Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins

Siamese Dream, the Smashing Pumpkins' second album, came out on Virgin in July 1993, and it's a record that sounds like it was built under pressure, because it was. Butch Vig and frontman Billy Corgan produced it, and the sessions were a mess of difficulties and strain, but what came out the other end is a gorgeous, towering wall of guitars: layer on layer of fuzz, sweet melodies buried under the din, and arena-sized riffs sitting next to dream-pop shimmer.

"Cherub Rock" kicks the door in with a fat, stomping riff. "Today" sounds bright and sunny, with an undertow of gloom. "Disarm" drops the distortion for a hushed, wounded ballad, and "Rocket" soars on a sky-high guitar hook. Corgan sings like a hurt kid who has finally found the volume knob. Where the rest of the alternative and grunge crowd went for murk, this record went for grandeur, and the mix of influences and personal lyrics set it apart.

It entered the Billboard 200 at number ten and made the Pumpkins a mainstream force, eventually going 4x platinum in the US and selling over six million copies worldwide. The praise came from critics and fans alike, and it keeps coming: "Mayonaise" was finally put out as a single in 2023 to mark the album's 30th anniversary.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.