Rocket (The Smashing Pumpkins song)

"Rocket"
Single by The Smashing Pumpkins
from the album Siamese Dream
Released 27 Apr 1994
Format
Recorded 1993
Genre Rock
Length 4:06
Label Virgin
Writer(s) Billy Corgan
Producer(s)
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"Disarm"
(1994)		 "Rocket"
(1994)		 "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
(1995)

"Rocket" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the fourth and final single from their second album, Siamese Dream, and was written by Billy Corgan. The CD single is a valuable rarity to fans of the band as it only saw a release in Australia. A 7" vinyl record was also released in the United Kingdom as part of the Siamese Singles box set. "Rocket" was one of the few singles that did not appear on the Smashing Pumpkins' greatest hits album Rotten Apples.

Background

Corgan once commented,

“ There's this line from the song 'Rocket', 'Bleed in your own light'. I wanna fuckin' bleed in my own light, not in Kurt Cobain's, not in Perry Farrell's. I wanna go down in my own fuckin' ship. That's what I'm about. ”

Music

"Rocket" is a rock song.[1] Being more melodic than Siamese Dream single "Cherub Rock" and the band's Gish-era work in the vein of the track, it was described as a "standard Pumpkins fuzzed-out heavy blissness." The song also features a repetitive guitar line pulsing through, creating a wall of sound effect.[2]

Music video

The music video features a group of scientifically-minded children who receive an interplanetary broadcast sent by the Smashing Pumpkins. They set out to build a rocket to fly to another planet to see the Pumpkins perform. They build the advanced rocket piece-by-piece, with no help from their unattentive parents, and fly into outer space. When they arrive on the planet, they discover that the band members have grown old since their first transmission, much to the children's surprise. The band's 2001 Greatest Hits Video Collection DVD also includes a different cut of the video with only the band's performance. It was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who would go on to direct many more videos for The Smashing Pumpkins.

Release and reception

The single included a cover of "Never Let Me Down Again" by Depeche Mode. The song was recorded by request of bassist D'arcy Wretzky who is a long-time Depeche Mode fan. It was recorded at the BBC, perhaps in one take.[3] It featured on the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses, as well as the soundtrack for the film Not Another Teen Movie.

"Rocket" spent five weeks on the ARIA Charts, peaking at number 26.[4] It also charted within the top 30 on the US Active Rock chart in 1994.[5]

Track listing

  1. "Rocket" — 4:45
  2. "Never Let Me Down Again" — 4:01

References

  1. ↑ Calvert, John (December 6, 2011). "Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream". The Quietus. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  2. ↑ True, Chris. "Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket". Allmusic. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Smashing Pumpkins Unlock Adore to New Sound." Undercover Magazine, June 1998. Retrieved on 2007/09/23.
  4. ↑ http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Smashing+Pumpkins&titel=Rocket&cat=s
  5. ↑ http://www.100xr.com/100_XR/Artists/S/Smashing_Pumpkins.htm
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