Siamese Dream :The Smashing Pumpkins.
10 Albums, day 2.
If there was ever a title for “Most dysfunctional band to make a brilliant album”, Smashing Pumpkins and “Siamese Dream“ would have be one of the favourites. Two of the members were in a relationship that went to hell, the drummer is an a-grade heroin addict, and to top it off, Billy Corgan is an egotistical douchebag control freak. Listening to the “Take 5” podcast episode with him was an interesting study in to why no-one wants to work with him and every band he’s been in has dissolved in a steaming heap. Pro-tip Billy: it’s not a reunion tour until D’arcy is involved. “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” is an overbloated mess – Billy’s tribute album to himself. But oh my, “Siamese Dream”. *swoon*
A lot of people lump this album in to the grunge genre, and at the time the Pumpkins were labeled “THE NEXT NIRVANA!!!11!”. Which is rubbish. The only connection this album has with grunge is the time of release (1993) and it follows a loud|quiet|loud pattern trademarked by The Pixies and others. But where Nirvana were raw, the Pumpkins were lush and dreamy. The ying to my Soundgarden yang. “Siamese Dream” is producers Butch Vig’s wet dream: lush melodies, overdub on overdub, where he and Billy would spend hour upon hour laying down seconds worth of music. “Soma” apparently has 40 overlays for the guitars alone. No surprise, it was 4 months late and US$250,000 over budget when it dropped. Worth every second.
Again, thanks to Rage and The Afternoon Show on your ABC, I caught the video for “Today”. That dreamy sound of guitar, Billy all androgynous and weird, riding an ice-cream truck and whine/singing about his depression – that there was a light to his darkness. I believed him when he sang that today was the greatest day he had ever known, and this moody teenager latched on like a limpet eel. Chris Durack and I slammed this album pretty much non-stop on a road trip to a New Year music festival in Bunbury, and it lives permanently in my Desert Island discs playlist. The intro to “Cherub Rock” usually has me air-drumming along, much to the fear of everyone in the car when it happens. I know every lyric like the back of my hand. I lost my CD copy somewhere in Darwin while on deployment with the RAAF, quite possibly while drunk. I hope that it changed someone elses life like it did mine. It will disarm you with a smile…
Released: July 27, 1993
Length: 62:16
Label: Virgin
Producer(s): Butch Vig; Billy Corgan
Key tracks: Today, Disarm, Soma
fell in love with a girl 