SPCodex:Social media/Siva

This page defines the social media posts for Siva.

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Instagram

Sometime in August 1991, "Siva" was released! It is the first single from Gish.

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 said the riff was conceived on an Ovation acoustic guitar while working at a record store in Chicago. He considered it the band's first true rock song that defined their sound and captured their live energy. Lyrically, he considered "Siva" as one of the first songs that served as a personal manifesto.

Corgan originally titled the song "Shiva", referring to the Tantric concepts of Shiva and Shakti as opposing masculine and feminine forces. A book Corgan was reading had it spelled "Siva", hence he went with that spelling, but the band nonetheless still pronounces the song "Shiva".

Historically, "Siva" is a jam song with varying arrangements. For Gish, producer Butch Vig helped trim it into a more pop composition. The guitar solo features the band's first use of the Big Muff pedal famously used on Siamese Dream.

The song was only released as a single in the UK and Australia, 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.

"Siva" has been performed live ~403 times in full, spanning the band's entire career. Our records date the first performance to September 13, 1990 in Cincinnati. In the early 90s, the band would typically preface the song by saying it's about killing your parents and taking drugs. The final full performance as of this post was July 13, 2019 in Portugal. While the studio recording is 4:20 in length, the longest live performance by our records occurred on January 26, 1997 in Rochester, New York, at ~10:11 duration.

AllMusic praised "Siva", noting the "Hendrix-inspired solos amidst the steady, forceful central riffs", and Chamberlin's "smart fusion of arena rock pound with slyer points". The song spent two weeks at #45 on New Zealand's national chart in 1993.

https://spcodex.wiki/wiki/Siva

Instagram photos

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  • smashingpumpkins, wpccodex
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