Today

I grew up an oldies man. I had listened to the Beatles a lot, the Beach Boys as well, having heard it growing up, as it was my dad's kind of music. He has always prided having a decent stereo system, and we still listen to records and the occasional reel-to-reel tape. We did not have a CD player at the time though, so my musical library consisted mainly of cassette tapes.

I had come of age and began listening to more modern music when I went away to college, everything from Peter Gabriel to Danzig to Nine Inch Nails and 10,000 Maniacs and everything in between. I was exposed to so many kinds of music through MTV( the dorms had cable)my new friends(who had many musical tastes) as well as my roommate, Nick, at the time, who had a 6 disc CD changer!

I wanted to get the Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream" after seeing the video for the song "Today" on MTV. So I walked the eight blocks to the nearest Exclusive Company, in downtown Oshkosh, and bought the tape, "Siamese Dream."

Let me tell you, I was BLOWN AWAY!!!! Walking back to the dorms, I listened intently.I got back and had to keep walking so I could finish listening to the album!

While Siamese Dream has explosive electric guitars(courtesy of their fearless leader, Billy Corgan with James Iha), it also has machine gun-like drumming by Jimmy Chamberlain and hard as nails back beat bass by the lovely D'arcy. Songs from "Today"to "Silverf*ck," to "SpaceBoy" all are hard hitting and relentless. Then there are a variety of sweet and charming ballads, my favorite of which is "Disarm."

It is the best Smashing Pumpkins album to date, despite the group having released other, promising albums such as "Adore," the massive missive "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," and more. The Smashing Pumpkins are a musical force to discover if you've never had the pleasure.