"Zero" 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 ...

. It was the third single from their third album, ''

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on October 24, 1995, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States on Virgin Records. Produced by ...

''. "Zero" was written by

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 ...

and was the first song recorded for ''Mellon Collie''. The song has six rhythm guitars, with two line-in twelve string acoustics. The cover artwork features photography by Corgan's then-girlfriend,

Yelena Yemchuk Yelena Yemchuk ( Ukrainian: Єлена Ємчук, born April 22, 1970) is a Ukrainian photographer, painter and film director, best known for her work with The Smashing Pumpkins. Early life Born in Kyiv, Ukraine to an athlete and a teacher ...

, who also directed the music video. Commercially, "Zero" reached number one in Spain and number three in New Zealand. In North America, the song reached number one on Canada's ''RPM'' Alternative 30, number 15 on the US

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

chart, and number nine on the US

Modern Rock Tracks 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. In the United States, the song was released as an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) and charted on the ''Billboard'' 200 instead of the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

due to the EP containing more than four songs, which was ''Billboard''s limit for single releases. The EP reached number 46 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The song was featured on "

Homerpalooza "Homerpalooza" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 1996. In the episode, Homer is s ...

", the penultimate episode of ''The Simpsonss'' seventh season.

Critical reception

"Zero" is widely considered to be the Smashing Pumpkins' best song. ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

'' and ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off ...

'' both ranked the song number one on their lists of the greatest Smashing Pumpkins songs.

Music video

The music video was directed by

and described by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' as "very cinematic and creepy at times". The concept of it was to set it in a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

mansion, with lounging guests, while the band acts as their entertainment. The band predominantly wears black, which contrasts with the room's vibrant wine-stained colors that are associated with the Roman period.

B-sides

"Zero" was released as an EP and includes "Pastichio Medley", a medley of parts of songs from the '' Mellon Collie'' sessions that mostly remain unreleased. The medley runs almost 23 minutes long and features over 70 songs. The medley also features snippets of songs that actually were released; the snippet of the song "Disconnected" is a riff from an early version of "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (originally B-side from the " Thirty-Three" single) and the riff called "Rachel" ended up being worked into the album track "X.Y.U." Eventually, 2012's reissue of ''Mellon Collie'' saw a number of tracks from the "Medley" released in full versions. The track "Tribute to Johnny" is an instrumental, a homage to guitarist

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...

"Pastichio Medley"

"Pastichio Medley" is the last of the songs on the single/EP and is medley of demos from ''Siamese Dream'' and ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness''. The medley features over 70 songs, listed below: # "The Demon" (0:00–0:10) # "Thunderbolt" (0:10–0:24) # "Dearth" (0:24–0:35) # "Knuckles" (0:35–0:52) # "Star Song" (0:52–1:15) # "Firepower" (1:15–1:28) # "New Waver" (1:28–1:41) # "Space Jam" (1:41–1:57) # "Zoom" (1:57–2:17) # "So Very Sad About Us" (2:17–2:27) # "Phang" (1/2) (2:27–2:37) # "Phang" (2/2) (2:37–2:47) # "Speed Racer" (2:47–3:02) # "The Eternal E" (3:02–3:17) # "Hairy Eyeball" (3:17–3:21) # "The Groover" (3:21–4:04) # "Hell Bent for Hell" (4:04–4:20) # "Rachel" (4:20–4:36) # "A Dog's Prayer" (1/2) (4:36–4:47) # "A Dog's Prayer" (2/2) (4:47–5:26) # "Blast" (5:26–5:48) # "The Black Rider" (5:48–5:59) # "Slurpee" (5:59–6:17) # "Flipper" (6:17–6:39) # "The Viper" (6:39–6:48) # "Bitch" (6:48–6:55) # "Fried" (6:55–7:06) # "Harmonio" (7:06–7:16) # "U.S.A." (7:16–7:24) # "The Tracer" (1/2) (7:24–7:36) # "Envelope Woman" (7:36–7:49) # "The Tracer" (2/2) (7:49–8:00) # "Plastic Guy" (8:00–8:09) # "Glasgow 3am" (8:09–8:17) # "The Road Is Long" (8:17–8:26) # "Funkified" (8:26–8:34) # "Rigamarole" (8:34–8:46) # "Depresso" (8:46–9:03) # "The Streets Are Hot Tonite" (9:03–9:15) # "Dawn at 16" (9:15–9:39) # "Spazmatazz" (9:39–9:49) # "Fucker" (9:49–9:59) # "In the Arms of Sheep" (9:59–10:16) # "Speed" (10:16–10:39) # "77" (10:39–10:50) # "Me Rock You Snow" (10:50–11:02) # "Feelium" (11:02–11:14) # "Is Alex Milton" (11:14–11:24) # "Rubberman" (11:24–11:35) # "Spacer" (11:35–11:42) # "Rock Me" (11:42–11:51) # "Weeping Willowly" (11:51–12:02) # "Rings" (12:02–12:17) # "So So Pretty" (12:17–12:29) # "Lucky Lad" (12:29–12:43) # "Jackboot" (12:43–12:57) # "Millieu" (12:57–13:06) # "Disconnected" (13:06–13:24) # "Let Your Lazer Love Light Shine Down" (13:24–13:33) # "Phreak" (13:33–13:37) # "Porkbelly" (13:37–13:49) # "Robot Lover" (13:49–13:58) # "Jimmy James" (13:58–14:05) # "America" (14:05–14:14) # "Slinkeepie" (14:14–14:33) # "Dummy Tum Tummy" (14:33–14:44) # "Fakir" (14:44–14:52) # "Jake" (14:52–15:03) # "Camaro" (15:03–15:18) # "Moonkids" (15:18–15:25) # "Make It Fungus" (15:25–15:35) # "V-8" (15:35–15:49) # "Die" (15:49–22:57)

EP track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zero (Song) 1995 songs 1996 singles 1996 EPs The Smashing Pumpkins songs Songs written by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Flood (producer) The Smashing Pumpkins EPs Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Alan Moulder Number-one singles in Spain Virgin Records singles Virgin Records EPs Grunge songs