the half story of glass and june.

A couple of years back, as the smashing pumpkins were disbanding, billy held an essay contest to anyone who could decipher the concept behind their at the time new album "Machina: the machines of god". They had some good prizes from tickets to their final show, a bass guitar that was used on SD, a fender electric 12-string, and the such... i was just hoping that i could get it done, more than anything else... (in fact, i got runner up and had my essay posted on the official site and an 8 x 10 piece of machina artwork signed by billy, to alex)

Anyways, i have since lost that essay, but have been in a half-assed search for finding it somewhere lost in the eclectic void of webpages and nonsense... I know it must be out there somewhere... but just where... In my half-assed attempt, i was able to locate part of it... thanks to spfc.org, i have been able to find part of it (not quite half, so in essence, my half-assed search, is more like a half-assed attempt at a half-assed search, which in turn, would be a 1/4-assed search...)...

So for your reading pleasure, here is what i have recovered... hopefully, i'll be able to find any of the missing chards that may be out there, and eventually get my whole thing back...

Cobains@aol.com
Here is my take on the concept of Machina: The main concept behind Machina is simply the theory of love. The superficial idea that can be seen in Machina is the end of Glass (Billy) and the Machines (The rest of the Pumpkins) in the music scene. In songs like "I of the Mourning" and "This Time" it can clearly be seen that the band is saying goodbye for one last time to everyone who cared to listen. However, as I said before, this is only the superficial concept that can be easily seen. Once we delve deeper in between the lines we can see that it is more of a love concept in a long complex story.

From all the information given to us from the album, the written excerpts, as well as the art we can figure out who the main characters are. We have Zero (the hero), June, Glass, the Machines, and the Ghost Childeren.

From the excerpts written by Billy we can figure out that the Ghost Childeren are the fans. The ones that listen and breathe the music that is echoed by the Pumpkins. Glass is a man who is in love with a girl named June. In this case we can say that Glass is Billy himself and June (Yelena) is his lover. However, this idea is not restricted to Glass being Billy, he could be anyone who has ever tasted a strong love for any girl named June.

The Machines are the rest of the band that Glass leads to soothe the souls of the lost childeren. The last character, Zero (the hero) is more complex than the others. Zero (the hero) is a past reflection of Glass himself, or Billy. This is Billy from before he met his love June, or before Billy had been in love. Zero (the hero) is how Billy was, from the beginning to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness era. He played with his Machines and rocked out shows, to help move the music generation that was the early 90's. This is what made him a hero, but as time went on Zero (the hero) changed, as well as did music. Soon Zero had undergone a metamorphisis and became what we now know as Glass. The catalyst in this change was a newfound love for June. Glass now knew he no-longer needed to be the hero and lead the Ghost Childeren along, but rather he needed to be a new hero to June. This starts the story that is then explained on the album Machina/the machines of god.

With the opening song "The Everlasting Gaze" his line, "You know I'm not dead" screams and echos out among all the Ghost Childeren and tells them that Zero (the hero) is not dead, but still alive and can be renewed in Glass. As the album moves on the story becomes more of a love story/message for/to June. The idea of love shows itself in songs like "Stand Inside Your Love", where Glass echos his heart out to June.

As the album progresses we can see that Glass and the Machines are done, and that Glass has now found a new rekindled feeling of love. He is now reborn and recast with a new focus to please and be with his lover June. As we put all the pieces of the puzzle together, from the album and the excerpts we can see that Glass ending a time of music in his life and starting a life of love with June by his side. The album Machina is more than a final goodbye to the fans but also a love song to June. Glass hangs up his guitar and picks up June. s

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