Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream, 1993 - Virgin US

There's been plenty of ink spilled about "Siamese Dream" the second album from Champagne/Urbana, IL's Smashing Pumpkins, but here at Desert Island Records, you can't deny the awesome power and stunning creativity on display here.

Coming out of Illinois in the 90s with the album "Gish", Smashing Pumpkins were a My Bloody Valentine meets Husker Du slosh of distortion and weird lyrics. Granted, Billy Corgan is no Kevin Shields, but even Kevin Shields isn't Kevin Shields. (That made sense in my head). Also included here : the kick-your-mama-in-the-face drumming of Jimmy Chamberlain, James Iha's precision geetar noise and Darcy Wretzsky's frenetic bass strumming.

We're gonna take you through it, track by track, as I listen to it for the umpteenth time.

The album takes no prisoners, starting with the rumbling drum roll of "Cherub Rock", instantly recognizable as the jangly intro begins building to the inevitable climax of blistering guitars. First track on the album and it's hooky, riffy and dark with Billy's gruff voice begging the listener to "let me out!" Is it a mockery of their own success ("hipsters, unite!")? Who the hell knows? (As a funny side note, who does want that honey?)

Slow, reverb-ed and reversed guitars slip us into "Quiet", a crushing blow of a song that chugs along on a bass-heavy riff. If there's a song that's under-appreciated on this album, this would have to be it. Billy's lyrics at least make some semblance of sense, and the song builds to such a satisfying scream of "YEAH!!" that I find myself hitting repeat on this one all the time.

Ah, "Today", the riff that will forever haunt this band. A solid song with a positive message, but with dark lyrics : "I'll tear my heart out" "I'll burn my eyes out" "Pink ribbon scars that never forgive"... dang, Billy. Still, it's a heartbreaker of a tune, one that has been analyzed to death by music journalists, but one that still manages to move me. "I tried so hard to cleanse these regrets"... who hasn't felt like this?

James Iha manages to make his guitar sound like sitar in reverse for the intro to "Hummer" then Jimmy sets off another rolling drum beat... Darcy drops the bass and then a lead line high on the fuzz and well in the upper ranges glides over the whole affair. The whole thing calms down for the verses, but the choruses are pure rock action. (Another side note : "Life's a bummer, when you're a hummer, life's a drag ...." is the missing lyric "when you're a fag"? Just askin'.)

Another solid guitar intro drops us into the push-and-pull kinetic energy of "Rocket." It seems like the song teeters on the verge of something only to pull back constantly... Maybe it's the stereo mix in my headphones, but there seems to be a physical tension between the left and right channels, something to give you the off-kilter feeling the lyrics convey. Lyrically, it's about getting out of a bad situation, rejoicing in that freedom. And it explodes like the titular rocket into a swell of guitar noise.

I never liked "Disarm" when the album first came out, something about it just didn't fit the pure rock sound of the rest of the record. It was only later when Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness came out that I realized that this style of sweeping songwriting was Billy's real forte and that rock was just one way of expressing it. So, I've grown to like "Disarm" again, for all its acoustic guitar, violin stabs and ringing church bells. And you can really feel it down to the lyrics "The killer in me is the killer in you" - we're all human capable of terrible things. It's a cheesy moment that doesn't quite fit correctly ... I sincerely believe that the track order should have been changed around so that "Rocket" drops into "Soma"

"Soma", as you may have guessed, is a drowsy slow-building song, with all manner of pretty guitar lines upfront. It really lets us focus on Corgan's lyrics, which are odd, combining these dark death images with a love song. The chorus of "I'm all by myself, as I've always felt" really hits when the song lets go with the rock. And when it does, the first half seems like a languid dream, while the second half burns with typical Pumpkins fury.

When I first owned this record, it was on cassette tape, so the end of "Soma" was the end of Side 1. Side 2 opens with "Geek USA", which features another rolling drum intro, similar to "Cherub Rock" ... I would get confused and turn the tape over, only to realize that I was right the first time and that the tape needed to be flipped again... Very frustrating.

"Geek USA" is a punishing SP track, burning with the guitar goodness and the brutal lyrical jab of "The disappointment disappears!"... But shortly after, we lose the plot and are set adrift in space with only Billy, his guitar and some dream lyrics. "In a dream we were connected/Siamese twins/At the wrist" - the titular Siamese Dream. Then the song blows up again, crazier than before, all pounding drums and explosive guitar noise. Then the song quiets down again, just for a second, then it's back to noisy goodness.Man, these guys do the pogo act rather well.

Ah, there's the noise-rock roots. "Mayonnaise" captures what My Bloody Valentine wanted to do, with a little bit of nerdy noise-nicks Hum for good measure. Hell, it even breaks down to an acoustic bit in the middle. The lyrics pound down the album's themes of getting yourself free, anyway anyhow... "I just want to be me!" Amen to that.

Do the first lines of "Spaceboy" reference The Pixies? ("Break my bones/ Mr. Jones" - "Bone Machine" and "Crackety Jones" are Pixies songs...) Aside from that, another stripped down acoustic track with a cracking-voiced Corgan pleading that all he wants to do is "go home". Then the violins start in again. Man, "Disarm" and "Spaceboy" should be side-by-side. (Another side note : who the heck is Spaceboy?)


A clip from a call-in sex show starts off "Silverfuck", followed by furious riffage, thumping drumming and a ton of feedback. Yar. After the mellow bliss-out of "Spaceboy", it's a welcome change. This song bounces between solemn contemplation, with drums and bass the only instruments and Billy singing whisper-y "I feel no pain", and the brutal stomp of the full band, killing all the while. Then, everything drops out and we're in space again, with only Billy's voice and Darcy's bass holding us aloft. Weird guitar noise, courtesy of James Iha comes snaking in from the corners, Billy's now talking about some jilted lover, "when you lie in your bed and you lie to yourself" then lamenting her suicide singing "bang bang you're dead/hole in your head" with a flange effect blurring his voice... Another explosion of rock! Solos galore and high-pitched guitar squeals abound as the song pounds down to a satisfying conclusion.

"Sweet Sweet" is so cute and poppy that it's almost like it doesn't belong here, right after a dark, killer rock tune. But it works, much like a lot of things on this album, because of the juxtaposition. Again, lyrically, it's about keeping yourself true despite what people say, "and they all want you to change" - but it could also be about the band, as he also says, "where are we going?". Perhaps a mediation on fame, since after this they did release a bloated 2-disc double album, an electro-rock album and a fair-to-middling "final" record.

The final song, "Luna" confirms this idea, in part because of lines like "It's a chance I'll have to take", but really it's a love song. Pretty, filled with twisty guitar lines that sound like sitars and violins, it's an unexpected ending to an album mostly bristling with rock.

And so there we have it. An album that manages to meditate on the fame its members will have to face, explore the idea that people need to be themselves and to escape normality and rock our collective faces off. Smashing Pumpkins will never top this album, nor will they even attempt to, and for good reason. It's because of all this, and the fact that the album served as a soundtrack to my teenage years, that Siamese Dream is a Desert Island Record.