This is the Smashing Pumpkins most popular album, and the album which brought them into mainstream alternative music. This album is the most radio friendly of their albums alongside Gish and Pisces Iscariot. A lot the songs are tinted with noticeable pop rock sounding guitar riffs but mainly this album is a blend of grunge, indie rock and neo-psychedelic.
The most popular song is Today and was their biggest single.
Recommended tracks:
Today
Hummer
Geek USA
Mayonnaise
Disarm
Track by track review
1. Cherub Rock
This song kicks off the album with an upbeat rocker. Really cool lyrics and riffs and an amazing Billy Corgan solo. Quite a grungy feel to it. I’m not really sure what the song is about though but that doesn’t matter, its a great way to start the album.
2. Quiet
Now instead of following on the upbeat note cherub rock left off on, Quiet turns out to be a much deeper heavier song. Angry lyrics and hard rocking riff. Not my favorite on the album, but not a bad song.
3. Today
Now the album takes another turn to a much more mellow sound-completely different to track 1 or 2-today is a great piece of work. Starting with the catchy opening riff that sounds like an ice cream van jingle, combining it with powerful backing chords, then into a verse of depressing lyrics, and into a heavy distortion chorus. That’s the way the song goes. Very simple yet extremely addictive track. Listen for yourself.
4. Hummer
Now the album turns back to the upbeat rocking sound of cherub rock with this great number. Starting with crackling guitar, slowly adding in the other instruments. Then the heavy intro breaks in with a very "emotional"
lead guitar riff. The verse is the most cheerful part of the song, with glowing chord and lyrics no doubt about unhappiness. But the chorus has the same kind of sound as today. The solo is great, and when you think the song is going to finish, it deceives you, by adding another 2 minutes with a really melodic outro and dreamy lyrics. Great song
5. Rocket
Powerful, uncannily cheerful song. The opening riff is very similar to the catchy today riff, and the song overall bears a resemblance to the song cherub rock. Great guitar riffs dotted around. Cool song
6. Disarm
The first acoustic track so far-and its a powerful ballard about Billy’s childhood (i think). He sings very passionately on this song and the mini orchestra is great. Another really cool song.
7. Soma
This song starts with a spooky, mysterious guitar melody where the other instruments join in. The vocals are timid but the lyrics are good. This song is NOT soft rock though. After a few verses, the song gets heavy and there is an amazing guitar solo, a lot of it feedback. .Some may call the song slow to get going but that’s only if you’re in for the heavy part-there is a lot to this song.
8. Geek USA
Before I heard this song the name gave me impressions of a pop song but this is as far away from pop as possible. It’s a thrashy metal song that bears an uncanny resemblance to Siva from Gish .The guitar is amazing from both James and Billy. The song phases seriously to a melodic dreamy break then backed by powerful chords and back to the song with one of the thrashiest impressive solos I’ve ever heard. When you think the song is over there’s more. Great song.
9. Mayonnaise
This song is the only on the album to be joint written by James and Billy. It’s a slow,
very emotional kind of song with a lot of melodic solos. The main electric solo is really
cool. The most impressive guitar work in the song is at the beginning where there is a
mini psychedelic solo which shows a good overall example of how much effort Billy put
into the album to not just make rockers but also he shows his skill in making very
melodic riffs.
10. Spaceboy
This is a slow acoustic about his disabled brother. I consider myself neutral in liking this song or not. Still, because of its clever lyrics and the like it remains a mildly popular song on the album.
11. Silver***
Now we return to a more geek USA feel. Silver*** displays great guitar work from Billy
and James and the drums are exceptional(Jimmy’s drumming on the album-which I
haven’t yet mentioned properly yet-is a major part of the band and he is an excellent
drummer).
12. Sweet Sweet
This song is a short, sweet psychedelic lullaby with a weird sounding guitar. Some may
feel the need to reach for the skip track button but I don’t really mind it, its not a bad
song.
13. Luna
This song is like a second disarm-similar style, just this is the love song type one. It’s a
good way to finish the album as well, but if I had it my way I would have finished with
Silver***.
I think this album is a must have for all SP/alt rock fans. And I’m tired so I won’t say
much else but I gave this a 5 star rating for a reason, and If any of you dark side of the
moon fans disagree give this a listen.
