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Smashing Pumpkins Sue Virgin Records Over Pepsi Promotion

By 
March 25, 2008 10:33 AM ET

The Smashing Pumpkins filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Virgin Records after the label used the band's name in a "Pepsi Stuff" promotion without permission. Billy Corgan and crew are alleging Virgin had no right to involve the band in promotional deals and that the only deal in place with Virgin is the label's right to sell digital downloads of the band's songs. In the lawsuit, the Pumpkins say they would "never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity" and that the Pepsi deal threatens their "artistic integrity." Virgin, who has counted Smashing Pumpkins on its roster for seventeen years, have yet to comment on the suit.

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“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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