"Siva" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

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

. It was the first single released after their debut album ''

Gish ''Gish'' is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on May 28, 1991, by Caroline Records. The album was produced by Butch Vig and frontman Billy Corgan, with the latter describing ''Gish'' as ...

'', and was written by

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, singer, and only constant member of alter ...

. "Siva" was also the first

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

filmed by the band.

Background

In an early interview with Billy Corgan, he admitted that he had thought of the name for the song before he had written it, had labeled dozens of tapes with its name, and even considered naming the band "Siva" instead of "Smashing Pumpkins". Corgan has stated the riff was conceived on an acoustic guitar while working at a record store in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The song was one of three played at the band's 1991 session with John Peel, released on ''

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

''. The guitar solo in "Siva" is the band's first usage of the Big Muff pedal, which later would famously mark the band's

style on '' Siamese Dream.'' Corgan originally titled the song "Shiva", referring to the Tantric concepts of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

and

Shakti Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refer ...

as opposing masculine and feminine forces, ignorant of any further implications of the name. Upon realizing that the name was more readily connected with the Hindu god Shiva, he removed the letter "h" from the title to lessen this association. Corgan considered "Siva" as the band's first real rock song that described their sound, leading him to believe that the Smashing Pumpkins were "going to work", later feeling that "Siva" is the band's most important song from the beginnings of the band. Though he considered making "Siva" the first song on ''Gish'', he decided that " I Am One" was a stronger opener. The song was only released as a single in the UK (on vinyl), New Zealand and Australia (on CD), as well as appearing on the ''Peel Sessions'' EP. On January 29, 2008, it was also made available as a downloadable track for the video game ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

''.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Corgan

Charts

Notes

External links

* * {{Authority control The Smashing Pumpkins songs 1991 songs Music videos directed by Angela Conway Songs written by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Butch Vig Virgin Records singles Indian mythology in music sw:Shiva