Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
Congratulations for opening and reading this review! You have taken the first step in discovering a needle in a haystack, gem of an album that you have probably never heard of. I wanted to take a different approach when analyzing this album. For a part of this, I want to pretend I am not a Smashing Pumpkins fan. I am pretending I am a person who has never even heard their music. This one will get you..
After achieving commercial success with their second studio album Siamese Dream in 1993, Smashing Pumpkins became a band well known on MTV, headliners of huge 90s music festivals including Lollapalooza and attaining significant air play on the radio. What many music fans do not know, is their first studio album, Gish introduced a genre of music to the world most had not heard before.
Contrary to popular belief, Smashing Pumpkins are not from Seattle. Although they hit the scene around the same time as popular artists from the famed music city of the 90s, Smashing Pumpkins were creating their own sound out of a basement in Chicago, Illinois. As the new wave, synthesizer infused pop movement of the 1980s was slowly dripping away, this band was molding their sound and waiting for the day everyone could hear it.
Recorded from December 1990 through March 1991 in Madison, Wisconsin of all places, the band was able to snag famed record producer Butch Vig to work with them on an independent label, Caroline Records. Vig is also famously known to have produced Nirvana’s Nevermind album. Gish was released in late May of 1991 to little acclaim. But why would that matter? I think it is obvious there are millions of great albums out there that did not receive significant commercial success. Why would you be reading this now? Perhaps because I have sparked your curiosity?
If not, keep reading.
Lead singer and band leader, Billy Corgan is the driving force behind the album’s songwriting, arrangement and sound. He is a self-admitted perfectionist. He once characterized this album as a “mix between Black Sabbath and David Bowie”. I personally do not think they are nearly as heavy as Sabbath. This album is about love and exploring one’s spirituality. Two topics that are ripe for the picking to a young fourteen-year-old.
I first purchased Gish in 1992. A close friend and drummer in my high school band was plugged into the early 90s music scene. He would always share new music with me which I miss. The album opens with a solo drum and bass combo that bursts into a one strummed wave of a distorted Fender guitar. I Am One is a rock song. Like every song on this album, it has a hook riff that gets you going immediately. Corgan’s voice is whiny to some, but it is unique and fits perfectly with his Stratocaster guitar. Unlike your early Nirvana and Soundgarden (I am talking early, early,…before Nevermind and Bad Motorfinger) this album is not quite unorganized punk rock. This album is psychedelic music with a fast groove. Picture a structured rock n’ roll song that flies away into the clouds at the end with creative, echoing guitar sounds and whimpers, harmonizing like birds on an early spring morning.
The album’s second track, Siva is what hooked me when I first listened. More custom for radio, this might be the song that pulls some of you undecided folks out from space into the fray that is Gish. To the naked ear, it is arguably the album’s strongest. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin offers custom snare drum hits that force me to air drum with a “biting down” look on my face, similar to the look one makes when their whisky is a little too strong. Just as the song slows to a pretty hum, pictures of English gardens dance around in your head, only to bring you back to the fire that is the Siva riff during the second part of the song. Billy Corgan’s original mid 1970s yellow Stratocaster that was responsible for all the sound on this album was stolen after a show back in 1992 at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit. He finally tracked it down in 2019 and got it back. After twenty-seven years, the very first thing he played on that guitar was the opening riff from Siva. It is a fascinating story if you have time to check it out.
Rhinoceros offers the album’s first slow track. The track presents a soft, sweet guitar on top of a punchy bass line. Like most independent records, this album’s recording sounds raw. It was not until their follow up album, Siamese Dream that the band had big money to afford a top line studio. But there is something beautiful about a raw recording. There is not much in hiding. You hear all the feedback, all the drum echoing, all the fret sounds. This was before Pro Tools, the music recording software that makes any basement amateur sound like a professional. Rhinoceros gives you a sweet melody and sing along chorus, “She knows. And she knows, she knows, she knows”.
Many bands have an album that has maybe one or two, sometimes three, good songs out of twelve. The remainder are not so strong and usually would make me contemplate turning the CD into a coaster for my beverage. Gish is not even close to this. The band’s strength in songwriting continues on the next track title, Bury Me. Like the first two tracks, this song offers a sing along verse to a catchy chorus. What the difference is here is that Corgan’s guitar notes just go in different directions, taking you on a journey. Likely why this never became a pop album.
To me there is no better part of Gish then about three minutes and ten seconds into Bury Me. The guitar sound mixed with the rhythm here take you on a close your eyes ride, for sure. Corgan then hits you with his outro singing, “She waits, bury me”. The song takes a turn and ends in this direction, reminding you of earlier songs from bands that molded two songs together to form one. Not many can do this. It is a difficult task to pull off and have the song flow together.
Crush is a track like Rhinoceros, giving you a soft, sweet melody that rocks you slowly to your calm place. Corgan places his chorus perfectly here and the song sounds like you are listening to this in your friend’s garage. Although bassist D’Arcy Wretzky plays bass for the band on tour, Corgan plays each bass line on this album in addition to vocals and guitar.
Suffer follows in the footsteps of Crush and Rhinoceros, taking you on a voyage. Once again, this song is void of many quick, structured pop songs with three chords. Smashing Pumpkins enable you to imagine what it would be like to fly as you listen to them direct your airplane.
The next two tracks, Snail and Tristessa send you floating in an ocean looking up into the clouds. Snail is likely more of a track you can play with or for your loved one. Snail is sweet with another chorus that hooks you. Tristessa is on the heavier side, with a faster groove that encourages you to perhaps break a few things if you are a rebellious teen. Corgan’s guitar riff mixed with James Iha’s rhythm and lead guitar round out the sound and make it full. Once you get tired of the album’s love songs, Tristessa will not disappoint the harder, rockier music fan.
Another treat is Window Paine, an incredibly strong track with a trippy guitar intro on top of a solid bass line. The track starts out soft, builds up and strikes your jugular vein. As you recover and become mesmerized by the drum and guitar track build…everything stops. Billy Corgan’s voice comes in alone singing once again the catchy chorus, “Do what you gotta do…and say what you gotta say”. This was another album I remember waking up in the middle of the night to, right as Billy’s voice was telling me “do what you gotta do”. I can remember the feeling of comfort I had at that moment. His music was like a blanket, covering me from the cold and the fear of the evil in the real world.
When I listen to Gish today, I still have those feelings that I did back in 1992. That to me is the sign of a classic album. I get emotional when I listen to this album. It brings back fond memories of being new to high school, scared as hell seeing the seniors moving around the school grounds, so comfortable in their own shoes. But I was excited for times to come. At this point in my life, 1991 – 1992, I was about to embark on high school. I was about to start a journey that would change my life forever. To face my fears head on, learn new life lessons and begin the process of becoming a man. I went to a new level in music, both playing and listening, and I have Gish to thank for it. Pick this album up if you have the chance.
If you already own Gish, check out their follow up album Siamese Dream below.
Also, take a look at some additional Smashing Pumpkins Merchandise