https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMyiBPJqOOI
“Emptiness is loneliness and loneliness is cleanliness and cleanliness in godliness and God is empty just like me”
The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Ephesians 2:2
It was through my father were I first heard the band. He had a massive hi-fi and used to play his music loud. He was playing Siamese Dream around the summer of 93. I had just turned 12 and I distinctly remember the unique sound of the electric guitars. It was a powerful wall of sound. When I would later pick up my first electric guitar as a teenager, that was the sound I wanted to play.
By 95, The Smashing Pumpkins were still carrying the torch for alternative rock, and I got into them more. They were everywhere—on MTV and in all my music magazines. I bought the CD single Bullet with Butterfly Wings and played it constantly. My father had a short lend of a copy of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from my uncle not long after its release. I remember being grabbed by the amazing cover art, it was double CD epic.
To my 14-year-old self, it was the perfect storm—from the visuals to the sounds, it was expertly crafted, with so much creativity and beauty behind it. A full-on rock opera! I was drawn to the bands Victorian gothic image and their sound was more unique than most other rock bands at the time: it was huge, powerful, orchestral, theatrical and full of emotion. Dramatic and over-the-top, and I lapped it up more than my father did. I wanted it so bad but it was too expensive and I had to wait until Christmas that year to receive it as a gift from my parents. The Smashing Pumpkins were my band now.
When Christmas finally arrived, I got it. I had it in my hands. My own copy. It was £20.99 from Virgin Megastore. A huge amount of money for a 14 year old me at the time. But it was totally worth it. I had also got a new mini Sony stereo system from my parents to play it on in my own room. I was in love with everything about this album. Every single song, every page of the artwork.