Song · The Smashing Pumpkins
“Soma” by The Smashing Pumpkins
From the album Siamese Dream (1993)
“Soma” by The Smashing Pumpkins appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2004 and 2023. It was first released in 1993 on the album Siamese Dream. Its best result is #494 on The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,646 alternative song of all time.
"Soma" started out as "Coma" and ended up as the heart of Siamese Dream, the Smashing Pumpkins' second album, released in July 1993: a long, slow-burning power ballad that drifts off into psychedelia. Billy Corgan wrote the words, and the music is credited to him and James Iha, though Corgan maintains Iha only supplied the opening chords.
Corgan has likened the love at its center to opium, something that lulls you to sleep and fools you into feeling safe, and his break-up with Chris Fabian fed into it; it also nods to the hallucinogen from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Butch Vig produced, Alan Moulder mixed, R.E.M.'s Mike Mills adds a prominent piano part, and the guitars reportedly stack up to 40 overdubbed tracks. Critics raved.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 494 | 107.7 The End | The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) | 500 |
| 2023 | 597 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
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