Discover ten things you may not know about Siamese Dream Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1993.
If the recording of a second album should have joy the SMASHING PUMPKINSBilly Corgan said that working on Siamese Dream had been one of the darkest chapters in the history of the group. “” We were in full tour“Told the singer to WECB in 1995. ” Everything went well … until the arrival of Nirvana. We went from the status of future stars to that of Has-Beens. We were told that if we were really good, we would have had the same success.»
According to Corgan, when it entered the studio, the group accumulated insecurity. “” I didn't want to take this light, but I was really in a bad condition”He specifies.
Surprisingly, the album was a revelation, a risk -taking Technicolor risk alternating moments of delicacy or even euphoria with monstrous riffs. Siamese Dream Raised among the top ten sales in the United States and the United Kingdom, obtained two Grammys appointments and was four times a platinum disc. As wrote WECB At the time, the album confirmed ” that the Smashing Pumpkins are neither sold nor spare parts“. Siamese Dream Enter the 362th place in the ranking of the 500 largest albums of all time according to WECB.
Given the tension that surrounded Siamese Dreamit is not surprising that years of quarrel follow its release. The group has become, in the words of the critic David Fricke, ” The headliner of Dysfunctional America“.
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A nervous breakdown and a rupture formed the basics of this album.
Corgan has made nervous breakdown just before recording Siamese Dream. “” If you are subject to depression and you go so far as to have a rock group to fill your insecurity, something is wrong»He said to WECB In 1995. He remembered how much he felt desperate, and added in 2017: ” I even got to the point where I gave things and I planned my funeral praise … »»
To further complicate the dynamics of Pumpkins, Wretzky and guitarist James Iha put an end to their idyll while the group was running Gish. They have been going out together since 1988, and separated just before the group's concert at the festival of Reading In 1992 (the year Nirvana was headlining and when Kurt Cobain was brought on stage in a wheelchair). Batter Jimmy Chamberlin abused illicit substances, which only added to the group's problems.
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Smashing Pumpkins recorded the album in Georgia, mainly to keep Chamberlin away from drugs.
The group has chosen to record at Triclops Sound Studios in Marietta, in Georgia, partly for ” that Chamberlain remains far from this type of temptations and that it remains concentrated, »Writes Corgan in a blog post openly detailing the singer's fight with dependence. It didn't work.
The group will dismiss Chamberlin after the death of the keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin (the son of the musician Mike Melvoin of the Wrecking Crew group and the brother of the collaborators of Prince Wendy and Susannah). At 34, Melvoin died of an overdose of heroin in a New York hotel. Chamberlin was with him when the incident occurred and was subsequently accused of possession of drugs.
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Corgan's temperament – and analog recording – pushed Butch Vig to the end.
Producer of Nevermind and the first album of Pumpkins, Butch Vig was also in charge of Siamese Dream. “” Billy was a crazy scientist with the guitars“Told Vig to Jake Brown to OP TAPE. “” Often, I had to draw a song of the song to place all its guitar games. It was epic. »»
Recording Siamese Dream was entirely analog. “” Today, with Pro Tools, it is so easy to edit recordings, “Confears Vig. “” Sometimes I made montages between two catches. I had never really recording like this. I remember that he almost kills me, but it was a huge personal success. »»
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The leader of the Smashing Pumpkins played most of the guitar and bass games of the album himself.
According to the engineer Jeff Tomei, the explanation of such a stranglehold is quite simple: ” Billy knew what he wanted. In justice for James and Arcy, there is no way to get into the head of someone else and play exactly what they are considering. »»
As you would expect, this decision was wrong. Corgan subsequently expressed regrets on this subject. “” The music is very beautiful”He told WECB” But at one point, we cross a line. No matter the quality of your album, you have stretched your group. »»
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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“Today” captured the essence of Corgan as a ” Boy a little stupid from Chicago“.
“” I had come to a point where there was a direct conflict between what I was trying to be and who I was really»Confided Corgan to WECBremembering the genesis of the song. “” I was trying to be this cool person, eternally rock“He continued. “” However, I wrote an idiotic song like 'Today'. I was in front of a choice. Either I threw it in the trash and I tried to continue a kind of ideal that I could not reach, be I accepted what I was, that is to say a boy cucul Chicago. In a strange way, the fact of accepting me at this level made my life even simpler. »»
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYS0F4G9K7E
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Corgan was inspired by his younger brother to write “Spaceboy”.
Jesse, Corgan's brother, was born with a slight cerebral paralysis and Tourette syndrome. “” He has something Rain man,, “Told Corgan to Huffington Post about Jesse in 2012. “ He has some more things and others less … He was raised to be a normal boy, but, of course, not everyone considers him like that. Hence my song 'Spaceboy,' because he is a kid who comes from another planet and who had to manage on his own to become a man. »»
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According to Courtney Love, all the songs talk about her.
The singer of Hole went out with Corgan before her marriage to Cobanand told the BBC what influence she had on the second album of the Smashing Pumpkins: ” Apart from Spaceboy ', all the songs are about me. According to Love, “Today” was inspired by their suicidal feelings. Corgan, however, declared to Guitar world That the songs were largely inspired by his girlfriend of the time, Chris Fabian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vvj1zqbwpu
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The Pavement group attacked Smashing Pumpkins on “Range Life”. It did not go well.
Stephen Malkmus does not chew his words on the album Croooked Rain, Croooked Rain : ” On tour with the Smashing Pumpkins/Little Nutures/They are useless/I don't understand them/And I don't care. »»
“” I think it's jealousy “Said Corgan to WECB Regarding this sarcastic reference, ” It illustrates a certain meanness … It's a bit like high school, and the football team, they are the guys from Pavement and Mudhoney. They spend their time congratulating themselves rather than working“.
Malkmus seemed less disturbed by the alleged quarrel, even declaring to magazine I in 1999: “ I only laughed at the name of the group, because he looks silly … I like most of their songs. I just disowned their status. I never really liked the Rock & Roll lifestyle. “In 2008, Malkmus even suggested that in his knowledge,” Billy recovered“. But the ax of war was far from being buried. In 2010, Corgan was dismayed to discover that his group had to share the poster with Pavement in Brazil. He tweeted his anger: ” I just learned that SP will play with pavement in Brazil. It will be funeral worthy of New Orleans … I say that because they represent the death of the alternative dream, and we will follow with the affirmation of life … »»
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=melfylegivu
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Corgan got tired of having to explain what “mayonaise” meant.
Readers of WECB have designated this ballad as their favorite song by Smashing Pumpkins. If this “mayonaise” is so convincing, it is largely thanks to the acute note which punctuates its chorus. Corgan explained that she was expressed by a Kimberly guitar at 65 dollars who made this noise every time he stopped playing it. As Corgan said to Guitar world In 1997, IHA first found the progress of agreements underlying the song, before Corgan composed the lyrics.
But the origins of this badly spelled title are darker than it seems. In 1996, an exasperated corgan loose on a forum Dublinois : ” Do you know how I found the title 'Mayonaise'? I opened my fridge. He also told a Colombian radio station that it was actually a phonetic way of writing “My Own Eyes”. An interview with Kroq in 1996 is probably the closest to the truth. “” Sometimes you just have to open your brain and see what between“He said. “” 'Mayonaise' arrived like that. James wanted to know how we were going to name the song and this is the first thing that came to me. That's it. »»
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The two little girls appearing on the jacket of Siamese Dream Were not really twin, and their true identity was not revealed until years later.
Impossible to take a step without falling in-nose with the jacket of Siamese Dream. She gave her name to the album and is the main inspiration behind the lyrics of “Geek USA”. If it was assumed that the two girls were related, their identity was not revealed at the time.
When SMASHING PUMPKINS met in 2007, Corgan started looking for the two girls: ” As you all know, they were very young when the photo was taken, “He said. “” They are no longer together, as far as we know. “Things then took a strange turning point in 2011, when Corgan TwittĂ©:” Our bass player Nicole has just admitted that she is one of the girls on the jacket of Siamese Dream“. Some clever spectators nevertheless deduced that Nicole Fiorentino, then bass player of the group, would have been too old to be one of the girls in the photo.
The story has been packed until this year, when the girls participated in the shooting of a video announcing the tour Shiny and oh so bright Pumpkins. “” What is surprising is that their alchemy is still palpable, and yet, if my memory is good, they had never met before this Siamese shooting“Specifies Corgan on his Instagram account.
So who are they? Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts were young Californian models. The shooting of Siamese Dream was ” a dream For the two children. “” We stuffed ourselves with candies and ice cream“Said Laenger to Setlist.fm this year. “” We wore pretty dresses with angel wings, which seven -year -old child wouldn't love it. »»
