What Makes This Song Great? '1979' Smashing Pumpkins

In this episode of "What Makes This Song Great?" we explore the music of the Smashing Pumpkins.

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[jeffwilson]

This song is hypnotic, eerie, nostalgic, and captivating all at the same time....EXTREMELY hard/impossible to do...Billy Corgan is a genius.

[bryanlettow]

This song gives a real bittersweet feeling I can't shake everytime I hear it.

[ddbauer]

I love it because only the vocal drives the drama. The guitars never get loud and distorted, the drums never start crashing, it's steady and sweet

[KodeLiMe]

"The band is The Smashing Pumpkins, and the song is... all of them."

[comehomeastronaut]

Oh my god, you've finally allowed me to solve the puzzle of that extra shimmery part over the choruses. For the last 23 years, I've sworn that it was some kind of crazy phasered-and-vibrato'd steel drum kind of sound, and now I know that what I've been hearing this whole time is just some magical combination of harmonics from the bells and those guitars. THAT SOUND HAS BEEN DRIVING ME INSANE FOR OVER TWO DECADES TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS. THANK YOU!!!

[wurstgitarre]

Mellon Collie is such an iconic album. 28 songs, not a single weak one.

[danielstittums]

Never really realized how layered 1979 was. Makes me enjoy it even more.

[SilentMott]

These songs are even more beautiful when they're broken down and you hear all the little intricacies. Brilliant song.

[Orjuela]

I could listen to Rick dissecting music all day.

[gemfyre]

Wow, I would never have guessed that that iconic 1979 "sound" is actually a vocal!!

[BrandonWalowitz]

So crazy how those simple vocal echoes make the song something else entirely.

[vox]

You overlooked that on the second verse that when the bass begins, there is a also distinct transition from looped drums to live drums which have a completely different sound and adds greatly to the fatness of the sound

[jpollackauthor]

For everyone asking how Rick got the isolated tracks for this song, the original multitracks were uploaded to YouTube in 2012 by a channel called Leavemealoneabout Usingmyname. They're still up. Search "Smashing Pumpkins Isolated 1979" and they will come up. Cheers!

[cotecatalan]

This song makes me nostalgic for things I haven't experienced

[andyinoregon]

Billy Corgan and the producers made so many incredibly fine choices with this recording. One of those rare songs that was perfectly written, produced and performed ... and I could listen to you play that Danelectro all day long.

[flangmasterj]

1979 always reminds me of summer back when I first started high school. It's one of those tracks that makes me feel at ease and brings back memories of simpler times.

[ofSeptember]

I was born in 1979 and graduated high school in 1997, so naturally this was my grad song. Brilliant song by a brilliant band. All time top 10 song on my list.

[WillCarter]

Jesus...Billy looked so young in that thumbnail. Hard to believe he's in his 50's now and I'm in my 40's. Where has time gone?

[IOxyrinchus]

The immense feelings of euphoria and childhood nostalgia that this song provides me with is unlike anything I’ve felt before while listening to a song. It’s so beautiful, you can tell that it’s straight from Billy Corgan’s heart. The lyrics are very relatable for most people because nostalgia is universal, and this song conveys it and all the feelings associated with it so well that it almost pushes me to tears. There’s no other song like it.

[cookiesrawesomee]

7:03 the way the synth and guitar mesh ugh cannot express in words how beautiful this sounds, especially when you hear the third shimmer through it all