Siamese Dream mainstream breakthrough

Despite all the problems in its recording, Siamese Dream became the band’s mainstream breakthrough, peaking at number ten on the Billboard 200 chart and selling over four million copies in the US alone. Alongside the band’s mounting mainstream recognition, the band’s reputation as careerists among their former peers in the independent music community was worsened. Indie rock band Pavement’s 1994 song “Range Life” directly mocks the band in its lyrics, although Stephen Malkmus , lead singer of Pavement, has stated, “I never dissed their music. I just dissed their status.” Former Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould called them “the grunge Monkees “, and fellow Chicago musician/producer Steve Albini wrote a scathing letter in response to an article praising the band, derisively comparing them to REO Speedwagon (“by, of and for the mainstream”) and concluding their ultimate insignificance. Fred Armisen said the band simply “flew past us” in the 90s Chicago music scene after his own band Trenchmouth had produced five albums. The opening track and lead single of Siamese Dream , ” Cherub Rock “, directly addresses Corgan’s feud with the “indie-world”. In spite of the backlash, Siamese Dream is often regarded as one of the greatest albums of the alternative rock genre, and one of the best albums of the 1990s.