2012.09.02 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Color: Black

Released: 1993, July 27 (2011 Reissue)

Label: Virgin

It’s entirely appropriate that I am writing about this record from my parent’s house in the suburbs of Chicago. This is where I lived when I first heard this record. I was definitely in high school and the weirdest thing is that Jimmy Chamberlain’s niece was definitely in my class. I bet she hated all of us motherfuckers who suddenly thought her uncle’s band was the greatest thing on earth. Sorry Amy. But yes this record captured 1990’s suburbia on tape. Even a totally self-aware Billy Corgan knows it. As a kid in the suburbs in high school who had barely started his musical education, this record was world-changing. I learned that music could run the gamut of emotions, be tuneful and still be heavy (which was mostly the kind of music I was craving at the time). This was my ticket out of the rut of only listening to bad hardcore and death metal. Every time I listen to this record in the present, I’m pretty much transported back to this time in my life. The great thing is… this record itself doesn’t necessarily sound dated… it still sounds pretty fucking good to me… but it definitely captured an era at the same time. Like a lot of other big records in my life, it’s kind of hard to write about Siamese Dream. I definitely consider it one of those perfect records. It is said that, Billy Corgan thought to include “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” on this record but instead opted to save it for the next proper studio album. Good thing. I HATE that song. To include it here would have ruined “perfect record” status for this thing. This band was surely a gateway to many even greater things for me… so besides soundtracking my high school years, I’ll also hold it near and dear to my heart for that as well. It’s for this reason, as anyone who’s been reading this blog for some time knows I often feel about this sort of thing, that it kinda bums me out to see the art redone in some fashion for this reissue. The original art is part of that entire experience I described above. But I bought in. And you know what? If there were no original art to compare this to, I would say that this is some of the most gorgeous packaging I have seen in a while. From the foil stamping to the incorporation of a repeating pattern in the background of the cover and on the inner sleeves for the records, this sucker is gorgeous. I might actually have to have a change of heart on the whole “re-imagination of the original art” issue for this. It’s that pretty.