Zero (song)
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| "Zero" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Single by The Smashing Pumpkins | ||
| from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | ||
| Released | April 23 1996 | |
| Format | CD and Cassette | |
| Recorded | 1995 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock | |
| Length | 2:41 | |
| Label | Virgin Records | |
| Writer(s) | Billy Corgan | |
| Producer(s) | Flood, Alan Moulder and Billy Corgan | |
| Chart positions | ||
| ||
| The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology | ||
| "1979" (1996) | "Zero" (1996) | "Tonight, Tonight" (1996) |
| Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness track listing | ||
| Jellybelly (3) | "Zero" (4) | "Here Is No Why" (5) |
Zero is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and was a return to the familiar angsty rock of the first single, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". The song has six rhythm guitars, with two line-in 12-string acoustics. "Zero" was written by Billy Corgan.
Unlike most singles, "Zero" was released as an EP and included "Pastichio Medley", a medley of parts of songs from the Mellon Collie sessions that mostly remain unreleased. The medley runs over 23 minutes and features over 70 songs. The medley also features snippets of songs that actually were released; the snippet of the song "Disconnected" is a riff from an early version of "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" and the riff called "Rachel" ended up being worked into the album track "X.Y.U.".
The track "Tribute to Johnny" is an instrumental; a homage to guitarist Johnny Winter. Not long after the release of the EP, Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose, leading many uninformed fans to assume this song was a tribute to Melvoin.
The cover artwork featured photography by Corgan's girlfriend, Yelena Yemchuk, who also directed the music video.
Contents |
[edit] Live Performance
"Zero" was played virtually intact, but simply played quicker than usual during the Mellon Collie... tour. It was almost never played during the promotion and tour for Adore, only as a brief teaser, but was reintroduced in the brief Arising! tour in 1999. The Sacred & Profane tour of 2000 included a variant: it started off with a pulsing drumbeat and build-up to the song, which then would be played in style reminiscent of speed metal, removing much of the nuance and grunge-sludge anthemic appeal of song. Late in the tour, the band would segue from "Cash Car Star" into "Zero", the same as "Everlasting Gaze" was segued into "Heavy Metal Machine" or "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". Billy changed "and God is empty just like me" part for "and God is empty just like you" for the tour. "I'm your lover, I'm your zero" was also changed to "I'm your lover, I was your hero."
[edit] Music Video
The music video was directed by Yelena Yemchuk, her first of many contributions to the band. The concept of it was to set it in a Roman Mansion, with guests living in luxury, while the band plays to them as entertainment. Another aspect of the video that makes it striking is the facial expressions of the band as they play to the crowd. Rather than the MTV style playing found in the video to "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" (their first single from their 1995 album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness), the band play with uncaring, fixed faces. It is supposed this is to illustrate the "Zero" aspect of the song, the emptiness inside.
The band wear primarily black, which acts as a contrast to the room's vibrant wine-stained colours, often associated with the Roman period. This aspect could relate to the difference between the singer and other people, further stressed by the lack of connection between audience and band, save from some welcoming claps.
[edit] Trivia
- The band Evanescence have covered the song "Zero" on many occasions.
- The song was featured on The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza", where the band appeared as themselves.
- The metalcore band Evergreen Terrace have a recorded cover of "Zero" on two albums. Once on their cover album "Writer's Block", and a live cover on "At Our Worst".
[edit] EP tracklist
- "Zero" (Billy Corgan) - 2:39
- "God" (Corgan) - 3:09
- "Mouths of Babes" (Corgan) - 3:46
- "Tribute to Johnny" (James Iha/Billy Corgan) - 2:34
- "Marquis in Spades" (Corgan) - 3:17
- "Pennies" (Corgan) - 2:28
- "Pastichio Medley" (Corgan) - 25:59
