Rhinoceros (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Rhinoceros" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by The Smashing Pumpkins | ||
| from the album Gish | ||
| Released | (see Lull (EP)) | |
| Format | (see Lull (EP)) | |
| Recorded | 1991 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock | |
| Length | 5:57 | |
| Label | Caroline/Virgin | |
| Writer(s) | Billy Corgan | |
| Producer(s) | Butch Vig | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
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| The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology | ||
| "Siva" (1991) |
"Rhinoceros" (1991) |
"Cherub Rock" (1993) |
| Gish track listing | ||
| "Siva" (2) |
"Rhinoceros" (3) |
"Bury Me" (4) |
"Rhinoceros" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins (at the time, known as just Smashing Pumpkins) released on their debut album, Gish. It was written by Billy Corgan and one of the few songs from Gish that was performed consistently throughout the band's career.
The song is an early indication of the loud/soft dynamic that would come to define the band's overall sound. The song was cited as a turning point by Corgan in an interview circa Siamese Dream: "I can remember bringing in Rhinoceros, which didn't sound like anything else we had. But after a while you get used to playing Rhinoceros, so you bring in something that's a little weirder." In an early radio appearance from 1989, Corgan can be heard referring to the tune, which D'arcy audibly protests playing, as "that real slow one". The album recording reportedly features 17 tracks of feedback.
Instead of being released as a CD single, "Rhinoceros" was instead featured as the first track on Lull. Songwriter Billy Corgan has mentioned that Lull is known within the band as "the Rhinoceros single."
[edit] Music video
A video was also made for "Rhinoceros", which was one of the Pumpkins earliest videos. There are three main parts to the video:
- Footage filmed on a sound stage featuring the band members "looking bored", and playing guitars. In one part of these scenes, D'Arcy is playing with a small white ping pong ball which appears to float, which is one of the most well known scenes from the video. Corgan has said that the original plan for the video was to have these scenes filmed in a very small red room, so small that the band members were constantly on top of each other. This idea was inspired in part by the video for Close to Me by The Cure. When they arrived at the set to film, they were given a very large purple room, so instead of being cramped together, the band moved as far away from each other as they could.
- Live footage from a small club show in London. This footage didn't work out as planned and so it is only shown near the end of the video, starting with the guitar solo.
- Self-filmed footage that was filmed in Hyde Park, London. The four members of the band took a video camera to the park and filmed themselves in various poses to make up for the poor live footage.
