"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is a song by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was released as the lead single from their 1995 double albumMellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and is the sixth track on the first disc. This song was the band's first top-40 US hit, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also spent six weeks at number two on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number four on the BillboardAlbum Rock Tracks chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number 18 on the RPM Top Singles chart and spent four weeks at number one on the RPMAlternative 30 chart, becoming Canada's most successful rock song of 1995. It also reached number one in Iceland for a week.
The song had its origins during the recording of 1993's Siamese Dream. According to frontman Billy Corgan, "I have a tape of us from 1993 endlessly playing the 'world is a vampire' part over and over".[11] Corgan wrote the noted chorus "rat in a cage" on an acoustic guitar during the same session that "Landslide" was recorded.[11]
The lyrics "Can you fake it, for just one more show?" may refer to the band's experience headlining the 1994 Lollapalooza festival, with Corgan calling it "old Job".[12][13] Along with other parts of the album, Corgan appears to compare himself to Jesus Christ, with the line "Tell me I'm the chosen one / Jesus was an only son".[12]
Critical reception
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is widely considered one of the Smashing Pumpkins' best songs. Louder Sound and Kerrang both ranked the song number three on their lists of the greatest Smashing Pumpkins songs.[14][15]
Music video
Filming for the music video took place in late September 1995 with Samuel Bayer as director.[16][17] The filming location was a quarry located in the Simi Valley California hills, most likely the mining pits of the Gillibrand Industrial Sands facility, located adjacent to the Big Sky Film Ranch[18] The visual look of the video was inspired by the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado on gold mining,[19][20] while, in contrast, the band used the video to debut their new glam rock wardrobes - notably, Billy Corgan's black shirt with the word "Zero" written in silver, and silver pants.[21] The video also marks the last filmed appearance of Billy Corgan prior to his decision to shave his head.[22][23]
When asked why the band chose Bullet for the first video, Corgan responded "the record company did a survey of K-Mart shoppers between 30 and 40 and this is the song they came up with". "This is the blue light special", said Chamberlin,[24][25][26] though it is likely in the context of the interview that these statements were sarcastic.
