This weekend on 92.9, we are bringing you the Top 10 songs from The Smashing Pumpkins
10. Zero
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
This song relates to Billy Corgan's condition of apathy. The lyrics, "Intoxicated with the madness, I'm in love with my sadness," demonstrate how he does not have the feelings or emotions he desired, and is in love with something that he can't have. The band played a portion of this song when they made their cameo on The Simpsons.
9. Cherub Rock
Siamese Dream (1993)
According to various interviews with lead singer Billy Corgan, this song's lyric is an ironic attack on the "indie" credibility in Chicago's music scene that had him frustrated - the old complaint about bands going to major labels and becoming sellouts. In Rolling Stone, Corgan said: "I won't play some one else's game anymore. This album was really a strong affirmation to myself: 'F--k you, I don't care. I'm going to do this.' The funny part about it is that it's working. Which says to me I should have trusted myself all along."
8. The End If The Beginning Is The End
Batman and Robin Soundtrack (1997)
This was recorded for the Batman And Robin soundtrack and released as a single in 1997. On the single, a different take called "The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning" was put on (as well as on the soundtrack), along with two instrumentals with names referring to the original song.
This won the Grammy award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1998. The previous year, they won the same award for "Bullet With Butterfly Wings."
The drummer seen in the video was borrowed from the group Filter after Jimmy Chamberlain was kicked out of the group after being arrested for drug possession charges.
7. Perfect
Adore (1998)
This song was the second and final commercial single from Smashing Pumpkins' fourth album Adore. Upon its release in 1998, this song received favorable reviews by most critics. Rolling Stone noted that the song "picks up on the synth-pop echoes of the 1996 Pumpkins hit '1979.'"
The video for this song was directed by husband and wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who had previously worked with the band on four other music videos including 1996's "1979." Dayton and Faris would later go on to direct the Oscar-nominated and critically praised 2006 black comedy film Little Miss Sunshine.
6. Ava Adore
Adore (1998)
This song was the first single off Smashing Pumpkins' 1998 comeback album Adore. The single marked a change in musical direction for the band, as frontman Billy Corgan had consciously decided to incorporate more loops, electronic sounds, and non-traditional instruments into the band's music.
The video for this song was directed by Dom and Nic, who have also worked with Trent Reznor, David Bowie, and The Chemical Brothers.
The video for this song won an award for Most Stylish Video at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards.
5. Today
Siamese Dream (1992)
This reflects the mood of lead singer Billy Corgan, who was very depressed when he wrote it. Corgan was in therapy, suffering from writer's block, and struggling with expectations that Smashing Pumpkins would be the next Nirvana.
Corgan played almost all the instruments on this track, partly because he was a control freak and partly because drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was unreliable due to drug problems.
The record company put a lot of pressure on the band to complete the Siamese Dream album, which put Corgan in a tough spot because he was having trouble writing songs. "Today" came to him pretty quickly and his demo appeased the record company because they thought it would be a hit.
Corgan never thought much of this song. He considered it a light pop song, even though many listeners thought it was quite meaningful.
4. Tonight Tonight
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
One of the most enduring Smashing Pumpkins songs, "Tonight, Tonight" is also one of their most mysterious. Written by lead singer Billy Corgan, the song alludes to change and uncertainty, ending on a very hopeful note that sounds like a mantra from a self-help book: "The impossible is possible tonight." Corgan often throws us off the scent when it comes to explaining his songs (at a 1998 show in London, he dedicated the song to "our friends in Northern Ireland," but he seemed sincere when he talked about it on The Howard Stern Show in 2012. He explained that the song is about himself, and how he was able to get out of his hometown of Chicago to pursue his dreams.
The highly acclaimed video was directed by the married couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who went on to direct the movies Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Battle Of The Sexes (2017). The "Tonight, Tonight" video shows the band floating on clouds in the night sky; it's based on the groundbreaking 1902 film Trip to the Moon by the French director Georges Melies. His name is the name of the ship at the end of the music video: the S.S. Meiles.
This won six MTV Video Music Awards: Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. It was also nominated for Viewer's Choice Award and Best Editing.
The band recorded this with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, using a 30-piece string-section.
3. Disarm
Siamese Dream (1992)
The song's author and lead singer Billy Corgan was quoted in an interview about "Disarm" as saying, "I never really had the guts to kill my parents, so I wrote a song about it instead." When he wrote this song, he was at a point where he was really angry at his parents for always making him feel lower than he really was.
The video for this song was shot in crisp black and white, and was a very serious and artistic video. This was in sharp contrast to the video for "Today" which featured a lot of color and a group of kids just having fun.
Corgan has described this song as being "about my childhood and how I turned into an a--hole."
2. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Lead singer Billy Corgan wrote this about pain that comes from being a rock star. The lyrics are exceptionally dramatic, and Corgan has said they are a bit of a joke.
This was the first single off Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
This won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The next year, they won the same award for "The End Is The Beginning Is The End."
In the video, Corgan still has hair. However, when it was released, he had cut all of his hair off. Ever since, Billy has been bald.
1. 1979
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Lead singer Billy Corgan wrote this about making the transition out of youth and into adulthood. He remembered being in high school and having adult responsibilities like a car and job, but still being very much a youth and dependent on his parents.
Corgan chose 1979 for the title because it rhymed with many of the words he wanted to use in the lyrics. "Sometimes, when I write a song, I see a picture in my head. For some reason, it's of the obscure memory I have." The memory that goes with this song is from when he was around 18 years old. He was driving down a road near his home on a rainy night, and was waiting at a traffic light. He says that the picture "emotionally connotes a feeling of waiting for something to happen, and not being quite there yet, but it's just around the corner."
This was the last song written for Mellon Collie. Corgan told the producer that he thought it had a lot of potential, so the producer gave Corgan 24 hours to make it work, or else it wouldn't be on the album. He went home that night and came up with the lyrics, and they recorded it the next day.
Comments