| "Try, Try, Try" | ||||||||||
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| Single by The Smashing Pumpkins | ||||||||||
| from the album Machina/The Machines of God | ||||||||||
| Released | September 11, 2000 | |||||||||
| Format | CD | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1999 | |||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||||
| Length | 5:09 | |||||||||
| Label | Virgin | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Billy Corgan | |||||||||
| Producer | Flood and Billy Corgan | |||||||||
| The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Try, Try, Try" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third and final single from their fifth album, Machina/The Machines of God. It was written by Billy Corgan, as was the B-side "Here's to the Atom Bomb".
Contents |
An alternate version of "Try, Try, Try" appears on the third EP of the album Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music[1] and the "Untitled" CD single. The alternate version is a more sparse version of the song, orchestrated on acoustic guitar with a repeating keyboard part, as opposed to the piano, synth, and electric guitar-heavy Machina version.
"Try, Try, Try" replaced "Landslide" on the international release of the band's Greatest Hits collection Rotten Apples.
The single cover was designed by Vasily Kafanov and features alchemic symbols such as the 18th century Figuarum Aegyptiorum Secretarum and references to Christainity and Hermes Trismegistus.[2]
Upon release, "Try, Try, Try" received mixed reveiws. Sputnikmusic called it "a pretty boring song" and "a bad pop hit"[3] Pitchfork Media called it one of the album's strongest tracks, comparing it to "New Order in a crystal convertible flossed out with chrome."[4] Website Spliceoftoday called the single "truly upper echelon"[5]
The music video for "Try, Try, Try" was a very different approach for a Pumpkins video, featuring only Corgan seated in a chair, despite instrumentation in the song from the other band members. The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and was adapted from a short film he made entitled Try, which followed the story of two homeless drug addicts in Sweden. The video juxtaposes the somewhat upbeat music with graphic footage of a drug overdose, prostitution and larceny. In contrast, there is also a very vibrantly happy dream sequence past the middle of the video, featuring a "perfect family" that suddenly takes an extreme turn for the worse. The fifteen minute short film version, Try, expands the footage of the music video greatly; the lead female is also heard in a voiceover waxing philosophically about her situation during the entire film. Sparse ambient sections of the song are used in this version of the video and Billy Corgan is nowhere to be seen. The long version also features a different ending. Both the music video and the short film are available on the DVD version of the Pumpkins' Greatest Hits Video Collection.
The video never saw much airtime, however, as its extremely graphic content caused it to be banned from MTV very early on.
All songs written and composed by Billy Corgan.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Try, Try, Try" | 5:09 |
| 2. | "Here's to the Atom Bomb" | 4:26 |
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 73[6] |
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