The Smashing Pumpkins – Ava Adore [1998]

disturbedByVoices

Apr 29

"I have learned the fine art now of judging what is expected of me when I am being beat…it takes a keen ear to detect if the desired result is one of the following: submission, capitulation, confession, or negation…sometimes when I am being beaten down, the desired result appears to be tears, a bleating 'no more, no more', until the monster is satisfied… in stark opposition, sometimes the desired result appears to be to stop me crying, until a numb pall falls over the scene… as she beats me, she repeats over and over again 'stop crying, stop crying you piece of shit', and the formula reads that once you do the beating will stop… I learn the fine art of giving her whatever she desires, if only to feel that I am the one ultimately in control…" ~ 7-year-old BC from his LiveJournal autobiography

"And you'll always be my whore
'Cause you're the one that I adore
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect, just like me"

Album Adore would ironically be one of the most disappointing albums of the 90s... shockingly so since the Smashing Pumpkins had had one hell of a run up until then with their chart-topping albums Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (alone selling nearly six million copies). Made up of Billy Corgan (lead singer), D'arcy Wretzky (bassist), James Iha (guitarist), Jimmy Chamberlin (drums) and relative newcomer Jonathan Melvoin (keyboards), known as "Mr. Perfect" due to his propensity for eating properly, avoiding fried foods, and drinking only bottled water. Melvoin and Chamberlin would become fast friends and as sometimes is the case, one friend can lead another astray. The two would meet in a hotel in New York City, prior to their Madison Square Garden concert, to partake of alcohol and Red Rum, a lethal strain of heroin named for The Shining's iconic murder spelled backwards. The police would arrest Chamberlin while paramedics pronounced prodigious multi-instrumentalist Melvoin dead of an overdose.

Having already overlooked two prior overdoses (one requiring adrenaline shots to their hearts à la Pulp Fiction), this would be the final "brick" in Corgan's mind, and as such Chamberlin was sacked. Unintentionally semi-permanent, the firing was a good faith attempt to shake up the drummer's worldview in hopes of forcing him to take rehab more seriously. Unfortunately, Corgan did too good of a job selling the firing. Unfortunately, Corgan had grown reliant on Chamberlin's input and assistance with creating new music. Unfortunately, Corgan would additionally be going through a divorce, and his mother would die. Despite Billy Corgan's genuine best efforts, album Adore would suffer the effects.

"In you, I feel so dirty
In you, I crash cars
In you, I feel so pretty
In you, I taste god"

"Ava Adore" is perhaps the brightest star on namesake Adore, certainly commercially so, with a newly adapted sound using increased looping and a heavier electronic emphasis. The lyrics seem to speak of an interminably damaged relationship while the music fairly burbles with a cascading of degenerate synthesizer and gnashing guitars and crunchy pseudo-beats. The video, while brilliant in theory, became a nightmare in execution, requiring hours of calculations and film retakes to time the lip-syncing with the fast-slow movements of the band members. They almost gave up on the concept entirely, thankfully barreling though and completing a striking and daring reinvention of their previous works in favor of an artfully gothic masterpiece that could easily take a terrific beating even today.

"We must never be apart"

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LABEL: NAPALM RECORDS