Smashing Pumpkins - "1979"/ "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" 7"

Smashing Pumpkins – “1979”/ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” 7”

Virgin, 1995

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013

Price: $2

I was never a Smashing Pumpkins kid, or maybe I was, but they were just overshadowed by a bunch of other bands from my mid-teenage years. Actually, I take that back, because looking at it now I was totally a Smashing Pumpkins kid. In sixth grade I had my mom buy me the iconic Zero t-shirt from Kohls (a shirt I wore up until a couple years ago when it gave up the ghost and one where I had to constantly keep explaining no, it wasn’t a Scott Pilgrim shirt, although I secretly pretended I was Scott Pilgrim when I was wearing it) AND I made her take me to Wal-Mart to buy Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness on cassette. All of this stemmed from seeing Smashing Pumpkin videos constantly on MTV and VH1, and really responding to those videos in a positive way. “1979” with the ice cream truck, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” where they’re playing in a landfill (watching it now, I don't think it's actually a landfill, but it's definitely somewhere gross), and their ode to Georges Meilies A Trip to the Moon with their video for “Tonight, Tonight.” I watched a lot of music videos between the hours of midnight and four-am when I was growing up, and those videos have always stuck with me. What’s great about this 7” is that it pairs the serenity of “1979” with the ugliness of “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”: Two sides of the same Smashing Pumpkins. The latter track is one for which I have a particular affinity, and quote on a regular basis in a joking manner. Lately, it’s been doing the voice I do for Rosie and having her say “the world is a vampire” and, when Jenny asks me how was work, I’ll routinely say “You know, despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage.” I think it’s hilarious, I cannot explain to you why. I’ve been doing this for years. It’s probably because these songs are ingrained in the fabric of my taste in music. Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness had a very long lifecycle and spawned six singles spanning from October 1995-November 1996. This single appears to be something spit out from a jukebox based on the little Jukebox tag for “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” tucked into the sleeve (but in reality it’s just missing the picture sleeve and not the jukeboxes only version).

"1979"

"Bullet With Butterfly Wings"