its loud and rocks, but it sounds like total rubbish, and is mixed something awful, where the heak is the record that we were all promised. Where are the songs? We don't need a long 12 tracks of one droning composition (Much like Gavin Rossdales Institute!!) I hope the next ones better, and the rest of the band pull their weight!!… Expand
  11. KevinH.
    Jul 11, 2007
    2
    I know The Smashing Pumpkins, and this isn't it. I am a huge Pumpkins fan, and even I realize Corgan has his head too far up his ass to notice anything. He produced most of the tracks, so of course his voice is double and triple tracked and at the front of the mix. I can barely hear the drums, or any of the other instruments for that matter. His voice has gotten progressively I know The Smashing Pumpkins, and this isn't it. I am a huge Pumpkins fan, and even I realize Corgan has his head too far up his ass to notice anything. He produced most of the tracks, so of course his voice is double and triple tracked and at the front of the mix. I can barely hear the drums, or any of the other instruments for that matter. His voice has gotten progressively downhill since Machina, bad on ZWAN, and terrible on The Future Embrace. Let's not even talk about his poor vocal performance on this one. Stay away from this album, it's not the Pumpkins you and I know and love.… Expand
  12. StimpyC.
    Jul 15, 2007
    3
    This album starts with promise with it great driving guitars and drums that the pumpkins do so well, but after a few tracks they all meld into one and become nothing more than small pop styled melodies. When I first heard Gish I could sit back and have songs flowing though my head afterwards. Same with Siamese Dream and then with Melancholy. But this has no great riffs, no hooks and no This album starts with promise with it great driving guitars and drums that the pumpkins do so well, but after a few tracks they all meld into one and become nothing more than small pop styled melodies. When I first heard Gish I could sit back and have songs flowing though my head afterwards. Same with Siamese Dream and then with Melancholy. But this has no great riffs, no hooks and no memorable moments. All I felt was that it was Billy back to his navel gazing self introspective ways. This isn't the Pumpkins, just a album with the Pumpkins name on it. He should have stuck with Zwan, they actually made good music.… Expand
  13. AnthonyC.
    Jul 15, 2007
    3
    The mix is awful. Corgan's vocals NEVER need to be pushed up to the front and the guitars sound muddy with zero definition in the distortion. On top of this, the songs all sound the same. Nothing even half as beautiful or well-written as Soma or Tonight, Tonight or Hummer. Nothing as powerful as Bodies. Nothing as interesting as Love or Silverfuck. It's just utter blandness in The mix is awful. Corgan's vocals NEVER need to be pushed up to the front and the guitars sound muddy with zero definition in the distortion. On top of this, the songs all sound the same. Nothing even half as beautiful or well-written as Soma or Tonight, Tonight or Hummer. Nothing as powerful as Bodies. Nothing as interesting as Love or Silverfuck. It's just utter blandness in the form of a paint-by-numbers commercial rock album. Incredibly disappointing but hardly unexpected.… Expand
  14. UderD.e
    Jul 17, 2007
    0
    laaaaaaaaaaaame, it clips!
  15. starpower
    Jul 2, 2007
    3
    lacking originality and overal substance that could have been....sounds more like a group of college kids got together and tried to make money with someone else's riffs.....as like about all popular music....very relatable to everything else herd on the radio....
  16. StickieP
    Jul 23, 2007
    3
    A total disappointment. It lacks the emotion and depth of the earlier SP albums and sounds tired and dated.
  17. BrendanD
    Jul 31, 2007
    0
    Okay, you're probably wondering, "Gee, Brendan, you've never given an album a 0 before. What gives?" And no, I'm not basing my review on the music. There are few artists surviving today about whom I cannot be at the very least unbiased in my reviews, if not in my fandom (I'm a fan, for example, of Sinead O'Connor, but I'd easily admit that her latest album is Okay, you're probably wondering, "Gee, Brendan, you've never given an album a 0 before. What gives?" And no, I'm not basing my review on the music. There are few artists surviving today about whom I cannot be at the very least unbiased in my reviews, if not in my fandom (I'm a fan, for example, of Sinead O'Connor, but I'd easily admit that her latest album is not her A-game). I cannot, however, be unbiased when it comes to the band with which I grew up and grew my musical testicles. I was in fifth grade when "Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness" came out, and I never felt more at home than riding in my mom's '92 Honda Accord and listening to "1979" on my CD player whilst driving from Chicago to Cleveland (or wherever else we might be going). Billy Corgan was my hero, my savior, and when he wailed, "God is empty, just like me," my prepubescent soul wailed with him and understood him. Later years taught me that it was never really The Smashing Pumpkins: The Band, but rather Billy & the Pumpkins, a creative popster and three hired goons. But if Billy was such a genius, why couldn't he make Zwan work, and why wasn't his solo record really worth a hill of monkey crap? I bought the Mythos of Billy Corgan, however, and when I opened up my copy of the Chicago Tribune the day "The Future Embrace" was released, I saw Billy proclaiming, "I want my band back." And I was excited. Of course, I presumed that by "I want my band back," Billy meant the actual band, not the brand-name "The Smashing Pumpkins(R)." And frankly, that's all "Zeitgeist" is -- it's Macy's, as opposed to (insert local clothing supergiant here), or Wal-Mart, as opposed to (insert local general store here). Musically, there is little difference between "Zeitgeist" and Zwan's "Mary, Star of the Sea." We've heard this all before, and it doesn't sound as rewarding as it did ten or fifteen years ago. What once made Billy sound like a true Zeitgeist now makes him sound like a dated, aging hipster, his teen angst now seeming trite coming out of the mouth of a 40-year-old. I know Billy. Not personally, but I know him. I'm an Irish-Catholic kid born on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago, too. Swear to God. And I get his Pisces Iscariot mentality. But you know what? We've all got to grow up sometime. Despite the steaming pile of cat genitals that was "The Future Embrace," it showed a step forward from Zwan, that Billy was willing to try something different. Even if that different thing wasn't so good, there were moments of promise that made his solo effort, if nothing else, endearing. Now, he's not trying; he just wants to be a superstar again. In the process, he's turned the legacy of the Smashing Pumpkins into a mere footnote, reviving the brand name simply for sh*ts and giggles. And for that, there will be no mercy and no forgiveness. A zero rating just about approximates that.… Expand
  18. Glen
    Jul 3, 2007
    3
    Sounds like a shitty metal album, cant wait to buy 4 different copies so Billy can pay his bills!!!
  19. VinG
    Jul 3, 2007
    0
    This album is absolutely terrible. Poorly recorded, poorly put together, and the instrumental talent of a high school garage band. I'm waiting for Billy Corgan to come out and say, "Haha guys! Just kidding! That album was just a joke!" Really, this one is bad. Avoid it like the plague.
  20. NateS
    Jul 5, 2007
    1
    WOW!!! The Smashing Pumpkins have returned to sound exactly the same as every other top 40 rock band. No originality, no subtle wit, and well..... This album is uglier than my toilet after eating 10 microwave burritos
  21. GregL
    Aug 2, 2007
    2
    What happened to the Smashing Pumpkins? This is one of the worst cds I have ever heard. Gish and Siamese Dream were raw, innovative, spine tingling. They were albums that helped shape my mind in times of some bad relationships, and my lost 20 something, gen x punk mentality, while growing into manhood. Corgan was really trying in the 90s. Heart and soul, with everything he had. He was out What happened to the Smashing Pumpkins? This is one of the worst cds I have ever heard. Gish and Siamese Dream were raw, innovative, spine tingling. They were albums that helped shape my mind in times of some bad relationships, and my lost 20 something, gen x punk mentality, while growing into manhood. Corgan was really trying in the 90s. Heart and soul, with everything he had. He was out to prove how good he could be, and he succeeded 3 fold. Not this time. He doesn't even come out of the3 creative box. Zeitgesit is uncreative, nonexciting and dull, except forTarantulla. The guitar and drums sound great, except for sounding the same on every single song. Lost is the Corgan rule of mixing up the sound of each song to stiffle a listeners boredom. The worst part however is the vocals. Which is shocking to me. Billy Corgan's vocals have always been over the top in the diversity of notes and range of pitch that he is able to hit. Like a runaway freight train sliding over glass. He doesn't do it here at all. 2 tones and pitches max. Droning, boring vocals with lyrics that he must have had Michael Bolton write for him. Just lame. What a dissapointment. He should listen to his old stuff because oviously forgot what he can do.… Expand
  22. Jake
    Mar 12, 2008
    0
    For 7 long years I hoped and waited for a Pumpkins reunion, not a Billy and Jimmy reunion who picked up two hitchhikers. I find it hard to believe that a man who was the driving force behind some of the best records of the 90's (or all time for that matter) has come up with the trainwreck that is Zeitgeist. I waited for what seemed like forever to get this record, only to be beyond For 7 long years I hoped and waited for a Pumpkins reunion, not a Billy and Jimmy reunion who picked up two hitchhikers. I find it hard to believe that a man who was the driving force behind some of the best records of the 90's (or all time for that matter) has come up with the trainwreck that is Zeitgeist. I waited for what seemed like forever to get this record, only to be beyond disappointed. Every aspect of this record is overdone and watered down. But most disappointing is the songwriting. Billy seemed to have an endless supply of hooks which to pull from record after record. I can pretty much pick one killer lyric from any pre-Zeitgeist Pumpkins song yet hear is an entire album without one. It kills me to write this, it really does because I love The Pumpkins as much as anyone. In my mind they still broke up in 2001 and were never heard from again. For the girl who said they were 'awesome' live, you must have seen a different Smashing Pumpkins. I saw them and they were awful. I wanted a Pumpkin reunion as much as anybody but Billy really should have left the Pumpkins dead and buried.… Expand
  23. KaitarnD.
    Aug 24, 2008
    3
    Chicago's totally changed when Billy and his companions recorded the triad Gish-Siamese-Mellon Collie. I'm one of the class A fan. But i cannot give this album more than a chance. No more charming lyrics, no surprising change of a chord, nothing but a rock LP without ideas. Solo album was at least admirable for courage. This is crap.
  24. Shinji
    Jul 11, 2007
    1
    I hate to say it, but after all the years of waiting for my beloved Pumpkins to return, Mr. Corgan presents to us a forgettable, uninspired, and dead on arrival husk of the Smashing Pumpkins we once knew and loved. Make no mistake about it dear fans, Zeitgeist fails on many levels, but its greatest shortcoming is that it simply lacks the innovation and life of the past albums. I am sad to I hate to say it, but after all the years of waiting for my beloved Pumpkins to return, Mr. Corgan presents to us a forgettable, uninspired, and dead on arrival husk of the Smashing Pumpkins we once knew and loved. Make no mistake about it dear fans, Zeitgeist fails on many levels, but its greatest shortcoming is that it simply lacks the innovation and life of the past albums. I am sad to say the Pumpkins I adored died in 2001. This travesty just seems like a mid life crisis poured into poorly written music, masquerading under the name of a once beloved band.… Expand
  25. NB
    Jul 12, 2007
    3
    hardly listenable. really sounds nothing like the Pumpkins. overproduced to a point that everything blends together without any definition to the instruments or vocals. overall bland and tasteless, like generic mac and cheese.
  26. AsdfQwerty
    Jul 18, 2007
    0
    Billy corgan ruined the Smashing Pumpkins. Sad, but true
  27. anthonyc
    Aug 22, 2007
    1
    utter crap.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Most Discussed Album of 2007

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
59

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 29
  3. Negative: 4 out of 29
  1. Amazon.com
    80
    Overall, Corgan's captivating effort to mine both the spirit of these turbulent times and the soul of his defining band is a smashing success.
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  2. Blender
    60
    Zeitgeist’s orgy of avalanche rhythms, cascading riffs and sky-licking guitar is as grandiose as ever (the solo on "Tarantula" sounds like a nuke hitting a Guitar Center), but the bombast is softened as Corgan reaches out for shame-sharing community.
    Read full review
  3. New Musical Express (NME)
    50
    It's best treated as a curio in the Smashing Pumpkins' legacy; and for those who grew up on 'Today', '1979' and 'Ava Adore', you're better left with your memories.
    Read full review
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