Siamese Dream

Siamese Dream is The Smashing Pumpkins' second studio album which was released on July 27, 1993 by Virgin Records.
==Album Background==
In 1991, The Smashing Pumpkins' debut album, "Gish" was released on Caroline Records to unexpected success & acclaim. After the release of Nirvana's album, "Nevermind" later that year, the Smashing Pumpkins were hyped as "the next Nirvana."
The band was signed to Caroline Records parent Virgin Records and began recording a follow-up album. Frontman Billy Corgan felt "this great pressure to make the next album to set the world on fire".
However, the immense pressure to succeed intensified an already problematic situation: drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was undergoing an increasingly severe addiction to heroin, guitarist James Iha & bassist D'arcy Wretzky had recently ended a romantic relationship and Corgan (aside from battles with weight gain & suicidal depression) was suffering from his worst-ever bout of writer's block.
===Recording & Production===
"Siamese Dream" was recorded mainly between December 1992 and March 1993. The band relocated to Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia for the album sessions so they could avoid local friends and distractions and to cut Chamberlin off from his known drug connections.
Butch Vig reprised his role as producer after working on their debut album, "Gish."
According to an interview with Daniel Gumble, writing for PSN Europe, Butch Vig stated: "Billy [Corgan] and I raised the bar really high. We wanted to make a very ambitious sounding record. It was all done on analogue tape so it was time consuming. We were working 12 hours a day, six times a week for about three months, and for the last two months we worked seven days a week, 14 or 15 hours a day because we were behind schedule."
After he suffered a nervous breakdown, Corgan began visiting a therapist. Consequently, his lyrics became more explicit about his troubled past and his insecurities. "Today" was the first song written by Corgan for the album. He played the self-recorded demo to Vig, and received a positive reaction.
Soon afterward, executives from Virgin Records came to observe the band after hearing about their problems, but they were pleased with the demo and did not soon return to the studio. The reaction from the executives only served to put more stress on Corgan.
Corgan worked overtime, practically living in the studio for the recording of "Siamese Dream." He and Vig would sometimes work on a 45-second section of music for two days, working 16-hour days for weeks at a time to achieve the sound Corgan wanted.
Corgan's desire for musical perfection put further strain on the already-frayed relationships between the band members. Vig later recalled, "D'arcy would lock herself in the bathroom, James wouldn't say anything, or Billy would lock himself in the control room". Corgan often overdubbed Iha's and Wretzky's parts with his own playing. Wretzky stated that Corgan only performed most of the guitar and bass parts because he could lay them down more easily in recording and with far fewer takes.
Stories of the album's recording had circulated in the music press. Corgan admitted there was some truth to accusations of tyrannical behavior, though he felt the press misunderstood the situation.
While Chamberlin performed all drum parts on the album, he would disappear for days on drug benders that caused everyone to fear for his life.
After one incident where the drummer had disappeared for two or three days, Corgan "put the hammer down", according to Vig, and had Chamberlin perform the drum part for "Cherub Rock" until his hands bled. Due to Corgan's urging, Chamberlin checked into a rehab clinic.
Corgan told Spin later that year, "You know, I gave them a year and a half to prepare for this record... I'm surrounded by these people who I care about very much, yet they continue to keep failing me." Corgan explained that he began to take the actions of others personally; he said, "If you really think about it, of course, someone doesn't do the job because they're lazy, or they don't think it's important. But I took it as, 'You're not worth going home and working on the song.'"
Meanwhile, Corgan was also going through his own problems. He would admit in 2011 that throughout the recording process he had been planning his own suicide. Stating that he had gotten rid of most of his things and was "fantasizing about my own death, I started thinking what my funeral would be like and what music would be played."
Virgin began to grow impatient with the album's recording as it went over budget and became behind schedule; however, The band would not let the company cut corners if it meant compromising the sound.
By the time recording was completed, Corgan and Vig felt too emotionally exhausted to mix the record. Corgan suggested that engineer Alan Moulder mix the album due to his work on "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine.
Moulder booked two weeks in a studio to mix the album; the mix ended up taking 36 days to complete. Eventually, the album was finished after four months and $250,000 over budget.
==Tracklisting==
#Cherub Rock 4:58
#Quiet 3:41
#Today 3:19
#Hummer 6:57
#Rocket 4:06
#Disarm 3:17
#Soma 6:39
#Geek U.S.A. 5:13
#Mayonaise 5:49
#Spaceboy 4:28
#Silverfuck 8:43
#Sweet Sweet 1:38
#Luna 3:20
==Chart Performance==
"Siamese Dream" debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200 the following week after its release. The album sold over 4 million copies in the United States and over 6 million copies worldwide.
==Critical Reception==
"Siamese Dream" was almost universally lauded by music critics. Select's Andrew Perry praised it as "the most grand-scale, expansively-passionate blasts of music you'll hear this year" and remarked that it would be "hard for anyone to top this one." 
John Harris of NME wrote that Siamese Dream, "for all its air of non-committal blankness and exercise-book psychoanalysis, is a startling, deeply satisfying record."
Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times predicted that "the scale of its success will likely be tied to how many fans are willing to stop moshing and enter into some rather contemplative, even tender territory" and wrote that "the songs tend to drift in places, and some get a bit long-winded, but the overall balance between the harsh and the sweet makes for a strong and distinctive package".
Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone called the album "a strong, multidimensional extension of Gish that confirms that Smashing Pumpkins are neither sellouts nor one-offs."
Entertainment Weekly critic David Browne praised the band for living up to industry expectations of being the "next Nirvana" and compared the album favorably to Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, concluding: "In aiming for more than just another alternative guitar record, Smashing Pumpkins may have stumbled upon a whole new stance: slackers with a vision."
Critic Simon Reynolds disagreed; he wrote in his review for The New York Times that "fuzzed-up riffs and angst-wracked vocals are quite the norm these days, and Smashing Pumpkins lacks the zeitgeist-defining edge that made Nirvana's breakthrough so thrilling and resonant."
Robert Christgau of The Village Voice cited "Geek U.S.A." and "Today" as highlights while noting the record's strength is "the sonics"; he later rated the album with a three-star honorable mention.
Category:1990s albums
Category:Alternative Rock