How the Pumpkins fan the fires of devotion

IF few people knew their name, fewer still would have known what a "mosh pit" was. While many would haven been astonished act the sight of 8,000 young adults "moshing" in front of The Smashing Pumpkins at the Point Theatre last Saturday, all would agree that there is something drastically wrong when the only time youth culture hits the headlines is on the back of a tragedy.

The desperately ad death of Bernadette O'Brien provoked as many questions about the band on stage as it did about the security arrangements at the concert. While three separate inquiries continue their work, it might help to understand what type of band the Smashing Pumpkins are and what type of devotion they inspire in their fans.

Ever since Elvis first flicked his pelvis, it has never been enough to only "look and listen" at a rock concert. From the shrill, hormonal shrieks that accompanied Beatlemania, to the menacing cut and thrust of a Sex Pistols performance, rock music concerts are all about participation. And for a band like The Smashing Pumpkins, this participation takes the form of "moshing" (jumping excitedly up and down and from side to side in a crowd); "crowd surfing" (being carried over the heads of other fans); and "stage diving" (clambering on to the stage, taking a bow and then diving back into the audience).

These activities are time honoured, ritualistic expressions of fans' admiration for a band and they take place every hour of every day all around the world, with nobody ever getting hurt. It was the intensity of the moshing at the Pumpkins' concert that precipitated the crowd control problems and that intensity stems from the brilliance of the band's music. Many would rate the Pumpkins as one of the best bands in the world.

From Chicago, the four piece band emerged out of the "grunge" rock movement - a musical hybrid of metal and punk. They have sold millions of records worldwide and for a long time were rivalled only by Nirvana in the popularity stakes.

The Pumpkins have always enjoyed a big cult following in Ireland and it was no surprise that their concert at The Point sold out in more or less the same time that the Oasis concert did. While there was a capacity crowd in The Point to see Oasis in March, there was not the same level of moshing taking place, mainly because a band like Oasis specialise in singalong anthems and are worlds apart from the dark, introspective and highly personal nature of the Pumpkins' music.

The band's lead singer and songwriter, Billy Corgan (29), writes densely poetic lyrics that reflect his private torment and his hostility towards the sense and sensibilities of modern, mainstream life. Critics have called his work "self pitying anthems" which is only to ignore his unique perspective, always so eloquently expressed, on what he sees around him.

On the band's current album, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (the title says it all about Corgan's habitual state of mind) there is a song called Fuck You (Ode To No one) and lyrics soaked in despair. When Time magazine ran a feature on the Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana, they headlined the article with a quote saying: "This is the sort of music that happens when pissed off teenagers get their hands on guitars".

Corgan enjoys an iconic status in the US where he is seen as one of the unofficial leaders of Generation X (anybody born in the 1960s). He has explained in interviews that his lyrics reflect how his generation have been sold out by the babyboomer generation before him. While the boomers grew up with social advancement, economic progress and sexual liberation, the generation behind them grew up with right wing politics, AIDS, environmental destruction and, most crucially, little or no prospect of secure employment.

There is a tremendous sense of identification and empathy between Corgan and the band's fans. The band's largely youthful fan base takes solace in The Pumpkins' music and, in the case of their Irish fans, travelled from all around the country for their concert. The nature of their response to seeing their heroes in the flesh should not be underestimated or dismissed as yet another case of teenage fanaticism - The Pumpkins, their music and their lyrics mean an awful lot to them.

When the band took to the stage at 9.30 p.m. last Saturday night, they witnessed scenes they had never seen before. Continually imploring the crowd to stop the moshing, their last words were: "This is only music, it's not worth dying for." If only the fans had listened.