Smashing Pumpkins Masterpiece
Review of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Written by: Brendan Monteiro
I recall the first time I was introduced to real music. A vivid memory, still as clear as the day I lived it. I was at boarding school at the time and just starting High School. On my first day I was shown to my room and assigned to a senior to be his slave. So 6 O’clock the next morning I rocked up in his dormitory to wake him up and clean up after him. As I woke him he looked at me and said “there’s a double C.D on the table, pick one and choose a song”. I started concocting vision’s of this being some sadistic test and if I got it wrong…well, I was adamant there would be hell to pay. So I slowly opened the cover, took out a C.D, then praying it was the right choice and with a shaky hand I skipped through to song number 6. Holding my breath, the still dark morning was broken by ‘the world is a vampire’ words so peculiar I couldn’t help but be captivated. He looked over and grinned, clearly impressed and said “nice choice”.
In the following weeks after that, every morning was greeted with the masterpiece that is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. My first weekend home from school I rushed straight to my Dad’s C.D collection, in hope that some miracle had planted it in there. The search continued right down to the last 4, and there it was (When asked, my dad said “I bought it in Amsterdam because the cover looked cool, you can have it if you want”). An that you could say was the beginning of me becoming an avid, borderline psychotic fan, but that’s another story altogether.
So let’s carry on, Mellon Collie is the third release from Chicago’s the Smashing pumpkins. It was released on October 24, 1995 through Virgin Records and was produced by Flood, Alan Moulder and Billy Corgan himself. It debuted on the BillBoard charts at number 1, not an easy task for a double album. After the recording sessions the band had 57 completed songs. Eventually narrowed down to 28 songs with a vast array of compositions from the epic ‘Tonight, tonight’, the heartfelt ‘Beautiful’ and the unmatched ’1979′. That’s not to say that it’s all just placid, it also has the angst that is ‘Zero’ and the pure aggression of ‘x.y.u.’. There was a lot of new instrumentation too, never before used by the band in previous releases. Piano, synthesizers, drum loops, scissors and even an explosion from the game ‘doom’ used in the intro to ‘where boy’s fear to tread’. Then there’s the lyrical content. Some critics have slated Corgan’s lyrics, stating that his lyrics appear to be the repository for the worst aspects of his most treasured influences. I have to disagree, not always the most cheerful of lyricists, yes. But does this render him a bad one. I admire his use of dark imagery and astonishing use of vocabulary. One glimpse into ‘Cupid de locke’ reveals a dialect that would be perfectly at home in a Shakespearean play. ‘your heart be shattered with a nary a note, of one cupids arrow under your coat’ is just one of the many lines that has somehow just cemented itself in my head. Furthermore Corgan explained the album is based on the human condition of mortal sorrow. The album went on to be certified 9.8 time platinum and become the best selling double album of the decade. In my eyes a true and worthy masterpiece!
August 14th, 2009
The smashing pumkins are the best band ever, love this review, the way its done is just so personal. I remember when I got this cd, heard 1979 on the radio and just had to get it