The Story Behind The Song: Smashing Pumpkins’ teenage exploration ‘1979’
Several songs from the back catalogue of The Smashing Pumpkins could take the prize of being their best-ever song. However, it seems like ‘1979’ from their third album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is one of the most cherished tracks among their devoted fanbase.
After the promotional tour of Siamese Dream, Corgan worked tirelessly to create potential songs for the follow-up album. Reportedly, Corgan penned 56 songs, the last of which was ‘1979’, a number that ended up as the second single from Mellon Collie. Initially, Corgan had written a demo called ‘Strolling’, but upon presenting the track to producer Flood, he felt it needed to be stronger for inclusion in the album’s final tracklist. Rather than beat himself up for writing a low-quality song, Corgan instead took it as a challenge to write a better one. That very night, Corgan wrote ‘1979’ in just four hours. When he showed the new song to Flood the following morning, the producer immediately decided to add it to the album’s tracklist.
Corgan had apparently been influenced by an unreleased song by The Frogs, who he had seen play in Madison, Wisconsin, a few years prior. Eventually, Corgan felt that ‘1979’ was the most essential and thematically-relevant song on Mellon Collie. Ahead of the album’s release, Corgan claimed that the song (along with ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’) could represent the album in sum. He said the album would sound like “something that combines technology, and a rock sensibility, and pop, and whatever, and hopefully clicks,” when reflecting on his work. Detailing further, he added: “Between ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ and ‘1979’ you have the bookends of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. You’ve literally [heard] the end of the rock thing and the beginning of the new thing”.
Lyrically, the song explores the transition one makes from childhood to adulthood. In 1979, Corgan was just 12 years old, a significant time in anyone’s life, a time when a person begins to question their identity and the validity of the authority figures surrounding them, like parents and teachers.
Corgan was in a wistful and self-reflective mood when he wrote the song. He once said, explaining how he came about the song’s theme: “Sometimes when I write a song, I see a picture in my head. For some reason, it’s of the obscure memory I have.” The memory in question was of him driving down the road on a rainy night near his home. Corgan added: “It emotionally connotes a feeling of waiting for something to happen and not being quite there yet, but it’s just around the corner.”
To accompany the song, there is a brilliant music video of a day in the life of disaffected teenagers driving around in a Dodge Charger. Corgan felt that this would perfectly sum up the theme of boredom and disaffection that he often felt throughout his own childhood. Check out the music video below, featuring some excellent guitar work from Billy Corgan.
