Kiss And Kill Me Sweetly

The narrative around The Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore has always been that it’s this bold departure from the band’s sound, but that’s only half true. Yes, it is an album that avoids the sort of heavy psychedelic rock that the band was best known for, but at the same time, there’s really nothing on the record that wasn’t rooted in what Billy Corgan had already done on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Aeroplane Flies High, or the soundtrack hits “Eye” and “The End is the Beginning is the End.” In terms of aesthetics, Adore was definitely not a shock to anyone who was closely following the band in that era, and its particular palette of bleeps and washes and “beats” were very much in line with other major artists at the time – U2, R.E.M., Tori Amos, Madonna – were doing to chase a modern, millennial vibe.

Few records sound more 1998 than Adore, and I think that’s actually a good thing about it. It’s very rooted in a particular time and place, but it has a lot of moments that feel like a world unto itself. It was definitely a bold move, though, and I don’t think its relative lack of commercial success should be held against it. It’s basically the ‘90s equivalent of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk – there was really no way Corgan was ever going to top the extraordinary success and cultural impact of Mellon Collie, so if whatever came next was doomed to look like a failure, why not make it arty and personal and uncompromising? Lindsey Buckingham had the right idea.

(Thinking right now about just how much Corgan and Buckingham are alike as people and as musicians. It’s kinda amazing. I wonder if they’ve ever talked.)

The Smashing Pumpkins “Pug” (Matt Walker 2014 Reimagined Mix)

“Pug” has always been my favorite of the Adore songs, though “Shame” and “To Sheila” come close. I love the way “Pug” alternates between menace and sensuality, and how lovely and feminine Corgan’s voice gets on the chorus. The lyrics are similarly moody, with him trying to make sense of a relationship that’s just as full of lust and affection as cruelty and loathing. At some points the song is outright bitter and confrontational, but it rings very true when he shifts over to forgiving and pleading on the bridge. The thing that really gets me in this is how he sings “desire me so deeply, drain and kick me hard,” maybe because the emphasis on “desire me” sounds so much like a command. It’s like he’s trying to control the other person, but mostly because he can’t comprehend them desiring him without being implored to do so.

Buy it from Amazon.