#362 - The Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream (1993)
MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:
Released on July 27th, 1993 on VIrgin Records and produced by Butch Vig and Billy Corgan this is the second studio album by the American, Grunge, Metal, Psychedelic, Shoegazing, Alternative, Dream Pop, Rock band.
In 1988 after the break up of his band in St. Petersburg, Florida, Chicago native, guitarist and singer, Billy Corgan had met local guitarist James Iha in the record store where Billy was working. Their musically like-minded friendship soon grew into songwriting and playing in a band together with Iha on guitar, Billy on bass, and a drum machine.
With early influences by New Order and The Cure Billy had already come up with his future group’s name before there was even a group.
The word “smashing” was not meant as a verb but as the British slang adjective for “wonderful” and the second word could have been anything else.
As he explained, “It has nothing to do with Pumpkins or Halloween. It just came to me – there’s no related story.”
Soon Billy recruited bassist D’arcy Wretzky who also entered into a romantic relationship with Iha and they played as a trio before replacing their drum machine with Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlain.
Unfamiliar with much of the alternative music direction they were going, Chamberlain switched up his style to fit in but Billy heard the potential in Chamberlain’s power to rock hard.
By 1989 after a well-received indie single and then one on Sub-Pop they signed with Virgin Records subsidiary, Caroline Records.
Their Butch Vig-produced debut album, “Gish”, which had Billy playing nearly everything but the drums for consistency, was released in 1991 to critical acclaim and unexpected success. Nirvana's major label debut, “Nevermind” came out shortly after and Smashing Pumpkins became one of many “Next Nirvana”s.
Virgin Records picked them up and instantly Billy felt the immense pressure to make their own major label debut while living up to the expectations placed upon them as well as fill up the C.D. format with over an hour of music at Virgin’s urging.
Not only that but Billy was suffering from near total writer’s block as well as the worsening of his chronic depression to suicidal depths.
Meanwhile D’arcy and James broke up and Jimmy Chamberlain had a spiraling heroin addiction.
Corgan was in such a dire state that he began giving away his possessions and fantasizing about his own death.
That desperation led to a nervous breakdown which pushed him into much-needed therapy where he really examined his troubled upbringing, trauma, and insecurities.
Despite or perhaps in part to all of that he began writing songs and recording demos with many lyrics addressing his issues and past.
The band with Butch Vig again producing decided to move to Triclops Studios in Murietta, Georgia to record to avoid distractions and keep Jimmy away from his drug connections.
With Billy again playing most of the music besides the drums he and Butch agreed on a relentless work schedule with meticulous attention to detail to create an ambitious and worthy follow up. That began with twelve hour days, six times a week for about three months, and then two months with fourteen or fifteen hour days, seven days a week because they fell way behind schedule.
Even though Billy was still in a dark place mentally all of this also put strain on the rest of the band, with Wretzky and Iha feeling marginalized and Chamberlain disappearing for several days at a time to get loaded after which Billy urged him into a rehab.
Once done Butch and Billy were emotionally spent and handed off mixing duties to engineer Alan Moulder who worked on the classic “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine.
When “Siamese Dream” was completed it was $250,000 over budget.
It debuted at #10 on the charts and eventually sold over six million copies worldwide setting up the remarkable success of their next album, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”
Looking back Corgan described it as, “Even though it wasn't the one that sold the most, it’s the one that seems to have come through the best. As dark a record as Siamese Dream is, there’s a lot of fun in it, it’s almost like we’re kind of laughing at how stupid the whole thing is. It’s like, here’s my pop song about suicide and here’s my epic song about child abuse, and here’s my big middle finger to the indie world.”
They went on to release nine more studio albums with several line-up changes always including Billy and several long hiatuses, sometimes called “break-ups”, while each member pursued their own individual careers and interests.
They’ve won a bunch of awards including two Grammys and have sold over twenty million records.