The Smashing Pumpkins

Certain Songs #2271: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Hummer”

January 20, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

While Siamese Dream had a bunch of singles and radio songs, I also loved it because of some of the longer, artier cuts. Not all of them, of course: “Soma” is too somnambulant by half and I’ve always liked “Silverfuck,” it does shoots its wad a little bit early.

But “Hummer” is the shit: nearly 7 minutes of glorious noisy prog meandering, anchored by a riff thats splits the difference between “Today” and “Rocket,” only thicker and meatier than either.

Certain Songs #2270: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”

January 19, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Siamese Dream
Year: 1993

. . .

We’ll always have Siamese Dream.

Given the near-30 years of craziness that followed it, nowadays Siamese Dream seems even more like a miracle, practically dropping out of nowhere during the summer of 1993 to join Last Splash and Exile in Guyville in dominating the back half of that year for me.

Of course, there were the haters, who said that it was too polished, too metal, too proggy, and you know what? They were right! It was too polished, too metal, too proggy. That that was the point! One of the key reasons Siamese Dream was so great is that it sounded so great: Billy Corgan and genius producer Butch Vig somehow layered a million guitar parts without it ever getting thick and muddy.

Certain Songs #2268: The Smashing Pumpkins – “Rhinoceros”

January 17, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Gish
Year: 1991

. . .

For reasons I don’t remember, the debut album by The Smashing Pumpkins, Gish, totally didn’t make my radar when it was initially released in 1991. I wasn’t alone: it barely grazed the Billboard top 200 albums charts, stalling at 195.

Instead, I picked it up in late 1992 or early 1993, having become Pumpkins-curious based their track on the Singles soundtrack, “Drown,” about more which tomorrow.