The “Smashing Pumpkins”: “Siamese Dream” (1993) and American holidays:

This music review examines what many today call indie-rock or “alternative” rock. I mention many of the bands prevalent when I was a high school teen, and set that into a broader context of US tradition in my home.

First, I share my customs with you, as I grew up. My parents taught me, and my cousins’ family did so also, the wonderful gift at Christmas time that blended Anglo-American traditions with German traditions. My dad, Chicano, embraced both versions ardently without any introduction to me of Latin traditions through the calendar year’s holidays.

They both set a foundation that lasts.

To both mom and dad, the most important lesson they handed down at Christmas, was that God and the baby Jesus came so that He would save all people. The lessons were taught in additional parochial studies, but the basics were learned at home too and reflected in our customs.

And, beyond our family culture, all Anglo-American, German, and many Latin cultures, reinforce that teaching traditionally. So we were fortunate with that as I was growing up.

Christmas as a child was always like a slice of Heaven in my parents’ home.

Christmas at home was, as it was in many American homes. It was an introduction to consumer behavior (by way of presents) and capitalism. Yes, capitalism. In our home, though Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus into the most humble abode, we also embraced gift giving. Of course, our salvation is the priceless gift we received that far outweighs the present exchange. In addition, our family gift exchanges were nothing but modest.

But, there was also a very special tradition that we practiced days before December 24th and 25th (which brought me the most enduring sentimental pleasure). It was a practice that was adopted from our German traditions – marking the day in honor of St. Nicolaus. His visitation precedes the Birthday of The baby Jesus on the year’s calendar. St. Nicolaus came to prepare us for the biggest gift of all.

Of course, baking, nativity scenes, Christmas tree decoration, candle light, Christian musical hymns, and biblical study (were part of our custom growing up). This remains important to Christian family life. Santa Clause can be traced back to what is now Turkey, Greece, other European nations, and has spread globally into an international phenomena.

But the St. Nicolaus day that my mother introduced to me was unique and special.

You see, on this day, St Nikolaus would have sweets in his bag for the good children. And, Knecht Ruprecht who followed closely behind, with chains and fagot (no not the derogatory term, rather bundle of sticks), would capture the misbehaving ones to terrify them into submission.

His function was to drag away the unruly children into the forest, to punish them, and then to return them to the parents so that the children would be humiliated and newly appreciative of their parents’ protection.

Now, you might exclaim by today’s standards (how abusive)? And actually I do agree. But a child must learn at an early age when he or she is misbehaving with the degree of punishment that fits the assault. And, instead of being flogged by a perhaps mythical apparition, the legend was used as a device to stoke fear into a child’s imagination as to what would happen if they continued to misbehave. It’s a heavy burden to place on a child, but is also an effective way of parenting and creating discipline.

You can imagine how blessed I felt as a young boy, when the time of year would come… and I was rewarded by St. Nicolaus (who left at the front door, a small bowl with fresh oranges, a chocolate or two, and a lit red candle adorned with a few sprigs of fresh pine branches!)

No lumps of coal, no chains, no frightening Knecht Ruprecht with black beard and black cloak instead of white and red! You see, as with the myth, my parents chose to swap out corporal punishment with high performance expectations. My advice to parents today is whether a firm swat on the behind, or a brief lecture, whatever you choose, do not use neglect. Address everything as soon as it happens, and don’t punish excessively when reward can be more effective. I recommend grounding, only when it is brief and well explained.

And strict parental expectations made St. Nicolaus the friend who as a child I truly did see, as he rushed around the corner to escape being seen.

My dear readers, the joy of knowing that I had been deserving of these gifts, made me love Christmas time more than any other holiday. That’s how it is with God. He wants to be wanted. He does not want to punish us for what we’ve already been forgiven of. That’s what makes His son’s death on the cross, the best gift ever: salvation forever. If we don’t want Him, why should He want us?

God loves everyone, and He has infinite patience with those who reject His love and mercy. We people tend to be more fallible. We don’t like to spend time with people who do not love us. Even though the Commandment is to love everyone. Jesus is this love that makes it possible for people to be the peace that they seek in their own lives.

Now you may ask yourself, “Why talk about Christmas in July?” Or, as I’ll get to in a moment, “Why talk about Halloween in July?” And, “I thought this was an article about the “Smashing Pumpkins” music album.

You’ll understand, keep reading.

Some people think of Christmas as being associated with good and Halloween with evil.

Some Chinese philosophy (and the South Korean flag as well) give credence to “yin yang” teaching. I am not convinced however that the reference is necessarily in context of a “balance” between forces of good and forces of evil, rather balances between strength and weakness, the heavens and the earth, the elements.

Yes, good prevails in Christian teachings, and “light” aka Christ and Gospel, must be brought into the darkness in order to dispel the evil.

I see a very real, practical, and important connection between Christmas and Halloween.

Halloween has been a very exciting family holiday, growing up in California.
This brings me now to discuss the band known as “Smashing Pumpkins” (and other music).

Whether or not the band’s name is derived from this bad boy behavior of smashing pumpkins, let’s take a moment to look at the origin of Halloween.

According to: [https://www.livescience.com/40596-history-of-halloween.html (which may or may not be the best reference source), the section entitled “Samhain” is interesting. There, it is explained how not all Western Christians of today, outright rejected to maintain some participation in the holiday.

For further reading I encourage you to read the short “wikipedia” article here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween] It also explains that Christians observe primarily the days immediately following October 31, and for reasons that honor our dearly departed – in conformity also with Liturgical year and our reverence for the saints.

Now, you might feel that it is dissonant for a Christian to enjoy Halloween. First let’s
make clear that dressing in costume, is not a sin, though a costume can distort a holy image. Enjoying candy in moderation, might upset your dentist, but that too is not necessarily a big sin either. Nor is adorning the door-front of ones dwelling at night, with a glowing carved out and hallowed pumpkin.

Sure, when taken too far, the night can be an excuse for those who worship the dark side (the occult). They might like to hide in the revelry of the holiday, even perhaps performing rituals that do not conform with Christianity and anger our God.

But, the holiday (in the secular and acceptable practice) also marks a time of year for those of us who are happy to see that the coming cooler weather of the fall season is here, when we give thanks to God for the bounty, and we prepare for winter time.

I’d like to further explain why it is that I like Halloween. We can sharpen our children’s skill to not be afraid (rather to be courageous). We test the goodness of our neighbors and teach our children to trust our neighbors (within limit), despite the darkness of the night and potential lure that our kindled spirits learn to mitigate through maturity.

As far as I am concerned, it’s a perfect time to teach children how to manage their fears.

When I was very young, I did not like Halloween. I was afraid of the older kids and their sophisticated costumes. At that time, the sounds of fireworks on Independence Day also frightened me. I was too young to understand why people masqueraded all over the neighborhood on Halloween.

To overcome this fear, one of my best friends (who was seemingly no coward at all) went with me to a neighborhood haunted house. It was very sophisticated and very “mature” – rated R. There were “butchers of men”, creepy sounds, flash bulb lights and shadows. This was very scary. I tried to clutch my friend who sped through the maze ahead of me. Maybe he was rushing through it, for fear, away from my grasp. This taught me to stand on my own.

You know, after I got out of there (through it), I matured.

This is an experience that I would not want anyone to take away from me. Yes, there were greater fears to overcome later, and all of these experiences have made me to be quite suitably brave for certain challenges and threats.

That day onward, I embraced Halloween. I enjoyed decorating the home (along with my parents’ and with their approval/permission) with all kinds of things that we customarily do here in the USA. Cob webs, witches, candle lit carved out pumpkins, creepy sound effects played by cassette or CD, and a big bowl of candy by the door… even if the dentist disapproved.

As we children grew up together, we stuck together.

We roamed the neighborhood on this special night, not to celebrate the occult… rather to band together against the darkness (in costume) confidently knocking on our neighbors’ doors to accomplish a few things. 1. getting through the darkness to our neighbors’ friendly reception (without going inside), and 2. learning to overcome our fears of the night.

Of course, we probably had good reason to feel relatively safe which is true of the time and place where I was raised. But, for a child, it does not require a huge dose of fear to become afraid. And, so the gift of the real safety, was given us by our parents and other responsible adults.

For those of you who are familiar with the theme parks in California, they put on tremendous theatrics to frighten even the mature ones. Big tough men and women are humbled and thrilled by the professionals.

As a grown man, these theme parks probably exceed my tolerance now. And, I’d be wary of letting small kids go there now; but, I did go there a couple of times and was amazed at how sophisticated an experience it was.

So what does this all have to do with the band “Smashing Pumpkins”? Well, I listened to it at a time in my life where these memories of Halloween were still quite poignant.

To contrast it with the LSD induced music of the 1960’s, the raucous music of the 70’s, “Smashing Pumpkin’s” album ‘Siamese Dream” (1993), invited a sublime, smooth, depressive, and mind bending experience for the 90’s.

Maybe true as well, the 1990’s music delivered a more heroin and/or “Ritalin”- induced music. (That’s my best guess – and I make no claim as to the effectiveness of the drug nor do I claim that any of the musicians in this article used anything unless it was already widely published and known). “Ritalin” was prescribed to hyperactive kids, or to kids who had attention deficiencies. Perhaps it was overly prescribed? Does its use correlate with incidences of autism? I don’t know. But, musicians all through history, have created art work while under intoxication and influence of one substance or another (legal or illegal).

“Smashing Pumpkins” was an amazing trip, deep enough into a trans state coupled with melancholic euphoria (if you can imagine such a combination).

They could easily have wanted to smash many pumpkins at doors (which some youth did at homes), but, the band captured some of the disappointments and backlash of any restless youth, with a brand of psychedelia well suited for the 1990’s.

It may be hard to believe that such a variety of music could usher in hard core gangster rap. But it did, and many of us embraced that too when it came some years later!

With the “Pumpkins”, we heard “Nirvana”, “S.T.P.”(“Stone Temple Pilots”), “Pearl Jam”; all of whom fused a harder rock (reminiscent of 1970’s “Led Zeppelin”). It appealed to to many of the US suburban teens (and not only us). Very charismatic, it touched an emotional nerve and induced depression too.

With the help of “Jesus Jones”, “Collective Soul”, “Screaming Trees”, “Red Hot Chili Peppers”, “Crash Test Dummies”, and “311” (to name some and omit others) we could maintain some psychedelia and rock, though were rescued from a deep depressive state of mind that would otherwise have lasted too long. “311” brought in its Reggae rock fusion, and ska drumming. And arguably gave way to “No Doubt”.

After the suicide of “Nirvana’s” front man (Kurt Cobain), the years’ later death by overdose of heroin (“S.T.P.’s” front man Scott Weiland), who was to lead many of the fans out of this state of mind?

Chris Cornell and “Soundgarden” was every bit as mind bending as “S.T.P.” His band and his solo career were both legendary and liberating as well. Similarly, this is also true of “Radiohead”.

But, funk bands like “Jamiroquai”, “P.M. Dawn”, “Dave Mathew’s Band”, and “Blues Traveler” were within reach, to give us a silky smooth and commercially strong way to realize that we were not confined to one pervasive genre of contemporary music.

So, where did “Nine Inch Nails”/”NIN” come from? Well, they infused a really raw talent with something technologically new and completely unique. They blazed a trail for some other musical artists who pushed the envelope so far, that we had to wonder if watching their music videos on TV was harmful to our emotional health.

Some music that “NIN” trail blazed for, really embraced Halloween as a way of daily life!

So, I hope you enjoyed my journey through some very influential US music of my late teen years and early 20’s. Perhaps much of it you should not introduce to your children. Remember, the little basket with the candle, the sprigs of green tree, chocolate, and oranges. (My basket also had a few almonds or chestnuts).

If you give these things to your kids in honor of St. Nicolaus, the chances are that no matter what obstacles they will inevitably go through in their lifetime, they will be on more solid ground. But, don’t shower your kids with love either, because life will be more painful when they encounter setbacks. Find the “yin yang” in your parenting style, and then we can conquer the darkness collectively. And, together, a little bit easier. Pay attention to what your teens are listening to. Open up conversations about why they are listening to what they are. If they’re plugged in to headsets, interrupt their listening too. And play them your music too! A day without music, is one more day of lost opportunity to connect with your kids’ emotional state, worries, and concerns.