Geek U.S.A.

Geek U.S.A. is a song from The Smashing Pumpkins' second studio album, Siamese Dream. It was reworked from an earlier song by the band entitled "Suicide Kiss". "Suicide Kiss" was recorded in the fall of 1992 and appears on the Quiet and Other Songs bootleg. It was released via the Smashing Pumpkins Record Club in 2011, and features an extensive palm muting section not present in any other iteration of the song. A live version of "Geek U.S.A." appears on the album Earphoria and companion video Vieuphoria. Although it was never released as a single, the studio recording was featured on the Triple J compilation album Eleven.

The progressive metal band Between the Buried and Me covered this song on their 2006 album The Anatomy Of.

Recording
The song is in the key of A flat major.

The solo from the demo version of the song is significantly longer than the studio version. Billy Corgan even considered dropping the solo entirely, due to him feeling that "Geek U.S.A." already had too many fluctuations and that a complicated solo wouldn't add much to the dynamics of the song. Ironically, it went on to be ranked at #54 on Guitar World 's reader's poll list of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time.

Live performances
A live performance of the song also appears on the band's official Greatest Hits Video Collection. This concert footage, filmed for a Seattle television special, was the band's first experience with directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who shot several more videos for the band in subsequent years. The concert was notable for the presence of 50 professional clowns on-stage with the Pumpkins, after the band was told they would be presented however they wished on tour. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and director Jonathan Dayton (who was also dressed as a clown to be able to film close-ups of the band) agreed that the performance turned very dangerous when the clowns began performing stage dives.

Reception

 * In 2012, the song ranked at #13 in Rolling Stone 's reader's poll of the best Smashing Pumpkins songs. They wrote that the song's riffs are brilliant and that the lyrics are among Corgan's best. Rolling Stone also called Chamberlin's drumming in the song astonishing, which seamlessly shifts from heavy hitting beats to light, jazzy fills.


 * "Geek U.S.A." was ranked number 54 in Guitar World 's list of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time by readers.


 * NME ranked it #14 on their list of the 20 best Smashing Pumpkins songs, and wrote that it had "Slash-style guitar noodling with a soaring, melancholic hook and even an ambient mid-track coda".


 * Spin ranked "Geek U.S.A." #35 on their ranking of the band's songs, and wrote that the song might be Chamberlin's best drum performance.
 * Louder Sound placed the song at spot #9 on their list of the 10 best Smashing Pumpkins songs.
 * American dean of rock critics Robert Christgau picked the song as one of the album's two highlights, along with "Today".
 * Chamberlin's drum performance in this song has been ranked among the greatest of all time by Stylus magazine, and producer Butch Vig called it "one of the most amazing drum performances [he] had ever heard".