The Smashing Pumpkins - Hummer

"Faith lies in the ways of sin."

Album: Siamese Dream [2nd album]
Recorded: Marietta, Georgia, USA
Genre: Rock, Alternative Rock,
Album Release: July 27th 1993
Single Release:
Length: 6:57
Producer: Billy Corgan & Butch Vig
Vocalist: Billy Corgan [age 26]
Label: Virgin Records

Official Audio


Live in Holland from 1994

Charts, Streams & Sales

Australia (albums): #7 [1x platinum]
Canada (albums): #3 [4x platinum]
New Zealand (albums): #3
UK (albums): #4 [1x gold]
US (albums): #10 [4x platinum]
Spotify: Over 22 million
YouTube Music: Over 6 million
Pitchfork's Best Albums of the 90's: #18
Rolling Stone's Best 500 Albums of All Time: #341 [2020 edition]

Credits

Bass, guitar [x2], drums

Details

• The Smashing Pumpkins were going through a hard time while recording their second album 'Siamese Dream'. The singer, Billy Corgan was suicidal, the drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was a heroin addict and the other two members of the band had recently ended a romantic relationship, so things could have easily gone off the rails.
  
  Corgan's songwriting had always been introspective but recording in the leafy suburb of Marietta, Georgia further elevated his instinct to look inwards. Perhaps as a development from his abusive upbringing? It would be natural for a child to focus on his dinosaurs and action men in order to drown out the racket of clanging pots and pans that interrupted the heated arguments of his caregivers. Until that point, Corgan's escape had been music but things were once again turning to shit.
  
  The band were in retreat, shying away from the bright lights of the big city and the stalking paparazzi with their tabloid headlines. In Marietta, population only 60,000, Chamberlain would be cut-off from his drug supply and maybe, just maybe, the Pumpkins could regroup. Their future as a band depended on it.
  
  Somehow, it worked. 'Siamese Dream' is the bands most personal full length and is responsible for their meteoric rise to alternative rock royalty, leading to their subsequent 'Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' topping the US album charts. The foundations of their success were laid here. 'Siamese Dream' was a make or break album. We don't hear from the bands who fell apart but, luckily for us, the Pumpkins came good.
  
  
• 'Hummer' is a winding road of a song that features several dynamic shifts throughout its near seven minute run. This unpredictability keeps things interesting for the listener and shows the breadth of thr groups ideas.
  
  
  
  
  
• The Pumpkins recorded both of their first two albums with the same producer, Butch Vig, which contributed to an overall similarity in their sound. 'Siamese Dream' is a more polished, mature and ambitious version of 'Gish'.

Artwork