"Drown" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

from the soundtrack to the 1992

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...

film ''

Singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

''.

Release

The song debuted during the ''

Gish ''Gish'' is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released in May 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan has variously described ''Gish'' as a "very spiritual album" and "an album about spir ...

'' tour and was written not long after that record was released. The first take of the song was recorded at Waterfront Studios, which belongs to

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

, who was also signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. The song became a moderate radio hit in mid-1992 and gave the band significant exposure just before work commenced on ''

Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at num ...

''. "Drown" was to be released as a commercial single, but, as

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

explained, Nonetheless, the song was given a promotional single, and became their highest-charting single at the time, peaking at number 24 on the U.S.

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. The song has also been released publicly as an early demo through SPRC, which is 8:58 in length.

Greatest hits release

The song was also released on the band's official greatest hits compilation ''

Rotten Apples ''Rotten Apples'' (''The Smashing Pumpkins – Greatest Hits'' as titled on the album's cover) is a greatest hits compilation album by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. In the US, it was released on November 20, 2001, along with a b ...

'' in 2001, though the length of the song was reduced from 8:17 to 4:30, cutting off the extended

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

and

E-Bow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

at the end. "Drown" was considered for ''

Pisces Iscariot ''Pisces Iscariot'' is a compilation album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1994 through Virgin Records, consisting of B-sides and outtakes. Reaching number 4 in the US upon its 1994 release, ''Pisces Iscariot' ...

'', but Corgan decided against it.

''Gish'' (2011 reissue)

The complete version of "Drown" was included with an alternate guitar solo on the bonus CD in the 2011 Reissue of ''

''.

Charts

References

The Smashing Pumpkins songs 1992 singles Songs written by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan 1992 songs Song recordings produced by Butch Vig Epic Records singles {{1990s-rock-song-stub