One of those early 90's dreamy guitar shoegazey hard rock records that I've listened to a thousand times to get but have just never gotten. The difference between this one and Loveless (that's the other one that fits the bill) is that while I "get" what I'm "not getting" with My Bloody Valentine, I simply don't understand what people like so much about the Smashing Pumpkins. Actually, wait... here's a hypothesis. Most people get into the Pumpkins while they're teenagers--i.e. when they are stupid-- then grow up and reminisce about the good old days without ever re-visiting the band's music, which is, for the most part, juvenile.
There are splendid moments on Siamese Dream. "Cherub Rock" is a first-class fist-pumper. "Quiet" has a lovely evil edge. "Soma" is the only one here to successfully straddle the line between "acoustical beauty" and "hard emo rock," a feat that's admittedly difficult to accomplish.
The rest? Overdramatic or boring or amelodic or plain stupid.
I think "Silverfuck" offers a nice microcosm of the record as a whole. The metallic rocky part is highly satisfying, if a tad obvious. The quiet part does not have enough ideas to justify its length (forever). "Bang bang you're dead / Hole in your head" is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
