Zero (The Smashing Pumpkins song)

For the song by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, see Zero (Yeah Yeah Yeahs song).

"Zero"
Song

"Zero" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. "Zero" was written by Corgan and was the first song recorded for Mellon Collie. The song has six rhythm guitars, with two line-in twelve string acoustics.

The cover artwork features photography by Corgan's girlfriend at the time, Yelena Yemchuk, who also directed the music video.

Recording and background

From the 2012 reissue: "For the first time in my life I had a room solely devoted to nothing but the creative act. Into Spartan emptiness I placed a few rudimentary pieces of recording equipment; sitting atop passed on handmade furniture nobody in my family wanted, the ancestral code conveniently painted on as black decades before me. The room had once been the victim of fire, and when it was hot out you could still smell the charred timbers. From there I trace two demos made 5 minutes of one another; the first bearing the opening maw but with a different second riff that whilst choogalin’, lacks the imbued menace of the first. I presented the completed architecture of the song to the band that following afternoon, which also happened to be my 27th birthday if one believes in myths and unicorns. I did not know then that I would become the song and the song would become a part of my assumed identity. Curiously, I also find in reflection a devastating first shot at one of my band mates in amongst the carefully sharpened lines, one early indication that I was souring to what I saw facetiously coming down the pike. The tossed off missive ‘God is empty just like me’ brought the God fearing and Hell-loving out to hound me for a few years in various backstage parking lots, trying their best to convert me to a God and Savior I was already sold on. Most seemed disappointed that I didn’t put up more of a tenacious fight, beyond my saying that one lyric does not make a man, nor show the depths of what he believes in his heart." - Billy Corgan

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 zero".

"Zero" was reintroduced in 2007 in the promotional tour for the band's reunion album Zeitgeist.

In popular culture

"Zero" was the song that the Smashing Pumpkins performed when they featured in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homerpalooza" which aired in 1996. The Smashing Pumpkins were the main members of the Hullabalooza Rock Festival. In both the Scott Pilgrim novels and movie, the protagonist Scott Pilgrim wears a zero shirt, identical to the one Billy Corgan famously wears; he also wears a shirt bearing The Smashing Pumpkins logo, of which his initials (S.P) match.

Music video

The music video was directed by Yelena Yemchuk and described by NME as "very cinematic and creepy at times". The concept of it was to set it in a Roman Mansion, with lounging guests, while the band acts as their entertainment. The band predominantly wears black, which contrasts the room's vibrant wine-stained colors that are associated with the Roman period.

B-sides

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)" (originally B-side from the "Thirty-Three" single) and the riff called "Rachel" ended up being worked into the album track "X.Y.U." Eventually, 2012's reissue of Mellon Collie saw a number of tracks from the "Medley" released in full versions.

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.

Additionally, the title of the song "Marquis in Spades" is a reference to the French aristocrat and novelist, Marquis de Sade.

EP track listing

All songs written by Billy Corgan unless noted.

1. "Zero" – 2:39
2. "God" – 3:09
3. "Mouths of Babes" – 3:46
4. "Tribute to Johnny" (Corgan/James Iha) – 2:34
5. "Marquis in Spades" – 3:17
6. "Pennies" – 2:28
7. "Pastichio Medley" (Corgan/Iha/D'arcy Wretzky/Jimmy Chamberlin) – 23:00

Chart performance

Chart (1996)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs	9
New Zealand Singles Chart	3